Congress opposes direct public access to most Congressional Research Service reports, so people who care to read the reports on current policy issues must work around the Congressional barrier. Some noteworthy new reports from CRS include the following (all pdf).
The U.S. Export Control System and the President’s Reform Initiative, July 14, 2011
A Balanced Budget Constitutional Amendment: Background and Congressional Options, July 8, 2011
Selected Characteristics of Private and Public Sector Workers, July 1, 2011
The Sustainability of the Federal Budget Deficit: Market Confidence and Economic Effects, June 28, 2011
War Powers Litigation Initiated by Members of Congress Since the Enactment of the War Powers Resolution, June 22, 2011
OPM’s new HR 2.0 initiative is entering hostile terrain. Those who have followed federal HR modernization for years desperately want this effort to succeed.
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.