- Fri. Jul 4, 2008
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Democrats will be working on the House floor and behind-the-scenes in the Senate this week in an attempt to craft a wide-ranging housing package that could stabilize a shaky mortgage market, as well as revamp key government programs designed to make home-buying more affordable.
They are attempting a difficult feat: First, they want to move legislation that immediately addresses problems in the nation's housing market, where a liquidity crunch and surge in defaults on subprime loans has helped contribute to a foreclosure crisis in many pockets of the country and has depressed home prices nationwide.
At the same time, they want to send to the White House measures that have been stymied for years in Congress amid legislative bickering: one that would overhaul the Federal Housing Administration's mortgage insurance program and another that would revamp oversight at mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
Taken together, such a package would represent the most significant changes to the nation's housing-finance system within the last decade.
The House will take the lead this week when it brings to the floor Wednesday legislation that would allow the FHA to insure up to $300 billion in loans on the verge of foreclosure.
Under Financial Services Chairman Barney Frank's bill, lenders who want to participate in the program would have to reduce the amount of the original note to as little as 85 percent of the home's appraised value.
In exchange, FHA would insure a new loan at a 30-year fixed rate that the borrower could afford. More borrowers would be eligible under the bill than under current FHA standards by allowing those with higher debt levels to participate.
The Bush administration has been cool to the bill, but Frank will attach two other measures the House has passed and the administration has long advocated: an overhaul of the FHA mortgage insurance program and a bill to strengthen oversight of Fannie and Freddie and to siphon money from the government-sponsored enterprises for an annual $500 million affordable housing trust fund.
The FHA overhaul bill is already in conference with the Senate but is stalled amid a dispute over two items: how much to raise or lower down-payment requirements to participate in the program and how much to raise loan limits.
The Senate passed its housing-stimulus package last month, but it was more narrowly tailored than the House version, providing $4 billion so cities can purchase and rehabilitate foreclosed properties and approximately $13 billion in tax breaks to spur home sales and help homebuilders.
Senate Banking Chairman Christopher Dodd wants to do more. He is working to reach a compromise on a GSE bill, a difficult task given that Banking ranking member Richard Shelby has been the biggest obstacle to moving the measure.
A markup had been scheduled for Tuesday on the GSE measure as well as a companion FHA refinancing measure. But it was canceled in an effort to give both sides more time to reach a deal on the bills.
Shelby contends that any GSE bill must impose strict limits on the two's $1.5 billion portfolio and tighten their capital standards, which were recently loosened.
In the House, Frank said he believes he can pick up significant Republican support on the floor, noting that 10 GOP members voted for his bill in his committee.
Many of those Republicans represent areas that have had a significant increase in foreclosures, such as the Sunbelt and the Midwest. "There is a greater unease by a lot of people, by the administration," Frank said. "Very few people can claim to see this coming."
The Frank bill, according to a House leadership aide, will include a separate tax portion that the Ways and Means Committee has already approved, providing $11 billion in tax breaks for first-time homebuyers and developers of low-income housing projects.
The package also will include a measure that would grant legal immunity to a loan servicer who modifies a troubled mortgage if it acts in the best interest of the overall pool.
The House will take a separate vote this week on a bill by Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., that would provide $15 billion to states and cities to buy and rehabilitate foreclosed homes so they can place families into them.
The Waters bill would provide $7.5 billion each for grants and loans based on a state's percentage of foreclosures over the past year, adjusted to its median home price. House Democrats have not unveiled how they will pay for the measure under pay/go budget rules. The White House opposes the Waters measure.
Meanwhile, although the farm bill has been moving slowly for the last 17 months, this week it might be finished in conference, see action on the floor of each chamber and be sent on its way to President Bush for his signature or veto.
House and Senate farm bill conferees, who wrapped up most of their work late last week, are expected to meet Tuesday to vote on remaining items and the overall conference report so it can be sent to the floors.
Both House Agriculture Chairman Collin Peterson and Senate Agriculture Chairman Tom Harkin said Friday they hope the conference report can pass both chambers this week.
Bush has said he would veto a bill if it did not include what he said were needed reforms.
Congressional farm leaders have said they hope to convince Bush to sign the bill, but they are also making plans to try to override his veto if necessary. A two-week extension of the 2002 farm bill expires May 16.
The Bush administration wants to force farmers to sell their commodities on the day that they take subsidies triggered by low prices, but congressional leaders on the issue want farmers to be able to maintain ownership of the grain so they can sell it later at higher prices.
The administration has said it is opposed to a House-passed measure that would stop states from using private firms for initial screening of food stamp applicants, but wants a measure allowing the U.S. government to spend up to 25 percent of food aid money on purchases from other countries.
Congress and the administration are wrangling over a cap on the adjusted gross income of farmers and nonfarmers who can receive farm subsidies, with the administration pushing for tighter restrictions. Conferees are waiting for CBO scores on some items.
The farm bill being finalized contains a number of provisions ranging from extending the ethanol tariff to tax breaks for timber interests and racehorse depreciation and a credit for cellulosic biofuels.
The farm bill is expected to contain a more generous expansion of duty-free preferences for textile and apparel imports from Haiti as well as an extension of trade preferences for other Caribbean nations that expire Sept. 30.
The Senate is expected to vote Tuesday on whether to limit debate on a FAA bill that has been rooted in partisan clashes over amendments and nonaviation language.
Senate Majority Leader Reid filed cloture on the bill Thursday after debate had been stalled for much of the week due to a dilemma over a Finance Committee-backed change to airline pension payment formulas.
Republican leaders and the White House are balking at the bill's reimbursements to the highway trust fund; rail infrastructure tax bonds, and the doubling of an oil spill tax from 5 cents to 10 cents a barrel, among other provisions unrelated to aviation.
Commerce Aviation Subcommittee ranking member Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, has filed a bill that would take these and other nonaviation provisions out of the FAA legislation.
Reid upset Republican leaders Wednesday when he moved to "fill the amendment tree" and essentially cut off amendments from being offered to the bill except for those he allows.
Reid accused Republicans of wanting to kill the bill. Minority Leader McConnell has promised to filibuster it until a compromise is reached.
Finance Chairman Max Baucus has called the oil spill tax increase and the bill's other pay-fors "responsible," and he and Finance ranking member Charles Grassley argue that the highway trust fund reimbursements are needed to fill a funding shortfall and preserve construction and other jobs.
A White House Statement of Administration Policy said the $5 billion reimbursement to the trust fund "is both a costly gimmick and a dangerous precedent that shifts costs from users to taxpayers at large."
The cloture vote would limit debate on a substitute to an initial FAA reauthorization compromise reached between the Finance and Commerce committees.
Commerce Aviation Subcommittee Chairman John (Jay) Rockefeller, D-W.Va., with Reid's backing, Wednesday withdrew that original deal and replaced it with a plan that omits Finance-approved language prohibiting airlines from counting past contributions in properly funding defined-benefit pensions.
Finance leaders say the change is necessary to guarantee that all airlines are treated equally. Critics -- including Hutchison and Majority Whip Durbin -- say it penalizes airlines that have not frozen their defined-benefit pension plans.
Meanwhile, the Senate might also take up legislation this week to reauthorize the federal government's flood insurance program. On Friday, Reid filed a cloture motion on the flood bill and said he would attempt to bring up the bill after debate on the FAA reauthorization measure.
The flood bill has been stalled over opposition from Louisiana and Mississippi senators who contend that their constituents will be forced to pay higher premiums and that it does not do enough to help provide affordable coverage after many insurers pulled out following 2005's Hurricane Katrina.
According to lobbyists, senators are exploring allowing the Gulf Coast senators a limited number of amendments to the flood bill.
The Senate Banking Committee approved its bill in October. Unlike a House-passed measure, it would forgive the program's approximately $17 billion debt from 2005 hurricane claims. It does not contain House language that would add optional wind coverage to the program. House and Senate bills would phase out below-market rates on vacation and second homes under the program.
Meanwhile, House Democratic leaders are hoping to pull the trigger on a war supplemental package this week, but must first sell their package to rank-and-file lawmakers before deciding whether to bring the measure to the floor for a vote.
Senior Democratic aides said there is a consensus among party leaders and Appropriations Chairman David Obey about what the package should look like and that a final decision will be made soon about whether to present the package to lawmakers at Tuesday's scheduled Democratic Caucus meeting.
Sources said House and Senate Democratic leaders remain at odds about the level of domestic spending to be included in the package, with the Senate looking to add more than the House.
"The difference between the two (bodies) comes down to how much domestic spending to put in there," said one aide. "The belief [among House leaders] is if you put the GI Bill in there, unemployment insurance, Medicaid regs, and a couple of other things relatively in proportion to the other spending, this could get signed by the president despite his ranting and raving about $108 billion. It is clear what the Senate would like to do will not become law."
Sources said that the plan is to bring the measure directly to the House floor for consideration despite Senate Appropriations Chairman Robert Byrd's insistence that the legislation be marked-up in his committee. The timing for such a markup is still unclear.
House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers' office confirmed Friday that legislation aimed at enhancing enforcement of laws targeting intellectual property crimes is scheduled to reach the House floor Tuesday.
The bill would create a high-level office to bolster coordination of multi-agency initiatives to curb piracy and counterfeiting. It was passed by Conyers' committee on a voice vote on Wednesday.
Members adopted a manager's amendment by Conyers, Judiciary ranking member Lamar Smith and others that addresses Bush administration concerns over how government agencies can craft a joint strategic plan and duties for the IP office.
At the markup, Judiciary Courts, the Internet and Intellectual Property Subcommittee Chairman Howard Berman, D-Calif., said the bill would essentially codify a successful Bush administration effort known as the Strategy Targeting Organized Piracy.
The House bill differs substantially from Senate IP legislation introduced last year by Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy, ranking member Arlen Specter and Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, which is focused on the Justice Department.
The Senate version would let the agency bring civil actions against copyright infringers; add resources for agents to combat infringement, and harmonize forfeiture language in copyright and trademark law.
n The Senate is not in session today. The chamber will meet Tuesday at 10 a.m. to resume consideration of the FAA reauthorization bill.
n The House meets today at 12:30 p.m. for morning hour and 2 p.m. to consider suspension bills. Votes are postponed until 6:30 p.m. On Tuesday the House meets at 10:30 a.m. for morning hour and noon for legislative business. On Wednesday and Thursday, the House meets at 10 a.m. for legislative business. On Friday, no votes are expected.
BANKING
On Wednesday, the Senate Banking Securities Subcommittee will hold a hearing on U.S. credit markets and the regulation of investment banks by the SEC.
The panel said it will probe the condition of the securities industry and the effect of the credit and mortgage crunch on investment banks.
Former SEC Chairmen Arthur Levitt and David Ruder are among those invited to testify.
BUDGET
Budget writers are looking to reach a deal on a budget this week as Senate Budget Chairman Kent Conrad and House Budget Chairman John Spratt aim to wrap pre-conference negotiations.
Last week, Spratt said he is hopeful that a compromise budget resolution can be reached this week, and that the House could name conferees. But he left open the possibility that a deal might not come until the following week.
Among the remaining unresolved issues is the FY09 discretionary funding figure. The House-approved budget would spend over $3 billion more than the Senate approved budget. Spratt said he thinks that issue is resolvable.
Congress' chances of passing a budget improved considerably after Spratt and Conrad reached an agreement with the Blue Dog Coalition last week to allow a point of order against any provisions that would increase the deficit by as much as $10 billion on the budget resolution in the Senate.
DEFENSE
Six House Armed Services subcommittees will meet this week to mark up their versions of the FY09 defense authorization bill, paving the way for the full committee's markup of the measure May 14.
Armed Services Chairman Ike Skelton has said his top priority for the Pentagon policy bill is to improve the military's readiness levels.
While he and other top Democrats on the panel have declined to discuss specifics of the bill, Skelton said last week that he continues to worry about how equipment shortfalls and the strain on heavily deployed forces would affect the military's ability to respond to contingencies.
Skelton's second major area of concern is Afghanistan -- an issue he hopes to address. However, the chairman said he was not certain what a provision on Afghanistan would look like and suggested it may be nonbinding, sense of Congress, language.
Skelton, who last year fought to keep controversial language on the Iraq conflict out of the typically bipartisan defense authorization bill, hopes to avert a showdown over the unpopular war this year.
The bill, which the Senate Armed Services Committee marked up last week, authorizes funding levels for the military and sets Pentagon policy.
The Senate's bill totaled $612.5 billion, including FY09 authorizations for the Defense Department, the Energy Department's nuclear activities, and a $70 billion bridge fund to pay for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan for the first several months of FY09.
House Majority Leader Hoyer has said the authorization measure will be on the House floor the week of May 19.
EDUCATION
John Marburger, Bush's chief science adviser, will speak to the American Association for the Advancement of Science's policy forum Thursday.
The annual conference examines hot-button issues like the allocation of funds for research projects within the federal budget and the growing number of policy topics that affect researchers and their institutions.
House and Senate science leaders and stakeholders in academia and industry have criticized the administration and appropriators for underfunding key nondefense research and development programs in recent years.
ENVIRONMENT
The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Wednesday will examine the issue of whether politics is interfering with science at the EPA, and comes in the wake of last week's resignation by the head of EPA's Midwest office.
Mary Gade, EPA's Region 5 director, resigned after the agency stripped her of her powers allegedly due to a dispute over efforts to clean up dioxin contamination near a Dow Chemical plant.
Democrats are already crying foul. "We do not yet know all the details of Ms. Gade's firing, or everything that may have gone on between EPA and Dow Chemical," Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., said on the Senate floor Friday.
"But from all we have heard and seen, Mary Gade's story seems like d%C3©j%C3%A0 vu all over again from an administration that values compliance with a political agenda over the best interests of the American people."
An EPA spokesman declined to discuss the details of Gade's resignation, calling it a personnel matter. He said Gade has been put on administrative leave until June 1 and will continue to be paid by the agency until then. The spokesman said Dow Chemical has been complying with three Superfund cleanup orders, having completed two and nearing completion of the third.
A spokesman for Environment and Public Works Chairwoman Barbara Boxer said Gade's firing did not prompt the timing of the hearing, which is on the subject of politicization of science at EPA that Boxer has long been examining. Boxer will target recent EPA regulations on ozone, particulate matter and lead among others in arguing that politics is trumping the views of EPA scientists.
GOVERNMENT OPS
House and Senate negotiators might start talks this week over separate versions of legislation aimed at ensuring the independence of federal inspectors general, though staffers said a deal is unlikely before budget discussions are completed.
Both the Senate and House have passed IG bills, with backers of the Senate bills -- in a bid to win a floor vote -- recently agreeing to a number of amendments aimed at addressing White House concerns. With the White House opposed to the House's slightly stronger bill but apparently willing to swallow the Senate bill, aides expect the House to largely accept the Senate version.
The House Oversight and Government Reform Federal Workforce Subcommittee has set a hearing Thursday on the Postal Service's implementation of provisions in the 2006 postal reform bill to enhance the organization's future economic position.
The Postal Service, which is expected to be self-supporting, is struggling due to the economic slowdown and short-term financial burdens imposed by the postal reform bill. This is the subcommittee's second hearing in recent months on implementation of the landmark legislation.
The full committee has scheduled a hearing Thursday on ozone standards issued in March by EPA. Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Henry Waxman has charged that the White House improperly intervened to weaken the standards. EPA Administrator Johnson and Susan Dudley, head of OMB's Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, are expected to testify at what will likely be a combative hearing.
Meanwhile, the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Management Subcommittee has a hearing Thursday on strategies for replacing an estimated 40 percent of federal employees who might retire in the next decade.
HEALTH
Senate Majority Leader Reid is determining the best way to push a moratorium on seven Medicaid regulations cutting reimbursement to states despite an alternate proposal from the administration.
A spokesman for Reid said the leader might file cloture on a bill delaying the regulations for one year, but he did not offer specific timing for a cloture vote.
HHS Secretary Leavitt said last week the president would not veto a delay of two of the more controversial regulations after the House passed a moratorium.
The administration pledged to veto a moratorium on all seven regulations. The regulations are meant to curb states abuses of the system, but states claim they will jeopardize essential services for children and the disabled.
Meanwhile, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee plans to hold hearings today and Wednesday looking into whether the administration's seven Medicaid regulations cutting reimbursements to states will have detrimental effects on hospitals' emergency surge capacity.
Academic and local public health officials are scheduled to testify today, followed by HHS Secretary Leavitt and Homeland Security Secretary Chertoff on Wednesday.
Former HHS secretaries Tommy Thompson and Donna Shalala are scheduled to appear before the Senate Finance Committee Tuesday to talk about healthcare reform.
Later on Tuesday, House Ways and Means Health Subcommittee Chairman Fortney (Pete) Stark, D-Calif., plans to examine Medicare's competitive bidding program for durable medical equipment.
The program was enacted under the Medicare Modernization Act of 2003 and was meant to lower costs. But, after the first bidding round was completed recently, some complained beneficiary access could be strained because some suppliers were improperly excluded from the process, according to Stark's office.
"We have heard from both suppliers and beneficiary advocates that the DMEPOS competitive bidding program is not working as well as it is supposed to. I look forward to hearing their concerns, as well as from CMS, as we consider whether changes need to be made before the program is further expanded," Stark said in a statement.
The Energy and Commerce Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee plans Thursday to delve into direct-to-consumer advertising and whether deception permeates the practice.
Energy and Commerce Chairman John Dingell and Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee Chairman Bart Stupak, D-Mich., are investigating direct-to-consumer advertisements, most notably one featuring Robert Jarvik, who created an artificial heart, for the cholesterol drug Lipitor.
The lawmakers worry Pfizer may have deceptively used Jarvik to appear as if he was giving medical advice.
Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee Chairman Frank Pallone, D-N.J., indicated last week his panel could hold a hearing this week on medical device and cosmetics provisions in draft legislation he proposed with Dingell and Stupak to overhaul FDA's inspection efforts.
HOMELAND SECURITY
With hearings in the House under way this week to examine immigration reform proposals (see item below), members of the House Homeland Security Committee will travel to the Arizona desert Friday to investigate the Bush administration's virtual fence program.
Lawmakers want to get a close-up look at the Homeland Security Department's SBInet program, which has been riddled with technical problems and schedule delays.
The first phase of the program, dubbed Project 28, consists of installing technology and infrastructure along 28 miles of the border near Nogales, Ariz., including mobile towers with radars, video systems and communications equipment.
The government accepted Project 28 from SBInet prime contractor Boeing Integrated Defense Systems in February.
Since then, government investigators and the Border Patrol have said the system does not work as planned.
Homeland Security and Boeing are in the process of replacing components of the system with updated technology.
Lawmakers will visit the Border Patrol's Tucson Sector headquarters and review the Project 28 command center, and receive a night tour of Border Patrol operations.
House Homeland Security Chairman Bennie Thompson has said he plans to hold hearings soon as part of a strategy by House Democratic leaders to evaluate immigration and border security reforms.
IMMIGRATION
House panels this week will examine the hot-button issue of making changes to the nation's immigration laws.
The House Ways and Means Social Security Subcommittee has called a hearing on Tuesday to examine proposals that would require all U.S. employers to verify the citizenship of newly hired workers and what impact that would have on the Social Security Administration.
Social Security administers the database that is used to verify workers' citizenship.
"If employment eligibility verification is to be a key enforcement tool for immigration policy, we must ensure the system is effective, efficient and feasible," said Rep. Michael McNulty, D-N.Y., chairman of the subcommittee.
"And it is essential that we not increase the workload of the Social Security Administration, which is already struggling with a crisis in backlogged disability claims and is facing a wave of baby-boom retirements," he added.
Democrats announced they would hold hearings on immigration reforms in the face of political pressure from Republicans to bring the so-called SAVE Act to the floor for a vote.
Introduced by Rep. Heath Shuler, D-N.C., the bill would require employers to participate in the Homeland Security Department's E-Verify program to confirm the citizenship of workers.
Republicans back a discharge petition to bring Shuler's bill to the floor. The petition had 187 signatures as of Thursday, short of the 218 needed to force it to the floor.
Shuler is expected to testify at Tuesday's hearing on a panel along with other lawmakers. A second panel will feature testimony from GAO, Social Security officials and immigration policy experts.
In particular, the hearing will examine whether E-Verify would be able to support a massive influx of registered employers. About 60,000 -- or 1 percent -- of U.S. employers use the system.
GAO and the Social Security Administration's inspector general have found that E-Verify is hampered by inaccurate records.
"Mistakes committed by employers and inaccuracies in [Social Security's] database would combine to produce millions of erroneous non-confirmations," the subcommittee said in a statement. "Unless the cost of this workload is fully funded, every year, a national system would disrupt not only hiring decisions, but also SSA's ability to conduct its core operations related to administration of Social Security benefits."
INTELLIGENCE
The House Intelligence Committee plans to meet Thursday to mark up the FY09 intelligence authorization bill.
The bill, which sets policy and spending levels for the nation's 16 intelligence agencies, is expected to reach the House floor before the Memorial Day recess, Hoyer said.
Partisan fighting over the legislation is likely, as Democrats are expected to add amendments that mirror those included in the Senate's version of the measure.
The Senate Intelligence Committee marked up its bill Thursday and placed controls on how intelligence agencies interrogate terrorism suspects.
One amendment would prohibit the agencies from using interrogation methods that are beyond the scope of the Army Field Manual. The amendment is intended to specifically prevent the CIA from using torture, such as waterboarding.
Democrats included the provision in the FY08 intelligence authorization bill, which the White House ultimately vetoed. House Democrats were unable to get a two-thirds majority to override the veto in March.
Other amendments in the Senate bill would ban the CIA from using contractors to conduct interrogations, and give the Red Cross access to detainees.
An intelligence authorization bill has not been enacted into law for the last three years.
POLITICS
A handful of incumbent lawmakers face primary challenges Tuesday in North Carolina and Indiana.
In North Carolina, Republican Rep. Walter Jones faces primary opposition from Onslow County Commissioner Joe McLaughlin. The race has attracted attention because Jones is one of the few Republicans opposed to the war in Iraq.
Republicans will also select a candidate to face freshman Democratic Rep. Heath Shuler. The GOP primary is between attorney John Armor, former Henderson County GOP Chairman Spence Campbell and Asheville City Councilman Carl Mumpower.
In the Senate race, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee hopes state Sen. Kay Hagan survives the primary to challenge Republican Sen. Elizabeth Dole in the fall. Democratic fundraiser Jim Neal, who is openly gay, has given Hagan a bit of a fight in the early part of the year, but Marcus Williams, Howard Staley and Duskin Lassiter have not had much of an impact on the race.
In Indiana, newly elected Democratic Rep. Andre Carson faces seven challengers in the primary. They include state Reps. Carolene Mays and David Orentlicher, former state Health Commissioner Woody Myers, Joseph Stockett, Frances Williams, Pierre Pullins and Larry Ledford. On the Republican side, state Rep. Jon Elrod has two primary challengers.
Also in Indiana, Democratic Rep. Baron Hill has three primary challengers, but is expected to be re-nominated and should face former Republican Rep. Mike Sodrel for the fourth straight election. And freshman Democratic Rep. Joe Donnelly will discover who his Republican opponent is in the 2nd District. Businessman Luke Puckett, former restaurant owner Joe Roush and attorney Tony Zirkle are seeking the GOP nomination.
Republican Rep. Dan Burton faces two primary challengers: John McGoff and Clayton Alfred.
Tuesday is the filing deadline for congressional candidates in Massachusetts, but the all-Democratic delegation is unlikely to attract many strong Republican challengers.
TELECOM
The House Energy and Commerce Telecommunications and the Internet Subcommittee wades into the high-profile issue of preserving the Internet's openness with a Tuesday hearing on network-neutrality legislation authored by the subcommittee's chairman, Rep. Edward Markey, D-Mass.
Also Tuesday, the Computer and Communications Industry Association holds its annual "Washington Caucus," featuring speeches by several political heavyweights, including Sens. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Senate Judiciary ranking member Arlen Specter.
Also set to appear are FCC Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein, and Reps. Rick Boucher, D-Va., and Anna Eshoo and Zoe Lofgren, both D-Calif.
CCIA, which represents Google, Microsoft, Yahoo and others, has worked with lawmakers to craft legislation that would update the U.S. patent and copyright regimes; secure more visas for highly skilled workers, and fund more federal research and development.
On Wednesday, the House Small Business Contracting and Technology Subcommittee holds a hearing on the nation's upcoming historic shift from analog to digital television signals. The panel is headed by Rep. Bruce Braley, D-Iowa.
5/5/2008 AM Contents
- Connecticut House Approves Whistle-Blower Measure
- Bill Requiring Use Of E-Verify Advances in Rhode Island
- Statewide Cable Permitting Bill Goes To Tenn. Governor
- Minn. House Wage Measure Draws Governor's Criticism
