Both the House and the Senate unanimously passed legislation in early May to overhaul the Department of Defense's (DOD) acquisition process for major weapons systems. While the goal of this legislation is to reform and strengthen the procurement process used at DOD to limit cost and schedule overruns, many of the provisions included in the Senate bill fall short.

There is a new surge of voter reform efforts sweeping the nation. Some of these efforts are designed to stimulate voter participation by easing barriers to voter registration through use of electronic mediums such as the Internet and e-mail. Other measures seek to impede the voting process in response to allegations of voter fraud during the 2008 elections, despite research indicating that voter fraud cases are rare and greatly exaggerated.

The Federal Election Commission (FEC) recently issued a series of rulings that may represent a move toward a more lenient interpretation of election laws. The commissioners have repeatedly split along party lines over whether to pursue possible campaign finance violations involving organizations charged with acting as political committees.