a congressional research service admits that it's too many to count. interpreter to know all of that's criminalized. and how then is the citizen to keep from making honest mistakes organuling in conduct that he had no reason to know what's illegal? interpreter congress has aimed at shrinking the criminal code. some say that it's not too many rules, but the ability to enforce too many on the books. so can having too many laws handicap the system and even make ordinary citizens criminals? molly gills works to promote citizenses that fit the crime and offender. congresswoman, karen bass, working on the task force looking into reforms on the criminal justice system. and rosko howard, former attorney for the district of columbia. and molly, are there too many laws on the books? interpreter the judicial committee passed forward a bill that included a requirement that the department of justice and federal agencies compile all of the crimes on books and in the regulation and put them in one place, publicly available on their website interpreter so they're not

the analysts belong to the congressional research service. they included their views in a report on relations between the united states and japan. it says that u.s. and japanese officials have strengthened the defense cooperation and it adds that japan's participation in the transpacific partnership free trade talks could enhance their credibility. the report calls japan a significant partner for the united states. but the analysts describe relations between japan and south korea as poor and they say u.s. officials are growing increasingly concerned. they say tension between the american allies is hindering policy coordination over two other asian nations, north korea and china. the report discusses a visit by japanese prime minister shinzo abe to yasukuni shrine in december. it says the visit contributed to the deterioration of ties with south korea. the shrine honors japan's war dead. those remembered include leaders convicted of war crimes after world war ii. the report says abe went to the shrine ignoring the advice of u.s. officials. it

foreign aid are regis human rights abusers and torturers yeah i mean the congressional research service came out with this list of the top ten countries that received foreign aid right but. what they didn't publish it actually took human rights watch and amnesty international come up with this but you just mentioned u.s. law that also goes with the foreign assistance act section thirty two which is essentially the cornerstone of human rights for for us law here in this country and i mean you say you know how if this law is on the books how can we continue to do so but only to how can we have kuantan and have to create these are things that just happen they just are but the truth is that it's not just u.s. law that this is kind of in spite of it's in spite of of u.n. resolutions and u.n. treaty is the u.s. is a signatory on the u.n. convention on torture not only a signatory but ratified that along with almost every other country in the world so for the u.s. to continue to say that they're giving assistance to these countries and believe me this is far more than just five or ten countrie

figures from the department of homeland security but is able to get the figures from the congressional research service though they are i think a year old. 14% of those individuals who have been charged and released, were charged with dui, 10% drug violations, 7%, thousands of people, charged with murder, assault, rape and kidnapping were released back into our communities. why? >> what i'm committed to do is removing those who represent national security, public safety and border security threats. i believe that that requires a constant reevaluation of our process, what we're doing, who are removing and i'm committed to -- >> shouldn't individuals that are country illegally have been charged with these kinds of crimes, shouldn't it be a priority to be removed? why would we release them back to our streets and communities speak with those represent public safety threats, who are in this country illegally fit within our removal priorities. >> do nothing to represent a public threat, the individuals have been charged with those crimes? >> as i said, i think we should continually reevaluate what we are do

lauren -- [inaudible] with the congressional research service.nterested in the panelists' thoughts on the role of igad and the mediation going forward. ambassador booth, you mentioned how critical they've been to the process so far and, obviously, in terms of timeliness and pressure, they were very instrumental. but going forward in terms of focusing on an inclusive political dialogue, the role that hay played in the cpa talks, that was an exclusive rather than inclusive process. and i guess, you know, there are some questions about the role of uganda and its military operations in south sudan right now on behalf of the south sudan government. kiir is, obviously, a sitting head of state and head of state of the igad administration. ethiopia, you began da -- uganda, these are one-party states. so in the interest of expanding the dialogue beyond the splm, are they necessarily the most appropriate body to lead the effort going forward? >> okay. thank you. and if you could remember to turn off your microphone when you're done, we won't pick up the ba

however, the congressional research service identified multiple areas of potential overlap and duplication between the bill as it was introduced in the current statutory requirements. for example, the bill, as introduced, would have required each agency to report information on improper payments. but the improper payments information act already requires agencies to report information on improper payments. the current bill, as amended, eliminates much of that duplication. this is a much better bill, and i applaud the majority for their work on it. there's one provision in the taxpayers right-to-know act that i want to note because i think if will be a real improvement with regard to transparency. the bill would require agencies to report the number of full-time positions that are paid in full or in part through a grant or a contract. we do not currently know how many employees are working for the federal government through contracts. this bill would require agencies to disclose this information on an annual basis. this bill also includes an amendment that was offered by representative spei

the congressional research service, bound between 2010 and 2012, nine independent agentcies issued 57rules, those are rules with a cost to the economy of over $100 million. 78 but none of those agencies monetized both cost and benefits in estimating the impacts of the rules. h.r. 899 codifies the principles of regulation in executive order 12866, issued by president clinton, and reaffirmed in executive order 13563, issued by president obama. it would also codify executive order 12866 requirement that agencies conduct a cost benefit analysis. h.r. 899 requires agencies to consult with the private sector prior toe promising a major rule. currently this requirement only applies to state, local, and tribal governments. in light of president obama's emphasis on early stakeholder input on the development of federal regulations, there is no reason to exclude private sector stakeholders from early consultation in this requirement. h.r. 899 allows the chairman or ranking member of any congressional committee to request that an agency conduct a retrospective analysis of an existing federal regu

according to data from the congressional research service, there were only seven times during the first session of this current congress that the senate started to consider a bill for a day or more before cloture was filed. that was out of 34 cloture motions related to the legislative business. the number of the same day cloture filings has more than doubled compared to when republicans last controlled the senate. moreover, the total number of cloture motions filed each session of congress under this majority leadership has roughly doubled compared to the period from 1991 to the year 2006 under majority leaders of both political parties. before that period of time, meaning before 1991, cloture was even more rare. this is a sign that cloture is being overused. even abused by the majority. still if this alarming rise in cloture motions was a legitimate response to a minority of senators insisting on extended debate to delay proceedings beyond what's necessary for reasonable deliberation otherwise known as a filibuster, then, of course, it would be very justified. that's clearly not the ca

i've brought some material that have been prepared by the congressional research service, with materials that are provided by the office of management and budget. mr. barton: they show in the fiscal year that we're now engaged, mandatory spending is 62% of the total budget and interest on the debt is over 6%. those two combined are 2/3 of all total spending. is mandatory and interest on the debt. it's not going to get any easier, mr. speaker, to solve this problem by passing so-called clean debt ceilings that don't address the underlying problem. and i understand the problems governing on the majority side and i understand the issues with the presidency and the senate being controlled by the democrats. i understand that. but i couldn't walk into a bank in texas today and say, i owe you $300,000 right now, but i want to borrow another $200,000 . they would want to know what plan i had to repay the money i'd already borrowed and they would want to know how giving me another $200,000 would actually be the appropriate thing to do. what we're doing on the underlying bill, mr. speaker, with th

counterparts parts on several measures of job performance researchers said the two fundamental jobs of congressional representatives are constituency service that includes bringing home federal projects as well as other direct work with constituents and legislating which means writing bills and shepherding them in through the law making process evidence shows that the women on congress outperform men on both levels so finding diplomatic solutions to problems to making government more inclusive and transparent it's clear that women can be as good as if not better than political leaders than men so i think it's possible the bill was just you know trying to set that up and. shouting out to women but if not that's why bill o'reilly has been politically correct. it's thursday let's get geeky on our pampered pooch is it our feline friends first if you have a cat you probably noticed how that furry feline can do some pretty crazy things especially at night and sometimes it looks like they're staring at things that aren't there well according to new research they might be seeing things that are there but that you can't see a new study suggests tha