Congressional Research Service Reports - 1,358 Matching Results
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- 911 Call Center Legislation: S. 1250 and H.R. 2898
- This article discusses the 2003 Congress bipartisan E911 (Enhanced 911) legislation introduced in both chambers. Moreover, the article describes the difference in parallel provisions each bill contains that have significant implications for emergency communication policy. The article defines Enhanced 911 as the capability of identifying the phone number and location of a call to a PSAP (Public Safety Answering Points). This report characterizes the cost to PSAPs of upgrading systems and supporting expanded operations as an obstacle to this legislation.
- The 2003 Tax Cut: Proposals and Issues
- This report provides a brief description of each tax cut proposal, including major proposals offered by the Democrats in both the House and the Senate during 2003. It discusses the distributional affects of the proposals and potential effects on short and long term economic growth.
- The 2009 Influenza Pandemic: An Overview
- This report provides a synopsis of key events in the H1N1 pandemic response, followed by information about selected federal emergency management authorities and actions taken by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Health and Human Services (HHS), and state and local authorities.
- 21st Century Community Learning Centers: Evaluation and Implementation Issues
- The 21st CCLC program was originally authorized as Part I of Title X, of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), as amended. This program was reauthorized as part of the reauthorization of the ESEA by the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, P.L. 107-110, and was signed into law on January 8, 2002. This report discusses implementation of the reauthorized 21st CCLC program, and the recent evaluation of the program and its implications.
- 21st Century Community Learning Centers in P.L. 107-110: Background and Funding
- This report summarizes the major provisions of the reauthorized 21st Century Community Learning Centers (21st CCLC) program. It includes sections on fundings, national reservations, formula grants to states, competitive local grants, history, program effectiveness, and relevant legislation in the 107th Congress.
- Abortion: Judicial History and Legislative Response
- This report discusses the judicial history of abortion and how legislatures respond to those decisions made by the court. The report tackles landmark cases such as Roe v. Wade as well as companion decisions such as Doe v. Bolton. The report highlights specifically how Congress has attempted to enact legislation that limits abortion practices.
- Abortion Services and Military Medical Facilities
- The purpose of this report is to describe and discuss the provisions for providing abortion services to military personnel, their dependents, and other military health care beneficiaries at military medical facilities. The report describes the history of these provisions, with particular emphasis on legislative actions. Finally, this report discusses a number of proposals to modify the law, as well as other related legislative and administrative actions.
- Access to Broadband Networks: The Net Neutrality Debate
- This report discusses the current debate over "net neutrality." While there is no single accepted definition of "net neutrality," most agree that any such definition should include the general principles that owners of the networks that compose and provide access to the Internet should not control how consumers lawfully use that network, and they should not be able to discriminate against content provider access to that network.
- Accounting Problems at Fannie Mae
- This report summarizes the critiques the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Supervision (OFHEO) made of accounting practices at Fannie Mae. The OFHEO's two main issues are under the domains of: amortization of discounts, premiums, fees involved in the purchase of home mortgages, and the other being accounting for financial derivatives contracts. The report emphasizes that these discrepancies created a false image of the company's earnings and in one case was the cause of the company's executives to receive bonuses.
- Accounting Problems at Fannie Mae
- This report summarizes the critiques the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Supervision (OFHEO) made of accounting practices at Fannie Mae. The OFHEO's two main issues are under the domains of: amortization of discounts, premiums, fees involved in the purchase of home mortgages, and the other being accounting for financial derivatives contracts. The report emphasizes that these discrepancies created a false image of the company's earnings and in one case was the cause of the company's executives to receive bonuses.
- The Addition of Trainers to Iraq: Background for Congress
- This report provides a brief overview of the conflict with the Islamic State organization (IS, aka ISIL/ISIS/Daesh) and resulting military campaign.
- Addition to the Major Issue File
- This report discusses the lists of those new issue briefs that have been added to the major issues file since the last issue of the CRS update.
- Administrative Appeals in the Bureau of Land Management and the Forest Service
- This report describes Congressional interest in the Bureau of Land Management's (BLM) appeal process due to rumors that it affects the BLM's capacity to handle various resources. Moreover, the report defines what an administrative appeal is, and describes the process required to undertake one. The report also lists the various types of administrative appeals.
- Advance Appropriations, Forward Funding, and Advance Funding: Concepts, Practice, and Budget Process Considerations
- This report discusses the federal programs that are funded through the annual appropriations process in regular appropriations acts, which may typically obligate those funds during a period that starts at the beginning of that fiscal year.
- The Advanced Technology Program
- This report presents perspectives on African economic trends and provides an overview of U.S. trade and investment flows with sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). It discusses the provisions of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) and the changes that have occurred since its enactment. It concludes with a brief discussion of issues of congressional interest.
- The Advanced Technology Program
- This report summarizes the Advanced Technology Program (ATP) and its creation. According to the report, the ATP was created to insure competitive technologies with broad applications throughout multiple industries. The report also covers information surrounding the budget of the program and its funding.
- Affirmative Action and Diversity in Public Education: Legal Developments
- This report reviews the judicial evolution of race-based affirmative action, particularly in relation to public education. Recent rulings challenging the use of race-conscious admissions and hiring practices by public educational institutions are then considered for their implications on the future development of affirmative action law.
- Afganistan: A Bibliography
- This report is a bibliography on Afganistan.
- Afghanistan Casualties: Military Forces and Civilians
- This report collects statistics from a variety of sources on casualties sustained during Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF), which began on October 7, 2001, and is ongoing. OEF actions take place primarily in Afghanistan; however, OEF casualties also includes American casualties in Pakistan, Uzbekistan, Guantanamo Bay (Cuba), Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Jordan, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, the Philippines, Seychelles, Sudan, Tajikistan, Turkey, and Yemen.
- Afghanistan: Politics, Elections, and Government Performance
- This report discusses the current political state of Afghanistan, as well as the Afghan government. This report also discusses Afghanistan's relationship with the United States, particularly U.S. efforts to urge President Hamid Karzai, to address corruption within the Afghan government. The report also includes discussion of election fraud and corruption in Afghanistan.
- Afghanistan: Post-War Governance, Security, and U.S. Policy
- This report discusses Afghanistan's political transition, which was completed with the convening of a parliament in December 2005. Since then, insurgent threats to Afghanistan's government have escalated to the point that some experts are questioning the future of U.S. stabilization efforts.
- Afghanistan: Post-War Governance, Security, and U.S. Policy
- The United States and its allies are helping Afghanistan emerging from more than 22 years of warfare, although substantial risk to Afghan stability remains. Before the U.S. military campaign against the orthodox Islamist Taliban movement began on October 7, 2001, Afghanistan had been mired in conflict since the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979. The defeat of the Taliban has enabled the United States and its coalition partners to send forces throughout Afghanistan to search for Taliban and Al Qaeda fighters and leaders that remain at large, including Osama bin Laden. As the war against remaining Al Qaeda and Taliban elements winds down, the United States is shifting its military focus toward stabilizing the interim government, including training a new Afghan national army, and supporting the international security force (ISAF) that is helping the new government provide security.
- Africa Command: U.S. Strategic Interests and the Role of the U.S. Military in Africa
- In recent years, analysts and U.S. policymakers have noted Africa's growing strategic importance to U.S. interests. On February 6, 2007, the Bush Administration announced the creation of a new unified combatant command, U.S. Africa Command or AFRICOM, to promote U.S. national security objectives in Africa and its surrounding waters. This report provides information on AFRICOM's mission, structure, interagency coordination, and its basing and manpower requirements. The report also gives a broad overview of U.S. strategic interests in Africa and the role of U.S. military efforts on the continent as they pertain to the creation of Africa Command.
- Africa Command: U.S. Strategic Interests and the Role of the U.S. Military in Africa
- This report provides information on U.S. Africa Command or (AFRICOM), including AFRICOM's mission, structure, interagency coordination, and its basing and manpower requirements. The report also gives a broad overview of U.S. strategic interests in Africa and the role of U.S. military efforts on the continent as they pertain to the creation of Africa Command.
- The African Cotton Initiative and WTO Agriculture Negotiations
- This report discusses the African cotton initiative, over which disagreement has blocked progress on an agreement on agriculture in the current round of multilateral trade negotiations known as the Doha Development Agenda (DDA). In World Trade Organization (WTO) Negotiations on agriculture, a group of African countries have proposed that all subsidies for cotton be eliminated by the end of four years. The proposal also advocates compensating African cotton producing countries for revenues estimated to be lost due to cotton subsidies.
- African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA): Background and Reauthorization
- This report discusses the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), which is a nonreciprocal trade preference program that provides duty-free treatment to U.S. imports of certain products from eligible sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries.
- Agricultural Biotechnology: The U.S.-EU Dispute
- This report focuses on a conflict between the European Union (EU) and the United States, Canada, and Argentina. The United States suggests that the European Union's moratorium costs the U.S. 300 million dollars in exports to the EU annually. Moreover, the report highlights other concerns the U.S. has with the EU's biotechnology policies.
- “Agricultural Commodity,” “Agricultural Product,” “Farm Product” and Related Terms: Definitions for Federal Policy
- This report defines a number of terms within the realm of agricultural production.
- Agricultural Disaster Assistance
- This report has two sections. The first provides an overview of the current U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) disaster assistance programs: federal crop insurance, NAP payments, emergency disaster loans, the new Supplemental Revenue Assistance Payments Program (SURE), and four other smaller disaster programs authorized in the 2008 farm bill. The second section reviews the recent history of emergency supplemental farm disaster assistance.
- Agricultural Export and Food Aid Programs
- This report discusses projected agricultural imports and exports for FY2003, as well as legislation that deals with federal programs in support of agricultural exports and federal aid dedicated to farms and agricultural reform.
- Agricultural Export and Food Aid Programs
- This report discusses projected agricultural imports and exports for FY2004, as well as legislation that deals with federal programs in support of agricultural exports and federal aid dedicated to farms and agricultural reform.
- Agriculture: A Glossary of Terms, Programs, and Laws, 2005 Edition
- This report includes a glossary of approximately 2,500 agriculture and related terms (e.g., food programs, conservation, forestry, environmental protection, etc.). Besides defining terms and phrases with specialized meanings for agriculture, the glossary also identifies acronyms, agencies, programs, and laws related to agriculture.
- Agriculture-Based Renewable Energy Production
- This report discusses federal programs on agriculture-based renewable energy and how people associated with agriculture have reacted. Moreover, the report discusses how this reaction has been positive and taken the form of an increase in ethanol production along with wind energy.
- Agriculture in Afghanistan and Neighboring Asian Countries
- Agriculture (as measured by share of gross domestic product and employment) is a significant economic sector in seven Central and South Asian countries: Afghanistan, Iran, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. All of these countries are net food importers. Some have experienced successive years of drought, which has contributed to noticeable declines in agricultural output and the need to increase commodity imports. The United Nations’ World Food Program reports that both Afghanistan and Tajikistan are currently in need of emergency food assistance to cover sizable food deficits. The food outlook in Afghanistan is made uncertain by ongoing military conflict.
- Agriculture in the WTO: Limits on Domestic Support
- This report provides a brief overview of the World Trade Organization's (WTO) commitments most relevant for U.S. domestic farm policy.
- Agriculture: U.S.-China Trade Issues
- With China’s entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO) in December 2001, U.S. agricultural interests were hopeful that longstanding barriers to trade with that vast and growing market would begin to fall. However, critics charge that China is failing to honor commitments to open its markets, affecting U.S. exports of grains, oilseeds, meat and poultry, and other products. U.S. agriculture and trade officials have been working to resolve these differences.
- AIDS in Africa
- Sub-Saharan Africa has been far more severely affected by AIDS than any other part of the world. The United Nations reports that 29.4 million adults and children are infected with the HIV virus in the region, which has about 10% of the world's population but more than 70% of the worldwide total of infected people. This report discusses this issue in detail, including the cause of the African AIDS epidemic, the social and economic consequences, response and treatment, and U.S. policy.
- Air Force F-22 Fighter Program: Background and Issues for Congress
- The Air Force F-22 fighter, also known as the Raptor, is the world's most capable air-to-air combat aircraft. The administration wants to end F-22 procurement at 187 aircraft, and the administration's proposed FY2010 budget does not request funding for the procurement of additional F-22s in FY2010. The administration argues, among other things, that 187 F-22s will be sufficient in conjunction with other U.S. tactical aircraft. The issue of F-22 procurement has emerged as one of the highest-profile items of debate on the FY2010 defense budget. This report discusses both sides of the debate in detail.
- Air Quality and Emissions Trading: A Primer
- This report briefly discusses the extent to which emissions trading has been used in the United States, explains how trading programs work, analyzes factors that can influence the effectiveness of trading, and examines some of the principal arguments related to the use of trading to control air pollution.
- Air Quality Standards and Sound Science: What Role for CASAC?
- This report discusses the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS), which are standards that define what EPA considers to be clean air. Their importance stems from the long and complicated implementation process that is set in motion by their establishment.
- Air Traffic Inc. Considerations Regarding the Corporatization of Air Traffic Control
- This report looks at past proposals to corporatize or privatize FAA air traffic functions and examines the way air traffic management is structured in other countries, particularly focusing on those that have opted for corporatization or privatization.
- Airport Privatization: Issues and Options for Congress
- This report discusses airport privatization under the Airport Privatization Pilot Program (APPP) and the airports that have been involved in the program on some level. Examples of airport privatization in the United Kingdom and Canada are also discussed.
- Algeria: Current Issues
- This report examines the current state of Algeria, including the country's associations with terrorism, despite steady decreases of domestic terrorism; the lessening in power of the Algerian military; and growing oil revenues.
- The Amending Process in the House of Representatives
- This report consists of the amending process in the house of representatives.
- The Amending Process in the House of Representatives
- This report summarizes many of the procedures and practices affecting the amending process on the floor of the House of Representatives. The process gives Members an opportunity to change the provisions of the bills and resolutions on which they are going to vote; it can be among the most complex as well as the most important stages of legislative consideration.
- The Amending Process in the Senate
- This report consists of the amending process in the senate.
- Amendments in the House: Types and Forms
- This report describes the types and forms of amendments in the House, including distinctions, degrees, forms, and scopes of amendments.
- Amendments in the Senate: Types and Forms
- The amending process is central to the consideration of legislation by the Senate. This report briefly describes the various types of amendments that take place in the Senate.
- Amendments to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) Set to Expire February 28, 2010
- The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) provides a statutory framework by which government agencies may, when gathering foreign intelligence investigation, obtain authorization to conduct electronic surveillance or physical searches, utilize pen registers and trap and trace devices, or access specified business records and other tangible things. This report discusses three sunsetting amendments of FISA which include the "Lone Wolf" provision, "roving" wiretaps, and access to business records.
- America COMPETES Act and the FY2010 Budget
- This report discusses in detail the America COMPETES Act, which is intended to increase the nation's investment in research and development (R&D), and in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education. This report discusses the funding increases authorized by the act for various relevant institutions, e.g., the National Science Foundation (NSF); the act's education activities intended to enhance the skills of STEM educators; and if Congress will continue to similarly fund the America COMPETES Act in the FY2010 budget.