Senate Committee Research Articles

Senate Committee on Aging Proposes Ways to Expand Generics Use

Senate Committee on Aging Proposes Ways to Expand Generics Use

Pulling Closer and Moving Apart

This article reconciles two seemingly incompatible expectations about interpersonal interaction and social influence. One theoretical perspective predicts that an increase in interaction between two actors will promote subsequent convergence in their attitudes and behaviors, whereas another view anticipates divergence. We examine the role of political identity in moderating the effects of interaction on influence. Our investigation takes place in the U.S. Senate—a setting in which actors forge political identities for public consumption based on the external constraints, normative obligations, and reputational concerns they face. We argue that interaction between senators who share the same political identity will promote convergence in their voting behavior, whereas interaction between actors with opposing political identities will lead to divergence. Moreover, we theorize that the consequences of political identity for interpersonal influence depend on the local interaction context. Political identity’s effects on influence will be greater in more divided Senate committees than in less divided ones. We find support for these hypotheses in analyses of data, spanning over three decades, on voting behavior, interaction, and political identity in the Senate. These findings contribute to research on social influence; elite integration and political polarization; and identity theory.

A Senator's Recollection of the Financial Crisis

I was privileged to serve as United States Senator from Indiana from 1999 to 2011. During those twelve years, our nation faced many challenges. Among the most severe was the financial crisis that began gathering force in 2007 and climaxed with the bankruptcy filing of the investment banking giant Lehman Brothers Holdings, Inc., on September 15, 2008. As a senior member of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs (“Banking Committee”), I was deeply involved in the policy debates and legislative response to the crisis. In this Article, I set forth a few of my recollections on three aspects of the legislative response to the financial crisis: the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act; assistance for the American automobile industry; and the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.

CPhA Advocacy: Year in review.

The past year was an exciting and productive one for the Canadian Pharmacists Association’s (CPhA) advocacy efforts. CPhA’s accomplishments include the following: Working closely with the Council of the Federation: In 2013, the Council of the Federation (now called “Canada’s Premiers”) asked that provincial and territorial officials look into ways in which pharmacists could be better used in a team-based environment. In early 2014, a CPhA-produced document that identified best practices in the delivery of 4 specific services by pharmacists was approved and shared with all jurisdictions. An initiative was also launched to identify innovative team-based models involving pharmacists (a report identifying these models is expected to be released by the end of 2014). Better promoting the profession of pharmacy: 2014 witnessed better coordination among national and provincial pharmacy associations in promoting the profession during Pharmacists Awareness Month in March. Among the many initiatives launched, CPhA produced a professional video explaining the expanded services that pharmacists now offer. Engaging with third-party payers: In 2014, CPhA strengthened its relationship with third-party payers by creating the Pharmacy Health Insurance Steering Coalition (PHISC), a group of senior representatives from pharmacy and the third-party payer community. Among CPhA’s other accomplishments was the creation of a Value for Services Toolkit that provides information supporting pharmacy’s case to include coverage of expanded pharmacy services in private plans, an initiative that will continue into 2015. Changing the federal regulation on retention of electronic prescriptions: Starting in late 2013, CPhA began lobbying Health Canada to reform the regulation in the Food and Drug Act requiring pharmacies to retain 2 years’ worth of paper prescriptions. CPhA’s recommendation was to allow for electronic retention of prescriptions, similar to what a number of provinces have already enacted. In July 2014, Health Canada confirmed that the federal government would now interpret the regulation to allow for electronic retention of prescriptions. Passage of Vanessa’s Law on drug safety: In November 2014, Royal Assent was given to Bill C-17, otherwise known as Vanessa’s Law. This legislation is intended to strengthen drug safety regulations by making it mandatory for health institutions to report adverse drug reactions, and it provides the federal government with additional powers to recall drug products deemed unsafe. CPhA appeared before both a House and Senate Committee to indicate support for this bill. Continuing to represent pharmacy before Parliament: CPhA appeared 6 times before Senate and House of Commons Committees, speaking on such issues as drug safety, e-cigarettes, drug shortages and scope of practice. Gearing up for the 2015 federal election: Over the past 2 years, CPhA has been working closely with the Health Action Lobby (HEAL), a coalition of 40 national health organizations, to develop a united platform in advance of the next federal election. This platform was finalized in fall 2014 and unveiled in December. It will be communicated to Canadians and political parties throughout 2015 in the lead-up to the next election. Building on these successes, 2015 promises to be a year of growth in CPhA’s advocacy efforts. With a new Board Advocacy Committee, a new Vice President and advocacy department, and a renewed resolve on the part of the Board to strengthen CPhA’s advocacy efforts, CPhA will be better positioned to influence the issues that impact both pharmacy and the broader health system.

Senators, Vets, Families Push VA for Better Mental Health Care

Senators, Vets, Families Push VA for Better Mental Health Care

Editorial Policy

Editorial Policy

Testimony of Robert Hockett: Improving Financial Institution Supervision: Examining and Addressing Regulatory Capture

This written testimony accompanied Professor Hockett's oral testimony before the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Protection, given on 21 November 2014. Professor Hockett testifies that the Federal Reserve Board (FRB) and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York (FRBNY) have made remarkable strides in addressing the 'reactiveness' and 'groupthink' challenges identified by internal critics in the wake of the 2008-09 financial dramas, but that further improvement might be in order where the bank examination process is concerned. He also makes structural reform recommendations aimed toward that end.

Which Digital Currency is Best Fit for Purpose?

This paper is based on a public submission to the Australian Senate Committee “Inquiry into Digital Currency” announced on October 2, 2014. The committee is to report to Parliament in March 2015. A framework is established that identifies ten reasons why digital Australian dollars are not fit for purpose as a medium of exchange and unit of account/value. To provide a reference unit of value to compare Bitcoins and the other types of crypto and digital currencies, a hypothetical negative interest-rate tethered currency described as $Z is introduced. Twenty benefits of accepting $Z are identified to support their introduction as a supplementary official currency and a more attractive alternative to Bitcoins in the event of another financial crisis. The paper recommends that regulators accept $Z like currencies and for the government to establish the technology to collect taxes and issue $Z like money through mobile phones to finance welfare and infrastructure without increasing debt or taxes.

Mark Twain in Washington, D.C.: The Adventures of a Capital Correspondent

Mark Twain in Washington, D.C.: The Adventures of a Capital Correspondent

Accelerating the Road to Change.

There is consensus that the Canadian health system needs to be reformed and that we are failing to achieve this objective (Romanow 2002; The Standing Senate Committee on Social Affairs Science and Technology 2002; Harvey et al. 2013; Lewis 2015). The authors provide a refreshing perspective on how this could be accomplished: a new model for conditional federal investment that is linked to quality, efficiency and outcomes; incentives for improvement that don't invoke dysfunctional competition; and a national system of outcome measurement. It is a well-reasoned and thoughtful set of solutions that could fit with the complex multi-jurisdictional character of Canadian healthcare. The key will be how to get there.

‘The Watergate Theory of Screenwriting’: A keynote presentation at SRN, Wisconsin, 2013

Abstract One way to start to think about making information in a script interesting is to rephrase the question that was posed by the Watergate investigators about then President Richard Nixon’s knowledge of the criminal deeds of his subordinates. The question reiterated obsessively during the Senate Committee investigation, voiced initially by Tennessee Republican Senator Howard Baker, was … ‘What did the president know, and when did he know it?’. In order to get going, scriptwriters must ask: what do the characters know - about narrative context, about themselves, and about each other, and when do they know it? This essay will explore Akira Kurosawa’s 1952 film, Ikiru (co-written with Shinobu Hashimoto and Hideo Oguni), and how the film is masterfully structured in relation to “who knows what and when.”

Statement for Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Protection -- Hearing on 'Examining the GAO Report on Expectations of Government Support for Bank Holding Companies' Held July 31, 2014

On July 31, 2014, the US Senate Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Protection of the Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs held a hearing entitled Examining the GAO Report on Expectations of Government Support for Bank Holding Companies. The hearing was related to a report of the Government Accountability Office (GAO) that became public on that day and which focused on assessing the possible funding advantage that large bank holding companies considered too big to fail might benefit from. This document represents the statement (without appendices) that I submitted to accompany my testimony in this hearing. The statement discusses whether large bank holding companies can, or actually might, fail, and, if so, how, addressing the difficulties associated with failure through bankruptcy as well as through the new FDIC-led resolution mechanism under Title II of the Dodd-Frank Act. My conclusion is that based on what we know today, it is virtually impossible, and there is clearly no way to assert that the large banking holding companies can go through either process without causing significant instability. This discussion highlights the critical importance of effective regulation of the indebtedness levels (or leverage) of these bank holding companies, which can be done through so-called capital regulation. I argue that the reform of these regulations is dangerously insufficient and flawed, thus exacerbating the problem of too-big-to-fail unnecessarily. I discuss the basic framework of trying to estimate the subsidies associated with expectations for government support and make a set of observations on various attempts at this estimation. But I argue that the exact size of the subsidies is less relevant than the perverse and extremely distortive effects of the subsidies, which are due to the manner in which the subsidies are delivered. By enabling the institutions to borrow at terms that do not reflect appropriately the risks taken, implicit guarantees add to the distortion of a tax code that penalize equity funding relative to debt, thus encouraging and rewarding dangerous, excessive and inefficient levels of borrowing and reckless conduct. The overall effect is to widen the persistent gap between the interest of those who make decisions within the banks and what serves the broader public. I conclude with a set of urgent policy recommendations, warning that failure to take action to counter the distorted incentives puts the public at excessive risk and maintains harmful inefficiencies in the economy.

Repeal of the Sustainable Growth Rate: an overview for surgeons

BackgroundThe Medicare sustainable growth rate (SGR) formula is used to control Medicare spending on physician services. Under the current SGR formula, physicians face an almost 24% cut to the Medicare fee schedule on April 1, 2015. The US House Way & Means and Energy & Commerce Committees and the Senate Finance Committee released jointly proposed legislation to permanently repeal the SGR, and transition Medicare physician payment to a value-based payment method. This review summarizes the key components of the proposed legislation, and discusses some of the political challenges ahead. Data sourcesHouse Committees on Energy & Commerce and Ways & Means, and the Senate Committee on Finance staff write-ups. ConclusionsPhysician Medicare reimbursement will move from a volume-based model to a value-based model over the next decade. Surgeons should remain engaged with the political process to ensure repeal of the SGR.

EDITORIAL POLICY AND STYLE INFORMATION

EDITORIAL POLICY AND STYLE INFORMATION

Responding to Religious Oppositions to Environmentalism

InMarch2012, actorAlecBaldwincreatedsomethingofastirwhenhe took to Twitter to attack U.S. Senator James Inhofe’s position on climate change policy. Inhofe, head of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, is a self-avowed evangelical Christian and is probably most famous for vehemently denying that anthropogenic climate change is a credible and serious threat. Baldwin used the social media platform to accuse the senator of hypocritically opposing environmental policy as a way of protecting corporate interests: “Is there a bigger Oil Whore alive than James Inhofe?” Baldwin asked, in a post that has since been removed. This piece of Internet ephemera does not constitute an authoritative or even particularly substantial critical statement about Inhofe’s position, much less about religiouslymotivatedopposition toprogressiveenvironmental policy generally. But Baldwin’s remarks do capture a sentiment and tone often apparent in secular environmentalist discourse, giving voice to what would seem to be a widely held assumption that devout Christian religiosity is incompatible with a commitment to environmental causes and that, moreover, religiously motivated opposition to such causes is not only in the wrong but also suspect

Organization Honors Several Who Are Helping Achieve Its Mission

Back to table of contents Previous article Next article Community NewsFull AccessOrganization Honors Several Who Are Helping Achieve Its MissionAaron LevinAaron LevinSearch for more papers by this authorPublished Online:2 Jun 2014https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.pn.2014.6a12AbstractGive an Hour promotes better mental health care for U.S. troops and veterans and recently honored lawmakers who have worked to help reach its goal.Sens. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) and Richard Burr (R-N.C.), and former U.S. Marine Corps Sgt. Brendan O’Toole were honored in April by Give an Hour, an organization that connects veterans and their families with volunteer mental health service providers. The American Psychiatric Foundation is a major supporter of the organization.(From left) Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.), Marine Corps veteran Brendan O’Toole, Sen. Debbie Stabenow, (D-Mich.), and Barbara Van Dahlen, Ph.D., pose at the Give an Hour celebration.John Whitman“Senator Stabenow has a social-work degree and has been a tireless advocate for access to care and reducing stigma,” Give an Hour President Barbara Van Dahlen, Ph.D., told Psychiatric News.She also praised Burr, chair of the Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs, for “his interest and his recognition of the importance of community-based responses, [which] led to hearings that led the Department of Veterans Affairs to hold 152 mental health summits around the country last year.”O’Toole left the Marine Corps two years ago and decided to raise awareness about military mental health concerns by running across the country. His Run for the Veterans started in California and ended in Maine, by way of Texas, said Van Dahlen. “That really shows the passion, dedication, and commitment of young people.”The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have raised attention to mental health issues both among American troops and the U.S. population as a whole, she said. “We have the opportunity to harness that energy and really get rid of stigma,” she said.The awards were part of a larger three-day program in Washington, D.C., called a Celebration of Service, which also included a conference to educate the next generation of mental health professionals about issues affecting military service members, veterans, and their families.The American Psychiatric Foundation (APF) helped sponsor and support the Celebration of Service event for the second consecutive year. “We are very proud to join with Give an Hour to support its extraordinary efforts to mobilize civilian constituencies to respond to the mental health issues facing our returning veterans and their families,” said APF Executive Director Paul Burke. “If we expect these young men and women who come home from war to raise their hands and say they need help, we as a nation must do a better job of providing the services they need to return to the productive lives they deserve,” said Van Dahlen. ■Information about Give an Hour’s Celebration of Service is available here. Information about the American Psychiatric Foundation’s programs can be accessed here. ISSUES NewArchived

Michigan state university food systems fellowship program

The Michigan State University College of Veterinary Medicine Summer Food Systems Fellowship Program is a collaboration with industry partners aimed at providing value added experiences to veterinary students with a food animal industry career goal. By providing relevant non-clinical experiences in a variety of food industry areas, students gain experiences that will complement and strengthen their traditional veterinary training and help them to meet the needs of a changing agriculture landscape. We describe the experience of 2 students employed as Legislative Fellows for the US Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry as an example of how this program has an impact on students.

EDITORIAL POLICY AND STYLE INFORMATION

EDITORIAL POLICY AND STYLE INFORMATION

The Problem with the Lieutenant Governor: A Legislative or Executive Position Under the Separation of Power Clause

The separation of powers doctrine was designed to prevent one individual from both creating and executing the law. Currently, forty-three states utilize a lieutenant governor position within their executive branch of government. The primary purpose of the lieutenant governor is to ensure the continuity of the executive branch. However, some lieutenant governors simultaneously exercise legislative power as the president of the senate or members of senate committees. Little scholarly work and few state supreme courts have specifically addressed this issue. This Comment surveys the office of the lieutenant governor among the states within both the executive and the legislative branches. Instead of applying an unwieldy “one-size-fits-all” separation of powers test to each of the fifty states opposed to each state’s needs, constitution, and case law, this Comment proposes three possible solutions for a state to remedy a separation of powers violation: 1) amend the state constitution, 2) strike down the statute as unconstitutional, or 3) remove the separation of powers clause from the state constitution.

Civil War General and Indian Fighter James M. Williams: Leader of the 1st Kansas Colored Volunteer Infantry and the 8th U.S. Cavalry by Robert W. Lull (review)

Reviewed by: Civil War General and Indian Fighter James M. Williams: Leader of the 1st Kansas Colored Volunteer Infantry and the 8th U.S. Cavalry by Robert W. Lull John D. Huddleston Civil War General and Indian Fighter James M. Williams: Leader of the 1st Kansas Colored Volunteer Infantry and the 8th U.S. Cavalry. By Robert W. Lull. (Denton: University of North Texas Press, 2013. Pp. 308. Illustrations, maps, appendix, notes, bibliography, index.) Retired Army officer Robert W. Lull has penned the first biography of controversial Civil War and Indian fighter General James M. Williams. Born in 1833 in northern New York, Williams moved with his family westward to Wisconsin in 1844. The youngest son of a large family, Williams soon realized that he had little future on the family farm. Therefore, he began studying law, and in 1856 he and his brother Sam moved to Leavensworth, Kansas, opening a book and stationery shop. The two brothers were soon drawn into the slavery issue, opposing Missouri-based pro-slavery partisans. The author acknowledges that it is “highly probable” that Williams, a follower of future U.S. Senator James Henry Lane, participated in attacks on pro-slavery supporters in Kansas, although no formal records exist. By the start of the Civil War, recently elected U.S. Senator Lane procured a commission as a Union brigadier general and, despite not formally accepting his commission and thereby voiding his position within the Senate, began to raise units for the North, including the Kansas Third Regiment with newly appointed Captain James M. Williams. Fighting on the Kansas-Missouri border between Lane’s Jay-hawkers and pro-slavery bands featuring the likes of William Quantrill was horrific; the sackings of Osceola and Lawrence, Kansas, respectively, show the devastation of the conflict. Resigning from Lane’s Brigade in May 1862, Williams became a Union recruiter, specifically targeting blacks for Union service and even officer commissions. By the time the U.S. War Department objected to black recruitment and especially to the commissioning of black officers, it was too late. With Williams commanding, the 1st Kansas Colored Volunteer Infantry had already taken to the field. Rising to the rank of brevet brigadier general, Williams frequently led his black troops to victory, although the 1st Kansas suffered defeat and subsequent atrocities at the hands of the Confederates at Poison Springs, Arkansas, in April 1864. With the end of the war, Williams sought and received a commission in the much smaller postwar army, becoming a captain of the 8th Cavalry in October 1866. Serving in the Arizona and New Mexico territories, Williams’s command pursued hostile Indians with the same vigor that he had pursued pro-slavery advocates in Kansas before the war. By 1873, because of conflicts with several of his superior officers, which resulted in him being court-martialed and suffering from the effects of five battle wounds received during his military service, Williams resigned and entered private life as a pioneer businessman and rancher at Trinidad, Colorado. In 1890 the U.S. Senate Committee on Military Affairs reviewed Williams’s service record and concluded that he had been the victim of “legalized injustice” (222), essentially overturning his court-martial and temporarily restoring him to duty so he could he could be awarded a pension. James M. Williams died in Washington, D.C., on February 15, 1907, likely from complications of a wound suffered while fighting Indians in Arizona. Like many figures in American history, James Williams’s life was controversial. He was a Kansas Jayhawker, he recruited blacks for Union service before it was acceptable to do so, and he even commissioned black officers. Significantly, his [End Page 442] black troops were the first to best white Confederates in battle during the war, and he mercilessly pursued and killed Indians in the post-Civil War American West. Lull’s text will be of primary interest to military historians and especially to those who follow the lives of pre-Civil War opponents of slavery. John D. Huddleston Schreiner University Copyright © 2014 The Texas State Historical Association