jiayi-li23/proxann_data huggingface dataset:
Topic: Government Operations — Bureaucracy
Subject: Economics and public finance
Date: 2013-08-01 00:00:00

Strengthening Congressional Oversight of Regulatory actions for Efficiency - Requires the Director of the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) to establish and maintain a separate Regulatory Analysis Division within CBO responsible for assessing the impact of federal rules and regulations.

Requires the Division to provide analysis:

 during the public comment period, of the prospective economic impact of economically significant proposed rules having an annual effect on the economy of $100 million or more or an adverse effect in a material way on the economy, a sector of the economy, productivity, competition, jobs, the environment, public health or safety, or state, local, or tribal governments or communities; and of economically significant regulations that have been in effect for five years, including an analysis of costs and benefits to determine if the regulation is meeting the stated goals it was intended to meet.
Topic: Government Operations — Bureaucracy
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Date: 2013-09-17 00:00:00

Audit the Pentagon Act of 2013 - Provides that Department of Defense (DOD) financial statements shall cease to be covered by specified DOD financial reporting requirements upon the issuance of an unqualified audit opinion (UAO) on such statements.

Provides that if DOD obtains a UAO on its statement of budgetary resources for any fiscal year after FY2014, the limitation on the total amount of authorizations that the Secretary of Defense may transfer pursuant to general transfer authority in the national interest in the succeeding fiscal year shall be $8 billion. Sets forth thresholds for the reprogramming of funds that shall apply to increases or decreases to the program base amount for a procurement or research program or an operation and maintenance or military personnel budget activity for a military department, defense agency, or defense field activity that obtains a UAO on its statement of budgetary resources.

Requires additional qualifications and responsibilities of the Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller) and certain other DOD financial management officials if DOD fails to obtain a UAO on its general fund statement of budgetary resources for FY2015 by December 31, 2015.

Provides that if DOD fails to obtain a UAO on its general fund statement of budgetary resources for FY2018 by December 31, 2018, the reprogramming authority provided above will cease to apply. Requires, effective as of April 1, 2019, the reorganization of the position of DOD Chief Management Officer, with added qualifications and responsibilities.

Transfers jurisdiction of the Defense Finance and Accounting Service from DOD to the Department of the Treasury and requires the Secretary of the Treasury to administer such Service.

Provides that if a military department fails to obtain a UAO on its financial statements: (1) for FY2018 by December 31, 2018, the reprogramming authority provided above will cease to apply; and (2) for any fiscal year after 2017, amounts available to that department may not be obligated for a weapon or weapon system or platform being acquired under a major defense acquisition program for any activity beyond Milestone B approval not already obtained.

Directs the Secretary of Defense to amend the acquisition guidance of DOD to place specific limits on the procurement of any enterprise resource planning business system, including a three-year limit on its total procurement time from initial obligation of funds to full deployment and sustainment.
Topic: Government Operations — Bureaucracy
Subject: Government operations and politics
Date: 2013-12-10 00:00:00

Grants Oversight and New Efficiency Act or the GONE Act - Directs the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency to submit to Congress and the head of each federal agency a report that: (1) lists each covered grant account held by the federal government, (2) recommends which of such grants should be immediately closed, and (3) explains why any covered grant account that has been expired for more than 90 days has not been closed out. Requires each federal agency head that manages a covered grant account recommended for closure in such report to close such account not later than 180 days after the report is submitted. 

Defines "covered grant account" as a grant account in a federal agency payment management system that has a zero balance for more than 180 days and for which the grant award period has expired.
Topic: Government Operations — Bureaucracy
Subject: Government operations and politics
Date: 2013-12-12 00:00:00

(This measure has not been amended since it was introduced. The summary of that version is repeated here.)

Responsible Use of Taxpayer Dollars for Portraits Act of 2013 - Prohibits federal funds from being used to pay for production of a portrait of: (1) a Member of Congress, (2) the head of an executive agency, or (3) the head of an agency or office of the legislative branch.

Authorizes up to $20,000 in federal funds to pay for production of a portrait of an individual in line of succession to the presidency.

Provides that nothing in this Act shall be construed to prohibit the use of:

 federal funds to publicly display a portrait of: (1) a Member of Congress, (2) the head of an executive agency, or (3) the head of an agency or office of the legislative branch; or nonfederal funds to produce a portrait of such individual, including, in the case of a portrait of an individual in line of succession to the presidency, the use of nonfederal funds to pay the entire cost of producing it or the portion of the cost that exceeds $20,000, if any.
Topic: Government Operations — Bureaucracy
Subject: Government operations and politics
Date: 2013-12-17 00:00:00

Department of Commerce and the Workforce Consolidation Act - Establishes the Department of Commerce and the Workforce, headed by a Secretary of Commerce and the Workforce, as an executive department for the advancement of economic growth and job opportunities. Consolidates in such Department: (1) the Office of the Workforce, (2) the Patent and Trademark Office, (3) the Small Business Administration (SBA), (4) the Office of Economic Affairs and Statistics, (5) the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), (6) the International Trade Administration, (7) the Bureau of Industry and Security, (8) the Economic Development and Training Administration, (9) the Communications and Information Administration, and (10) the Office of Inspector General. Sets forth the powers and responsibilities of the Secretary.

Transfers: (1) specified functions and programs of the Departments of Commerce and Labor to the Department of Commerce and the Workforce, (2) all functions of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to the Department of the Interior, and (3) all functions of the National Marine Fisheries Service of NOAA to the United States Fish and Wildlife Service.

Eliminates: (1) the International Labor Comparisons program of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, (2) the career pathways innovation fund established under the Workforce Investment Act of 1998, (3) the Enhanced Transitional Jobs Demonstration program (4) grants for public telecommunications facilities, (5) the Baldridge Performance Excellence Program, (6) the Malcolm Baldridge National Quality Award, (6) the Emergency Steel Guaranteed Loan Program, and (7) certain functions and programs of the Bureau of the Census.
Topic: Government Operations — Bureaucracy
Subject: Government operations and politics
Date: 2013-12-17 00:00:00

Federal Information Technology Savings, Accountability, and Transparency Act of 2013 - Modifies provisions relating to the position of Chief Information Officer (CIO) in federal agencies to require the appointment of not more than one CIO in the Departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Education, Energy (DOE), Health and Human Services (HHS), Interior, Justice (DOJ), Labor, State, Transportation (DOT), Treasury, and Veterans Affairs (VA), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

Requires CIOs to: (1) be appointed or designated by the President, in consultation with relevant agency heads; (2) be chosen from among individuals who have demonstrated knowledge of information technology management practices and ability to manage such practices in large entities; and (3) be given enhanced authority in the budget planning process of an agency and the hiring of personnel who will have information technology responsibilities.

Expands the responsibilities of the Chief Information Officers Council to require the Council to: (1) develop cross-agency portfolio management practices and issue guidelines and practices for expansion of the federal enterprise architecture process, and (2) report to specified congressional committees on its activities. Requires the Comptroller General (GAO) to examine and report on the effectiveness of the Council.

Requires the Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to make available to the public the cost, schedule, and performance data for at least 80% of all information technology investments in each federal agency to which this Act applies, unless the Director or the agency CIO determines that a waiver or limitation of such disclosure requirement is in the interests of national security.
Topic: Government Operations — Bureaucracy
Subject: Government operations and politics
Date: 2014-01-14 00:00:00

Taxpayer Transparency Act of 2013 - Requires each communication funded by a federal agency for advertising or educational purposes to clearly state: (1) in the case of a printed communication, including mass mailings, signs, and billboards, that the communication is printed and published at taxpayer expense; and (2) in the case of a communication transmitted through radio, television, or the Internet, that the communication is produced and disseminated at taxpayer expense. Requires any such printed communication, including e-mails, to be of sufficient size to be clearly readable, to be set apart from the other contents of the communication, and to be printed with a reasonable degree of color contrast between the background and the printed statement. Exempts from such requirements: (1) information in or relating to a solicitation for offers for a federal contract or applications or submissions of a bid or proposal for a federal grant or other means of funding under a federal program; and (2) advertisements for employment opportunities, not including advertising materials developed for use in recruiting and retaining personnel for the Armed Forces.
Topic: Government Operations — Bureaucracy
Subject: Government operations and politics
Date: 2014-01-16 00:00:00

Oversight Workforce Improvement Act of 2014 - Exempts from requirements relating to the authority of federal agencies to collect information for investigations: (1) information collected during any evaluation by the Federal Accountability and Spending Transparency Board; and (2) information collected during any audit, investigation, evaluation, or other review conducted by the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency or any Office of the Inspector General, including any office of Special Inspector General.

Exempts from document disclosure requirements of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) information relating to the information security program or practices of a federal agency if disclosure could reasonably be expected to lead to, or result in, unauthorized access, use, disclosure, disruption, modification, or destruction of such information program or the information such program controls, processes, stores, or transmits.

Amends the Inspector General Act of 1978 to: (1) establish classification and pay standards for the Inspectors General of each federal agency; (2) set forth procedures for considering allegations of wrongdoing against the Special Counsel and Deputy Special Counsel (officials appointed to investigate prohibited personal practices and government waste and abuse); and (3) include within the membership of the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency the Inspectors General of the Intelligence Community and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) (currently, the Inspectors General of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the CIA).
Topic: Government Operations — Bureaucracy
Subject: Government operations and politics
Date: 2014-03-10 00:00:00

Sound Regulation Act of 2014 - Establishes additional requirements for rulemaking under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA), including:

 identification by a federal agency, in the context of a coherent conceptual framework and supported with objective data, of the nature and significance of the market failure, regulatory failure, or other problem that necessitates regulatory action and why other alternatives, such as market forces or state or local regulations, could not address the problem better than federal regulation;  establishment by an agency of an achievable objective for its regulatory action; development of at not less than three regulatory options, in addition to not regulating, that the agency estimates will provide the greatest benefits for the least cost in meeting the regulatory objective; an estimate by each agency of the costs and benefits of each regulatory option developed, at least to the extent the agency is able to exclude options whose costs exceed their benefits, and rank such options by cost from lowest to highest; publication for public comment of all analyses, documentation, and data relating to the requirements of this Act for a public comment period of not less than 30 days; establishment, by rule, of the specific cost-benefit analysis methodology appropriate to the functions and responsibilities of the agency and establishment of an appropriate period for review of new rules to assess their cost-effectiveness; justification of why the agency does not select the least-cost regulatory option as its proposed rule, and agency review, every four years, of all rules of the agency that are in effect and a determination, based on objective data, of whether the rules are working as intended, furthering their objectives, imposing unanticipated costs, or generating a net benefit. Requires the Comptroller General (GAO), for purposes of congressional review, to: (1)  examine each agency cost-benefit analysis for compliance with the requirements of this Act, including the agency methodology for such analysis; (2) examine risk analysis pertaining to the cost-benefit analysis; and (3) examine and report on agency quadrennial regulatory reviews for consistency with the requirements of this Act.
Topic: Government Operations — Bureaucracy
Subject: Government operations and politics
Date: 2014-03-11 00:00:00

Government Reports Elimination Act of 2014 - Eliminates, modifies, or consolidates reporting requirements for the: (1) Department of Agriculture, (2) Department of Commerce, (3) Department of Defense (DOD), (4) Department of Education, (5) Department of Energy (DOE), (6) Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), (7) Department of Homeland Security (DHS), (8) Department of Housing and Urban Affairs (HUD), (9) Department of Justice (DOJ), (10) Department of Labor, (11) Department of the Interior, (12) Department of State, (13) Department of the Treasury, (14) Department of Transportation (DOT), (15) Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), (16) Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), (17) Corporation for National and Community Service (18) Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), (19) Federal Trade Commission (FTC), (20) General Services Administration (GSA), (21) National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), (22) National Science Foundation (NSF), (23) Office of Personnel Management (OPM), (24) Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), (25) Small Business Administration (SBA), (26) Social Security Administration (SSA), (27) Army Corps of Engineers, and (28) Executive Office of the President. Repeals or modifies reports relating to activities conducted by the intelligence community.
Topic: Government Operations — Bureaucracy
Subject: Government operations and politics
Date: 2014-03-12 00:00:00

Taxpayer Right-to-Know Act - (Sec. 2) Defines "program" for purposes of this Act as an organized set of activities by one or more agencies directed toward a common purpose or goal.

Requires that the website of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) include a program inventory that identifies each program of the federal government, which shall include: (1) any activity that is commonly referred to as a program; (2) any activity specifically created by law, or referenced in law, as a program; (3) each program that has an application process; (4) each program for which financial awards are made on a competitive basis; and (5) any activity identified as a program activity in a budget request.

Requires, for each program identified in such program inventory: (1) an identification of the specific statute that authorizes the program and any program regulations; (2) an estimate of the number of individuals served by any program that provides grants or financial assistance and the beneficiaries who received financial assistance under the program; (3) an estimate of the number of full-time employees who administer the program and the number of such employees whose salary is paid, in full or part, by the federal government; (4) links to any evaluation, assessment, or program performance reviews by the agency, an Inspector General, or the Government Accountability Office (GAO) released during the preceding five years; and (5) financial information for each program required to be reported under the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006.

Requires the OMB Director to issue guidance to assist agencies in identifying how the program activities used in budget or appropriations accounts correspond with programs identified in the program inventory required by this Act. Authorizes the Director to issue guidance to agencies on how to more closely align programs in the program inventory for purposes of the President's annual budget submission to Congress.

(Sec. 3) Requires: (1) the OMB Director, not later than 120 days after the enactment of this Act, to prescribe regulations or other guidance to implement this Act; and (2) the implementation of this Act not later than 1 year after its enactment.
Topic: Government Operations — Bureaucracy
Subject: Government operations and politics
Date: 2014-03-25 00:00:00

National Regulatory Budget Act of 2014 - Establishes the Office of Regulatory Analysis in the executive branch as an independent establishment. Requires the Director of such Office to submit by January 30 of each year to the House Committees on Oversight and Government Reform and Small Business and the Senate Committees on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs and Small Business and Entrepreneurship a Report on National Regulatory Costs, which shall include: (1) regulatory costs imposed on regulated entities; (2) an analysis of any major changes in estimation methodology used by the Office since its last annual report; (3) an analysis of any major estimate changes caused by improved or inadequate data; and (4) recommendations on how regulations may be streamlined, simplified, and modernized, what regulations should be repealed, and how the federal government may reduce the cost of regulations without diminishing their effectiveness.

Requires the Director to publish in the Federal Register and on the website of the Office a regulatory analysis of each proposed covered federal rule (i.e., a rule, an information collection requirement, guidance, or a directive that imposes not less than $25 million in annual costs on regulated entities) and each proposed withdrawal or modification of a covered federal rule by an executive agency that imposes or reduces costs on a regulated entity.

Requires Congress, not later than July 31 of each year, to pass a bill establishing a National Regulatory Budget that sets an annual overall regulatory cost cap and an annual agency regulatory cost cap for each executive agency for the fiscal year beginning on October 1. Provides that the initial National Regulatory Budget shall take effect in FY2016.

Makes cooperation with the requests of the Director for information mandatory upon executive agencies. Imposes sanctions on such agencies for failure to provide timely information to the Director.

Prohibits an executive agency that exceeds the annual agency regulatory cost cap imposed by the National Regulatory Budget for a fiscal year from promulgating a new covered federal rule that increases regulatory costs.

Requires the Director to report to Congress on positions in the federal government that are duplicative of the work performed by the Office and on the effectiveness of regulatory analysis.
Topic: Government Operations — Bureaucracy
Subject: Congress
Date: 2014-04-01 00:00:00

(This measure has not been amended since it was introduced. The summary of that version is repeated here.)

Amends the Revised Statutes to repeal the requirement that stationery for the Senate be purchased according to a bidding process, and related requirements.
Topic: Government Operations — Bureaucracy
Subject: Science, technology, communications
Date: 2014-04-03 00:00:00

Let Me Google That For You Act - Repeals the National Technical Information Act of 1988, effective one year after the enactment of this Act (thus abolishes the National Technical Information Service [NTIS]).

Directs: (1) the Secretary of Commerce, the Archivist of the United States, the Comptroller General (GAO), and the Commissioner of Social Security to consult with the Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to determine if any NTIS function is critical to the U.S. economy; (2) the Comptroller General to determine which of any such critical functions are not being carried out by any other agency or instrumentality of the federal government; and (3) the Secretary of Commerce, prior to the effective date of this Act, to submit to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce and the Senate Committee on Finance a written certification that all NTIS operations have been terminated.
Topic: Government Operations — Bureaucracy
Subject: Finance and financial sector
Date: 2014-09-16 00:00:00

Financial Regulatory Clarity Act of 2014 - Requires the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), the Office of Comptroller of the Currency, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection (CFPB), the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA), the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), before issuing a final regulation or order, to assess other federal regulations and orders to determine whether the agency's proposal is in conflict with, is inconsistent with, or is duplicative of such other regulations or orders and whether such other federal regulations or orders are outdated.