Article 485
April 28, 2008 01:04 PM (19 days ago) | Overall Score: 5.0 | Replies: 0

Yeah. The bill would lead to the creation of this website. Actually, there could be several visual registry websites created under the bill. It would put in place a certification process for the Copyright Office to approve commercially produced registries. A lot of visual artists are worried that it would cost too much money and take too much time to digitize all their work and post it to these sites. They also seem to be worried that people may successfully make a legal argument that looking up a work in the registries constitutes a "diligent search." Seems like an issue that could potentially be taken care of in the best search practices that are to be drawn up by the Register of Copyrights. A work does not have to be registered to be copyrighted, and the best practices should reflect this fact. Here's Public knowledge's visual registry proposal (PDF): http://www.publicknowledge.org/pdf/pk-visualregistry-memo-20070129.pdf

H.R.5749
April 26, 2008 07:04 PM (20 days ago) | Overall Score: 5.0 | Replies: 0

There's simple way to eliminate spam on this site. Just register an account, log in, and click "No" for all comments that you don't think are useful. Once five people click "No" for a comment, it will be filtered out.

Article 469
April 11, 2008 05:04 PM (about 1 month ago) | Overall Score: 5.0 | Replies: 0

The vote yesterday only affected presidential fast track authority as it relates to the U.S.-Columbia FTA bill. It created an exception exclusively for that bill.

S.2544
April 10, 2008 07:04 PM (about 1 month ago) | Overall Score: 5.0 | Replies: 0

Somebody just mentioned this page on digg.com in conjunction with a NYT article on extending unemployment benefits. Digg.com is a news site with a huge audience -- it may be worth quickly registering an account there and "digging" this to get it to the front page where thousands of people will see it. http://digg.com/politics/A_call_to_extend_unemployment_benefits

Article 469
April 10, 2008 07:04 PM (about 1 month ago) | Overall Score: 5.0 | Replies: 0

Hi Anonymous, Yes, of course Clyburn's explanation is basically talking point material. That's why I also provided links to two articles that attempt to give deeper explanations of what is behind the Democrats' move here.

S.2690
March 19, 2008 07:03 PM (about 1 month ago) | Overall Score: 5.0 | Replies: 0

Here's a really good picture of what Braille flags look like: http://www.kbti.org/images/americanflag03.jpg

H.R.5140
March 18, 2008 03:03 PM (2 months ago) | Overall Score: 5.0 | Replies: 0

When to Expect Your Stimulus Check: http://www.opencongress.org/articles/view/450-When-to-Expect-Your-Stimulus-Check

S.2544
March 18, 2008 01:03 PM (2 months ago) | Overall Score: 5.0 | Replies: 0

Hi Anonymous, The Senate was in pro-forma session this morning. During a pro-forma sessions no votes are held and no legislative business is conducted. It is a formality that is used to keep Congress technically in session so that the President cannot legally bypass the Senate confirmation process for appointing government officials.

S.2544
March 15, 2008 01:03 PM (2 months ago) | Overall Score: 5.0 | Replies: 0

Just FYI, if everyone registers with this site and logs in, you'll all get the ability to rate the comments on this board using a simple sider bar and collectively filter out the ones that you think are inappropriate, inaccurate, etc. Once five people rate a comment lower than "5," it will not be viewable unless you choose to view all comments. Just scroll up to the upper right corner of this page and click on "Join OpenCongress," or copy/paste this url into your browser: http://www.opencongress.org/register

S.2544
March 13, 2008 01:03 PM (2 months ago) | Overall Score: 5.0 | Replies: 0

If the House and Senate end up agreeing to include the unemployment benefits in the budget resolution, they'll still need to enact the extension separately. If that happens as part of the normal budget/appropriations process, it could take until the fall or next winter to actually be enacted. So, if Congress signifies a willingness to extend unemployment benefits by including it in the budget resolution, the push will then be to get them to enact it soon, via this bill.

S.2544
March 13, 2008 12:03 PM (2 months ago) | Overall Score: 5.0 | Replies: 1

Here's an excerpt from Congressdaily (3/11), a subscription-only insider news source: The Senate's budget resolution includes $35 billion for a second economic stimulus package that was originally intended to accommodate an extension of unemployment benefits, a temporary increase in food stamps, and low-income heating assistance. Conrad said Monday that money could go toward housing legislation. The House version does not include any provisions for a second stimulus plan. On Monday, House Budget Chairman Spratt said increasing unemployment benefits is likely to have the best chance in the House. "The rate of unemployment is rather low at this point in time, but if the economy gets worse, the rate of unemployment is bound to go up," he said. "I would think if it goes up above a certain level -- 6 percent, 6 1/2 percent -- I'm just stabbing at a number, with some level of seriousness, then I think we would at least come back and consider that component of an additional stimulus."

Sen. Edward Kennedy [D, MA]
March 6, 2008 08:03 PM (2 months ago) | Overall Score: 5.0 | Replies: 0

If you click on the "See Full Voting History" button above, you will see that Kennedy voted "nay" on final passage of the FISA bill. There were also a dozen or so votes on amendments to the bill before it s final passage -- you can also see how he voted on each of those.

Sen. John Kerry [D, MA]
March 6, 2008 08:03 PM (2 months ago) | Overall Score: 5.0 | Replies: 0

If you click on the "See Full Voting History" button above, you will see that Kerry voted "nay" on final passage of the FISA bill. There were also a dozen or so votes on amendments to the bill before it s final passage -- you can also see how he voted on each of those.

H.R.946
March 3, 2008 03:03 PM (2 months ago) | Overall Score: 5.0 | Replies: 0

The latest relevant blurb from the unlinkable CongressDaily: A GAO report released today found that banks are doing a poor job disclosing their fees to their customers. GAO investigators -- posing as customers -- found that about 20 percent of branches they visited could not provide them with detailed fee information and account terms. They also could not find such fee information on the Web; about 50 percent of the sites checked lacked such notice. GAO recommended federal banking regulators do a better job on oversight. The findings come as consumers paid more than $36 billion in fees for checking and savings accounts in 2006. Customers are paying more for such penalties because the average fees for insufficient funds, overdrafts, stop-payment on checks and other items have increased by at least 10 percent since 2000. House Financial Services Financial Institutions Subcommittee Chairwoman Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y, requested the report. Maloney has spoken out against what she labels excessive bank fees and has sponsored legislation that would require banks to provide a warning to ATM customers when they are about to make an overdraft on their account. The bill was slated to be marked up by the House Financial Services Committee last year, but has been delayed by bank and credit-union opposition.

S.2544
February 28, 2008 01:02 PM (2 months ago) | Overall Score: 5.0 | Replies: 0

This bill is going to be included in Congress's budget resolution. CongressDaily reports: The budget resolution will include a separate $35 billion economic-stimulus bill that will be made up of an unemployment insurance extension, a temporary increase in food stamps and low-income heating assistance. Conrad said the stimulus bill will not be offset. The budget resolution will designate the stimulus bill as emergency spending. Conrad said the next stimulus package is designed to sweep in "things that were left out of the previous stimulus package." He also pointed to CBO's analysis that an unemployment extension and food stamp increases are most likely to have an immediate positive impact on the economy. The Senate's next stimulus bill will not include additional federal money for Medicaid. State governors and more than 70 health and labor groups have lobbied for a temporary increase in Medicaid as part of a stimulus package, but their pleas have largely fallen on deaf ears. via OMB Watch: http://www.ombwatch.org/article/blogs/entry/4651

H.R.5140
February 14, 2008 12:02 AM (3 months ago) | Overall Score: 5.0 | Replies: 0

Bush's statement upon signing the bill today: "Congress passed a really good piece of legislation, and they did so in a very expeditious manner. The bill I'm signing today is large enough to have an impact -- amounting to more than $152 billion this year, or about 1 percent of GDP. The bill provides temporary tax incentives for businesses to make investments in their companies so that we create new jobs this year. The bill provides individual tax relief in the form of tax rebates. These rebates will amount to as much as $600 for individuals and $1,200 for married couples, with additional rebates for families with children." "The members resisted the temptation to load up this bill with unrelated programs or unnecessary spending, and I appreciate that. I thank the members for acting quickly. I thank them for acting to provide immediate tax relief to the American people." http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2008/02/20080213-3.html

H.R.5140
February 14, 2008 12:02 AM (3 months ago) | Overall Score: 5.0 | Replies: 0

One of the big questions relating to how effective this bill will be is whether or not people will actually spend their rebate checks. The National Retail Federation just released their results of a survey they conducted on the matter. "According to a new National Retail Federation survey, conducted by BIGresearch, consumers plan to spend 40.6 percent of tax rebate checks when they are distributed later this year, which will provide an immediate $42.9 billion boost to the economy. The survey also found that the $105.7 billion distributed in tax rebate checks will be used to pay down debt ($30.0 billion), saved ($19.8 billion), invested ($4.4 billion), and used to pay down medical bills ($4.6 billion)." "'Tax rebate checks should have the desired effect of both bolstering the economy in the short-term and putting consumers in a better position to spend for the future,' said NRF President and CEO Tracy Mullin. 'This stimulus package is a crucial component to economic recovery and will provide much-needed relief to American shoppers.'" More: http://www.nrf.com/modules.php?name=News&op=viewlive&sp_id=478

H.R.5140
February 11, 2008 02:02 AM (3 months ago) | Overall Score: 5.0 | Replies: 0

Hi, Anonymous. I noticed this article posted above in OpenCongress's news coverage of the bill that answers you question about SSI. http://usgovinfo.about.com/b/2008/02/09/ssi-and-the-tax-rebate-checks.htm excerpt: "Based on the Economic Stimulus Bill as passed by Congress, persons with income from Supplemental Security Income (SSI) alone will not qualify for a tax rebate check."

H.R.5140
February 9, 2008 01:02 PM (3 months ago) | Overall Score: 5.0 | Replies: 1

Hi Anonymouses, thanks for the useful insights here. From reading the bill, my understanding is that the rebates are coming to us as advances on a one-year tax cut (reducing the 10 percent bracket to zero), which will be figured when we file in 2008. It'll be like a federal tax refund -- not deductible and not taxable as income. http://www.opencongress.org/articles/view/418-Stimulus-Bill-Misconceptions p.s. why not register an account and post your comments under a username so the conversation is easier to follow..

S.1060
February 1, 2008 01:02 AM (3 months ago) | Overall Score: 5.0 | Replies: 1

Hi, Alyce. "SD-226" actually refers to the room in the Senate Building where the meeting is going to be held. It's worth noting that it's the House's version of this bill that has done most of the moving forward in Congress towards becoming a law. You may want to monitor that bill page (linked to above in the "related bills" column) and its news and blog coverage to be alerted if and when Senator Sessions drops his "hold" and allows it to be voted on by the Senate. As far as I can tell, there's no way to know if that's going to happen. Anyone got an inside scoop on this bill's status? Here's the URL for the House version:: http://www.opencongress.org/bill/110-h1593/show

Article 395
January 24, 2008 01:01 PM (3 months ago) | Overall Score: 5.0 | Replies: 0

Alex Stenback has heard from "a very reliable source" that much of the FHA modernization bill (S.2338) will be included in the economic stimulus package: "Sources in the House, the Senate, and the White House are all indicating today that a tentative consensus has been reached that the economic stimulus bill that Congress will send to the President will include much of the FHA Reform Legislation including raising the FHA loan limit max to match the FHA conforming limit AND a one year raise of the conforming limit to $625,000 with the possibility of an additional one year extension at expiration. All sources also indicate Congress will deliver the bill to the President before their break in mid-February and that it should be signed by the end of February. Obviously this is not "done" but all of the sources I am using are very close to the action. This would mean that we could see at least the loan limit portions of the legislation we are hoping for within the next 6 weeks." http://www.behindthemortgage.com/behind_the_mortgage/2008/01/news-on-conform.html And below are some reactions to the "news": http://calculatedrisk.blogspot.com/2008/01/were-all-jumbo-subprime-now.html http://www.chrishayes.org/blog/2008/jan/24/worst-stimulus-ever/

S.2338
January 24, 2008 01:01 PM (3 months ago) | Overall Score: 5.0 | Replies: 2

Alex Stenback has heard from "a very reliable sourse" that much of this bill (but an even higher loan limit) will be included in the economic stimulus package: "Sources in the House, the Senate, and the White House are all indicating today that a tentative consensus has been reached that the economic stimulus bill that Congress will send to the President will include much of the FHA Reform Legislation including raising the FHA loan limit max to match the FHA conforming limit AND a one year raise of the conforming limit to $625,000 with the possibility of an additional one year extension at expiration. All sources also indicate Congress will deliver the bill to the President before their break in mid-February and that it should be signed by the end of February. Obviously this is not "done" but all of the sources I am using are very close to the action. This would mean that we could see at least the loan limit portions of the legislation we are hoping for within the next 6 weeks." http://www.behindthemortgage.com/behind_the_mortgage/2008/01/news-on-conform.html And below are some reactions to the "news": http://calculatedrisk.blogspot.com/2008/01/were-all-jumbo-subprime-now.html http://www.chrishayes.org/blog/2008/jan/24/worst-stimulus-ever/

Article 395
January 24, 2008 12:01 PM (3 months ago) | Overall Score: 5.0 | Replies: 0

Bloomberg this morning released a description of what the stimulus package is shaping up to look like :: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=atd7gXmX2POw&refer=home Krugman is not happy with it :: http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/01/24/stimulus-disappointment/

H.R.4137
January 24, 2008 12:01 AM (3 months ago) | Overall Score: 5.0 | Replies: 0

These new numbers out from the MPAA should help the cause of getting the filesharing provision out of this bill: "Yesterday, the Motion Picture Association of America admitted something that many of us had suspected all along – an MPAA-funded study showing that 44% of the industry’s losses came from illegal downloading of movies by college students using campus networks was overstated by a factor of 3. The MPAA now says that only 15% of its losses come from campus activity." http://www.publicknowledge.org/node/1363

H.R.3746
January 24, 2008 12:01 AM (3 months ago) | Overall Score: 5.0 | Replies: 0

The new numbers from the MPAA may help the cause of getting the p2p provision out of this bill: "Yesterday, the Motion Picture Association of America admitted something that many of us had suspected all along – an MPAA-funded study showing that 44% of the industry’s losses came from illegal downloading of movies by college students using campus networks was overstated by a factor of 3. The MPAA now says that only 15% of its losses come from campus activity." http://www.publicknowledge.org/node/1363

H.J.Res.71
January 22, 2008 12:01 PM (3 months ago) | Overall Score: 5.0 | Replies: 0

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S.2191
January 21, 2008 11:01 AM (3 months ago) | Overall Score: 5.0 | Replies: 0

Here's a video of the whole conference:: http://video.energypolicytv.com/displaypage.php?vkey=9337587f6ab6397699af&channel=Natural%20Gas

H.R.1585
January 18, 2008 11:01 PM (3 months ago) | Overall Score: 5.0 | Replies: 0

Just a quick follow up: this bill is back on track to becoming law. It's been revamped to address the President's concerns and approved one again by the House. It now heads to the Senate where it is expected to be easily approved before going to Bush to be signed into law. More here: http://www.opencongress.org/articles/view/390-Showdown-Avoided

S.2191
January 17, 2008 05:01 PM (4 months ago) | Overall Score: 5.0 | Replies: 0

This bill -- or any climate change bill for that matter -- probably won't be approved during this session of Congress. It'll almost certainly come up for a vote, but I don't think the support is there to pass it. Nonetheless, it's going to be a big factor in how the U.S. responds policy-wise to climate change in the future. Representatives form the oil, coal and gas industries met up for a conference yesterday and agreed that debate of this bill will set the marker for debates next year. And, since its emissions requirements are weaker than some other bills in Congress, that they should support it as the best proposal they are likely to get. Interesting. Bill Scher has more :: http://www.ourfuture.org/blog-entry/fossil-fuel-ceos-their-heels

S.2191
January 17, 2008 05:01 PM (4 months ago) | Overall Score: 5.0 | Replies: 1

This bill -- or any climate change bill for that matter -- probably won't be approved during this session of Congress. It'll almost certainly come up for a vote, but I don't think the support is there to pass it. Nonetheless, it's going to be a big factor in how the U.S. responds policy-wise to climate change in the future. Representatives form the oil, coal and gas industries met up for a conference yesterday and agreed that debate of this bill will set the marker for debates next year. And, since its emissions requirements are weaker than some other bills in Congress, that they should support it as the best proposal they are likely to get. Interesting. Bill Scher has more :: http://www.ourfuture.org/blog-entry/fossil-fuel-ceos-their-heels