Congress

See the following -

How Much Does It Cost To Win Election To Congress?

Mike Masnick | Techdirt | March 14, 2013

A year ago, we wrote about a fantastic episode of the radio program This American Life, which was all about lobbying. One part of it revealed just how much time our elected officials in Congress spend fundraising, and the numbers were somewhat astounding... Read More »

How The First Internet President Produced The Government’s Biggest, Highest-Stakes Internet Failure

Alex Howard | BuzzFeed | October 13, 2013

Obama ran a perfect digital campaign — but he couldn’t control the federal contractors. Now Healthcare.gov imperils ObamaCare. Read More »

How The NSA Undermines Cybersecurity

Brendan Sasso | Nextgov.com | April 30, 2014

...Officials have warned for years that a sophisticated cyberattack could cripple critical infrastructure or allow thieves to make off with the financial information of millions of Americans. President Obama pushed Congress to enact cybersecurity legislation, and when it didn’t, he issued his own executive order in 2013...

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How VA Is Driving Telemedicine

Adam Mazmanian | FCW | February 13, 2014

Telemedicine, or the broader term telehealth, allows patients to receive medical examinations from primary care physicians, consult with specialists, participate in one-on-one psychotherapy or counseling, and share diagnostic information using videoconferencing and other electronic communications tools. It has mainly been used to reach those who live in rural areas, but its influence is spreading. Read More »

Hundreds Of Thousands Of Medicare Recipients To Lose Telehealth Services

Eric Wicklund | Healthcare IT News | March 29, 2013

Realignment of census lines moves Medicare beneficiaries from rural to metropolitan Read More »

I Lost My Seat In Congress, And All I Got Was This Broken Website

Elahe Izadi and Sam Baker | Nextgov | November 15, 2013

Vulnerable House Democrats back in 2009 knew that they were risking their political careers by casting votes for the Affordable Care Act. And more than 60 of them--including some who didn't even vote for the bill--lost their seats the following year. Read More »

iEHR Would Get A Shorter Leash, Under House NDAA Amendment

Molly Bernhart Walker | FierceGovernmentIT | July 15, 2013

An amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal 2014 (H.R. 1960), which passed June 14, would impose reporting requirements on the Defense and Veterans Affairs departments' integrated electronic health record project, as well as stand up an advisory panel to provide additional oversight. Read More »

If No One's To Blame For Healthcare.gov Glitches, Then Maybe Everyone Is

Jaikumar Vijayan | Computerworld | October 24, 2013

After listening to over three hours of testimony in Congress from some of the contractors behind the Obamacare Healthcare.gov site, one thing has become abundantly clear: No vendor is responsible for the problems that have plagued the health exchange since its launch nearly a month ago. Read More »

If Obamacare Falters, Insurers May Pay High Price

Lawrence J. McQuillan | The Independent Institute | October 14, 2013

America’s health insurance companies sold out for higher profits when they fought for the Affordable Care Act rather than a patient-driven system that would best serve the sick. Read More »

If PRISM Is Good Policy, Why Stop With Terrorism?

Derek Khanna | The Atlantic | July 4, 2013

Defenders of the program say its effectiveness excuses it -- but they ignore the Fourth Amendment. Read More »

If Shutdown Persists, VA Will Cut Off Claims Payments To Vets On Nov. 1

Bob Brewin | Nextgov | October 9, 2013

If the government shutdown persists until late October, the Veterans Affairs Department will cut off disability, pension, compensation and education claims to 5.18 million veterans, surviving spouses and children on Nov. 1, VA Secretary Eric Shinseki told a hearing of the House VA Committee Wednesday. Read More »

If The Internet Sales Tax Fails, Expect Higher Gas Prices

Brian Fung | Nextgov | May 7, 2013

Legislation allowing states to collect sales taxes on purchases made over the Internet—approved by the Senate in a 69-27 vote Monday evening—faces an uncertain future in the House. What would happen if the push for Internet sales taxes falls apart? In at least a couple of states—Maryland and Virginia—it could mean higher gasoline prices. Read More »

Immigrants Help Medicare Stay Solvent

Noam N. Levey | Los Angeles Times | May 29, 2013

Immigrants in the United States both legally and illegally are helping sustain Medicare, contributing about $14 billion more a year to the federal health program for the elderly than they use in medical services, a new study indicates. Read More »

In A Close Vote, Congress Shamefully Defeats Amendment That Sought To Curtail NSA Surveillance

Mark M. Jaycox | Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) | July 24, 2013

The US House of Representatives came within a few votes of passing a novel amendment that attempted to strike out funding for the highly contentious NSA calling records surveillance program... Read More »

In Secret, Court Vastly Broadens Powers Of N.S.A.

Eric Lichtblau | New York Times | July 6, 2013

In more than a dozen classified rulings, the nation’s surveillance court has created a secret body of law giving the National Security Agency the power to amass vast collections of data on Americans while pursuing not only terrorism suspects, but also people possibly involved in nuclear proliferation, espionage and cyberattacks [...]. Read More »