Tag: congress

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Analysis, government, Latest Trend, Money Talk

Will Bitcoin become a policy issue for the U.S. Congress?

congress

Digital currency may soon become an issue that could unite US politicians.

Recent US Congresses have been some of the least productive in the country’s history, and the 113th Congress has been no different. The sheer number of policy-related issues tabled since January 2013 has put the current Congress on pace to become the least productive in the nation’s history, rivaling the 112th Congress in how few laws it could ultimately pass.

 

 

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Business, government, Science & Technology News

Google Glass privacy issues raises questions from U.S. government

Google Glass

Privacy issues related to Google Glass are drawing government attention. A U.S. Congressional Privacy Caucus committee sent a letter to Google chief executive Larry Page asking just how the company plans to protect both people wearing the device and the people it records.

 

 

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Analysis, Big Problems, government, Science & Technology News

Drone GPS hacking fears raised by Congress

drone

Congress now has second thoughts on safety after pushing FAA to allow UAVs.

In a House Homeland Security oversight subcommittee hearing members of Congress raised concerns over the potential security risks posed by jamming and electronic hijacking of unmanned aerial systems, and the potential use of drones by terrorists.

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Analysis, Breakthrough Thinking, Great New Product, Historical Perspectives, Hot Issues, Internet, Latest News, New Viewpoints, People Making a Difference

Needs your own lobbyist? Kickstarter knock-off funding to Anti-SOPA cause

wethelobby logo 23546

A new way to deal with political problems.

Over the past two weeks, staffers from HUGE, the Dumbo-based digital agency, have been at work on a different kind of interactive campaign. Yesterday around noon, a skunkworks team made up of software engineers, interaction designers, information architects, and more finally unleashed their side project on the world: a platform called We the Lobby that “makes the United States political system available to the 99% who can’t afford a lobbying group.”

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Analysis, Big Problems, Economy, government, Money Talk

Extended unemployment benefits are set to expire in 2012, will this be the next big hit to the economy?

jobless

The total impact of the extended unemployment benefits on the economy is huge, because so many Americans are currently taking advantage of them.

The economic recovery could be headed for a major hit that will leave it even weaker as extended unemployment benefits are set to expire in 2012.

 

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Analysis, government, Science & Technology News

Ban on the incandescent light bulb would save consumers $12.5 billion by 2020

light-bulb

The average household’s energy costs would be cut by 7% or $85 every year.

Making it’s way through the U.S. Congress is a bill that would block certain provisions from a 2007 energy law signed by George W. Bush that “effectively bans the 100-watt incandescent bulb next year and other versions subsequently”. The law simply mandates that bulbs need to be 30% more energy efficient, an improvement that could have great economic and environmental benefits.

 

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Architecture, Health & Fitness, Historical Perspectives, New Discoveries

Congressional Fallout Shelter

 

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The Secret Bunkers under the Greenbriar Resort

From the 1958 until 1992, the Greenbriar Resort in White Sulfur Springs, West Virginia sat on top of a secret. Underneath was a huge fallout shelter designed to accommodate members of the US Congress and their aides in case of a nuclear attack.

The 18 dormitories could sleep 60 people each on metal bunk beds. Each had a shower, toilets, and small lounge…

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Economy, Money Talk, Science & Technology News

Older Members of Congress Perplexed by ATM Machines

man using atm

ATM machines perplex an aging congress

Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) has long pushed an amendment to limit those pesky and expensive transaction fees at automated teller machines, but his fellow senators didn’t go along with the idea this week.

One possible explanation: Quite a few of Harkin’s aging colleagues appear to have little or no contact with the decades-old technology of cash machines.

 

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Historical Perspectives, Latest Trend

47 Doctors Pursue House, Senate Seats

surgeons

“Send a doctor to the House”

In an election year dominated by health care, dozens of candidates for Congress have a catchy campaign slogan at their disposal: Send a doctor to the House. Forty-seven physicians — 41 Republicans and six Democrats— are running for the House or Senate this year, three times the number of doctors serving in Congress today, according to a USA Today review.

 

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Business, Education, Historical Perspectives, Latest Trend, Money Talk

Government Takeover of the Student Loan System

College fund

If the Senate approves the  final piece of legislation, millions of students will get their federal loans directly from the Department of Education

“Government takeover!” So yelled the many critics of President Barack Obama’s health care reform bill. But in their focus on the main event, Republicans seem to have all but ignored another part of the legislation that more precisely fits their rhetoric. In addition to securing the President a victory on health care, the House bill took him one step closer to delivering on a promise to reform the college-student-loan system. If a final piece of legislation before the Senate is approved, millions of students will get their federal loans directly from the Department of Education. In other words, the federal government would sweep aside private competitors in the biggest change to the federal student-loan program since its creation in 1965. It’s a legitimate government takeover.

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