Issues

Published hearing transcripts contain all witness testimony, the question-and-answer portion of the hearing, and any other material requested of the witness by the committee. It may take several months, or even years, for a hearing to be published. Unlike most other congressional documents, hearings are not available from the Senate or House Document Rooms. You may be able to locate a hearing from the Government Publishing Office's govinfo website, from a committee website, or from a federal depository library. For more tips, read the guide How to find committee hearings. more »

The 2020 presidential election is just months away and state legislators, courts and election officials are making final changes to policies governing access to the ballot. States remain divided along partisan lines on expanding and tightening voting laws. As the effects of climate change become increasingly apparent, many states are beginning to prepare for ongoing challenges instead of responding to disasters as one-off events. As more Americans nationwide struggle to pay rent, state lawmakers are filing bills they hope will lead to more affordable housing construction. The mortality rate in rural areas is nearly 850 people per 100,000 compared to about 730 in urban areas. The likely culprits: a lack of access to health care, lower rates of individuals with health insurance, and higher rates of poverty. more »

From the World Health Organization: "It is expected that further international exportation of cases may appear in any country. Thus, all countries should be prepared for containment, including active surveillance, early detection, isolation and case management, contact tracing and prevention of onward spread of 2019-nCoV infection, and to share full data with WHO. Technical advice is available on the WHO website. Countries should place particular emphasis on reducing human infection, prevention of secondary transmission and international spread, and contributing to the international response though multi-sectoral communication and collaboration and active participation in increasing knowledge on the virus and the disease, as well as advancing research."  more »

"To keep their victims under the spell, the scammers will demand they corporate with their fake investigation by the government or face severe fines or even jail time. They also attempt to isolate the victim by keeping him or her on the phone uninterrupted for hours or even days at a time by instructing them not to tell anybody what is going on. They will cite the confidentially of the investigation. In a recent case reported by the Wall Street Journal, an oncology nurse in New York was instructed to leave work without notice, check into a hotel, and stay on the phone for nearly 50 hours. Coached by the fraudsters through a series of transactions at her bank and credit union, she lost almost $340,000 to scammers over three days." more »