In the San Diego museums district there is a glasshouse with all sorts of wonderful plant concoctions – the herbs in particular were really interesting. This plant smelled exactly like chocolate…
It might only be February but I am already feeling the coming of Spring. My five senses are being awakened by nature.
I see the pigeons gathering in flocks on wires, trees and roofs.
I hear the squirrels stamping across the roof when I awaken early in the morning.
I smell skunks as I drive through my neighborhood and pass a couple charging across the street.
I am delighted by the gentle feel of the buds on the plants starting to open their flowers.
And I can almost taste the mint that grows automatically in my tiny vegetable garden.
But I discovered that we might have more senses than we know. We are attuned to our world in many ways. We interact even when we aren’t aware that we’re doing it. Perhaps if we understand that we are connected with everything, we will be more careful with how we live.
Emergency departments that have the highest levels of coordination of health care, personnel, procedures and medical equipment needed to care for ill and injured children have far higher rates of survival than hospitals with low readiness, according to a study funded by the National Institutes of Health. Researchers found that more than 1,400 children’s deaths may have been prevented if hospital emergency departments had adopted national pediatric care readiness standards as laid out by the National Pediatric Readiness Project(link is external). The six-year study of 983 emergency departments in 11 states followed nearly 800,000 children.
The National Pediatric Readiness Project was established to ensure that all emergency departments have the coordination of health care, personnel, procedures and medical equipment needed to care for ill and injured children. According to the project’s checklist(link is external), standards include specifications for physician and nurse certification, patient assessment, triage, medication administration, and trauma resuscitation and stabilization. In the current study, researchers sought to determine if adopting the readiness standards would lower the death rate among children admitted to emergency departments for serious injury or illness. They ranked the emergency departments into four segments (quartiles) according to the extent they had implemented the readiness standards.
Compared to children cared for in low-readiness departments, children with injuries cared for in high-readiness departments had a 60% lower chance of dying in the hospital; and children with medical illness had a 76% lower chance of dying while they were in the hospital. Similarly, among roughly 545,000 children in six states, injured children in the highest quartile had a 41% lower chance of dying within a year and children with medical issues had a 66% lower chance of dying within a year, compared to children cared for in hospitals in the lowest readiness quartile.
The study was conducted by Craig D. Newgard, M.D., of Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, and colleagues. It appears in JAMA Network Open. Funding was provided by NIH’s Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) and the Health Resources and Services Administration.
A previous study by the authors found that adopting the readiness centers at trauma centers improved the survival of children with serious injuries.
Article
Newgard, CD. Emergency department pediatric readiness and short- and long-term mortality among children receiving emergency care. JAMA Network Open. 2023.
About the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD): NICHD leads research and training to understand human development, improve reproductive health, enhance the lives of children and adolescents, and optimize abilities for all. For more information, visit https://www.nichd.nih.gov.
About the National Institutes of Health (NIH): NIH, the nation’s medical research agency, includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIH is the primary federal agency conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and translational medical research, and is investigating the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit www.nih.gov.
Bringing women policymakers together across party lines to advance
issues of importance to women and their families.
Weekly Legislative Update
February 6, 2023
Bills Introduced: January 30-February 3, 2023
Right, Senator Tina Smith; Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions
Abortion
H.R. 632 — Rep. Ralph Norman (R-SC)/Energy and Commerce (1/30/23) — A bill to improve the reporting of abortion data to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and for other purposes.
S. 186 — Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL)/Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (1/31/23) — A bill to prohibit the federal government from promoting, supporting, or contracting with abortion entities, or otherwise expanding access to abortions on federal lands or in federal facilities.
S. 196 — Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL)/Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (1/31/23) — A bill to prohibit the declaration of a federal emergency relating to abortion.
S. 197 — Sen. James Risch (R-ID)/Foreign Relations (1/31/23) — A bill to permanently enact certain appropriations act restrictions on the use of funds for abortions and involuntary sterilizations, and for other purposes.
S. 204 — Sen. John Thune (R-SD)/Judiciary (2/1/23) — A bill to prohibit a health care practitioner from failing to exercise the proper degree of care in the case of a child who survives an abortion or attempted abortion.
S. 237 — Sen. Tina Smith (D-MN)/Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (2/2/23) — A bill to preserve access to abortion medications.
H.R. 767 — Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO)/Energy and Commerce (2/2/23) — A bill to preserve access to abortion medications.
H.R. 782 — Rep. Lizzie Fletcher (D-TX)/Energy and Commerce (2/2/23) — A bill to prohibit the interference, under color of state law, with the provision of interstate abortion services, and for other purposes.
H.R. 792 — Rep. Mike Johnson (R-LA)/Judiciary (2/2/23) — A bill to prohibit taking minors across state lines in circumvention of laws requiring the involvement of parents in abortion decisions.
I knew about Van Gogh’s demons. That should have given me a clue that trying to paint will drive you crazy. As we all know, despite Vinny’s amazing talent, he became so deranged that he lopped off an ear.
In my case, my staggering lack of artistic ability threatens to lead to even worse. It won’t be pretty. My right hand is in imminent danger of meeting the same fate as the Van Gogh ear. Why? Because it won’t do as it’s told. When I put a brush in it, it stubbornly refuses to reproduce the gorgeous masterpieces pictured in my mind. Instead, it creates a mish-mash of multi-colored or monotoned undefined shapes.
Self Portrait, Vincent Van Gogh, Musée d’Orsay, Paris
It’s really very unfair. When Jackson Pollock did this, the results hang in the finest museums in the world. Mine end up in the waste basket, torn into tiny bits, because I’m embarrassed to have the trash collector see them.
But getting back to my hand, a key phrase in a preceding paragraph is “when I put a brush in it” ─ which is very seldom. How can I expect to learn to paint when I won’t practice the craft? I had hoped the answer was to buy just about every book published on the subject. This might work if I would at least open one of them from time to time, but I never do. I apparently think that the wisdom they have to impart can be absorbed simply by osmosis.
Hey, I do my bit. I pay good money for the books. I shouldn’t have to actually read them and practice what they teach, should I? Also, what about all those expensive brushes, paints, papers, and other accouterments that I buy? Who has the time to use them? I’m much too busy looking for excuses not to write, not to vacuum, not to practice the piano, not to exercise, not to learn Italian, all activities I swore I’d pursue faithfully once I retired.
It’s not that I haven’t made an effort. I’ve also bought dozens of tomes (and tapes) on writing, housekeeping hints, piano playing, exercise, and Italian. Again, I haven’t actually opened any of those books yet either or put any of the tapes into my Walkman? What’s the point when I’m not walking?
Now getting back to the subject of painting (see how easily I’m distracted?), my initial efforts were very promising. Two years ago, I took a course titled, Watercolor Without Fear. It was wonderful. Following the instructor’s excellent guidance I actually produced a fairly respectable painting of a rose that first evening. It was intoxicating!
I was sure I had found a new career. Unfortunately, as it turned out, I have yet to surpass those premier efforts. In subsequent classes, I made the mistake of looking around at what my classmates were doing ─ and they were doing it so much better than me that despite my teacher’s valiant attempts to encourage me, I became very intimidated. It also doesn’t help that two of my best friends are very talented artists.
But I’m not going to give up. In fact, first thing tomorrow morning, I going to rush right out and buy a great new book on watercolor techniques that I saw at my local art store last week and while I’m there, I think I’ll pick up that $49 brush I’ve had my eye on.
Emergency Relief Funds: Significant Improvements Are Needed to Address Fraud and Improper Payments
Published: Feb 01, 2023. Publicly Released: Feb 01, 2023.
Fast Facts
The federal government distributed funds quickly during the COVID-19 pandemic. This led to an increase in fraud and other “improper payments”— payments that shouldn’t have been made or were made in the incorrect amount. The extent of fraud in COVID-relief programs is not yet known but our estimate suggests that one program, Unemployment Insurance, made over $60 billion in fraudulent payments.
We testified on contributing factors and our prior related recommendations to agencies and Congress. For example, we suggested that Congress reinstate requirements that agencies report annually on their efforts to prevent, detect, and respond to fraud.
What GAO Found
While fraud and accountability issues will continue to occur in COVID-19 relief programs, there is already ample evidence of widespread fraud,
While fraud and accountability issues will continue to occur in COVID-19 relief programs, there is already ample evidence of widespread fraud, improper payments, and accountability deficiencies during the pandemic. For example, GAO found that from March 2020 through January 13, 2023, at least 1,044 individuals pleaded guilty to or were convicted at trial of federal charges of defrauding COVID-19 relief programs. This includes the Small Business Administration’s (SBA) Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and COVID-19 Economic Injury Disaster Loan (COVID-19 EIDL) program, the Department of Labor’s (DOL) Unemployment Insurance (UI) programs, and economic impact payments issued by the Department of the Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service.
Also, federal charges were pending against at least 609 individuals or entities for attempting to defraud COVID-19 relief programs. The number of individuals facing fraud-related charges has continued to grow since March 2020 and will likely increase, as these cases take time to develop.
SBA Office of Inspector General (OIG). According to SBA OIG officials, as of January 25, 2023, the SBA OIG has 536 ongoing investigations involving PPP, the COVID-19 EIDL program, or both.
DOL OIG. From April 1, 2020 through January 10, 2023, the DOL OIG opened over 198,000 complaints and investigations involving UI. It continues to open at least 100 new UI fraud matters each week.
The extent of fraud associated with PPP, COVID-19 EIDL, UI, and other COVID-19 relief programs has not yet been fully determined. Nevertheless, in December 2022, GAO found that measures and estimates indicate substantial levels of fraud and potential fraud in UI during the pandemic. Specifically, GAO reported that if the lower bound of DOL’s 2021 estimated national fraud rate for the regular UI program was extrapolated to total spending across all UI programs during the pandemic, it would suggest over $60 billion in fraudulent UI payments. However, such an extrapolation has inherent limitations and should be interpreted with caution.
One of the many challenges in determining the full extent of fraud is its deceptive nature. Programs can incur financial losses related to fraud that are never identified and such losses are difficult to reliably estimate. In ongoing work, GAO is seeking to calculate a comprehensive estimate of UI fraud and is exploring ways to estimate the amount of fraud more broadly across the federal government.
The amount of funds the government will ultimately be able to recover from fraud losses is yet to be determined as well. Various reporting from the OIGs provides insight into completed investigations and recoupment efforts. For example, SBA’s OIG reported that its collaboration with SBA and the U.S. Secret Service has resulted in the seizure of more than $1 billion stolen by fraudsters from the COVID-19 EIDL program. DOL OIG investigations and investigative assistance to state workforce agencies have resulted in UI fraud monetary results, including forfeitures and restitution amounts, in excess of $905 million.
In addition to noted vulnerabilities to fraud, COVID-19 relief funding exacerbated an already growing improper payments problem in the federal government.
Government-wide Improper Payment Estimates for Fiscal Years 2003 – 2022
Note: Prior year improper payment estimates have not been adjusted for inflation. This does not include estimates related to certain significant expenditures to fund response and recovery efforts for the COVID-19 pandemic, such as the Department of Labor’s (DOL) Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program in the Unemployment Insurance (UI) system.
GAO identified four major factors that contributed to federal programs’ exposure to fraud, improper payments, and other accountability challenges when administering COVID-19 relief programs. Specifically, agencies:
Did not strategically manage fraud risks and were not adequately prepared to prevent fraud
Lacked appropriate controls to prevent, detect, and recover fraudulent and other improper payments
Lack permanent, government-wide analytic capabilities to help agencies identify fraud
Continue to have challenges with improper payments
GAO has made 374 recommendations and 19 matters for congressional consideration across its COVID-19 work. As of January 20, 2023, agencies had fully or partially addressed 147 of these 374 recommendations. Congress had fully addressed one matter and partially addressed another. The intent of these recommendations were for agencies to implement mid-course corrections where appropriate and to increase transparency and accountability of the COVID-19 response and for future emergencies. For example 22 recommendations and matters involved actions to address fraud risks, 11 were tied to specific improper payment issues, and 5 were related to both issues across multiple COVID-19 relief programs.
The matters for congressional consideration include the following 10 that GAO made in March 2022 to enhance the transparency and accountability of federal spending.
New program improper payment reporting. (1) Designate all new federal programs distributing more than $100 million in any one fiscal year as “susceptible to improper payments,” and, thus, subject to more timely improper payment reporting requirements; and (2) require agencies to report improper payment information in their annual financial reports.
Fraud risk management reporting. Reinstate the requirement that agencies report on their antifraud controls and fraud risk management efforts in their annual financial reports. Such reporting will increase congressional oversight to better ensure fraud prevention during normal operations and emergencies.
Fraud analytics. Establish a permanent analytics center of excellence to aid the oversight community in identifying improper payments and fraud.
Internal control plans. Require the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to provide guidance for agencies to develop internal control plans in advance, that can then be put to immediate use for future emergency funding.
Data sharing. Amend the Social Security Act to accelerate and make permanent the requirement for the Social Security Administration to share its full death data with Treasury’s Do Not Pay working system.
Chief Financial Officer (CFO) authorities. Clarify that agency CFOs have oversight responsibility for internal controls over financial reporting and key financial information; and require agency CFOs to (1) certify the reliability and validity of improper payment risk assessments and estimates and monitor associated corrective action plans, and (2) approve improper payment estimate methodology in certain circumstances.
USAspending.gov. (1) Clarify the responsibilities and authorities of OMB and Treasury for ensuring the quality of federal spending data available on USAspending.gov, and (2) extend the previous requirement for agency inspectors general to review agency data submissions on a periodic basis.
Collectively, these actions can help agencies distribute funds rapidly while maintaining appropriate safeguards. In addition, these actions will help increase transparency and accountability and strengthen agency efforts to provide proper stewardship of federal funds.
Why GAO Did This Study
During emergencies, federal agencies must distribute relief funds quickly while ensuring appropriate safeguards are in place. GAO noted early in the COVID-19 pandemic that given the urgency of public health needs and economic disruptions, agencies gave priority to swiftly distributing funds and implementing new programs. However, tradeoffs were made that limited progress in achieving accountability goals.
As of November 30, 2022, the government had obligated $4.4 trillion and expended $4.1 trillion, or 97 percent and 89 percent, respectively, of the $4.6 trillion from six COVID-19 relief laws.
Three programs—SBA’s PPP and COVID-19 EIDL program, and DOL’s UI program—account for a large portion of COVID-19 relief funding. Based on GAO’s findings and other audits, GAO added SBA’s emergency loans for small businesses issued under PPP and COVID-19 EIDL, and the UI system to its High-Risk List in March 2021 and June 2022, respectively.
This testimony summarizes (1) fraud, improper payments, and accountability deficiencies in COVID-19 relief programs; (2) shortcomings in agencies’ fraud risk management practices and internal controls; and (3) the status of recommended actions to improve these practices in the future.
GAO reviewed its prior COVID-19 findings and recommendations on internal controls and fraud risk management practices.
For more information, contact Rebecca Shea at (202) 512-6722 or shear@gao.gov.
At a time when climate change is making many areas of the planet hotter and drier, it’s sobering to think that deserts are relatively new biomes that have grown considerably over the past 30 million years. Widespread arid regions, like the deserts that today cover much of western North America, began to emerge only within the past 5 to 7 million years.
Understanding how plants that invaded these harsh deserts biomes were able to survive could help predict how ecosystems will fare in a drier future.
An intensive study of a group of plants that first invaded emerging deserts millions of years ago concludes that these pioneers — rock daisies — did not come unequipped to deal with heat, scorching sun and lack of water. They had developed adaptations to such stresses while living on dry, exposed rock outcroppings within older, more moist areas and even tropical forests, all of which made it easier for them to invade expanding arid areas.
The study by University of California, Berkeley, researcher Isaac Lichter-Marck is the first to provide evidence to resolve a long-standing evolutionary debate: Did iconic desert plants, like the stately saguaro cacti, the flaming ocotillos and the Seussian agaves, adapt to arid conditions only after they invaded deserts? Or did they come preadapted to the stresses of desert living?
The question has relevance today, Lichter-Marck said, because accelerating aridity due to climate change is challenging plants to adapt much more quickly than they have in the past. Already, about one-fifth of Earth’s land surface is desert. If adaptation to arid conditions was only possible for plants that had already evolved to deal with such stresses, then many today may not be equipped with an adequate genetic tool kit to survive.
A carpet of ephemeral wildflowers paints the desert yellow in Anza Borrego State Park. These blooms are dominated by a few species of plants in the daisy family (Compositae). Many daisies possess an annual life cycle that allows them to germinate, flower and go to seed within the short window of favorable conditions that follow rain, effectively escaping the harsh, dry conditions that typically characterize desert life. Rio, a blue heeler or Australian cattle dog, was an important part of the field team that helped locate rock daisies across wide swaths of rugged desert terrain. (Photo credit: Isaac Lichter-Marck)
“If you think about aridity only as a stimulus to plant evolution, then in many cases people could say these plants are survivors, they are adaptable, and they will be fine. They will take advantage of these new conditions, and they will thrive,” said Lichter-Marck, who is also a National Science Foundation postdoctoral research fellow at UCLA.
But the history of rock daisies suggests that “when the deserts emerged, those plants that had the necessary preadaptations to take advantage of new conditions were the ones that thrived,” he said. “Adding more aridification to the system doesn’t necessarily mean more rapid adaptive evolution will occur. There’s a limited source of lineages that can take advantage of new levels of aridity, and that is important for understanding the effect of climate change on biodiversity.”
Lichter-Marck and Bruce Baldwin, UC Berkeley professor of integrative biology, curator of the Jepson Herbarium and chief editor of The Jepson Desert Manual: Vascular Plants of Southeastern California (2002), published their study about the evolution of rock daisies in North American deserts this week in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Today’s indictment exposes a dangerous menace to national security – a double threat posed by a vicious transnational crime group operating from what it thought was the safe haven of a rogue nation.
That rogue nation is the Islamic Republic of Iran, an all-too-familiar, repeat violator of human rights.
This case began with our investigation of Iran’s efforts to project power and extend its tentacles of oppression onto American shores – through the targeting of an Iranian-American journalist who has stood up to the brutal regime, shining a light on Iran’s abuse of human rights and women’s rights.
But this time, it was a newer actor who brought the campaign of violence into America: an Eastern European criminal organization made up of self-described “Oğru,” or thieves, who engaged in extortion, kidnapping, and – in this case – murder-for-hire.
The charges unsealed today show how organized crime, in pursuit of profits and operating from a rogue nation, can pose a grave threat to our national security and to the freedoms that we hold dear.
Increasingly, we are seeing national security and criminal threats blend, as rogue nations and criminal organizations make common cause and share capabilities. From ransomware groups targeting critical infrastructure to facilitators of sanctions evasion, these criminal actors embolden our enemies and threaten our national security.
All too often, they seek refuge in countries they believe will protect and empower them – in this case, Iran.
While they may think they are out of reach, our agents and prosecutors are uniquely equipped to combat this double threat with both law enforcement and national security tools.
This case also highlights the evolving threat and increasingly brazen conduct emanating from Iran.
I have spoken before about the threat Iran poses to our homeland through its networks and proxies.
In the last year, we have charged members of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) with a plot to murder the former U.S. National Security Advisor;
We’ve indicted Iranian hackers for targeting utility companies and other critical U.S. infrastructure;
And we’ve called out Iran for a destructive cyberattack that crippled a partner government’s computer networks.
We will not tolerate this belligerent and criminal conduct. Instead, we will hold accountable those who would bring Iran’s campaign of violence to our shores. We will hold accountable those who seek to silence voices for human rights and women’s rights.
The charges announced today expose a dangerous – and ultimately thwarted – plot to export violent oppression to America. But today, we have demonstrated the strength and the reach of the Department of Justice and the rule of law.
Today’s actions show that the United States will zealously protect freedom and hold accountable all those who would use violence to undermine it.
The A2 version has more sophisticated optics and controls than the older A1 version, which the Army intends to retire in the next few years. | U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Nathan Franco, Operations Group, National Training Center
IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Fact Sheet on U.S. Security Assistance to Ukraine January 25, 2023 In total, the United States has more than $27.8 billion in security assistance to Ukraine since the beginning of the Biden Administration, including more than $27.1 billion since the beginning of Russia’s unprovoked and brutal invasion on February 24, 2022. United States security assistance committed to Ukraine includes:
Over 1,600 Stinger anti-aircraft systems; Over 8,500 Javelin anti-armor systems; Over 50,000 other anti-armor systems and munitions; Over 700 Switchblade Tactical Unmanned Aerial Systems; 160 155mm Howitzers and up to 1,094,000 155mm artillery rounds; Over 5,800 precision-guided 155mm artillery rounds; 10,200 155mm rounds of Remote Anti-Armor Mine (RAAM) Systems; 100,000 rounds of 125mm tank ammunition; 45,000 152mm artillery rounds; 20,000 122mm artillery rounds; 50,000 122mm GRAD rockets; 72 105mm Howitzers and 370,000 105mm artillery rounds; 298 Tactical Vehicles to tow weapons; 34 Tactical Vehicles to recover equipment; 30 ammunition support vehicles; 38 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems and ammunition; 30 120mm mortar systems and approximately 166,000 120mm mortar rounds; 10 82mm mortar systems; 10 60mm mortar systems; 2,590 Tube-Launched, Optically-Tracked, Wire-Guided (TOW) missiles; 545,000 rounds of 25mm ammunition; 120mm ammunition; Ten Command Post vehicles; One Patriot air defense battery and munitions; Eight National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems (NASAMS) and munitions; Missiles for HAWK air defense systems; RIM-7 missiles for air defense; 12 Avenger air defense systems; High-speed Anti-radiation missiles (HARMs); Precision aerial munitions; 4,000 Zuni aircraft rockets; 20 Mi-17 helicopters; 31 Abrams tanks; 45 T-72B tanks; 109 Bradley infantry fighting vehicles; Over 1,700 High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicles (HMMWVs); Over 100 light tactical vehicles; 44 trucks and 88 trailers to transport heavy equipment; 90 Stryker Armored Personnel Carriers; 300 M113 Armored Personnel Carriers; 250 M1117 Armored Security Vehicles; 580 Mine Resistant Ambush Protected Vehicles (MRAPs); Six armored utility trucks; Mine clearing equipment and systems; Over 13,000 grenade launchers and small arms; Over 111,000,000 rounds of small arms ammunition; Over 75,000 sets of body armor and helmets; Approximately 1,800 Phoenix Ghost Tactical Unmanned Aerial Systems; Laser-guided rocket systems; Puma Unmanned Aerial Systems; 15 Scan Eagle Unmanned Aerial Systems; Two radars for Unmanned Aerial Systems; Unmanned Coastal Defense Vessels; Over 50 counter-artillery radars; Four counter-mortar radars; 20 multi-mission radars; Counter-Unmanned Aerial Systems and equipment; Counter air defense capability; Ten air surveillance radars; Two harpoon coastal defense systems; 58 coastal and riverine patrol boats; M18A1 Claymore anti-personnel munitions; C-4 explosives, demolition munitions, and demolition equipment for obstacle clearing; Obstacle emplacement equipment; Tactical secure communications systems; Four satellite communications antennas; SATCOM terminals and services; Thousands of night vision devices, surveillance systems, thermal imagery systems, optics, and laser rangefinders; Commercial satellite imagery services; Explosive ordnance disposal equipment and protective gear; Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear protective equipment; 100 armored medical treatment vehicles; Over 350 generators; Medical supplies to include first aid kits, bandages, monitors, and other equipment; Electronic jamming equipment; Field equipment, cold weather gear, and spare parts; Funding for training, maintenance, and sustainment. The United States also continues to work with its Allies and partners to provide Ukraine with additional capabilities to defend itself.
So far in FY2023, DoD has provided $1.7 billion in security assistance to Ukraine under the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI) in two separate tranches.
Editor’s Note: One late Friday evening when working once again in the Picture Department at Time magazine several decades ago, an editor asked me to go to the Libe and find pictures of American tanks rolling off the assembly line. Like the car assembly lines I had researched in the past, this indicated the tanks could be put together in a similar fashion – with workers standing on a line close to components that could be installed quickly on a number of vehicles, proceeding to the next ‘station’ and waiting to be completed. Well, of course, this does does not mirror the reality of how these mammoth Abrams tanks are put together and shipped abroad.
Tam Martinides Gray, former Senior Reporter for Time magazine.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (https://www.consumerfinance.gov/) issued a request for information today, 24 January 2023, seeking public feedback on how the consumer credit market is functioning as part of a biennial review of the industry. The CFPB is seeking more and current information on various aspects of the consumer experience with credit cards. Congress enacted the Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure Act of 2009 (CARD Act) to establish fair and transparent practices related to the extension of credit in the credit card market. The CARD Act mandates the CFPB to conduct a review of the credit card industry every two years and report to Congress.
“The CFPB undertakes a biennial review of the consumer credit card market to ensure guidelines and guardrails to protect consumers are working as intended,” said CFPB Director Rohit Chopra. “This request for information is a meaningful data point that will inform our decision-making on any potential changes, and the CFPB invites consumers, credit card issuers, industry analysts, consumer groups, and the general public to submit information and comments relevant to the topic.”
The CARD Act directs the CFPB to undertake a comprehensive review of the entire industry to help determine whether regulatory adjustments are needed. This review includes seeking public feedback as well as issuing market-monitoring orders to major credit card issuers to collect information on their business practices. The CFPB publishes a report to Congress of its biennial review of the credit card market, and will publish its sixth report later in 2023.
The CFPB is interested in hearing about people’s overall experiences with credit card products. In particular, the request is seeking information on:
Terms of credit card agreements and the practices of credit card issuers
Effectiveness of disclosure of terms, fees, and other expenses of credit card plans
Adequacy of protections against unfair or deceptive acts or practices relating to credit card plans
Cost and availability of consumer credit cards
Safety and soundness of credit card issuers
Use of risk-based pricing for consumer credit cards
Consumer credit card product innovation
This list of topics should not be viewed as exhaustive. The request for information will be published in the Federal Register, and the public will have until April 24, 2023 to submit their comments.
The CFPB has also issued market-monitoring orders to a diverse group of major and specialized credit card issuers. The orders seek information that no other data-gathering mechanisms currently address, such as the practices of major credit card issuers relating to, among other topics, applications and approvals, debt collection, and digital account servicing.
H.R. 7 – Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ)/Energy and Commerce; Judiciary; Ways and Means (1/9/23) – A bill to prohibit taxpayer funded abortions.
H.R. 26 – Rep. Ann Wagner (R-MO)/Judiciary (1/9/23) – A bill to prohibit a health care practitioner from failing to exercise the proper degree of care in the case of a child who survives an abortion or attempted abortion.
Right, Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX)/Judiciary
H.R. 116 – Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ)/Judiciary (1/9/23) – A bill to prohibit certain abortion procedures, and for other purposes.
H.R. 175 – Rep. Mike Kelly (R-PA)/Judiciary (1/9/23) – A bill to amend title 18, United States Code, to prohibit abortion in cases where a fetal heartbeat is detectable.
H. Con. Res. 3 – Rep. Mike Johnson (R-LA)/Judiciary (1/9/23) – A concurrent resolution expressing the sense of Congress condemning the recent attacks on pro-life facilities, groups, and churches.
H.R. 279 – Rep. Earl Carter (R-GA)/Energy and Commerce (1/10/23) – A bill to prohibit governmental discrimination against certain health care providers with certain objections to abortion.
H. Res. 28 – Rep. Adriano Espaillat (D-NY)/Judiciary; Energy and Commerce (1/11/23) – A resolution condemning the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey and committing to advancing reproductive justice and judicial reform.
H.R. 330 – Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC)/Energy and Commerce (1/12/13) – A bill to prohibit family planning grants from being awarded to any entity that performs abortions, and for other purposes.
Child Protection
H.R. 148 – Rep. Jeff Duncan (R-SC) – A bill to amend title 18, United States Code, to prohibit the importation or transportation of child sex dolls, and for other purposes.
Civil Rights
H.R. 64 – Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX)/Judiciary (1/9/23) – A bill to enhance Federal enforcement of hate crimes, and for other purposes.
Crime
H.R. 55 – Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX)/Judiciary (1/9/23) – A bill to enhance criminal penalties for health-related stalking, and for other purposes.
H.R. 232 — Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX)/Judiciary (1/10/23) – A bill to amend the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 to prioritize veterans court treatment programs that ensure equal access for racial and ethnic minorities and women, and for other purposes.
Health
H.R. 235 – Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX)/Energy and Commerce (1/10/23) – A bill to provide for research and education with respect to triple-negative breast cancer, and for other purposes.
Res. 7. – Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ)/Energy and Commerce (01/09/23) – A resolution recognizing the importance of access to comprehensive, high-quality, life-affirming medical care for women of all ages.
