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GOVERNMENT PROGRAMS


	2011 NOVEMBER Nov. 16, 2011 NewsHour Connect: Supercommittee Fast-Tracks New Farm Bill Every 5 years Congress passes a bundle of legislation related to food and agriculture. It usually takes a year for stakeholders to voice concerns and Congress to ultimately enact the bill. This year, however, the Farm Bill process is on the fast track. Hari Sreenivasan checks in with Peggy Lowe of Harvest Public Media for more.

	Nov. 1, 2011 California Voters Fed-Up With Gridlock as Budget Crunch Lingers Spencer Michels reports from California, where the government gridlock is compounding concerns about the state's budget.

	Nov. 1, 2011 Super Committee Urged to 'Go Big' on Deficit Cuts There are just over three weeks to go until the Congressional Super Committee's deficit reduction report is due. Kwame Holman provides an update on the progress.



	OCTOBER Oct. 20, 2011 HHS Releases Final Regulations For ACOs The Obama administration has released its much-awaited final rule for Medicare accountable care organizations, making it easier for doctors and hospitals to participate.

	Oct. 19, 2011 Social Security Recipients to Get 3.6% Boost, but How Much Will it Help? Starting in January, 55 million Social Security recipients will get a 3.6 percent bump in benefits. Margret Warner discusses the cost-of-living adjustment, which is tied to inflation, with Robert Reischauer of the Urban Institute.

	Oct. 17, 2011 Occupy Wall Street Movement Expands to International Cities Following weeks of protests in New York and other cities in the United States, demonstrators took to the streets in locations around the world in similarly fashioned protests over the weekend, resulting in hundreds of arrests.



	SEPTEMBER Sept. 28, 2011 How Severe Are Problems With Social Security? Social Security checks go out on Wednesday to more than 52 million Americans, but the viability of the program has recently taken center stage in the GOP presidential nomination race. Ray Suarez discusses the economics of Social Security with David John of the Heritage Foundation and Henry Aaron of the Brookings Institution.

	Sept. 22, 2011 Disaster Aid at Center of Funding Battle in House The latest battle over U.S. federal funding is a tug-of-war over disaster aid. Judy Woodruff discusses the battle, and fears that it could lead to a government shutdown, with The Wall Street Journal's Naftali Bendavid.

	Sept. 20, 2011 How Obama Plans To Cut Health Programs By $320 Billion President Obama proposed $320 billion in cuts to Medicare and Medicaid, largely by changing how the federal government pays health providers, slashing payments to drug companies, and dramatically changing the way it splits the costs of Medicaid with the states, according to the White House

	Sept. 19, 2011 Political Checklist: GOP Calls Obama's Deficit-Reduction Plan 'Class Warfare' EmbedVideo;President Obama on Monday unveiled his new recommendations to the Joint Select Committee on deficit reduction -- a $3 trillion, 10-year package that would increase taxes on the wealthy and make some changes to entitlement programs.

	Sept. 14, 2011 9/11 to Now: Ways We Have Changed The decade after the 9/11 attacks reshaped many facets of life in America. Some changes were temporary -- an immediate response out of concern for our safety -- while some proved to be more lasting transformations in American life.

	Sept. 12, 2011 Ahead of Debate, Perry Adjusts Approach to Social Security Texas Gov. Rick Perry is trying to "fix" a political problem he created for himself in the last Republican presidential debate. The front-runner for the nomination previews his adjusted approach to talking about Social Security in an op-ed in Monday's USA Today.

	Sept. 6, 2011 How Should U.S. Postal Service's Financial Problems Be Fixed? The head of the U.S. Postal Service told lawmakers Tuesday that radical changes are needed to avert a financial collapse. Gwen Ifill leads a debate over what can be done to stave off a shutdown with Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe and Fredric Rolando, president of the National Association of Letter Carriers.

	Sept. 1, 2011 Report Finds Fraud, Waste by War Contractors Costs Billions After a three-year investigation, a congressionally mandated commission found this week that between $31 billion and $60 billion has been misspent in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Margaret Warner discusses the findings with one of the commissioners, Dov Zakheim.



	AUGUST Aug. 31, 2011 Vermont's Rare Flood-Induced Crisis Spurs Emergency Airlifts After the torrential rains from Tropical Storm Irene ripped homes from their foundations, washed out hundreds of key roads, and turned much of southern Vermont into a collection of unsustainable islands, Gov. Peter Shumlin deployed the National Guard to hand-deliver water and food to desperate towns.

	Aug. 31, 2011 Report: More Than $30 Billion Wasted in Iraq, Afghanistan Wars A bipartisan panel known as the Commission on Wartime Contracting in Iraq and Afghanistan sent its final report to Congress Wednesday, detailing at least $30 billion -- and possibly as much as $60 billion -- in wasteful spending during the course of the last decade.

	Aug. 24, 2011 Battle for the Black Hills Members of the Great Sioux Nation in South Dakota are refusing $1.3 billion in federal funds, held in trust after parts of the resource-rich Black Hills were taken from them in 1877. Now, tribal leaders are fighting to reclaim some of the lost land.

	Aug. 12, 2011 Rural Post Offices on Shaky Ground There are 3,700 mostly rural facilities that the U.S. Postal Service is now studying for potential closure.

	Aug. 5, 2011 New Obama Directive Aims to Prevent Genocide, Violent Outbreaks President Obama signed a directive Thursday setting up an interagency board to come up with a coordinated governmental approach in the next four months to prevent mass atrocities and genocide.

	Aug. 4, 2011 Bloomberg Kicks Off New Effort to Empower Black, Latino Men New York City's Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced a $127 million, three-year plan to coordinate city agencies and efforts with a goal of reducing disparities between young black and Latino men and the rest of the population. Jeffrey Brown discusses the new program with Bloomberg, who will contribute $30 million of his own money.

	Aug. 4, 2011 Reid: Deal Made to End FAA Shutdown Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Thursday afternoon that a bipartisan compromise has been reached to end the partial Federal Aviation Administration shutdown that put thousands of transportation and construction workers out of work indefinitely.

	Aug. 2, 2011 Budget Impasse, Partial Shutdown Costing FAA Millions in Lost Revenue Since July 23, the FAA has furloughed nearly 4,000 employees and shut down construction grants for workers at airport facilities. Judy Woodruff discusses the budget impasse, which is costing the FAA millions in lost revenue, with Public Radio International's Todd Zwillich and USA Today's Ben Mutzabaugh.

	Aug. 2, 2011 Most Americans See 'Ridiculous' Process in Washington House Speaker John Boehner got his votes. He passed a debt limit increase tied to significant deficit reduction with two-thirds of his conference supporting the bill. He only lost 28 of those 87 House freshmen and, most importantly for his legacy, he avoided becoming the face of default and potential economic calamity.

	Aug. 1, 2011 Can Leaders Find Enough Votes for Debt Ceiling Agreement? If members of Congress from both parties and in both chambers follow their leaders, the United States is all but assured of avoiding default thanks to a last-minute agreement reached with President Obama on Sunday.



	JULY July 26, 2011 No Deal in Sight After Obama, Boehner Address Nation The back-to-back speeches by President Obama and House Speaker John Boehner, a rare event outside of the annual State of the Union event, were evidence of the seriousness of the debt limit situation.

	July 22, 2011 Democrats Unhappy Over Possible Deal Focused on Cuts President Obama and House Speaker John Boehner may be close to a deal that lowers the deficit by $3 trillion over the next 10 years, which would be mainly achieved through spending cuts and entitlement reforms with the promise of revenue increases through tax reform at some point next year.

	July 21, 2011 Obama Open to Short-term Increase in Debt Ceiling With negotiators running out of time to raise the country's borrowing limit, President Obama signaled Wednesday he would be willing to accept a short-term increase in the debt ceiling if lawmakers were close to nailing down a comprehensive deficit reduction plan.

	July 19, 2011 Women Should Get Free Birth Control, HHS-Backed Group Urges Birth-control pills are among the contraceptives that could be offered at no cost to Americans.

	July 19, 2011 President Obama: Gang of Six Deficit Reduction Plan Is 'Good News' With the United States just two weeks away from defaulting on its debt unless a deal is reached to raise the debt limit, a bipartisan group of senators presented a possible new way forward Tuesday when they introduced a new debt reduction plan.

	July 19, 2011 Conservative Groups Oppose McConnell-Reid Debt Plan Just as the McConnell-Reid backup plan on the debt ceiling is gaining steam in the Senate as the likeliest outcome that avoids default, conservative groups are ramping up pressure to take it down.

	July 18, 2011 Congress Prepares for Show Votes on Debt Ceiling The United States Congress will once again become a Kabuki theater troupe this week when the House of Representatives puts the "cut, cap and balance" plan on the floor Tuesday despite it having nearly no chance of becoming law.

	July 15, 2011 President Obama: It's 'Decision Time' on Raising Debt Ceiling The weeklong series of White House meetings with President Obama and congressional leaders has produced one concrete result: There will be no meeting Friday. President Obama will instead use his bully pulpit, which Friday will be the White House press briefing room podium, to frame the current state of affairs.

	July 14, 2011 Democrats Spell Out Debt Default Consequences Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell speaks with Sen.

	July 14, 2011 Frustration, Deadlock Dominate Talks on Lifting Debt Ceiling If the threat of a credit rating downgrade from Moody's Investors Service and a warning of possible "financial calamity" from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke doesn't bring congressional leaders and President Obama closer to an agreement, what will?

	July 13, 2011 President Obama Hauls In $86 Million for Campaign, DNC He may have to fight sky high unemployment, persistent economic pessimism and an energized political opposition to win re-election, but if he loses President Obama will not be able to blame it on being underfunded.

	July 12, 2011 Clock Is Ticking on Debt Ceiling Agreement After yet another meeting at the White House Monday, the bipartisan group of congressional leaders charged with hammering out a deal with President Obama agreed to meet again on Tuesday.

	July 11, 2011 New Rules Unveiled for Health Care Exchanges Saying "flexibility is the name of the game," Department of Health and Human Services officials unveiled a broad framework for states to follow as they build their health insurance exchanges under the health reform law.

	July 11, 2011 Debt Ceiling Negotiations Enter Round 3 The debt and deficit negotiations are now aimed at accomplishing two goals. The first goal for all sides sitting around the table is to get a deal in place by Aug. 2 to avoid any negative impact on the economy. The second goal, which is being pursued concurrently, is to emerge from the talks as the political winner.

	July 8, 2011 President Obama Gets His Monthly Jobs Report Card A jobs report does not an election make, but the Obama economy is in a rut and the president is going to find it harder and harder each month to earn the patience of the American people.

	July 7, 2011 Obama, Congress Search for Grand Bargain on Debt Ceiling At his news conference last week, President Obama called on members of Congress to "do something big" when it comes to raising the country's debt ceiling. It appears he plans to hammer home the point with top House and Senate lawmakers when they arrive at the White House Thursday morning.

	July 5, 2011 Congress Gets Back to Work on Debt Ceiling The debt/deficit problem facing the country didn't go away over the Fourth of July holiday. As Aaron Sorkin's fictional President Bartlet once said, "My point is this: Break's over."

	July 1, 2011 As Debt Deadline Looms, Leaders Remain Far From Agreement Washington's debt talk theater delivered an encore presentation Thursday, with Obama administration officials and Republicans in Congress trading verbal jabs, one day after the president admonished lawmakers for not acting with a sense of urgency to raise the federal government's $14.3 borrowing limit.



	JUNE June 29, 2011 Obama to Hold News Conference Amid Debt Ceiling Talks The last time President Obama held a major news conference, an earthquake and tsunami had just struck Japan, the revolt in Libya was a month old, a budget deal had yet to be hammered out to avert a government shutdown, the unemployment rate was below 9 percent, and the president had yet to declare he is running for re-election.

	June 22, 2011 FDA Lays Out Global Strategy to Monitor for Dangerous Foods, Drugs In an unusual special report Monday, the Food and Drug Administration laid out a strategy it hopes will help it do a better job of policing America's food and drug supply.

	June 20, 2011 Medicare Advisory Group Urges Closer Look at Costs for MRIs, CT Scans With fresh attention on the powers of a new independent panel that will be created under the health reform law, there's been growing debate around a recommendation from an existing panel -- one calling for reduced payments and fewer MRIs.

	June 14, 2011 FDA Issues New Effectiveness Guidelines for Sunscreen The Food and Drug Administration released new regulations Tuesday for sunscreens that will require the products to be tested for protection against two types of sun exposure that cause sunburn, premature aging of the skin and skin cancer.

	June 2, 2011 Plate Pushing Vegetables, Fruit Ousts Food Pyramid The government scrapped its food pyramid Thursday, replacing it with MyPlate, a campaign that encourages Americans to fill up half their diet with fruits and vegetables, and avoid sugary drinks and oversized portions.

	June 1, 2011 Social Security Administration Stops Sending Earnings Statements Those with summer birthdays will find an important piece of mail missing from their mailboxes. On March 31, the Social Security Administration abruptly decided to stop sending its yearly earnings statements.



	MAY May 27, 2011 Romney Set to Formally Declare Candidacy in New Hampshire On the eve of Mitt Romney's first trip to Iowa, home of the first-in-the-nation caucuses, the Union Leader reports that he plans to formally declare his candidacy next week in New Hampshire, home of the first-in-the-nation primary.

	May 26, 2011 GOP Seeks to Move Budget Debate Beyond Medicare One day after seeing an electoral rebuke to the House GOP budget proposal that overhauls Medicare into a voucher-like system for future beneficiaries, only five Republican Senators defected in support of it after Democrats forced a vote on it Wednesday night.