Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission

On May 20, 2009, President Obama signed into law an Act that established the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission to "examine the causes, domestic and global, of the current financial and economic crisis in the United States." During the course of its investigation, the ten person bipartisan committee reviewed millions of pages of documents, interviewed more than 700 witnesses, and held 19 days of public hearings in New York, Washington, D.C., and communities across the country that were hit hard by the crisis.

The final report presents the Commission's findings and conclusions and also contains 126 pages of dissenting views. The Commission terminates sixty days following the release of its final report.

The final report is available in PDF format: http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/search/pagedetails.action?packageId=GPO-FCIC

New Leaders in Congress

The new 112th Congress is in session and has selected it leaders and committee chairs. But who are the new members? See the following link for a pictorial directory of new members of the 112th Congress and brief bios: http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/GPO-PICTDIR-NEW-112/content-detail.html

Food Bill Aims to Improve Safety

According to the FDA, the Food Safety Modernization Act lays the foundation for a prevention-based, 21st century food safety system that makes everyone in the global food chain responsible for safety. Other opinions, however, offer that S 510 would allow the government to mandate antibiotics, hormones, slaughterhouse waste, pesticides and GMOs. This would industrialize every farm in the US, eliminate local organic farming, greatly increase global warming from increased use of oil-based products and long-distance delivery of foods, and make food even more unsafe.