From the Congressional Glossary – Including Legislative and Budget Terms ‘Regular Order’: Lawmaking The Old-Fashioned Way | Ron’s Office Hours | NPR Many contemporary lawmakers urge a return to “regular order” lawmaking. In general, the regular order refers to a traditional, committee-centered process of lawmaking, very much in evidence during most of the … Read more
From the Congressional Glossary – Including Legislative and Budget Terms Congressional Review Act: A new idea to eliminate Obama’s agency regulations The Congressional Review Act (CRA) is an oversight tool that Congress may use to overturn a rule issued by a federal agency, in some cases, rules issued in a previous session of … Read more
From the Congressional Glossary – Including Legislative and Budget Terms Backdoor Authority / Backdoor Spending A colloquial phrase for budget authority provided in laws other than appropriations acts, including contract authority and borrowing authority, as well as entitlement authority and the outlays that result from that budget authority. Fiscal Law #1 – Overview … Read more
From the Congressional Glossary – Including Legislative and Budget Terms Obligation photo credit: smudie A legally binding agreement that will result in outlays, immediately or in the future. A promise to pay. The obligation, the promise to pay, is the initial action in the Federal spending process. Appropriations laws establish whether funds are available to … Read more
From the Congressional Glossary – Including Legislative and Budget Terms Office of Personnel Management / Other People’s Money / OPM The core mission of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM): “serves the public by providing human resource management leadership and high-quality services that protect and strengthen the merit system of government in partnership with other … Read more
It has been sixty-nine years since the last of the infamous Chinese Exclusion laws were repealed allowing Chinese immigrants to become U.S citizens. Today, H. Res. 683, a bipartisan resolution expressing regret for six decades of legislation targeting the Chinese people for physical and political exclusion, was passed in the House of Representatives. With the … Read more
From the Congressional Glossary – Including Legislative and Budget Terms Official Objectors / Passed Over Without Prejudice The Sopranos – Ralph Gets Passed Over Pass Over Without Prejudice: A request in the House to defer action on a measure called up from the Private Calendar without affecting the measure’s position on the calendar. … Read more
From the Congressional Glossary – Including Legislative and Budget Terms Optics Optical illusions show how we see | Beau Lotto A “term of art for how a bit of news will be perceived by the public at large, which is only used by people who bill by the hour.” — Troy Senik “The … Read more
From the Congressional Glossary – Including Legislative and Budget Terms Super PAC / Independent Expenditure-Only Committee PACS and Super PACs “Super PAC” is the colloquial term for “Independent Expenditure-Only Committee”. Independent expenditures represent spending by individuals, groups, political committees, corporations or unions expressly advocating the election or defeat of clearly identified federal candidates. … Read more
From the Congressional Glossary – Including Legislative and Budget Terms Unemployment Rate / Employment-Population Ratio Unemployment and the Unemployment Rate As defined by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the number of people who do not have jobs but have actively looked for work in the prior 4 weeks and are currently available … Read more