The 110th to Protect Credit Consumers?

Dec 1, 2006 by Craig Jennings

With the bursting of the real estate bubble and increases in interest rates, access to cheap home equity loans is drying up and adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs) are taking up larger portions of homeowners’ take home pay. As household finances begin tightening, consumers will be increasingly reaching for their credit cards, and not just for big-ticket purchases like plasma TVs, but for more everyday expenses like food and utility bills.

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Nonprofit Agency?

Nov 30, 2006 by Amanda Adams*

The Federal Times reports that nonprofit leaders are advocating for the creation of a new agency that would regulate the nonprofit sector. The IRS is the main agency dealing with nonprofits because of the tax code, but no agency strictly deals with supporting, monitoring, and regulating nonprofit organizations. The nonprofit sector is also increasingly growing, which has caused increased Congressional interest.

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CREW Files Complaint Against Cuban Lobbying Group

Nov 30, 2006 by Amanda Adams*

The Miami Herald reported that Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics In Washington (CREW) filed a Federal Election Commission (FEC) complaint against Leopoldo Fernandez Pujals, a foreign national, and Mauricio Claver-Carone, Gus Machado, Cuba Democracy Advocates, Inc. and the US-Cuba Democracy PAC for violations of federal campaign finance law. CREW claims that the Cuban-American lobbying organization that favors tougher sanctions against Cuba broke FEC regulations by having illegal links to the nonprofit group Cuba Democracy Advocates Inc.

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2006 Election Analysis

Nov 30, 2006 by Amanda Adams*

Although there was no horrific voting catastrophe, the incidences that did occur should be recognized. For example, there were reports of voting system problems and poll worker confusion over identification requirements. Electionline.org, a nonpartisan research group, released its first report on the 2006 Election. The report gives an overall summary of problems such as voter identification, voter registration, and electronic voting systems, a summary of the specific states they watched and a brief synopsis of each state. As the report notes; "Success is difficult to measure.

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Contractors, FEMA Still Bungling Hurricane Relief

Nov 30, 2006 by Matt Lewis

Louisiana officials are fed up with a company contracted to administer a fund for rebuilding hurricane-damaged homes. The fund, called the Road Home Project, has $8 billion in it. But as of Wednesday last week, only 39 applicants had received anything from it -- 8 weeks after the fund got up and running. Governor Blanco has given ICF -- the contractor in charge of managing the fund -- until the end of month to issue payments to at least 10,000 applicants.

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USDA Backs Away from Animal ID System

Nov 29, 2006 by Guest Blogger

Prompted by pressure from industry, USDA has backed away from requiring ranchers to ID livestock in a federal database. The database was proposed last year in order to allow the agency to quickly track and stop the spread of disease between animals as well as disease spread from animals to humans. Currently, 23 percent of farms are voluntarily registered in the program. In April, Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns announced a timetable and implementation plan for the ID system, calling for all farms to be registered by 2009.

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That's No Anomaly -- That's My Lunch!

Nov 29, 2006 by Dana Chasin

Congress Daily ($) reported this afternoon that Congressional GOP leaders appear close to an agreement to extend the FY2007 Continuing Resolution (CR, discussed here, and here) until next Feb. 15. Aware that the longer the CR is extended (for reasons discussed here), the greater the likelihood that images of low-income housing assistance recipients out on the streets or schoolchildren going without breakfast and lunch would start playing out in the media:

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Federal Court Strikes Down Parts of EO Used to Shut Down Charities

Nov 29, 2006 by Kay Guinane

In a victory for nonprofits a federal district court in Los Angeles has ruled key portions of the Executive Order used to designate organizations as supporters of terrorism are unconstitutionally vague. The case was brought by the Humanitarian Law Project, which wants to provide support for "lawful, nonviolent activities" of the Kurdistan Workers Party and Tamil Tigers, which have been designated as terrorist organizations.

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Opening up the Flood, Gates?

Nov 29, 2006 by Dana Chasin

Looking at the issues raised by Adam's blog below on the record-setting (estimated at $127-150 billion) emergency supplemental spending request expected from the Pentagon early next year, one wonders: where is the Congressional appetite for such spending expected to come from? In the face of:
  • renewed congressional interest in re-asserting and exercising oversight authority
  • heightened vigilance among budget hawks in Congress regarding the deficit
  • members' keen awareness of the Iraq war's vast and growing unpopularity among Americans

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Bush Still Loves Tax Cuts, Advisor Says

Nov 29, 2006 by Matt Lewis

Allen Hubbard, president of the National Economic Council (Bush's economic advisors), wrote to the Washington Post yesterday on a familiar subject- tax cuts (emph. mine). There is no denying that the president's tax cuts and other pro-growth policies have played an important role in spurring the economic expansion we've seen under this president. More than 6.8 million jobs have been created since August 2003; the unemployment rate is 4.4 percent; and real wages have grown 2.8 percent over the past 12 months. We've also proved that you can have tax cuts that result in robust revenue growth.

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