PRISON REFORM ACT OF 20005

Sponsor: Mark Dayton (FL-MN),

Cosponsor(s): Dick Gephardt (FL-MO), John Kerry (D-WA), Vice President Evan Bayh (D),

Section 1: Saving lives

1. The death penalty will be banned from being used on anyone who has killed less than 5 people.

Section 2: Workers rights

1. The minimum wage for prison inmates will be raised to $2.00 per hour.

Can you pass the reforms (minimal reforms not too drastic) when you fund education, form ACP against the Oligarchs, privatize healthcare and privatize majority of Nedam? Should you try to lobby the Mps?

Your 15-minute Wednesday report in 3629 words.

##Standard & Poor’s expects 6.3% GDP growth this year

The report says: The economic recovery is gaining momentum after last year's recession and war. The growth will come from exports and private consumption.

The investments will play a key role in the coming 2 years. For example, through government investment in transport infrastructure.

Armenia has weathered the impact of the pandemic and war without jeopardizing economic stability, partly due to credible fiscal and monetary policies.

There are some risks. Armenia has strong trade links with Russia. That's also where a large share of remittances come from. The transmission decreased in the wake of the pandemic.

>[The government won reelection in June.] This should enable authorities to pursue their ambitious reform agenda, which aims to improve the business environment, raise investments, reduce poverty, and address structural impediments to higher growth. Armenia’s standby arrangement with the IMF will remain an anchor for near-term structural reforms. At the same time, the government has already improved governance and institutional efficiency since coming into office in 2018.

More: http://arka.am/en/news/economy/standard_poor_s_global_ratings_expects_armenia_s_real_gdp_growth_of_6_3_in_2021/

##Standard & Poor's has assigned a credit rating to the Armenian government for the first time ever

B+ long-term foreign- and local-currency sovereign credit ratings to Armenia. At the same time, the agency assigned its 'B' short-term foreign- and local currency ratings. The outlook is positive. S&P also assigned its 'BB-' transfer and convertibility assessment to Armenia.

>The positive outlook reflects Armenia's prospects for a continued rapid economic expansion over the next two-to-three years

>Our ratings on Armenia are constrained by evolving institutional settings, low income levels, high external indebtedness, and sizable external financing needs.

https://www.1lurer.am/en/2021/10/13/Sovereign-rating-to-Armenia%E2%80%99s-Government-with-a-%E2%80%98positive%E2%80%99-perspective/576048

##Standard & Poor’s: Armenian government’s general debt to decrease to 48% by 2024 from 53% in 2021

>the swift reduction is because of exchange rate movements: the domestic currency, the Armenian dram, has appreciated notably following depreciation at the beginning of the year and almost three-quar

https://supchina.com/2021/11/03/taiwan-parties-split-over-constitutional-reform/

"On October 22, a group of 17 former and current legislators who form the ruling Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) constitutional reform small group released a proposal for amending Taiwan’s 74-year-old constitution. Six reforms were announced, including lowering the voting age to 18, abolishing both the Control and Examination Yuan (the country’s auditor and civil service exam institutions), and establishing an independent human rights committee.

But the proposal that has sparked the most discussion is the one that is most unlikely to pass: lowering the requirements to amend the constitution in the future. This has been one of the principal demands of Taiwan’s independence movement since its martial law period, with an eye on eventually creating a new constitution.

During martial law, various groups in the underground independence movement drafted new constitutions as a way to imagine a Taiwan no longer connected to the Republic of China (ROC). As a result, forces opposed to independence are suspicious of constitutional reform, perceiving it as secessionist. Until 1991, any mention of constitutional reform was illegal under Article 100 of the Criminal Law Code.

“The constitution is directly related to the question of sovereignty. Because of this, it inevitably touches the question of independence or reunification,” says Chen Li-fu (陈俐甫 Chén Lìfǔ), a professor at Aletheia University and member of the Nationwide Constitution Reform Alliance (全国宪改联盟 quánguó xiàn gǎi liánméng). The alliance formed during the Ma Ying-jeou (马英九 Mǎ Yīngjiǔ) administration to push through constitutional reforms after the 2014 Sunflower Movement. While that effort failed, various civil society groups continue to pursue amending the constitution as an avenue for advancing democracy.

“[China] resolutely opposes any path that seeks independence through amending [Taiwan’s] constitution,” Mǎ Xiǎoguāng 马晓光, a spokesman for China’s Taiwan Affairs Office, said in response to the current proposal. “This includes lowering the threshold in order to open a convenient door to seek independence.”