We’ve been pushing attention to what is now Public Law 112-175, the Continuing Appropriations Resolution, 2013. President Obama recently signed this continuing resolution into law. It funds the government (the parts of it not automatically funded) for six months at a cost of about $12,000 per U.S. family. But there are other new laws, worth [...]
It’s part of nobody’s plan, but Washington, D.C. is pulling a little misdirection play this week. While everyone is discussing President Obama’s immigration move, the farm bill in the Senate, the energy bill on the House floor, and so on, some of the more important work of Congress is moving under the radar. Last week, [...]
The Federal Trade Commission is concerned about the use of facial recognition technology. If we can be concretely identified anywhere we go in public—and if we don’t know it—that’s a privacy concern. Our everyday movements, which are ordinarily obscure, could go into someone’s database. Facial recognition is only one of many biometric technologies, of course. [...]
Arizona’s toughest-in-the-nation immigration law is scheduled to take effect July 29th. Called SB 1070, it requires law enforcement officers to inquire about a person’s immigration status when they have a “reasonable suspicion” that the person is an illegal immigrant. Critics of the legislation say it encourages racial profiling, while supporters say the law simply enforces [...]
On Sunday, 60 Minutes replayed a story about immigrants who have married American citizens, but whose spouses have died before the interview to prove their marriage to the Department of Homeland Security. In some cases, mothers of citizen children are at risk of deportation – and either taking their children to a strange country or [...]
One of the dumbest bills I’ve seen in a while was introduced in Congress this week. H.R. 6975 would require aliens to attest that they will not advocate installing a Sharia law system in the United States as a condition of their admission to our country. First, there’s the simple bureaucratic nonsense of administering this [...]
Debate is running fast and furious on H.R. 5924, The Emergency Nursing Supply Relief Act. The bill would increase the number of nurses and physical therapists that are allowed to immigrate into the country. The bill apparently responds to a shortage of nurses in the country, but there are many commenters who don’t trust foreign [...]
H.R. 5924, The Emergency Nursing Supply Relief Act, is one of our often-visited and much-commented-upon bills. Its intent is to “provide relief for the shortage of nurses in the United States.” It would take various steps toward that end, including providing more visas to nurses seeking to enter the United States from abroad and creating [...]
I’ve been thinking for months about starting this blog, but one of the things that really got me moving was a recent comment on a bill that increased the number of Iraqi and Afghani translators and interpreters allowed into the United States. Our service members call them “‘terps” for short. Whether you’re good, bad, or [...]