Summary This week, the Senate is expected to consider a Continuing Resolution that will fund federal government operations through March 4, 2011. Under the new Continuing Resolution, funding would continue at Fiscal Year 2010 enacted levels for most programs. This legislation was offered as a Senate amendment, S.Amdt. 4885, to the Fiscal Year 2011 Consolidated…
Summary The federal government shares responsibility with state, local, and private organizations to help protect our nation’s natural resources for current and future generations. In order to help fulfill that responsibility, the 110th Congress passed and President Bush signed into law the Consolidated Natural Resources Act of 2008. Furthermore, at the beginning of 111th Congress,…
In the coming days, the Senate may consider the America’s Great Outdoors Act of 2010. This legislation is the product of the bipartisan work of four Senate committees (Commerce, Environment and Public Works, Indian Affairs, and Energy and Natural Resources) that have favorably reported a variety of bipartisan ocean, wildlife, tribal, and natural resource bills…
Summary There are hundreds of thousands of immigrants who were brought to the United States by their family at an early age and remain undocumented. For most, the United States is the only country they have ever known. Many of these individuals are at risk of being punished because they do not have the proper…
Summary H.R.2965, theDon’t Ask, Don’t Tell Repeal Act of 2010 would put in place a process to repeal the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” law prohibiting homosexuals from serving openly in the armed services by striking Section 654 of Title 10 of the United States Code (USC), and allow the Secretary of Defense to manage implementation…
This week, the Senate will consider an Omnibus appropriations bill[1] necessary to prevent a shutdown of the federal government. This legislation also includes Congressionally-directed funding that directly benefits thousands of communities and millions of Americans in all fifty states. Even though Republican Senators have historically been among the strongest and most vocal champions of such…
Summary This week, the Senate will consider the Fiscal Year 2011 Consolidated Appropriations Act [link to full text], legislation to fund the federal government for Fiscal Year 2011. The Senate Omnibus measure is a substitute amendment to the Continuing Resolution, H.R.3082, which passed the House on December 8, 2010. The Senate Omnibus is $29 billion…
No United States inspections of Russian nuclear facilities have taken place in a year, threatening our national security. The U.S. has not conducted a single on-the-ground inspection of a Russian nuclear facility since START expired on December 5, 2009. Without American inspectors verifying Russia’s nuclear weapons, our insight into Russia’s arsenal is limited and our…
There is broad, bipartisan support among national security experts and political leaders in favor of ratifying the New START Treaty with Russia. The New START Treaty limiting the U.S. and Russia’s Cold War-era nuclear arsenals is considered critical for maintaining strategic stability in our relations, enhancing the global nonproliferation regime, and, in effect, advancing U.S.…
Summary The New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START), negotiated between the United States and the Russian Federation, is a follow-on agreement to the original START Treaty between the U.S. and the Russian Federation, Ukraine, Belarus, and Kazakhstan that expired in December 5, 2009. Signed by Presidents Obama and Medvedev on April 8, 2010, New…