Sunday, November 30, 2008

GAO Releases This Week

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) is often called the investigative arm of Congress. This week they investigated a variety of issues, such as confirmation of political appointees, wildland fire management, and federal farm programs. If you would like to know more about the GAO, check out the library's guide.

Reports
Correspondence

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Thanksgiving day free-for-all

271 million turkeys are estimated to be raised in 2008 and I wonder how many million will be eaten tomorrow? This is just one of the fun facts on Thanksgiving you can find on the Census Bureau's Facts for Features web page. This is just one of the sites from the US government to go to for questions on Thanksgiving (or Turkey Day as my family calls it). You can find a list of resources from USA.gov's Thanksgiving Day page.

I think another perennial favorite (see last year's blog post) is the pardoning of the turkey. You can see this year's ceremony and read all about Pumpkin and Pecan at the White House site. This year Pumpkin and Pecan get to go live out the rest of their lives at Disneyland, which sounds good to me.

We hope that everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving tomorrow!

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Waxman Becomes Chair of House Energy & Commerce Committee

Last week U.S. Representative Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) became chairman of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce. He took the reigns from Representative John Dingell, who had chaired or served as ranking Democrat on the committee for nearly three decades. The Washington Post described this changing of the guard as a blow to the auto industry and a boon for environmentalists.

The Committee on Energy and Commerce handles legislation on a wide variety of topics. Its subcommittees include Consumer, Trade and Consumer Protection; Energy and Air Quality; Environment and Hazardous Materials; Health; Oversight and Investigations; and Telecommunications and the Internet. Colorado is accounted for by Representative Diana DeGette, who currently serves as vice chair of the committee.

See Representative Waxman's website to read his statement after being elected to chair the Committee. You can access Representative Dingell's website here. To find out which bills the representatives have sponsored or co-sponsored in the House, go to the Library of Congress's Thomas website and conduct a search under the heading "Browse Bills by Sponsor." This helpful website provides you with bill numbers, titles, summaries, full text of the legislation, current status of the bill, and other helpful congressional information associated with the legislation.

To find further resources about congressional committees and legislation, see our guide.

Congressional Research Service (CRS) reports

Congressional Research Service (CRS) is a research agency of Congress and writes reports at Congress's request. These short reports (usually 10-40 pages long) cover recent topics of concern. This week only brings us a number of CRS reports on Argentina, the presidential transition, economic crisis, and much more. While these reports are in the public domain there is no central database available to the public. To get a copy of a CRS report you can request it from your Senator or Representative. This list is compiled from CRS reports discovered by OpenCRS and Secrecy News:
Interested in historical CRS reports? If you are here at the Boulder campus, check out the LexisNexis Congressional database, which has reports back to 1916.

Not on campus, but still want access to additional reports? The library has a guide linking to various additional sources of CRS reports.

Monday, November 24, 2008

A Current Assessment of U.S.-China Relations

Yesterday the Washington Post reported that when president-elect Barack Obama enters the White House next year, he will have to contend with a new foreign-relations dynamic between the United States and China that is more focused on economics than on human rights. The article states that "China now owns over half-a-trillion dollars in U.S. government bonds, more than any other country, and Washington needs Beijing to continue buying them to help finance the national debt and the $700 billion financial industry bailout."

The Post's report is timely when you consider that the U.S.-China Economic and Security Commission released its 2008 Report to Congress on November 20. If you're unsure whether you want to dive into this entire 405-page PDF, you can read the Commission's press release first. It summarizes China's economic policies as follows: "China relies on heavy-handed government control over its economy to maintain an export advantage over other countries. The result: China has amassed nearly $2 trillion in foreign exchange and has increasingly used its hoard to manipulate currency trading and diplomatic relations with other nations."

For further resources, see our online guides to China and Trade.

Friday, November 21, 2008

GAO Releases This Week

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) is often called the investigative arm of Congress. This week they investigated a variety of issues, such as nuclear safety, health information technology, and the Small Business Administration. If you would like to know more about the GAO, check out the library's guide.

Reports
CorrespondenceTestimonies

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Presidental Poets

It is Wednesday and rather then discuss the latest economic numbers, why not read some poetry of questionable quality? The Library of Congress has a section of their web site devoted to presidential poetry.

They just recently added some poems from President-elect Barack Obama's college days. Harold Bloom states that "Obama's poetry, Bloom makes clear, is much superior to the poetry of former President Jimmy Carter," whom Bloom considers "literally the worst poet in the United States." Which is interesting since he has actually published a book of poems called Always a Reckoning, and Other Poems (New York: Times Books, 1995). Want to read a copy? We have a copy here at CU-Boulder or you can check out your local library using WorldCat.

Still want more information on literature? While the Govpubs library doesn't have a guide, there are a quite a few from other areas of the CU-Boulder library.

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Disagreement over Royalty Rates for Oil Shale

An article in today's Denver Post reports that lawmakers and oil producers are at odds over the 12 percent royalty rate that the U.S. Department of the Interior has set for commercial oil-shale production--some think the rate is too low, while others consider it to be too high. Yesterday's news release from the Interior Department suggests that its final regulations "establish a commercial oil shale program that could result in the addition of up to 800 billion barrels of recoverable oil from lands in the Western United States." You can read the full text of the final rules in today's Federal Register.

The Post article mentions that the rules on oil shale will affect the states of Colorado, Wyoming, and Utah. The Colorado Geological Survey's website features facts about oil production as well as maps of Colorado's oil fields.

You can find additional resources on our Energy guide.

Monday, November 17, 2008

Iraqi Cabinet Approves U.S. Troop Withdrawal

On Sunday Iraq's cabinet gave its approval of a security agreement proposal calling for a complete withdrawal of U.S. troops from the country by the end of 2011. The pact still requires approval by the Iraqi Parliament. You can read about this pact in the New York Times. The agreement, which is the result of Iraq's negotiations with the United States, also calls for new limitations on American combat operations in Iraq starting January 1 and requires that the U.S. military withdraw from urban areas by June 30.

The Government Publications Library posts a weekly list of the latest reports from the Congressional Research Service (CRS), the research agency of the U.S. Congress, and today I thought I'd tie the latest news on the Iraq war to some of the most recent CRS reports on the topic (just in case you haven't had time to check out every single report in our long CRS lists) . Some 2008 CRS reports about the Iraq war include "The Cost of Iraq, Afghanistan, and Other Global War on Terror Operations Since 9/11," "Iraq: Post-Saddam Governance and Security," and "Iraq: U.S. Casualties."

For additional resources about the conflict in Iraq, see our guide.

Friday, November 14, 2008

GAO Releases This Week

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) is often called the investigative arm of Congress. This week they investigated a variety of issues, such as energy efficiency, aviation and the environment, and nonproliferation. If you would like to know more about the GAO, check out the library's guide.

Reports
Special Publication
CorrespondenceComptroller General Forums

Thursday, November 13, 2008

Accountability for the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act

Today the Washington Post reported,"In the six weeks since lawmakers approved the Treasury's massive bailout of financial firms, the government has poured money into the country's largest banks, recruited smaller banks into the program and repeatedly widened its scope to cover yet other types of businesses . . . . Yet for all this activity, no formal action has been taken to fill the independent oversight posts established by Congress when it approved the bailout to prevent corruption and government waste." You can read the full article here. The Treasury Department responded with it's own press release, "Setting the Record Straight," that outlines the steps it is taking to ensure accountability in its implementation of the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act (EESA). In addition to this short missive, the Treasury has created its own website containing a variety of information related to the EESA.

The Post article quotes Treasury Inspector General Eric M. Thorson criticizing the lack of oversight of the EESA program. You can access the inspector general's audit reports on this web page. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) is also required to provide oversight of the EESA program, and you can go here to find a list of its reports about financial markets and housing.

If you're trying to find additional links to government resources relevant to EESA, see our guides to Business and Economic Information and Banking, Banks, and Credit Unions.

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

African Leaders Meet to Address War in Congo

Tuesday the New York Times reported that members of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) met in Johannesburg, insisting on a cease-fire and the necessity for safe passages so that aid could reach Congolese refugees in the war-torn Democratic Republic of the Congo. You can read the article here. Go to the SADC's website to read the communique that it issued after the Johannesburg summit.

Political unrest in the DRC goes back decades. You can find a good profile of the country's political history, geography, and demographics in the CIA World Factbook. To find out how the United Nations is responding to the strife in the Congo, see the website of MONUC, the UN mission in the DRC. If you read French, you can go straight to the website of the DRC's President Joseph Kabila for his account of the state of Congolese affairs.

To find further resources about the DRC, see our guide to this country.

Congressional Research Service reports

Congressional Research Service (CRS) is a research agency of Congress and writes reports at Congress's request. These short reports (usually 10-40 pages long) cover recent topics of concern. This week only brings us a number of CRS reports on Iraq, Congress, economic issues, and much more. While these reports are in the public domain there is no central database available to the public. To get a copy of a CRS report you can request it from your Senator or Representative. This list is compiled from CRS reports discovered by OpenCRS and Secrecy News:
Interested in historical CRS reports? If you are here at the Boulder campus, check out the LexisNexis Congressional database, which has reports back to 1916.

Not on campus, but still want access to additional reports? The library has a guide linking to various additional sources of CRS reports.

Monday, November 10, 2008

GAO Releases This Week

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) is often called the investigative arm of Congress. This week they investigated a variety of issues, such as energy markets, oil and gas leasing, and drug trafficking reduction. If you would like to know more about the GAO, check out the library's guide.

Reports
CorrespondencePresentations By The Acting Comptroller General
  • "Transforming DOD Business Operations," by Gene L. Dodaro, acting comptroller general, before the Defense Finance 2008 conference. GAO-09-160CG, October 27, 2008 [slides]
    http://www.gao.gov/cghome/d09160cg.pdf
  • "The Upcoming Transition: GAO's Efforts to Assist the 111th Congress and the Next Administration," by Gene L. Dodaro, acting comptroller general, at the Charles B. Rangel Center for Public Service, City College of New York. GAO-09-159CG, October 23, 2008 [slides]
    http://www.gao.gov/cghome/d09159cg.pdf
  • "Upcoming Transition Includes Key Information Technology Challenges," by Gene L. Dodaro, acting comptroller general, before the INPUT Fed Focus 2009 conference. GAO-09-158CG, October 21, 2008 [slides]
    http://www.gao.gov/cghome/d09158cg.pdf

Friday, November 07, 2008

Unemployment numbers

It is Friday, but it is probably time to bring some more economic figures into the light. Today brought us unemployment numbers. The number of unemployed persons rose by 603,000 to 10.1 million people, with an unemployment rate of 6.5% in October. Here are some places to read more:

Wednesday, November 05, 2008

FCC Approves New Use of TV Spectrum

While most Americans were spending Tuesday voting for their next president and other government representatives and issues, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) was making important decisions about public use of the broadcast spectrum. The FCC decided to "set aside a disputed slice of radio spectrum for public use . . . hoping it would lead to low-cost, high-speed Internet access and new wireless devices," the New York Times reported.

The Federal Communications Commission voted 5 to 0 to approve the new use for the unlicensed frequencies, known as "white spaces." You can go here to read the FCC's press release about the decision. To read separate statements by the five commissioners, go to the FCC home page and scroll down to "11/4/08: FCC Adopts Rules for Unlicensed Use . . . "

If you need additional resources, see our Telecommunications guide.

Tuesday, November 04, 2008

Congressional Research Service reports

Congressional Research Service (CRS) is a research agency of Congress and writes reports at Congress's request. These short reports (usually 10-40 pages long) cover recent topics of concern. This week only brings us a number of CRS reports on China, retirement, flu, and much more. While these reports are in the public domain there is no central database available to the public. To get a copy of a CRS report you can request it from your Senator or Representative. This list is compiled from CRS reports discovered by OpenCRS and Secrecy News:
Interested in historical CRS reports? If you are here at the Boulder campus, check out the LexisNexis Congressional database, which has reports back to 1916.

Not on campus, but still want access to additional reports? The library has a guide linking to various additional sources of CRS reports.

Monday, November 03, 2008

Last-Minute Election Questions, Anyone?

Tomorrow is Election Day, and record numbers of Americans have voted early or cast their votes via mail-in ballots. The Denver Post stated today that county clerks' offices throughout Colorado were "prepared for the deluge of mail-in ballots that will pour into the offices in the last two days of the election." TV/radio news program Democracy Now! reported that "more votes have been cast before Election Day than ever before" and that problematic situations such as long lines, inadequate amounts of back-up paper ballots, and irregularities with electronic voting machines have already arisen.

If you're curious about Colorado procedures, laws, and regulations addressing the election, don't hesitate to visit the Colorado Secretary of State Elections Center. In a September blog post we recommended this site for those researching state ballot measures, but the Elections Center also provides election laws, rules, and advisory information; voter registration drive information; campaign finance filings; news updates on election issues; and voter/ballot status verification. If you want to examine Title 1 of the Colorado Revised Statutes, the law pertaining to elections, you can find it here.

For additional election resources, on Colorado as well as the United States, check out our guide to Elections and Voting.

And if you haven't already, be sure to vote!