Members of Congress expressed skepticism about the viability of the Obama Administration’s plan for a manned commercial space flight program at an October 26 hearing on the “Future Private Market for Human Spaceflight.” Spokespersons from NASA and aerospace companies testified before the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee on progress toward establishing a “purely commercial capability to fly humans to and from low-Earth orbit, with an emphasis on ferrying NASA astronauts to the International Space Station.” Current law authorizes $500 for development of the program, and many Members of Congress are reluctant to meet the Administration’s request for $850 million,…

Saying “Congress hasn’t been able to do it, so I will,” President Obama announced that he is waiving central provisions of the No Child Left Behind law, the signature education policy achievement of the George W. Bush Administration. Although the original bill passed Congress with bipartisan support, the law has since become controversial, with many charging that the program is too focused on standardized testing and that it intrudes too much on local control of education. The May 2008 Congressional Digest, titled “No Child Left Behind Revisited,” covered the Pro & Con debate on the question “Should Congress Make Fundamental…

NASA has just announced plans for the most powerful rocket since Saturn V flew the first astronauts to the Moon. The agency says that the new Space Launch System (SLS) will allow humans to travel farther into space than anyone has ever ventured before, including to an asteroid by 2025 and Mars a decade later ― goals set by President Obama. NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said, “The launch system will create good-paying American jobs, ensure continued U.S. leadership in space, and inspire millions around the world. President Obama challenged us to be bold and dream big, and that’s exactly what…

With little time to recover from the eleventh-hour budget agreement that averted a government shutdown, Congress will soon be forced backed to the bargaining table as the Nation comes closer to its statutory debt ceiling of $14.3 trillion – the current legal limit on how much money the United States can borrow.

Overshadowed by the suspense over keeping the government running beyond the April 8 continuing resolution deadline was a House vote that same day on “net neutrality.”

Perhaps wary that they might soon find themselves back in the minority, most Democratic senators opted against major reforms in the filibuster rules, settling instead for modest changes in the way the chamber conducts its business. Senate leaders also fashioned a “gentlemen’s agreement” designed to avoid some of the procedural battles that have caused legislative gridlock in recent years.

On Monday, President Barack Obama nominated White House Deputy Counsel Donald Verrilli Jr. to be U.S. solicitor general. If confirmed by the Senate, Verrilli would take over for Neal Katyal, who is principal deputy solicitor general and has been acting solicitor general since Elena Kagan vacated the office on May 17, 2010, to become a U.S. Supreme Court associate justice.

Democratic and Republican Senate leaders are currently engaged in negotiations regarding proposed changes in Senate rules that would decrease the threat of filibusters and promote bipartisan cooperation. In the wake of the Tucson shootings and the President’s call for more civil discourse, will these negotiations result in changes that are acceptable to both sides and might help alleviate legislative gridlock? The upcoming issue of Congressional Digest will discuss the history and use of the filibuster, and whether or not it should be reformed.

In remarks delivered the December 22 signing ceremony repealing the Defense Department’s Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy, President Obama said that the new law “will strengthen our national security and uphold the ideals that our fighting men and women risk their lives to defend.”  The event was the culmination of a 17-year campaign to eliminate the Pentagon’s policy banning homosexuals from serving openly in the military (see “Gays in the Military,” Congressional Digest, April 2010). But when will the policy actually be phased out?

By a vote of 71 to 26, the Senate has ratified the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty  (START) during its current lame-duck session. All 58 Democrats voted for the treaty, in addition to 13 Republicans (three Republicans were not present for the vote). While the outcome had been in doubt for weeks, if not months, in the end Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid was able to get more than the 67 votes necessary to ensure passage.