In a recent post, Putting the FCRA Non-Federal Issue in Perspective, I described an escalatory approach to fixing the FCRA issue, the goal being to get OMB to agree to cooperate in revising the current Criteria before a full (and politically laborious) amendment was required.

It was pointed out to me that there’s a standard, low-key Congressional tool that might work very well in the early stages of that process — a non-binding “sense of” resolution. In effect, such a resolution would put OMB on notice that the precise technical shortcomings of the current Criteria (including the Background section’s FCRA word salad and smoking gun deletion) are now understood and will be further exposed if an amendment process is necessary. Yes, a public fight would be fun in a wonky way, but that’s not in anyone’s interest — everyone has better things to do, and they need to work together in future. By far the most efficient solution is for OMB, CBO and the WIFIA & CWIFP programs to quietly get together and fix the current Criteria, which I now don’t think would be difficult at all if there was a good faith intent to do it. Even the prospect of a Congressional resolution — however low-key and non-binding — might bring folks to the table with the correct attitude. If not, well, all the other escalatory options remain open.

As mentioned in many prior posts, I don’t have direct experience or expertise in the politics or mechanics of enacting legislation, and I’m sure the reality is far more complicated than it appears. But FWIW, here’s the first cut at what I think the language might look like, modeled on a current HR resolution that seems applicable, on the surface anyway.

PDF of the Document