Congress

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Other Resource 530 Chefs Call On White House To End Antibiotic Overuse On Industrial Farms

Staff Writer | Pew | September 27, 2013

This week, The Pew Charitable Trusts delivered a letter signed by 530 chefs (PDF) to Sam Kass, executive director of Let’s Move! and senior policy advisor for nutrition at the White House, urging the Obama administration to finalize policies to preserve the effectiveness of antibiotics and to protect people from resistant superbugs. Read More »

Over 500 Organizations Representing Patients, Healthcare Providers, Employers Urge Congress To Eliminate IPAB

Press Release | Healthcare Leadership Council | April 25, 2013

Letter to Capitol Hill Says Independent Payment Advisory Board would “severely limit Medicare beneficiaries’ access to care” Read More »

Patriot Act Architect: No More Spying Unless My NSA Reform Bill Passes

Dustin Volz | Nextgov | February 4, 2014

Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner sent another warning shot Tuesday to members of the intelligence community that they risk losing all congressional authority for the National Security Agency's collection of bulk telephone records if his bill restricting the program is not passed. Read More »

Pentagon Spent Over $4 Billion On Mental Health Treatment Between 2007 And 2012

Bob Brewin | Nextgov | August 22, 2013

The Congressional Research Service just put a price tag on the mental health costs of the long wars in Afghanistan and Iraq: about $4.5 billion between 2007 and 2012. The Defense Department spent $958 million on mental health treatment in 2012, roughly double the $468 million it spent in 2007. Read More »

Plan To Expand Chiropractic Services To More VA Medical Facilities Clears Senate Committee

Press Release | American Chiropractic Association (ACA) | July 25, 2013

Media Contacts:
Caitlin Lukacs: (703) 812-0218 | [email protected]
Melissa Lee: (703) 812-0259 | [email protected]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: July 25, 2013

Plan to Expand Chiropractic Services to More VA Medical Facilities Clears Senate Committee Read More »

Pols To Ad Networks: Pretend We Passed SOPA, And Never Mind About Violating Antitrust Law

Mitch Stoltz | Electronic Frontier Foundation | May 8, 2014

A group of United States Senators and Representatives is asking Internet advertising networks to create a blacklist of alleged "piracy sites" and refuse to serve ads to those sites. If this idea sounds familiar, that's probably because it was an integral part of the infamous Stop Online Piracy Act, or SOPA, legislation that was stopped in its tracks two years ago after a massive protest by Internet users...

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Prospects For Comprehensive Cyber Reform Are Questionable

Aliya Sternstein | Nextgov | February 7, 2013

Congress is unlikely to pass a comprehensive cybersecurity reform bill this year, largely because public concern about computer hacking doesn’t sway elections, a recently-departed House Homeland Security Committee senior aide said. Read More »

Providers, vendors both to blame for information blocking

Dan Bowman | FierceHealthIT | April 10, 2015

Most information blocking in healthcare is "beyond the current reach" of federal agencies to detect, investigate and address, according to the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT's report to Congress published Friday. Read More »

Public Access To Scientific Research Advances

Press Release | Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition (SPARC) | January 16, 2014

Progress toward making taxpayer-funded scientific research freely accessible in a digital environment was reached today with Congressional passage of the FY 2014 Omnibus Appropriations Bill. Read More »

Quit Wasting Money On e-Health Records, Congress Tells Defense And VA

Bob Brewin | Nextgov | January 15, 2014

Worried that the Defense and Veterans Affairs departments might continue to spend years and billions of dollars in a “futile exercise” to develop their own electronic health record systems “and lose sight of the end-goal of an interoperable record,” lawmakers included funding restrictions in the 2014 Omnibus Appropriations Act the House passed Wednesday. Read More »

Real Copyright Reform Starts With Listening To Users, Not Just The Usual Suspects

Corynne McSherry | Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) | July 24, 2013

In the next baby step on the long march toward reforming the Copyright Act, the House Judiciary Committee is holding hearings on the importance of the “copyright and technology sectors” to the U.S. economy. The first will be held tomorrow. Read More »

Rebooting Computer Crime Part 3: The Punishment Should Fit The Crime

Cindy Cohn, Hanni Fakhoury, and Marcia Hofmann | Electronic Frontier Foundation | February 8, 2013

In the wake of social justice activist Aaron Swartz's tragic death, Internet users around the country are taking a hard look at the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA), the federal anti-hacking law. As we've noted, the CFAA has many problems. Read More »

Rep. Burgess' Office Releases Draft Interoperability Bill for Discussion

The office of Rep. Michael Burgess, MD (R-TX) released a draft of the interoperability bill that they have been working for the past several months on Friday. Rep. Burgess, one of the few physicians in Congress, has been working very hard with his staff to come up with legislation that can fix the current Health IT "lock-in" crisis. This is a bipartisan effort that has full backing from the top leadership in Congress. The staff is seeking input from the Health IT community on the draft bill. Burgess's office will take comments on the draft through March 13. Rep. Burgess' staff was kind enough to provide Open Health News with a copy of the draft legislation. We have posted the entire draft bill as is below and will be writing some our thoughts over the next few days. 

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Ruben Rosario: We're Quick To Send Them Off To War, But Slow To Help

Ruben Rosario | TwinCities.com | September 22, 2012

The following is an ongoing national disgrace: According to a weekly monitoring of government data by the Center for Investigative Reporting, there are 820,514 veterans -- including 11,488 here in Minnesota -- awaiting a response to claims of a disease, injury or illness suffered in the military. Read More »

Senate Panel Approves Internet Freedom Resolution

Josh Smith | Nextgov | September 20, 2012

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Wednesday unanimously approved a resolution calling on the United States to prevent the United Nations from having a greater role in governing the Internet. Read More »