Word: congresses
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...Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell says. "They are turning into a very formidable force that not only will be able to deal with internal threats, but also handle external threats in a very dangerous part of the world." While the deal would require reviews from the Pentagon, State Department and Congress, it would likely win approval because it could reduce the demand for U.S. warplanes and personnel in Iraq, as well as generating U.S. defense-industry employment...
...risk property. Reinsurance rates are soaring, and private insurers like State Farm and Allstate have scaled back in Florida, forcing an additional 500,000 customers into the state pool. "For some areas in Florida, insurance companies could not obtain reinsurance at any price," Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty recently told Congress. And last year, Republican Governor Charlie Crist pushed through reforms to decrease premiums, a politically popular move that will create even more pressure if disaster strikes. "I get the concerns," Crist recently told me. "But we're not going to stand for gouging...
...gouging fears are understandable; McCarty told Congress that some insurers have insisted on 25% profit margins, while using computer models that overstate risk. But no one denies that the risk is real: it's been 80 years since a major storm hit a major Florida city, but hurricane researchers have calculated that the next one could cause as much as $150 billion worth of damage. And Crist's reforms, while reducing premiums, included other changes that increased the risk that taxpayers and policyholders will have to bail out the Cat Fund. "The risk was removed from the insurers' portfolio...
...experts caution that families shouldn't expect to see most financial-aid packages rise to the level of Harvard's largesse anytime soon. Over the past few years, Congress has gotten fed up with wealthy schools hoarding their enormous endowments - Harvard's reached $35 billion last year - while still regularly raising tuition prices. The average tuition and fees at private four-year colleges rose 14% in the past five years, according to the nonprofit College Board; the increase was 31% at public schools. Fees themselves at many public universities are skyrocketing, even as tuition holds more or less steady...
...With luck, students won't have to outsource their educational needs for much longer. This summer, Congress hashed out a new law that would require textbook publishers to provide pricing information to professors, to help them decide which books to select for their courses. There are also e-books - digital texts available on the Internet either for free or a small price - not to mention book rental services and good old-fashioned hand-me-downs...