A great Tuesday to you!
You do not know what you do not know.
November 26, 2024 is a good day for the federal government. Today, the federal government currently has 124 documents from 53 agencies (319 Pages) with 89 Notices, 3 Presidential Documents, 11 Proposed Rules, 21 Rules, and 1 Significant Document. With this current issue, Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 228 / Tuesday, November 26, 2024 / Notices is up to page 93460. The federal government is busy.
The three presidential documents:
International Conservation Day, 2024 by the Executive Office of the President on 11/26/2024.
This proclamation declares the first International Conservation Day on November 17, 2024. On this day, it is important to recognize climate change. So, more money is needed to protect the climate and those within.
Happy belated International Conservation Day!
Establishing a Second Emergency Board To Investigate a Dispute Between New Jersey Transit Rail Operations and Its Locomotive Engineers Represented by the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen by the Executive Office of the President on 11/26/2024.
With the termination of Executive Order 14125 with the report containing recommendations which were not accepted. Therefore, try again. This Executive Order will try again. Like the first attempt at dispute settlement, this one is very similar in structure, except for expiration term.
Continuation of the National Emergency With Respect to the Situation in Nicaragua by the Executive Office of the President on 11/26/2024.
This is an extension of Executive Order 13851 from November 27, 2018. “…find that the situation in Nicaragua, including the violent response by the Government of Nicaragua to the protests that began on April 18, 2018, and the Ortega regime's systematic dismantling and undermining of democratic institutions and the rule of law…” The extension continues for another year.
Not a great situation there in Nicaragua.
The one Significant Document:
Federal Management Regulation; Transportation Payment and Audit Regulations by the General Services Administration on 11/26/2024.
This final rule is effective December 26, 2024. The summary, “The United States General Services Administration (GSA) is issuing a final rule amending the Federal Management Regulation (FMR). This amendment executes changes that include the removal, addition, and revision of definitions, the elimination of gender pronouns, the simplification of requirements, the alteration of statutory references, and the clarification of GSA's role in adjudicating disputes arising from audits of transportation bills. These adjustments are necessary to furnish accurate guidance for agencies, facilitate proper management and compliance with transportation invoice payment and audit obligations.”
Again, no one is paying attention to the Federal Government Rule. It is impossible to keep up. From the section, “Analysis of the Public Comments”, “In the proposed rule published at 89 FR 12296 on February 16, 2024, GSA provided the public a 60-day comment period which ended on April 16, 2024. GSA received one timely comment, which is from an anonymous source. As a result of the comment, minor changes were made from the proposed rule to the final rule.
Comment: “I agree that a change is needed to § 102-118.460(a)(5) [sic] because the current reference is incorrect however I think the timeline for filing a claim with the court should remain at 1 year.”
Response: After review, GSA restored the time limit in the “loss and damage” column of § 102-118.460(a)(5) to 1-year. Only the legal references have been revised in this section.
In addition, GSA received an untimely comment from Crowley Maritime Services. In the comment, Crowley requested that the agency “extend” the comment period, but Crowley provided no explanation as to why an extension would be appropriate. GSA therefore declines to consider the late-filed comment. GSA also notes that Crowley's comment primarily concerns the scope of the agency's dispute-resolution authority. This rule's discussion of that authority is consistent with the relevant statutory language. See31 U.S.C. 3726.”
Ultimately, there was an extended period for comment and only two comments. One for a minor change and the other for another extension for comment.
In the end, this final rule removed gender pronouns from this FMR Part. The rule also changed a few other items. It clarifies rules for GSA Transportation Audit Management System for payment. It allows for the audits to maintain and store the records. Along with the change in record retention location, the rules allow for changes in the procurement process when no other option is available.
SPECIAL ITEM:
Contributions Through Untraceable Electronic Payment Methods by the Federal Election Commission on 11/26/2024.
This notification of availability of petition for rulemaking is open for comment until January 27, 2025. The summary, “The Commission announces its receipt of a Petition for Rulemaking submitted by Ken Paxton, Attorney General of Texas. The Petition asks the Commission to amend its regulations concerning the use of credit cards to make contributions, to address the potential use of prepaid cards to circumvent contribution amount limitations and source prohibitions.”
To make a comment is a bit tricky. To access the comments section, https://sers.fec.gov/fosers/, need to select, “Submit Comments on Ongoing Rulemakings”. Then, you need to select, the current item, “Top of Form
REG 2024-08 Amendments of Rules Regarding Contributions from Untraceable Electronic Payment Methods.” Select, “Add Comment”.
Per the instructions regarding comments on this item, “Each commenter must provide, at a minimum, his or her first name, last name, city and state. All properly submitted comments, including attachments, will become part of the public record, and the Commission will make comments available for public viewing on the Commission's website and in the Commission's Public Records Office. Accordingly, commenters should not provide in their comments any information that they do not wish to make public, such as a home street address, personal email address, date of birth, phone number, social security number, or driver's license number, or any information that is restricted from disclosure, such as trade secrets or commercial or financial information that is privileged or confidential.”
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US Debt Clock Update
Setting new records every day!
According to the US Debt Clock at roughly 9:28 AM, the US debt is roughly $36,031,096,000,000. Each taxpayer’s debt is $272,821. The good news is that the federal government revenue is roughly $5,055,013,000,000. Not too shabby if you ask me.
Special Note: Interest of Debt (Net) is $1,002,389,000,000.
The Sun
From Spaceweather.com, “SOMETHING FLARE-Y THIS WAY COMES: Yesterday, a sunspot hidden behind the sun's northeastern limb produced an M9-(almost-X)-class solar flare. Today, the same sunspot is revealing itself, right here. It is clearly capable of strong explosions, which may become geoeffective as the sunspot turns toward Earth later this week. Solar flare alerts: SMS Text”
Amazing website with great information about the Earth-Sun environment.
Buy a shirt or two. Why not?