Tags: Brian Foo, Library of Congress, music

Billed as a roundtable of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, Wednesday's hearing included some of the nation’s most prominent dissenters on mainstream measures like business closures, stay-at-home orders and calls for widespread testing.

For the first time in a decade Congress will hold a hearing Wednesday on the subject of reparations for the descendants of slaves in the United States, a topic that has gained traction in the run-up to the 2020 elections. The hearing is set for June 19, also known as "Juneteenth," the day when in 1865 former enslaved people in Texas first learned that they had been emancipated two years earlier. The House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties is holding the hearing on H.R. 40 , which calls for a commission to "study and develop reparation proposals for African-Americans," including a formal apology by the U.S. government "for the perpetration of gross human rights violations and crimes against humanity on African slaves and their descendants." The hearing is scheduled to feature testimony from author Ta-Nehisi Coates, whose article "The Case for Reparations," published by The Atlantic magazine in 2014, is widely credited with re-igniting the

Former special counsel Robert Mueller is testifying before Congress on Wednesday, and lawmakers have so many questions they may not have enough time to ask them all. The House judiciary and intelligence committees have scheduled hearings for 8:30 a.m. and noon. Majority Democrats and minority Republicans are expected to try their utmost to get the most good they can from Mueller — in very different ways. Members of Congress already postponed Mueller's hearings once to wrangle more time. Complicating the matter will be Mueller himself, who has said he intends to confine his testimony to what he has already set forth in his report. In addition, the Justice Department sent Mueller a letter on Monday night saying it expects Mueller to not stray beyond what is publicly known about his work, citing executive privilege. That won't constrain members of Congress from trying. Here are some of the questions they might ask, broken up by the majority and the minority members on these committees.

On this episode of River to River , host Ben Kieffer is joined by former congressman Jim Leach, best known for his 30 years representing Iowa in Washington. Leach, who is also on faculty at the University of Iowa, offers his reflections on the COVID-19 crisis in the context of his latest course, titled “What is Precedented and Unprecedented in Contemporary Politics.”

“The Squad” gets a lot of media attention, but they are just one part of the record number of women elected to Congress in 2018. In fact, it was the most diverse freshman class ever elected: the first Muslim women representatives ever, the first Native women, the first two Latina members from Texas, two black women from New England, and the two youngest members ever elected to the House of Representatives.

Invoking rules that sometimes seem quaint as quill pens, the House and Senate certified President Bush's reelection despite a rare objection, which was intended to spotlight voting irregularities in Ohio and elsewhere.

Supporters of local journalism in Congress say a nationwide campaign of public service announcements about COVID-19 would both inform citizens and throw local news outlets a lifeline. But Canada tried the same thing 40 days ago and little of the money has reached news publishers.

COVID-19 is taking a heavy financial toll on city budgets in general and with local law enforcement on the front lines fighting the pandemic, police department budgets in particular have been severely strained.The letters read in part:"Anecdotally, Madison, WI may have to eliminate 30 police department positions next year; Oklahoma City is looking at a 3.

Colorado's cannabis industry is allowed to remain open to provide "critical" services during the coronavirus pandemic, but because marijuana is a federally controlled substance, dispensaries and other businesses are ineligible to receive stimulus funds to help offset the economic impacts caused by COVID-19.

Pay cut, Congress? With so many people unemployed and hurting financially in so many ways, I think it is time to ask Congress to take a pay cut to free money for individuals and small businesses that need help.

The former Georgia lawmaker is catching heat.

COVID-19 has shone a very bright light on the importance of widely available, affordable broadband. Nearly 42 million Americans lack access to any broadband whatsoever--double FCC estimates. And millions more can't afford service thanks to a lack of competition among very powerful, government pampered telecom monopolies.

As usual, with political pressure mounting to "do something," DC's solution is going to be to throw more money at the problem:

"The plan unveiled Thursday would inject $80 billion over five years into expansion of broadband infrastructure into neglected rural, suburban and urban areas, with an emphasis on communities with high levels of poverty. It includes measures to promote rapid building of internet systems, such as low-interest financing for infrastructure projects."

To be clear, subsidies often do help shore up broadband availability at coverage. The problem is that the United States government, largely captured by telecom giants with a vested interest in protecting regional monopolies, utterly sucks at it.

Despite ample pretense to the contrary, nobody in the US government actually knows where broadband is currently available. Data supplied by ISPs has never been rigorously fact-checked by a government fearful of upsetting deep-pocketed campaign contributors (and valued NSA partners). As a result, our very expensive ($350 million at last count) FCC broadband coverage map creates a picture of availability and speed that's complete fantasy. It's theater designed to disguise the fact that US broadband is mediocre on every broadband metric that matters. Especially cost.

While there has been some effort to fix the mapping problem via recent legislation, the FCC still needs several years (and more money) to do so. And while you'd think this would be more obvious, you can't fix a problem you can't even effectively measure. There's also not much indication that the $80 billion, while potentially well intentioned, would actually get where it needs to go. Especially right now, when federal oversight is effectively nonexistent.

You may or may not have noticed this, but US telecom is a corrupt, monopolized mess. Giants like AT&T and Comcast all but own state and federal legislatures and, in many instances, literally write the law. Feckless regulators bend over backward to avoid upsetting deep-pocketed campaign contributors. So when subsidies are doled out, they very often don't end up where regulators and lawmakers intended. There's an endless ocean of examples where these giants took billions in taxpayer subsidies to deploy fiber networks that are never fully delivered.

If you were to do meaningful audit (which we've never done because again we're not willing to adequately track the problem or stand up to dominant incumbent corporations) you'd very likely find that American taxpayers already paid for fiber to every home several times over.

That's not to say is that there aren't things Congress could do to help the disconnected during COVID-19. Libraries for example have been begging the FCC for the ability to offer expanded WiFi hotspot access (via mobile school buses) to disconnected communities without running afoul of FCC ERate rules. But while the FCC said libraries can leave existing WiFi on without penalty, it has been mute about whether they can extend coverage outside of library property. Why? As a captured agency, the FCC doesn't like anything that could potentially result in Comcast or AT&T making less money.

None of this is to say that we shouldn't subsidize broadband deployment once we get a handle on the mapping problem. But it's a fantasy to think we're going to immediately fix a 30 year old problem with an additional $80 billion in a mad dash during a pandemic. US broadband dysfunction was built up over decades. It's the product of corruption and rot that COVID-19 is exposing at every level of the US government. The only way to fix it is to stand up to industry, initiate meaningful reform, adopt policies that drive competition to market, and jettison feckless lawmakers and regulators whose dominant motivation is in protecting AT&T, Verizon, Comcast, and Spectrum revenues.

Maybe the pandemic finally provides the incentive to actually do that, but until the US does, these subsidization efforts are largely theater.

Congress Sets Up Taxpayers to Eat $454 Billion of Wall Street’s Losses. Where Is the Outrage?

By Pam Martens and Russ Martens: May 7, 2020 ~ Beginning on March 24 of this year, Larry Kudlow, the White House Economic Advisor, began to roll out the most deviously designed bailout of Wall Street in the history of America. After the Federal Reserve’s secret $29 trillion bailout of Wall Street from 2007 to 2010, and the exposure of that by a government audit and in-depth report by the Levy Economics Institute in 2011, Kudlow was going to have to come up with a brilliant strategy to sell another multi-trillion-dollar Wall Street bailout to the American people. The scheme was brilliant (in an evil genius sort of way) and audacious in employing an Orwellian form of reverse-speak. The plan to bail out Wall Street would be sold to the American people as a rescue of “Main Street.” It was critical, however, that all of the officials speaking to the … Continue reading →

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by Lori Andrews

Six years ago, on June 13, 2013, the U.S. Supreme Court in AMP v. Myriad took a great step forward for women’s health by unanimously ruling that human genes could not be patented. Now a bipartisan group of Senators and Representatives have released a bill that would allow companies to own our genes once again.

Article 1 of the U.S. Constitution provides that any patent system must “promote progress in science and the useful arts.” But patents on genes do not promote the ... More

The post Congress Wants to Give Companies the Right to Own Our Genes appeared first on Our Bodies Ourselves.

Congress can and should do more to combat a coronavirus downturn — including a $1,000 UBI check to every citizen.

A pandemic threatens participation in the ultimate act of citizenship.

The stimulus plan passed the Senate. Now it's up to government to get the money flowing quickly and transparently.

Christy Smith is the voice we need in California's 25th Congressional District to help guide the nation through the coronavirus crisis.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell calls the Senate back as Washington, D.C.'s coronavirus numbers rise.

After weeks of the coronavirus shutdown, the Republican-led Senate will gavel into session Monday. The Democratic-led House will not.

The Capitol Hill beat is a tactile job that doesn't lend itself to social distancing, masks — or babies that cry when Mom is on the phone.

The 'en banc' D.C. Circuit Court will determine whether a congressional subpoena can be enforced by the courts.

Joaquin Phoenix, Glenn Close and "Blackfish" director Gabriela Cowperthwaite are among those backing a bill to help free captive cats shown in "Tiger King."

Future authorizations must be limited in scope and duration so that wars can no longer be waged endlessly without public deliberation, a letter says.

Sandy Rivera is one of roughly 800,000 DACA program participants whose futures hang in the balance of a congressional debate.

IndyStar reached out to every candidate to ask questions about topics Hoosiers care about. Here's what the Republicans on the ballot said.

People are mad because some big companies got loans through a program meant to help mom-and-pop businesses.

The Members team ultimately fell 10-4 to the press team, despite valiant efforts from players such as 2020 presidential hopeful and team pitcher Kirsten Gillibrand.

Fans of the Disney animated movie celebrated its addition to the National Film Registry.

Despite the potential of, um, awkwardness among the diplomatic core and official Washington, elbows were ripe for rubbing at the French ambassador’s residence.

The president and his team of unelected bureaucrats have siphoned power away from the legislature.

The following article, Dem Congresswoman: Biden Allegation ‘Put To Rest’ Because He ‘Went on TV’ And Denied It, was first published on 100PercentFedUp.com.

Democrat Rep. Dina Titus says that the allegations against 2020 Democrat presidential candidate Joe Biden are “put to rest” because he “went on TV” and denied them. Rep. Titus spoke with MSNBC’s Ayman Mohyeldin today about how she believes Biden because he flatly said he didn’t do it and didn’t say he doesn’t remember. It’s […]

Continue reading: Dem Congresswoman: Biden Allegation ‘Put To Rest’ Because He ‘Went on TV’ And Denied It ...