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H.R.7156, as ordered reported by the House Committee on Financial Services on February 29, 2024.

CBO Summary:

H.R. 7156 would expand the authority of the Secret Service to investigate financial crimes. Specifically, the bill would authorize the Secret Service to investigate the operations of unlicensed money transmitting businesses—entities that provide money transfer services or payment instruments—and the structuring of financial transactions to evade reporting and recordkeeping requirements.

During this past week (week ending October 20,2023) we have received listings of 15 Government and Administrative Law Summaries,  47 Constitutional Law summaries, 51 Criminal Law Summaries, Copyright Law ,2 cases Intellectual Property 5 cases, Internet Law 2 cases.,  and White Collar Crime 2 cases. We plan is to continue posting opinion summaries, under corresponding areas of law, weekly whenever possible in order to keep blog readers updated.  To gain access to these case summaries, click on the corresponding links below:

Opinion Summaries Posted for Week Ending October 20, 2023:

Criminal Law Opinion Summaries

CBO responds to Senator Rand Paul’s request for information about CBO’s operations had there been a shutdown on October 1.

CBO Letter responding to Senator Rand Paul’s request

Summary;

During this past week (week ending September 15,2023) we have received listings of 19 Government and Administrative Law Summaries,  42 Constitutional Law summaries, 31 Criminal Law Summaries.   We plan is to continue posting opinion summaries, under corresponding areas of law, weekly whenever possible in order to keep blog readers updated.  To gain access to these case summaries, click on the corresponding links below:

Opinion Summaries Posted for Week Ending September 15, 2023:

Criminal Law Opinion Summaries

During this past week (week ending September 8,2023) we have received listings of 32 Government and Administrative Law Summaries,  56 Constitutional Law summaries, 53 Criminal Law Summaries, and 1 White Collar Law Summary.   We plan is to continue posting opinion summaries, under corresponding areas of law, weekly whenever possible in order to keep blog readers updated.  To gain access to these case summaries, click on the corresponding links below:

Opinion Summaries Posted for Week Ending September 8, 2023:

Criminal Law Opinion Summaries

Generative AI is a type of artificial intelligence technology that can produce various types of content, including text, imagery, audio and information that is artificially manufactured. The recent interest in generative AI has been driven by the simplicity of new user interfaces for creating high-quality content, including text, graphics and videos in a matter of seconds.                        

Generative AI has the potential to be used in various ways to help regulate criminal behavior, although it’s important to note that these applications can be controversial and raise ethical concerns. Here are some ways in which generative AI could potentially contribute to regulating criminal behavior:

  1. Predictive Policing: Generative AI algorithms could analyze large sets of historical crime data to identify patterns and predict potential criminal hotspots. This could help law enforcement agencies allocate resources more effectively and proactively deter criminal behavior.

On June 29,2023, the Supreme Court delivered its decision in Students for Fair Admissions v. President and Fellows of Harvard College. The Court held that Harvard College’s admissions system does not comply with the principles of the equal protection clause embodied in Title VI of the Civil Rights Act.  The decision, by a vote of 6–2, reversed the lower court ruling. In writing the majority opinion, Chief Justice John Roberts held that affirmative action in college admissions is unconstitutional. The Court did not decide whether race-based affirmative action can continue in U.S. military academies,[9] which the solicitor general urged the Court to continue to allow in the government’s amicus brief. The the court also did not rule out race entirely in admission programs, adding, “nothing prohibits universities from considering an applicant’s discussion of how race affected the applicant’s life, so long as that discussion is concretely tied to a quality of character or unique ability that the particular applicant can contribute to the university.”

REMARKS AND STATEMENTS:

It was only a short time after the Supreme Court announced that it had delivered its decision in Students for Fair Admissions v. President and Fellows of Harvard College that emails and other media containing messages reacting to the decision started appearing. Thinking that readers of this blog might be interested in becoming aware of, and reading,  some of these messages, we started our own searching on the web. Some of our searches were general, some more specific.  As the search results mounted up into the hundreds, it became clear that time and space made it impossible to tabulate all, or even most, of our search results on this blog. We have therefore resorted to presenting you a relatively short, manageable list that hopefully you will find helpful and enlightening.

In an earlier posting, CBO Projections: The 2023 Budget, we provided Congressional Budget Office (CBO) documents which discuss, from a budgetary perspective, their analysis and projections of what the federal budget and economy would look like over the next 20 years, if current laws generally remain unchanged. In this posting we focus primarily on material provided by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) to provide more general dimension to this discussion. The Budget and Accounting Act of 1921 formed the then named General Accounting Office to investigate all matters related to the  use of public funds. The Act also required GAO to report its findings to Congress and recommend ways to increase economy and efficiency in government spending. It is an independent, non-partisan agency that works for Congress.

Both the GAO and the CBO are partners in supporting Congress in its effort to ensure accountability to the American people.  While both can be involved in the development and analysis of federal and defense budgets, sometimes collaborating in these initiatives, the GAO is also responsible for monitoring expenditures, including excessive spending, and issuing legal decisions on matters such as those related to disputes involving the awarding of government contracts, and has the power to investigate activities of the executive branch, although its enforcement powers are considered negligible.

Regarding The State of the Economy of the United States: As Viewed by GAO and CBO, there are indications from the various federal agencies reporting on these matters that  over the long term the nation’s fiscal health may be in peril if current fiscal policies remain unchanged..

Established in 1974, The Congressional Budget Office is a federal agency within the legislative branch of the United States government.  It is charged with providing  members of Congress  objective  analysis of budgeting and economic issues to support the congressional budget process. Each year, CBO economists and budget analysts produce dozens of reports and hundreds of cost estimates for proposed legislation.

For the past several months I have been receiving  directly from CBO links to  which I now plan to begin posting  selectively on this blog in the interest of information sharing.  If there appears to be sufficient interest among readers of this blog over a period of time, I plan to continue posting selections I receive from CBO

June 29,2023 – Report:

As reported by the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations on June 13, 2023.

Summary:

S. 1074 would require the Departments of State and Defense to identify and report to the Congress on U.S. goods and services that China relies on and Chinese goods and services that the federal government procures and relies on. The bill also would require those departments to report on policies to reduce the federal government’s reliance on Chinese imports and respond to potential coercive action by the Chinese government. On the basis of information about the costs of similar reports, CBO estimates that implementing the bill would cost less than $500,000 over the 2023-2028 period. Any spending would be subject to the availability of appropriated funds.

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