Congressional Digest

Archive: 2015 October

    Gun Violence Research

October 29, 2015
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The Omnibus Consolidated Appropriations bill for Fiscal Year 1997 contained language stating that “none of the funds made available for injury prevention and control at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC] may be used to advocate or promote gun control.” Although the bill did not explicitly ban research on gun violence, Congress took the money previously appropriated for firearm injury research and earmarked it for another purpose. The ban on CDC research on gun deaths and injuries, which has remained in place ever since, was prompted by the results of a 1993 study, published in the New England…

    Refugee Admissions

October 24, 2015
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Each year, the President determines the maximum number of refugees to be admitted into the United States. The ceiling is 70,000 for the current fiscal year. With Syrians continuing to flee that country’s violence and strife, however, Secretary of State John Kerry pledged that the United States will take in as many as 85,000 refugees, including at least 10,000 from Syria. That ceiling would be raised to 100,000 in 2017. Refugees will also be admitted from parts of Africa that are experiencing similar conflicts. “This step is in keeping with America’s best tradition as a land of second chances and…

    Opioid Abuse

October 16, 2015
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A national survey on drug use and health, conducted in 2013 by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, found that an estimated 1.9 million people in the United States suffered from substance use disorders related to prescription pain medicines and 517,000 suffered from a heroin use disorder. In the last year, Congress has held several hearings on the what is now considered to be a public health epidemic. These included: Two House Energy and Commerce Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee hearings: one on April 23, titled “Combatting the Opioid Abuse Epidemic: Professional and Academic Perspectives” and one on May…

    Gun Transfers

October 05, 2015
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In the wake of the shooting of two Virginia television journalists, Senator Tim Kaine (VA-D) introduced S. 2016, the Responsible Transfer of Firearms Act. The legislation is designed to hold people responsible if they sell or transfer a firearm to someone who is barred by Federal law from firearms possession. In essence, the proposal would raise the bar for commercial and private dealers who are now protected from criminal prosecution. Under Kaine’s bill, gun sellers would be criminally liable for a bad sale if they did not take reasonable, affirmative steps to determine that the customer met Federal criteria. The…

    Cuba Travel

October 01, 2015
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In December 2014, President Obama announced that the United States would re-establish diplomatic relations with Cuba, thereby ending one of the last vestiges of the Cold War. Since then, the Administration has opened an embassy in Havana and removed Cuba from the list of state sponsors of terrorism. The Administration also made it much easier for Americans who fit into one of 12 approved categories to travel to Cuba (including for educational, religious, cultural, journalistic, or family purposes). Longtime restrictions on tourist travel remain in place, however; Cuba is the only country U.S. citizens are barred from visiting as tourists….

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