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CD075: The April Bills

CD075: The April Bills

FromCongressional Dish


CD075: The April Bills

FromCongressional Dish

ratings:
Length:
61 minutes
Released:
Jul 23, 2014
Format:
Podcast episode

Description

This episode highlights the bills that passed the House of Representatives in April including a bill that makes it tougher for wage slaves to get health insurance, a bill that gives away weapons to other countries, a bill written for the banks that lets them gamble with risky financial products, and more. Bills Highlighted in This Episode Passed on April 8, 2014 by 230-185 Changes the way the budget baseline is calculated by not factoring inflation. Congressional committees will be able to do the report on how much new programs will cost. Representatives Quoted in This Segment Rep. Rob Woodall of Georgia Rep. Alcee Hastings of Florida Passed on April 7, 2014 by 230-165. Starting in 2017, the President's budget must include the costs of direct loan and loan guarantee programs. Starting in 2017, no new loans may be issued or existing loans increased unless the money is provided in advance by a Congressional appropriations Act. Exemptions include entitlement loans such as student loan programs and veteran's home loan guaranty programs, loans for farmers giving by the Commodity Credit Corporation, or loans provided by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac. All loans, including those made by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, will count against the budget. Representatives Quoted in This Segment Rep. Scott Garrett of New Jersey Rep. Bill Pascrell of New Jersey Passed on April 4 by 224-182. Requires the Congressional Budget Office to analyze the economic impact of each bill or resolution for forty years on the gross domestic product, businesses, stocks, employment, interest rates, and labor supply using "a variety of economic models." The Congressional Budget Office will have to do a follow up report for every new law on the accuracy of their original economic impact analysis. Any estimations of changes in tax revenue will be done by the Joint Committee on Taxation, a group made up of ten members of Congress. [caption id="attachment_1485" align="aligncenter" width="605"] Current Joint Committee on Taxation Members[/caption] Representatives Quoted in This Segment Rep. Gerald Connolly of Virginia Passed on April 1, 2014 without a recorded vote. [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="600"] The Doppler radar debris ball from the tornado that ripped apart Vilonia, AR on April 27, 2014.[/caption] Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research would be authorized to receive $83 million in 2014 and $100 million per year in 2015 -2017 to create a program to research weather, research public response to weather warnings and forecasts, and transfer information and technologies between government and the private sector. Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research would give money to the private sector, universities, and nongovernmental organizations. 30% of the research money authorized has to be given to these non-governmental  groups. Directs the Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research to make plans for improving hurricane warnings, data collection, and tornadoes. Gives a specific goal of increasing tornado warning times to one hour. Requires experiments to be done with new private sector produced technologies and data before the government buys it, if it costs more than $500,000,000. Current law: "Neither the President nor any other official of the Government shall make any effort to lease, sell, or transfer to the private sector, or commercialize, any portion of the weather satellite systems operated by the Department of Commerce or any successor agency." Changes the current law above to allow the government to buy weather data from private researchers and to pay to put satellites on private land. Tells the Dept. of Commerce to create a strategy for buying weather data from the private sector. The strategy needs to evaluate financial benefits and risks with buying private weather data, figure out what to do about private cancellation fees, determine how to set standards, and guarantee public access to weather information. Allows the Office
Released:
Jul 23, 2014
Format:
Podcast episode

Titles in the series (100)

Congressional Dish is a twice-monthly podcast that aims to draw attention to where the American people truly have power: Congress. From the perspective of a fed up taxpayer with no allegiance to any political party, Jennifer Briney will fill you in on the must-know information about what our representatives do AFTER the elections and how their actions can and will affect our day to day lives. Hosted by @JenBriney. Links to information sources available at www.congressionaldish.com