jiayi-li23/proxann_data huggingface dataset:
Topic: Government Operations — Bureaucracy
Subject: Government operations and politics
Date: 2012-08-02 00:00:00

Sunset Act of 2012 - Revises provisions relating to congressional review of agency rulemaking to require federal agencies to submit to Congress and the Comptroller General (GAO) a report every three months containing a copy of any rule made during that three month period and information relating to such rule. Prohibits the implementation of a proposed rule prior to the submission of such report. Requires Congress to enact a joint resolution of approval of any agency rule and sets forth approval procedures. Revises the definition of "rule" for purposes of this Act to exclude: (1) any rule of particular applicability, including a rule that approves or prescribes for the future rates, wages, prices, services, or allowances therefore, corporate or financial structures, reorganizations, mergers, or acquisitions thereof, or accounting practices or disclosures bearing on any of the foregoing; (2) any rule relating to agency management or personnel; or (3) any rule of agency organization, procedure, or practice that does not substantially affect the rights or obligations of non-agency parties. Permits judicial review of whether an agency has completed the necessary requirements for a rule to take effect. Requires agencies to designate not less than 10% of their eligible rules for review during each of the next ten years. Terminates any such rule for which Congress has not enacted a joint resolution of approval within 10 years after enactment of this Act. Terminates an agency rule for which Congress has enacted a joint resolution of approval 10 years after the enactment of such resolution. Authorizes the President to exempt a rule from termination if such rule is: (1) necessary because of an imminent threat to health or safety or other emergency, for the enforcement of criminal law, or for national security; or (2 ) issued to implement an international trade agreement.
Topic: Government Operations — Bureaucracy
Subject: Government operations and politics
Date: 2012-09-19 00:00:00

Public Buildings Reform Act of 2012 - Sets forth new requirements for the purchase or lease of federal office space, for limiting rental costs for such space, and for suspending the construction of new courthouses after November 1, 2012. Requires that the acquisition of new federal office space through lease or purchase be offset by the elimination of at least a corresponding amount of space, and that such space be reduced by a minimum of 1 million square feet in each calendar year through 2016. Requires the Administrator of the General Services Administration (GSA) to: (1) use commercial real estate management services to reduce the cost of federal office space, and (2) reduce the total number of full time employees of the Public Buildings Service (PBS) to 6,000 by FY2015. Suspends until October 1, 2014, the authority to use funds in the Federal Buildings Fund for bonuses, performance awards, or similar expenditures for members of the Senior Executive Service (SES). Requires the Administrator to notify specified congressional committees before entering into any contract related to a conference and to report on expenditures for such conference. Prohibits PBS, through FY2015, from hiring more than 50 individuals for an intern program, recent graduate program, Presidential Management Fellow program, or similar program. Requires the Inspector General of GSA to review PBS internship programs and report on the costs and benefits of such programs. Requires GSA to submit a detailed budget for PBS, including a breakdown of salaries, bonuses, travel and transportation, training, and conferences. Prohibits the Administrator from constructing, repairing, altering, or acquiring by lease, purchase, or otherwise a public building or space unless specifically authorized to do so by Congress. Requires the Administrator to report to Congress on: (1) utilization rates of owned and leased public buildings, (2) vacant public buildings, and (3) any increase or decrease of 5% or more in the cost of public projects.
Topic: Government Operations — Bureaucracy
Subject: Science, technology, communications
Date: 2012-09-21 00:00:00

Restore Effective Statistics to the Calculation of USF Expenditures Act of 2012 or the RESCUE Act of 2012 - Prohibits the Order of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in the Matter of Connect America Fund and High-Cost Universal Service Support from having any force or effect after the enactment of this Act. (The FCC Order relates to Universal Service Fund [USF] expenditures and the adoption, on April 25, 2012, of a methodology for establishing benchmarks for capital and operating costs reimbursable to rate-of-return cost companies from high-cost loop support.) Directs the FCC to report to Congress on alternatives to the methodology in such Order and to make such report available to the public on the FCC website. Prohibits the FCC from adopting such an alternative methodology until a specified period after the report is submitted to Congress.
Topic: Government Operations — Bureaucracy
Subject: Government operations and politics
Date: 2012-09-21 00:00:00

Audit the Pentagon Act of 2012 - Requires, on March 2 of FY2013 and each subsequent fiscal year, a 5% reduction in the discretionary budget authority of a federal agency that is identified by the Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) as required to have an audited financial statement: (1) that has not submitted a financial statement for the previous fiscal year, or (2) whose statement has not received either an unqualified or a qualified audit opinion by an independent external auditor. Excludes from such reduction accounts for military, reserve and National Guard personnel and the Defense Health Program account of the Department of Defense (DOD). Authorizes the President to waive a reduction in discretionary budget authority if such reduction would harm national security or members of the Armed Forces who are in combat. Requires a report to Congress listing required DOD reports that would no longer be necessary if the financial statements of DOD were audited with an unqualified opinion or that interfere with DOD's capacity to achieve an audit of its financial statements with an unqualified opinion. Expresses the sense of Congress that: (1) congressional defense committees and DOD should not endanger the nation's troops by reducing wounded warrior accounts or vital protection for members of the Armed Forces in harm's way, (2) the valuation of legacy assets by DOD should be simplified without compromising essential controls or generally accepted government auditing standards, and (3) this Act should not be construed to require or permit the declassification of accounting details about classified defense programs and DOD should ensure financial accountability in such programs. .
Topic: Government Operations — Bureaucracy
Subject: Economics and public finance
Date: 2012-10-12 00:00:00

Amends the Jobs Accountability Act, in title XV of division A of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, to revise the deadline for comments by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) and the Government Accountability Office (GAO) on information contained in specified quarterly reports to the appropriate agency by each recipient of federal recovery funds with respect to an estimate of the number of jobs created and retained by the expenditure or obligation of such funds on a project or activity. Requires these comments on the quarterly reports in a year to be due 45 days after the report for the last quarter of the year is submitted. (Currently, such reports are due within 45 days after submission to the appropriate agency.) Terminates the requirement of the CBO and GAO comments on January 1, 2016. Amends the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 to change from semiannual to annual the required reports to the President and Congress from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) of specified information and estimates regarding the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP). Terminates these TARP reporting requirements with the annual period on the last day of which all troubled assets acquired by the Secretary of the Treasury have been sold or transferred out of the ownership or control of the federal government.
Topic: Government Operations — Bureaucracy
Subject: Government operations and politics
Date: 2012-12-31 00:00:00

Inspector General Improvement Act of 2012 - Requires the inspectors general of the following federal agencies, in addition to the other duties and responsibilities specified in the Inspector General Act of 1978, to supervise, direct, and control audit and investigative activities pertaining to programs and operations: U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID); Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System; Department of Defense (DOD); Department of Education; Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA); Department of Health and Human Services (HHS); Department of Homeland Security (DHS); Department of the Interior; Department of Labor; Department of State; Department of the Treasury; Environmental Protection Agency (EPA); General Services Administration (GSA); Government Accountability Office (GAO); Intelligence Community; National Archives and Records Administration (NARA); Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC); Office of Personnel Management (OPM); and Smithsonian Institution.
Topic: Government Operations — Bureaucracy
Subject: Government operations and politics
Date: 2013-01-01 00:00:00

Requires the Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), not later than 150 days after the enactment of this Act, to coordinate with the heads of federal agencies to: (1) use available administrative authority to eliminate, consolidate, or streamline federal programs and agencies with duplicative and overlapping missions as identified in the February 2012 Government Accountability Office (GAO) report entitled "Opportunities to Reduce Duplication, Overlap and Fragmentation, Achieve Savings, and Enhance Revenue" and the March 2011 GAO report entitled "Opportunities to Reduce Potential Duplication in Government Programs, Save Tax Dollars, and Enhance Revenue" and apply any savings towards deficit reduction; (2) report to Congress any legislative changes required to further eliminate, consolidate, or streamline such programs and agencies; (3) determine the total cost savings to each agency from the implementation of this Act; and (4) rescind from appropriate accounts the greater of $10 billion or the total amount of such cost savings.
Topic: Government Operations — Bureaucracy
Subject: Government operations and politics
Date: 2011-01-25 00:00:00

Establishes the Commission on Congressional Budgetary Accountability and Review of Federal Agencies. Directs the President to designate two Commission co-chairpersons. Requires the Commission to: (1) establish a systematic method for assessing the effectiveness and accountability of agency programs; (2) divide such programs into four equal budgetary parts; (3) evaluate executive agencies and their programs identified in each unit identified in the assessment; and (4) submit to Congress each of the next four years a plan recommending agencies and programs that should be realigned or eliminated and proposing implementing legislation. Provides for expedited consideration of such legislation.
Topic: Government Operations — Bureaucracy
Subject: Congress
Date: 2011-01-26 00:00:00

Stop the OverPrinting (STOP) Act of 2011 - Requires the Public Printer to make bills and resolutions available for the use of offices of Members of Congress only in an electronic format accessible through the Internet.
Topic: Government Operations — Bureaucracy
Subject: Government operations and politics
Date: 2011-01-31 00:00:00

Government Accountability Office Improvement Act of 2011- (Sec. 2) Authorizes the Comptroller General (GAO) to: (1) obtain federal agency records required to discharge his or her duties, including by bringing civil actions under this Act, (2) make and retain copies of agency records, and (3) administer oaths when investigating fraud or federal employee misconduct. (Sec. 4) States that no provision of the Social Security Act, the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, or the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976 (including any information disclosed to the Assistant Attorney General of the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice (DOJ) or the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) for purposes of pre-merger review under the Clayton Act) shall be construed to limit, amend, or supersede GAO's authority to obtain any information, inspect, or copy any record under this Act. Requires GAO to prescribe policies and procedures to protect from public disclosure proprietary or trade secret information obtained pursuant to this Act. Declares that nothing in this Act shall be construed to: (1) alter or amend the prohibitions against the disclosure of trade secrets or other sensitive information prohibited by federal and other applicable laws; or (2) affect prohibitions applicable to GAO against unauthorized disclosure of information. (Sec. 5) Requires GAO to notify a congressional committee or Member of Congress if an agency has not provided within 30 days information requested by GAO relating to any request from such committee or Member. (Sec. 6) Requires agency statements on actions taken or planned in response to GAO recommendations to be submitted to the congressional committees with jurisdiction over the pertinent agency program or activity and to GAO.
Topic: Government Operations — Bureaucracy
Subject: Government operations and politics
Date: 2011-02-15 00:00:00

Regulatory Responsibility for our Economy Act of 2011 - Sets forth general requirements for the federal regulatory system, including the protection of public health, welfare, safety, and the environment, the promotion of predictability in the regulatory process, and the consideration of benefits and costs of regulations. Requires federal agencies to: (1) propose or adopt regulations only upon a reasoned determination that the benefits of such regulations justify their costs; (2) tailor regulations to impose the least burden on society and to maximize economic and other benefits; (3) involve the public and parties affected by regulations in the regulatory process; (4) develop regulatory actions that promote innovation, flexibility, and objectivity; and (5) consider methods to promote retrospective analysis of rules that may be outmoded, ineffective, insufficient, or excessively burdensome, and develop plans for reviewing on a periodic basis significant regulation actions (i.e., those having an annual effect on the economy of $100 million or more or otherwise adversely affecting the economy).
Topic: Government Operations — Bureaucracy
Subject: Government operations and politics
Date: 2011-02-17 00:00:00

Spending Control Act of 2011- Establishes the Grace Commission II to conduct a review of cost control in the federal government every two years with respect to improving management and reducing costs. Directs the Commission to conduct in-depth studies to evaluate potential improvements in the operations of executive agencies and to develop recommendations regarding: (1) opportunities for increased efficiency and reduced costs that can be realized by executive action or legislation, (2) areas where managerial accountability can be enhanced and administrative control can be improved, (3) opportunities for managerial improvements over the short and long terms, (4) specific areas where further study can be justified by potential savings, and (5) ways to reduce governmental expenditures and indebtedness and improve personnel management. Requires the Commission to submit final reports within 18 months after enactment of this Act and every two years thereafter until it submits its third final report. Requires such reports to contain the Commission's findings, conclusions, and recommendations for legislative and administrative actions and proposed legislation to carry out those recommendations. Sets forth congressional procedures for considering such legislation.
Topic: Government Operations — Bureaucracy
Subject: Congress
Date: 2011-03-01 00:00:00

Establishes the Office of the Inspector General (IG) of the Senate. Requires the Majority and Minority Leaders of the Senate to appoint the first IG. Limits the IG to an initial five-year term, and two additional terms if reappointed. Requires the IG to: (1) audit and investigate Senate programs and operations; (2) review legislation and regulations relating to Senate programs and operations, and make recommendations concerning their impact on the economy and efficiency in the administration of such programs and operations or the prevention and detection of fraud and abuse in them; and (3) keep the Committee on Rules and Administration and the Committee on Appropriations informed concerning fraud and other serious problems, abuses, and deficiencies relating to such administration, and recommend corrective action. Requires the Office to establish a publicly available website for posting its reports and audits, including a direct homepage link for individuals to report fraud, waste, and abuse without being required to disclose personally identifying information.
Topic: Government Operations — Bureaucracy
Subject: Economics and public finance
Date: 2011-03-03 00:00:00

Enacting President Obama's Recommendations for Program Termination Act - Prohibits federal expenditures for specified programs in: (1) the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), (2) the Department of Education, (3) the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), (4) the Department of Labor, (5) the Department of Defense (DOE), (6) the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), (7) the Department of Agriculture, (8) the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), (9) the Department of Energy (DOE), (10) the Department of Justice (DOJ), (11) the Department of the Interior, and (12) the Department of Commerce. Prohibits federal expenditures for: (1) the Christopher Columbus Fellowship Foundation, (2) the Deep Underground Science and Engineering Laboratory of the National Science Foundation (NSF), (3) Election Reform Grants of the Election Assistance Commission (EAC), (4) the NSF STEM Fellows in K-12 Education, (5) the Harry S. Truman Scholarship Foundation, (6) the NSF STEM Distributed Learning (Digital Library), (7) NSF Grants to Broad Participation in Biology, (8) the Revenue Forgone from Reduced Rate Mail of the Postal Service, (9) NSF Synchrotron Radiation Center, and (10) the Water and Wastewater Treatment of the Corps of Engineer. Provides that any funds appropriated to or unobligated by such programs shall be rescinded and returned to the Treasury. Deems any authorization in law for such programs to be repealed.
Topic: Government Operations — Bureaucracy
Subject: Government operations and politics
Date: 2011-03-03 00:00:00

Government Excess Prevention Act of 2011 - Directs the Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to coordinate with federal agencies to: (1) determine which government publications could be published on government websites and devise a strategy to reduce government printing costs over the 10-year period beginning with FY2012, (2) issue on OMB's public website the results of a cost-benefit analysis for monitoring government printing, and (3) establish guidelines on employee printing and for disclosing the cost of printing government publications. Imposes limitations on government travel and subsistence expenses, except for expenses incurred for threatened law enforcement personnel and for other expenses related to national security or public safety. Rescinds in FY2011 20% of the funding for the acquisition of new vehicles for the federal fleet by the General Services Administration (GSA). Imposes limitations on such funding in FY2012 and subsequent fiscal years.
Topic: Government Operations — Bureaucracy
Subject: Government operations and politics
Date: 2011-03-07 00:00:00

Independent Task and Delivery Order Review Extension Act of 2011 - Extends through September 30, 2016: (1) the authority for a bid protest (i.e., a written objection to a federal agency solicitation, cancellation of a solicitation, or award of a contract) of a task or delivery order contract valued in excess of $10 million; and (2) the exclusive jurisdiction of the Comptroller General over such protests. Prohibits the authorization of appropriations for the specific purpose of processing bid protests and requires all such protests to be processed using the existing resources of the Government Accountability Office (GAO) and executive agencies.
Topic: Government Operations — Bureaucracy
Subject: Environmental protection
Date: 2011-03-15 00:00:00

Representation for Farmers Act - Amends the Environmental Research, Development, and Demonstration Authorization Act of 1978 to modify the provision governing the composition of the membership of the Science Advisory Board to provide for the appointment of up to three Board members based on a recommendation of the Secretary of Agriculture (USDA).
Topic: Government Operations — Bureaucracy
Subject: Government operations and politics
Date: 2011-03-16 00:00:00

Clearing Unnecessary Regulatory Burdens Act or the CURB Act - Requires each federal agency to: (1) report to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs on the costs and benefits of each significant regulatory action and of identified alternatives; (2) develop or have written procedures for the approval of significant guidance documents; (3) maintain on its website a list of such documents in effect; (4) establish and advertise on its website a means for the public to electronically submit comments on such documents and a request for issuance, reconsideration, modification, or rescission of such documents; and (5) publish a notice in the Federal Register announcing that a draft of an economically significant guidance document is available, make such document publicly available, invite comment on such draft, and respond to such comments. Defines a "significant regulatory action" as any regulatory action that is likely to result in a regulation that may: (1) have an annual effect on the economy of $100 million or more or adversely affect in a material way the economy, a sector of the economy, productivity, competition, jobs, the environment, public health or safety, or state, local, or tribal governments or communities; (2) create a serious inconsistency or otherwise interfere with an action taken or planned by another agency; (3) materially alter the budgetary impact of entitlements, grants, user fees, or loan programs or the rights and obligations of recipients thereof; or (4) raise novel legal or policy issues arising out of legal mandates and the priorities, principles, and provisions of this Act. Authorizes an agency head, in consultation with such Office, to identify a particular document or category of such documents for which the procedures of this Act are not feasible or appropriate. Requires agencies to notify the Administrator  in emergency situations or when they are obligated by law to act more quickly than normal review procedures allow. Allows a reduction or waiver of civil penalties on small entities for failure to comply with regulatory requirements.