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Iraq: Reconstruction Assistance: This report describes recent developments in the assistance effort in post-authoritarian Iraq and key issues of potential interest to Congress.
Navy Shipboard Lasers for Surface, Air, and Missile Defense: Background and Issues for Congress: This report focuses on potential Navy shipboard lasers for countering surface, air, and ballistic missile threats. It does not discuss the use of lasers on Navy aircraft or submarines, or the use of lasers by other military services. This report is based on unclassified, open-domain information from the Navy, industry, and research organizations such as RAND.
Disaster Relief Funding and Emergency Supplemental Appropriations: This report describes the various components of the Disaster Relief Fund, including what authorities have shaped it over the years; how FEMA determines the amount of the appropriation requested to Congress (pertaining to the DRF); and how emergency supplemental appropriations are requested. In addition to the DRF, information is provided on funds appropriated in supplemental appropriations legislation to agencies other than the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
The America COMPETES Act and the FY2009 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; 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.
Foreign Holdings of Federal Debt: This report presents current data on estimated ownership of U.S. Treasury securities and major holders of federal debt by country. Federal debt represents the accumulated balance of borrowing by the federal government. To finance federal borrowing, U.S. Treasury securities are sold to investors, directly from the Treasury or on the secondary market to individual private investors, financial institutions in the United States or overseas, and foreign, state, or local governments.
Information Technology and Elementary and Secondary Education: Current Status and Federal Support: CRS Report for Congress entailing information about the current status and federal report of information technology and elementary and secondary education. Topics include, recent action, major issues, federal policy questions etc..
Bilingual Education: An Overview: The U.S. Department of Education(ED) administers the Bilingual Education Act (BEA), the federal education program specifically intended for limited English proficient (LEP) children. The Congress considered several proposals to reauthorize the BEA in the 106th Congress. The 107th Congress has again been considering legislation to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), including the BEA. H.R. 1, the “No Child Left Behind Act of 2001” was passed by the House on May 23, 2001. S. 1, the “Better Education for Students and Teachers Act” was reported in the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, and is currently under consideration, as amended by SA358, in the Senate.
Information Technology and Elementary and Secondary Education: Current Status and Federal Support: CRS Report for Congress entailing information about the current status and federal report of information technology and elementary and secondary education. Topics include, recent action, major issues, federal policy questions etc..
Community Development Block Grants: Funding and Other Issues in the 106th Congress: In this report Congress addresses a number of community development issues, including reauthorization of the CDBG and revision of the CDBG program definitions of entitlement communities and low- and moderate-income households. Congress also will consider legislation appropriating funds for the program for FY2001, including funding for a number of new initiatives proposed by the Clinton Administration.
Farm Commodity Programs: A Short Primer: This report briefly discusses programs designed to provide income support, price support, and/or supply management for approximately 20 specified agricultural commodities. USDA farm support programs represent the heart of U.S. farm policy, by virtue of their longevity – they have existed since the early 1930s – and their cost.
Elementary and Secondary Education: Reconsideration of the Federal Role by the 107th Congress: This issue brief provides an overview of legislation to reauthorize the ESEA, ERDDIA, and NESA. Most of it will focus on the ESEA, since it is much larger in scale. We include a summary review of relevant legislation acted upon during the 106th Congress. This issue brief will be updated regularly to reflect current legislative activity. Other issue briefs and reports, listed at the end of this brief, provide more detailed information on individual programs or types of proposals and analyses of the issues being debated with respect to them.
ESEA Reauthorization Proposals: Comparison of Major Features of the House and Senate Versions of H.R. 1: The authorizations of appropriations for most programs of federal aid to elementary and secondary (grades K-12) education, under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), expired at the end of FY2000. While the 106th Congress extensively considered several bills which would have reauthorized and amended most of these programs, only legislation extending the Impact Aid (ESEA Title VIII) and Even Start Family Literacy (ESEA Title I, Part B) programs was enacted. Selected other programs, such as the Class Size Reduction program, have been initiated and continued solely through annual appropriations legislation.
Congressional Budget Resolutions: Motions to Instruct Conferees: Both the House and the Senate have procedures whereby the full bodies may issue instructions to conferees on budget resolutions, usually in the form of a motion. The practices of the House and Senate regarding such motions differ markedly in key respects. First, the House resorts to such motions regularly (having considered 10 such motions in the past 12 years), while the Senate seldom uses them. Second, the House has considered only one motion per budget resolution, while the Senate considered five motions on one budget resolution. Finally, the House regards the motion to instruct conferees strictly as a prerogative of the minority party, while the Senate does not.
21st Century Community Learning Centers in P.L. 107-110: Background and Funding: Most Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) programs, including the 21st Century Community Learning Centers (21st CCLC) program, expired at the end of FY2000.1 Included in the No Child Left Behind Act is the reauthorization of the 21st CCLC, with, a new location (Title IV, Part B, 21st Century Schools), and several substantive changes. On December 13 and 18, 2001, respectively, the House and Senate adopted the conference version of H.R. 1, The No Child Left Behind Act. The President signed H.R. 1 into law (P.L. 107-110) on January 8, 2002. This report summarizes the major provisions of the reauthorized 21st CCLC program. The reauthorized program is structured as a formula grant program to states, in response to concerns that a program as large as the 21st CCLC could no longer be equitably administered as a competitive grant program. In addition, the reauthorized program formally endorses an exclusive focus for the 21st CCLC on after-school hours activities for children and youth.
The Higher Education Act: Reauthorization Status and Issues: This report provides the following: an overview of postsecondary education (institutions and students), an overview of the Higher Education Act (HEA) with a focus on its most significant programs and provisions, and a discussion of major issues likely to be of interest to the Congress during the HEA reauthorization process.
The Higher Education Act: Reauthorization Status and Issues: This report provides an overview of postsecondary education (institutions and students), an overview of the Higher Education Act (HEA) with a focus on its most significant programs and provisions, and a discussion of major issues that have been, or may be, of interest to the Congress during the HEA reauthorization process.
The Higher Education Act: Reauthorization Status and Issues: This report provides the following: an overview of postsecondary education (institutions and students), an overview of the Higher Education Act (HEA) with a focus on its most significant programs and provisions, and a discussion of major issues likely to be of interest to the Congress during the HEA reauthorization process.
The Higher Education Act: Reauthorization Status and Issues: This report provides the following: an overview of postsecondary education (institutions and students), an overview of the Higher Education Act (HEA) with a focus on its most significant programs and provisions, and a discussion of major issues likely to be of interest to the Congress during the HEA reauthorization process.
Appropriations for FY2004: Department of Homeland Security: Appropriations are one part of a complex federal budget process that includes budget resolutions, appropriations (regular, supplemental, and continuing) bills, rescissions, and budget reconciliation bills. This Report is a guide to one of the 13 regular appropriations bills that Congress passes each year. It is designed to supplement the information provided by the House and Senate Appropriations Subcommittees on Homeland Security.
The Budget Reconciliation Process: The Senate's "Byrd" Rule: Reconciliation is a procedure under the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 by which Congress implements budget resolution policies affecting mainly permanent spending and revenue programs. The principal focus in the reconciliation process has been deficit reduction, but in recent years reconciliation has encompassed revenue reduction generally and spending increases in selected program areas. The Byrd rule provides six definitions of what constitutes extraneous matter for purposes of the rule (and several exceptions thereto), but the term is generally described as covering provisions unrelated to achieving the goals of the reconciliation instructions.
The Budget Deficit and the Trade Deficit: What Is Their Relationship?: During the last half of the 1990s, real gross domestic investment rose as a fraction of real GDP. This resulted from the rise in U.S. productivity and the related rise in the real yield on U.S. assets. This drew additional private capital from abroad. If the twin deficits theory is correct, it has an adverse implication for the efficacy of fiscal policy as a stimulus tool. It suggests that in an environment of highly mobile international capital flows the effect of policy induced increases in the structural budget deficit (e.g., tax cuts) on short-run economic growth would be largely offset by increases in the trade deficit. The experience during both the 1980s and 1990s demonstrates that a large and growing trade deficit need not be an impediment to overall job creation even though it may have had an effect on the type of jobs that were created since it affected the composition of U.S. output.
The Higher Education Act: Reauthorization Status and Issues: This report provides an overview of postsecondary education (institutions and students), an overview of the Higher Education Act (HEA) with a focus on its most significant programs and provisions, and a discussion of major issues that have been, or may be, of interest to the Congress during the HEA reauthorization process.
Appropriations for FY2005: Department of Homeland Security: Appropriations are one part of a complex federal budget process that includes budget resolutions, appropriations (regular, supplemental, and continuing) bills, rescissions, and budget reconciliation bills. This Report is a guide to one of the 13 regular appropriations bills that Congress passes each year. It is designed to supplement the information provided by the House and Senate Appropriations Subcommittees on Homeland Security.
The Higher Education Act: Reauthorization Status and Issues: This report discusses the funding authorizations for programs in the Higher Education Act (HEA). This legislation, administered by the U.S. Department of Education (ED), authorizes the federal government’s major student aid programs, as well as other significant initiatives.
The Higher Education Act: Reauthorization Status and Issues: This report discusses the funding authorizations for programs in the Higher Education Act (HEA). This legislation, administered by the U.S. Department of Education (ED), authorizes the federal government’s major student aid programs, as well as other significant initiatives.
21st Century Community Learning Centers in P.L. 107-110: Background and Funding: Most Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) programs, including the 21st Century Community Learning Centers (21st CCLC) program, expired at the end of FY2000.1 Included in the No Child Left Behind Act is the reauthorization of the 21st CCLC, with, a new location (Title IV, Part B, 21st Century Schools), and several substantive changes. On December 13 and 18, 2001, respectively, the House and Senate adopted the conference version of H.R. 1, The No Child Left Behind Act. The President signed H.R. 1 into law (P.L. 107-110) on January 8, 2002. This report summarizes the major provisions of the reauthorized 21st CCLC program. The reauthorized program is structured as a formula grant program to states, in response to concerns that a program as large as the 21st CCLC could no longer be equitably administered as a competitive grant program. In addition, the reauthorized program formally endorses a focus for the 21st CCLC on after-school hours activities for children and youth.
Historic Preservation: Background and Funding: This report summarizes the federal role in historic preservation. It provides descriptions of and funding information for some of the major preservation programs, including the Historic Preservation Fund (HPF), the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, the National Trust for Historic Preservation, and the National Register for Historic Places.
Grants Information for Constituents: This report mainly discusses about the Grants Information for Constituents and key sources of information on government and private grants for state and community projects.
Disaster Unemployment Assistance (DUA): Disaster Unemployment Assistance (DUA) provides assistance to previously employed or self- employed individuals rendered unemployed as a direct result of a major disaster and who are not eligible for regular federal/state unemployment insurance (UI). DUA is federally funded through the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), but is administered by the state UI agencies.
Budget Reconciliation and the PBGC: The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) posted a deficit of $23.5 billion as of the latest reporting period, and the deficit is expected to grow further. Major bills introduced in the 109th Congress to reform funding rules for the defined benefit pension system and to raise PBGC premiums include H.R. 2830 and S. 1783. Neither has yet passed the full House or Senate. PBGC premiums are an important source of revenue for meeting the budget reconciliation targets. The House Budget Committee has reported out H.R. 4241, a budget reconciliation package that would raise PBGC premiums. The Senate has passed S. 1932, a budget reconciliation package that also contains PBGC premium increases.
The Budget Reconciliation Process: The Senate's "Byrd" Rule: Reconciliation is a procedure under the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 by which Congress implements budget resolution policies affecting mainly permanent spending and revenue programs. The principal focus in the reconciliation process has been deficit reduction, but in recent years reconciliation has encompassed revenue reduction generally and spending increases in selected program areas. The Byrd rule provides six definitions of what constitutes extraneous matter for purposes of the rule (and several exceptions thereto), but the term is generally described as covering provisions unrelated to achieving the goals of the reconciliation instructions.
FY2005 Supplemental Appropriations for Iraq and Afghanistan, Tsunami Relief, and Other Activities: No Description Available.
Environmental Protection Agency: Appropriations for FY2006: The 109th Congress moved funding jurisdiction for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from the Veterans Affairs, Housing and Urban Development (VA-HUD), and Independent Agencies appropriations subcommittee to the Interior subcommittee. Title II of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act for FY2006 (P.L. 109-54, H.R. 2361) provides $7.73 billion for EPA, subject to an across-the-board rescission of 0.476%. Section 439 of Title IV indicates that the rescission is to be applied proportionately among each account, program, project, and activity specified in the law, accompanying reports, and the President’s budget request.
Homeland Security Department: FY2006 Appropriations: The annual consideration of appropriations bills (regular, continuing, and supplemental) by Congress is part of a complex set of budget processes that also encompasses the consideration of budget resolutions, revenue and debt-limit legislation, other spending measures, and reconciliation bills. In addition, the operation of programs and the spending of appropriated funds are subject to constraints established in authorizing statutes. Congressional action on the budget for a fiscal year usually begins following the submission of the President’s budget at the beginning of each annual session of Congress. Congressional practices governing the consideration of appropriations and other budgetary measures are rooted in the Constitution, the standing rules of the House and Senate, and statutes, such as the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974.
Community Services Block Grants (CSBG): Funding and Reauthorization: Community Services Block Grants (CSBG), administered by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), provide federal funds to states, territories and Indian tribes for distribution to local agencies to reduce poverty. Several related national activities — Community Economic Development, Rural Community Facilities, National Youth Sports, Community Food and Nutrition, Job Opportunities for Low-Income Individuals (JOLI) and Individual Development Accounts (IDAs) — also provide grants to local communities for a variety of anti-poverty initiatives.
Environmental Protection Agency: FY2006 Appropriations and Highlights: Title II of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act for FY2006 (P.L. 109-54, H.R. 2361) provides $7.73 billion for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), subject to an across-the-board rescission of 0.476%. Section 439 of Title IV indicates that the rescission is to be applied proportionately among each account, program, project, and activity specified in the law, accompanying reports, and the President’s budget request. The total FY2006 EPA appropriation includes an additional $80 million in unobligated funds “rescinded” from past appropriations, as noted in the following table. P.L. 109-54 provides more funding for EPA than the Administration’s FY2006 request of $7.52 billion, but less than the FY2005 appropriation of $8.03 billion.
Homeland Security Grant Formulas: A Comparison of Formula Provisions in S. 21 and H.R. 1544, 109th Congress: This CRS report summarizes and compares the pertinent parts of the two bills. Specifically, the report compares the homeland security assistance distribution formulas in S. 21 and H.R. 1544, presents estimated guaranteed amounts each state would receive under the House and Senate formulas , and a stepby-step process for distribution of federal homeland security assistance (Appendix A and B), as proposed by these two bills.
Child Welfare Financing: An Issue Overview: The purpose of this report is to describe the federal interest in child welfare (as expressed by Congress); describe the current level and structure of federal dedicated child welfare financing and examine trends in the appropriation and spending of this money; and to review the extent to which states rely on non-dedicated federal funds for child welfare purposes. Finally, the report discusses the future federal commitment to child welfare financing, along with the concepts of flexibility and accountability, as these relate both to current law and to recent proposals to alter federal child welfare financing.
Child Welfare: State Performance on Child and Family Services Reviews: This report begins with a short history of the legislation and other factors that led to the creation of the current CFSR and then briefly describes how a CFSR is conducted and what “substantial conformity” with federal child welfare policy means in the context of this review. Much has been made of the fact that no state was found to be in substantial conformity with all aspects of federal policy reviewed during the initial (FY2001-FY2004) round of the CFSRs. This report seeks to better understand that fact by looking closely at state performance on each of the performance indicators that determined compliance.
The Budget Deficit and the Trade Deficit: What Is Their Relationship?: During the last half of the 1990s, real gross domestic investment rose as a fraction of real GDP. This resulted from the rise in U.S. productivity and the related rise in the real yield on U.S. assets. This drew additional private capital from abroad. If the twin deficits theory is correct, it has an adverse implication for the efficacy of fiscal policy as a stimulus tool. It suggests that in an environment of highly mobile international capital flows the effect of policy induced increases in the structural budget deficit (e.g., tax cuts) on short-run economic growth would be largely offset by increases in the trade deficit. The experience during both the 1980s and 1990s demonstrates that a large and growing trade deficit need not be an impediment to overall job creation even though it may have had an effect on the type of jobs that were created since it affected the composition of U.S. output.
Spectrum Auctions and Deficit Reduction: FY2006 Budget Reconciliation: Congressional policymakers are seeking a way to accelerate the nation’s transition to digital television and to expedite the transfer of certain radio frequency channels from the broadcast industry to public safety and commercial users no later than 2009.
Energy and Mineral Issues in the FY2006 Budget Reconciliation Bill: Several resource issues that are designed to generate revenue for the federal Treasury have been proposed for the FY2006 budget reconciliation bill. The most controversial of these provisions recommended by the House Resources Committee and Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee would open part of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) for oil and gas development. The House panel also approved a provision that would allow coastal states to “opt out” of the current offshore oil and gas development moratoria, increase fees for hardrock mining and patents, dispose of certain federal lands, and begin an oil shale and tar sands leasing program.
Foreign Holdings of Federal Debt: This report presents current data on estimated ownership of United States Treasury securities and major holders of federal debt by country.
Fiscal Year 2005 Homeland Security Grant Program: State Allocations and Issues for Congressional Oversight: The Office for Domestic Preparedness, within the Department of Homeland Security, is responsible for directing and supervising federal terrorism preparedness grants for states and localities. Prior to FY2005, the Office for Domestic Preparedness offered that assistance through six separate grant programs. Some state and local officials, however, criticized the fragmentation of homeland security assistance and recommended streamlining the grant process. Subsequently, the Office for Domestic Preparedness recommended and — pursuant to Section 872 of the Homeland Security Act (P.L. 107-296), which authorizes the Department of Homeland Security Secretary “to allocate, reallocate, and consolidate functions and organization units within the Department” — former Department of Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge approved consolidating the separate programs into a single Homeland Security Grant Program. Within the consolidated program, however, the six types of assistance continue to have their separate identities and funding allocations as “sub-grants.” As a whole, the Homeland Security Grant The program provides assistance for a wide range of eligible activities, among which are planning, training, equipment acquisition, and exercises. To fund the program, Congress appropriated approximately $2.5 billion for FY2005, roughly $600,000 less than for the programs in FY2004.
Everglades Restoration: The Federal Role in Funding: In 2000, Congress approved a 30-year, $7.8 billion restoration plan, termed the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP), for the Everglades ecosystem in southern Florida, and authorized an initial set of projects at a cost of $1.4 billion. This report provides information on federal appropriations for Everglades restoration, and discusses some issues related to the authorization and appropriations for restoration projects.
Congressional Budget Resolutions: Revisions and Adjustments: Following a brief discussion of budget resolutions and the congressional budget process, this report examines the several ways in which budget levels and other matters included in budget resolutions may be revised or adjusted, the authorities that underpin the making of such revisions and adjustments, and actual practices of the House and Senate in this regard.
Appropriations Bills: What is Report Language?: When the Senate or House Appropriations Committee reports an appropriations bill to the full Senate or House, respectively, the committee typically publishes a committee report explaining the bill. This fact sheet provides a brief overview of what these reports entail and the language used within them.
Legislative Procedures for Adjusting the Public Debt Limit: A Brief Overview: Almost all borrowing by the federal government is conducted by the Treasury Department, within the restrictions established by a single, statutory limit on the total amount of debt that may be outstanding at any time. Most adjustments to the debt limit have been increases, but sometimes the change has been a reduction.
Older Americans Act: Disaster Assistance for Older Persons After Hurricane Katrina: The devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina is having significant negative effects on older persons with physical and mental disabilities. Persons who are socially isolated and dependent upon informal caregivers and social service programs to assist them live independently have immediate and long-term needs. The Administration on Aging (AoA) has allocated $750,000 in disaster relief funds available through the Older Americans Act to Alabama, Louisiana, and Mississippi (divided equally among the three states). Congress may consider whether additional actions are necessary to assist state and area agencies on aging in their efforts to assist the frail elderly in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.
Grants Information for Constituents: This report mainly discusses about the Grants Information for Constituents and key sources of information on government and private grants for state and community projects.

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