New and updated reports from the Congressional Research Service that have not been made available to the public include the following.
Desalination and Membrane Technologies: Federal Research and Adoption Issues, January 8, 2013
The Corporation for Public Broadcasting: Federal Funding and Issues, January 8, 2013
DNA Testing in Criminal Justice: Background, Current Law, Grants, and Issues, December 6, 2012
Environmental Considerations in Federal Procurement: An Overview of the Legal Authorities and Their Implementation, January 7, 2013
Responsibility Determinations Under the Federal Acquisition Regulation: Legal Standards and Procedures, January 4, 2013
Social Security: The Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP), January 8, 2013
Social Security: The Government Pension Offset (GPO), January 8, 2013
Economic Growth and the Unemployment Rate, January 7, 2013
Overview and Issues for Implementation of the Federal Cloud Computing Initiative: Implications for Federal Information Technology Reform Management, January 4, 2013
The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA): Issues for the 113th Congress, January 3, 2013
Military Medical Care: Questions and Answers, January 7, 2013
Israel: 2013 Elections Preview, January 8, 2013
January saw us watching whether the government would fund science. February has been about how that funding will be distributed, regulated, and contested.
This rule gives agencies significantly more authority over certain career policy roles. Whether that authority improves accountability or creates new risks depends almost entirely on how agencies interrupt and apply it.
Our environmental system was built for 1970s-era pollution control, but today it needs stable, integrated, multi-level governance that can make tradeoffs, share and use evidence, and deliver infrastructure while demonstrating that improved trust and participation are essential to future progress.
Durable and legitimate climate action requires a government capable of clearly weighting, explaining, and managing cost tradeoffs to the widest away of audiences, which in turn requires strong technocratic competency.