Recently in Government Category

By Kathryn A. Wolfe, CQ Staff

The House cleared a NASA reauthorization Saturday by voice vote, just one month shy of its 50th anniversary. .

The measure would reauthorize the space agency for one year at an authorized funding level of $20.2 billion. The bill embraces the agency's plan to send astronauts back to the moon in preparation for future missions to Mars and would designate $1 billion for accelerate development of a spacecraft to replace the current shuttle fleet.

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama has released an 11-page "plan for science and innovation." Nature reports that the plan calls for doubling the funding of the National Institutes of Health over 10 years, and spells out science policies in more specific details than had been released previously.

Web pick posted by Neil Savage, Xconomy.com

By Caitlin Webber, CQ Staff

ice breaker.jpgA Senate Democratic economic stimulus plan unveiled Thursday would provide the Coast Guard with $925 million for the construction of a new polar ice-breaking ship.

Will this icebreaker be a ship of the past?


Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Appropriations Chairman Robert C. Byrd, D-W.Va., promote building a new icebreaker to bolster the U.S.'s stake in the oil-rich polar region, among other energy and environmental measures in their $56.2 billion plan.

The British science journal Nature posed 18 questions related to science and policy to the two presidential candidates, but received written answers only from Democrat Barack Obama. Nature prints his answers, along with statements on the topics from Republican John McCain when they could be found from other sources. Among the issues: appointing a science advisor, how to address climate change, and what to teach children about evolution.

Web pick posted by Neil Savage, Xconomy.com

By Kathryn A. Wolfe, CQ Staff

The House passed a bill Wednesday designed to spur the development of plug-in hybrid utility and delivery trucks.

The measure , which passed by voice vote, would create a competitive grant program at the Energy Department to help businesses research, develop and ultimately sell these vehicles.

By Matt Korade

Terrorists attempting to smuggle a nuclear or radiological "dirty" bomb into New York City could soon be met with a thousand-man mobile radiation-detection net.

The Department of Homeland Security granted $29.5 million to New York's finest, as well as 11 fellow law-enforcement and public-health partners across the Hudson, out east, upstate, and across the Sound, to set up a roving network of portable radiation detecting devices with one goal in mind: to help ensure the devastation seen on 9/11, or worse, never happens again.

By Drew Armstrong, CQ Staff Writer

The House is scheduled to take up nine public health bills Tuesday under suspension of the rules, in an effort to quickly move non-controversial legislation dealing with topics such as organ transplant funding and infant health promotion.

Here's yet another way the presidential campaigns are using new technologies in their quest for the White House. Both campaigns are using Google's AdWords program to link their ads to particular searches, says Wired. For instance, the McCain campaign bought the term "Joe Biden" so that users searching for the Democratic vice presidential candidate will see an ad that links to a video of Biden criticizing Barack Obama. The Obama campaign, meanwhile, linked "economic crisis" to an ad that criticizes McCain as being "out of touch."

Web pick posted by Neil Savage, Xconomy.com

By Meghan McCarthy, CQ Staff

No matter who wins November's presidential election, biotech drug manufacturers are unlikely to get the 14-year period of data exclusivity they seek as part of follow-on biologics drug legislation, according to the candidates' top health policy advisers.

At an annual generics industry conference last week hosted by the Generic Pharmaceutical Association (GPhA), Douglas Holtz-Eakin, adviser to GOP nominee John McCain , and Dora Hughes, senior health adviser to Democratic nominee Barack Obama , said both candidates support the shortest time period possible.

The City of Chicago wants to cut its emission of greenhouse gases to three-quarters of 1990 levels by 2020, and one-fifth of 1990 levels by 2050. The Associated Press reports that the plan includes updating the city's building code to improve insulation and heating and cooling systems in all buildings, increasing recycling and carpooling, and promoting alternative fuels. Chicago emits 34.6 metric tons of greenhouse gases each year.

Web pick posted by Neil Savage, Xconomy.com