Senate Seeks to Toughen JOBS Bill, Aimed at Easing Rules on Start-Ups

Excerpt from an article in

The New York Times

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Senate Seeks to Toughen JOBS Bill, Aimed at Easing Rules on Start-Ups

By EDWARD WYATT

WASHINGTON — A decade after the dot-com bubble popped and Enron became synonymous with spectacular fraud, Congress is on the verge of scrapping numerous safeguards against investment fraud and allowing some small companies to sell stock to the public with minimal disclosure or oversight.

The bill, which intends to make it easier for emerging companies to raise money and court investors, is scheduled for several procedural votes in the Senate on Tuesday and could come to a final vote as early as this week. A Senate amendment that differs substantially from a bipartisan version passed overwhelmingly by the House two weeks ago, faces a difficult hurdle.

The amendment must get 60 votes on Tuesday to revise the House bill, and it is unclear that Democrats will be able to attract enough Republican votes.

The JOBS Act, whose acronym stands for Jump-start Our Business Start-ups, has attracted widespread support on Capitol Hill and from the White House for its promise of attracting small-business investment and allowing businesses to hire workers. That it would give legislators something positive to take home to constituents during election season is a bonus.

But the bill faces stiff opposition from, among others, the chairwoman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, pension funds and lobbying groups like the American Association of Retired Persons, which fear that the bill will revive some of the worst practices of the dot-com era.

Ryan Stokes Budget Battle with New 'Blueprint'

Excerpt from an article in

The Hill.com

Ryan stokes budget battle with new ‘blueprint’ 
By Peter Schroeder

A fresh budget proposal this week from House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) will usher in another round of fighting over the federal pocketbook.

Ryan is expected to announce his “Blueprint for American Renewal” on Tuesday at the American Enterprise Institute. His budget panel is expected to follow that up with a markup of the package Wednesday.

The Republican proposal will be met with a barrage of Democratic attacks if, as expected, it sets a lower spending cap than agreed to as part of the summer’s debt-limit deal. House GOP leaders are selling a $1.028 trillion spending cap to their members, down from the $1.047 trillion deal hammered out last summer. Some conservatives are pushing for even stricter limits.

In the Senate, lawmakers will continue work on a bill aimed at making it easier for startup companies to raise capital. But some Democrats have aired concerns that the bill does that by rolling back key investor protections, and are pushing to strengthen that aspect of the bill before advancing it.

Elsewhere on Capitol Hill, the European debt crisis will be a hot topic, just days after the International Monetary Fund signed off on its $37 billion contribution to a broad bailout package for Greece. On Tuesday, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner will visit the House Financial Services Committee to discuss the state of international finance, and the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee is devoting a Wednesday morning hearing to Europe’s debt woes.

U.S. Chamber Hails Intro of Exculpatory Evidence Bill in Senate

U.S. Chamber Hails Introduction of Exculpatory Evidence Bill in U.S. Senate

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Lisa A. Rickard, president of the U.S. Chamber’s Institute for Legal Reform (ILR), issued the following statement today regarding the introduction of the Fairness in Disclosure of Evidence Act of 2012 (S. 2197) in the U.S. Senate.  The bill would require that federal prosecutors: disclose evidence that is favorable to the defendant in the course of a criminal proceeding; outline when such evidence must be disclosed; and, provide meaningful remedies for violations of the rule.

“We applaud the Senate’s efforts to promote fairness in the legal discovery process by denying prosecutors the ability to withhold potentially exculpatory evidence. Along with a diverse cross section of the legal community, we look forward to working with members to enact this bill.

“In recent years, federal courts have overturned a string of high-profile convictions–including Senator Stevens’ 2008 corruption conviction and Lindsey Manufacturing’s 2011 conviction under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act–after seasoned prosecutors failed to disclose evidence favorable to the defense.  Under current Supreme Court precedent, individual and business defendants may never learn that potentially exculpatory evidence exists, and remedies for disclosure failures are also limited.  This bill would remedy that injustice.”

ILR seeks to promote civil justice reform through legislative, political, judicial, and educational activities at the national, state, and local levels.

Longtime friends Lieberman, McCain divided over cybersecurity legislation - The Hill's Hillicon Valley

Longtime friends Lieberman, McCain divided over cybersecurity legislation - The Hill's Hillicon Valley

Digital Security Bills Bruised by Antipiracy Fight

Excerpt from an article in The New York Times
Thursday, February 09, 2012

Digital Security Bills Bruised by a Lingering Antipiracy Fight 

By SOMINI SENGUPTA

The ghosts of two doomed antipiracy bills hang over a new and unrelated issue on Capitol Hill: proposed legislation to help secure the nation’s nuclear plants, water systems and other essential infrastructure from hackers and terrorists.

In both houses of Congress, legislation is gaining steam that would authorize the federal government to regulate the security of privately owned critical infrastructure, much of which is controlled by Internet-connected systems and susceptible to being hacked. The legislation is already riven by competing interests and fears.

National security interests want the government to be able to collect and analyze information from private companies about how they protect themselves from attack. Those companies are skittish about government regulation generally. Civil liberties advocates warn against excessive information-gathering by the state in the name of computer security.

And members of Congress are wary of taking any steps that could infuriate the Internet lobby, which scored a surprise victory against would-be antipiracy laws last month.

Representative Dan Lungren, Republican of California, who recently introduced a computer security bill, acknowledged that Capitol Hill had learned some lessons about the new political muscle of technology companies and their users.

“One of the things we learned is that we have to raise the debate such that no one believes things are being done behind closed doors,” Mr. Lungren said in a phone interview.

A Congressional aide who did not want to be named because he was not authorized to speak to the media, put the lessons of the antipiracy efforts more bluntly. Some members, the aide said, “were kind of scarred by that experience and don’t want to go down any road where they are viewed as regulating the Internet.”

Asst. Administrator Indicted in Medicare Fraud Scheme

News release from the FBI:

Assistant Administrator of Houston Hospital Indicted for Alleged Role in $116 Million Medicare Fraud Scheme 

U.S. Department of JusticeFebruary 08, 2012

Office of Public Affairs(202) 514-2007/TDD (202) 514-1888

WASHINGTON—An assistant administrator of a Houston hospital was arrested today on charges related to his alleged participation in a $116 million Medicare fraud scheme involving false claims for mental health treatment, announced the Department of Justice, the FBI and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

An indictment filed in the Southern District of Texas and unsealed today charges Mohammed Khan, 62, of Houston, with one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud, one count of conspiracy to pay and receive illegal health care kickbacks and five counts of paying or offering to pay health care kickbacks. Khan is expected to make his initial appearance in federal court today in Houston.

“The indictment against Mr. Kahn alleges that he used his position as a hospital assistant administrator to submit millions in false claims to the Medicare program,” said Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “According to the charges, he paid kickbacks to patient recruiters, owners of group homes and assisted living facilities and beneficiaries so that he could fill his hospital with patients for whom he could bill the government for medically unnecessary services or services that were never provided. We will continue aggressively to pursue individuals who attempt to enrich themselves at the expense of the Medicare program.”

“The defendant charged in this indictment is accused of stealing precious Medicare resources by billing for services that were medically unnecessary or never provided,” said Special Agent in Charge Stephen L. Morris of the FBI’s Houston Field Office. “Our health care fraud efforts have never been more collaborative and aggressive. We will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to protect patients and fight against health care fraud.”

According to the indictment, Khan, as the assistant administrator of a Houston hospital, allegedly operated a scheme to defraud Medicare beginning in 2008 and continuing until his arrest today. Khan allegedly caused the submission of false and fraudulent claims for partial hospitalization program (PHP) services to Medicare through the hospital. A PHP is a form of intensive outpatient treatment for severe mental illness.

The indictment alleges that Khan paid kickbacks to owners and operators of group care homes and assisted living facilities and to patient recruiters in exchange for delivering ineligible Medicare beneficiaries to the hospital’s PHPs. The indictment alleges that Khan also paid kickbacks to Medicare beneficiaries who attended the hospital’s PHPs. These kickbacks included cigarettes, food, and coupons redeemable for items available at the hospital’s “country stores.” Khan and his co-conspirators submitted or caused to be submitted approximately $116 million in claims to Medicare for PHP services purportedly provided by the hospital to the recruited beneficiaries, when in fact, the PHP services were medically unnecessary or never provided.

Today’s charges were announced by Assistant Attorney General Breuer of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division; U.S. Attorney Kenneth Magidson of the Southern District of Texas; Special Agent in Charge Morris of the FBI’s Houston Field Office; Special Agent in Charge Mike Fields of the Dallas Regional Office of HHS’s Office of the Inspector General (HHS-OIG); the Texas Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit (MFCU); Special Agent in Charge Lucy R. Cruz of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Houston Field Office; Joseph J. Del Favero, Special Agent in Charge of the Chicago Field Office of the Railroad Retirement Board, Office of Inspector General (RRB-OIG); and Scott Rezendes, Special Agent in Charge of Field Operations of the Office of Personnel Management, Office of Inspector General (OPM-OIG).

The case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorney Laura M.K. Cordova, Attorney Allan Medina, Assistant Chief William Pericak and Deputy Chief Sam S. Sheldon of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section. The case was investigated by the FBI, HHS-OIG, MFCU, IRS, RRB-OIG and OPM-OIG and was brought as part of the Medicare Fraud Strike Force, supervised by the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas.

Since their inception in March 2007, Medicare Fraud Strike Force operations in nine locations have charged more than 1,190 defendants who collectively have falsely billed the Medicare program for more than $3.2 billion. In addition, HHS’s Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, working in conjunction with the HHS-OIG, are taking steps to increase accountability and decrease the presence of fraudulent providers.