Congressional Research Service Reports - 438 Matching Results

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Rural Broadband: The Roles of the Rural Utilities Service and the Universal Service Fund

Description: This report discusses Rural Utilities Service (RUS) Broadband and Telecommunications Programs. Since the initial deployment of broadband in the late 1990s, Congress has viewed broadband infrastructure deployment as a means towards improving regional economic development, and in the long term, to create jobs.
Date: May 9, 2012
Creator: Gilroy, Angele A. & Kruger, Lennard G.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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The Federal Communications Commission: Current Structure and Its Role in the Changing Telecommunications Landscape

Description: The report discusses the Federal Communications Commission (FCC)-Related Congressional Actions in the 112th Congress. The policymakers, including some in Congress, have long called for varying degrees and types of reform to the FCC. Most proposals fall into two categories: (1) procedural changes made within the FCC or through congressional action that would affect the agency's operations or (2) substantive policy changes requiring congressional action that would affect how the agency regulates … more
Date: January 12, 2012
Creator: Figliola, Patricia Moloney
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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The Federal Networking and Information Technology Research and Development Program: Background, Funding, and Activities

Description: The federal government has long played a key role in the country's information technology (IT) research and development (R&D) activities. The government's support of IT R&D began because it had an important interest in creating computers and software that would be capable of addressing the problems and issues the government needed to solve and study.
Date: January 13, 2012
Creator: Figliola, Patricia Moloney
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Funding Emergency Communications: Technology and Policy Considerations

Description: This report identifies areas where changes in existing policies and practices may facilitate achievement of the important goals for emergency communications that Congress and others have identified. Why these goals have become important, and recent planning efforts to achieve these goals, is discussed first. Next, possible barriers to achieving these goals are identified and described. The conclusion revisits key options presently under consideration by Congress.
Date: January 5, 2012
Creator: Moore, Linda K.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA): Policies, Programs, and Funding

Description: The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), an agency of the Department of Commerce, is the executive branch's principal advisory office on domestic and international telecommunications and information policies. Its mandate is to provide greater access for all Americans to telecommunications services, support U.S. attempts to open foreign markets, advise on international telecommunications negotiations, and fund research for new technologies and their applications. NT… more
Date: December 14, 2011
Creator: Moore, Linda K.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Fairness Doctorine: History and Constitutional Issues

Description: The Fairness Doctrine was a policy of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC or Commission) that required broadcast licensees to cover issues of public importance and to do so in a fair manner. In 1987, after a period of study, the FCC repealed the Fairness Doctrine. The debate in Congress regarding whether to reinstate the doctrine continues today. This report covers the history of such debates.
Date: January 12, 2009
Creator: Ruane, Kathleen Ann
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Funding Emergency Communications: Technology and Policy Considerations

Description: The 112th Congress is under renewed pressure to come to a decision about the assignment of a block of radio frequency spectrum licenses referred to as the D Block, and to provide a plan for federal support of broadband networks for emergency communications. The cost of constructing new networks (wireless and wireline) is estimated by experts to be in the tens of billions of dollars over the long term, with similarly large sums needed for maintenance and operation. Identifying money for federal … more
Date: May 27, 2011
Creator: Moore, Linda K.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Trade in Services: The Doha Development Agenda Negotiations and U.S. Goals

Description: The United States and the other 153 members of the World Trade Organization (WTO) have been engaged in a set or "round" of negotiations called the Doha Development Agenda (DDA) since December 2001. The DDA's main objective is to refine and expand the rules by which WTO members conduct foreign trade with one another. This report is designed to assist the 112th Congress to understand and monitor progress of the negotiations and the major issues that the negotiators are addressing. The report prov… more
Date: March 10, 2011
Creator: Cooper, William H.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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The Emergency Alert System (EAS) and All-Hazard Warnings

Description: The Emergency Alert System (EAS) is built on a structure conceived in the 1950's when over-the-air broadcasting was the best-available technology for widely disseminating emergency alerts. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), working with the Association of Public Television Stations, is implementing a program that will disseminate national alert messages over digital broadcast airwaves, using satellite and public TV broadcast towers. This program is referred to as the Integrated Public A… more
Date: June 26, 2009
Creator: Moore, Linda K.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Spectrum Policy in the Age of Broadband: Issues for Congress

Description: The convergence of wireless telecommunications technology and Internet protocols is fostering new generations of mobile technologies. This transformation has created new demands for advanced communications infrastructure and radio frequency spectrum capacity that can support high-speed, content-rich uses. This report considers the possibility of modifying spectrum policy: (1) to support national goals for broadband deployment by placing more emphasis on attracting new providers of wireless broa… more
Date: July 13, 2009
Creator: Moore, Linda K.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Emergency Communications: The Future of 911

Description: Today's 911 system is built on an infrastructure of analog technology that does not support many of the features that most Americans expect are part of an emergency response. Recognizing the importance of providing effective 911 service, Congress has passed three major bills supporting improvements in the handling of 911 emergency calls. This report includes a detailed overview of the 911 system, as well as related legislation and policies currently in consideration by Congress.
Date: November 21, 2008
Creator: Moore, Linda K.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Emergency Communications: The Future of 911

Description: Today's 911 system is built on an infrastructure of analog technology that does not support many of the features that most Americans expect are part of an emergency response. Efforts to splice newer, digital technologies onto this aging infrastructure have created points of failure where a call can be dropped or misdirected, sometimes with tragic consequences. This report discusses efforts to modernize and update 911 emergency response technology, the funding for such efforts, and related piece… more
Date: June 16, 2009
Creator: Moore, Linda K.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Radio and Television Broadcasting to Cuba: Background and Current Issues

Description: This report provides a legislative history and funding levels for Cuba Broadcasting. It discusses specific concerns some lawmakers have had with Radio and TV Marti over the years, and presents the Panel's recommendations and the USIA Director's response and determinations, as required by the FYI994 appropriations act.
Date: August 5, 1994
Creator: Epstein, Susan B. & Sullivan, Mark P.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Wireless Technology and Spectrum Demand: Advanced Wireless Services

Description: Advances in wireless telecommunications technology are converging with Internet technology to foster new generations of applications and services. Presently, the United States and other countries are moving to third-generation (3G) and fourth-generation mobile telephony. The defining feature of these technologies is that transmission speeds are significantly faster than prevailing technologies. A related trend is the growth in use of Wi-Fi (wireless fidelity) and WiMAX (an industry designation … more
Date: August 12, 2008
Creator: Moore, Linda K.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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The Siting of Wireless Communications Facilities: An Overview of Federal, State, and Local Law

Description: The siting of wireless communications facilities has been a topic of controversy in communities all over the United States. The Telecommunications Act of 1996 governs federal, state, and local regulation of the siting of communications towers by placing certain limitations on local zoning authority without totally preempting state and local law. This report provides an overview of the federal, state, and local laws governing the siting of wireless communications facilities.
Date: September 4, 2008
Creator: Ruane, Kathleen
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Wireless Technology and Spectrum Demand: Advanced Wireless Services

Description: Advances in wireless telecommunications technology are converging with Internet technology to foster new generations of applications and services. Presently, the United States and other countries are moving to third-generation (3G) and fourth-generation mobile telephony. The defining feature of these technologies is that transmission speeds are significantly faster than prevailing technologies. A related trend is the growth in use of Wi-Fi (wireless fidelity) and WiMAX (an industry designation … more
Date: June 12, 2006
Creator: Moore, Linda K.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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An Emergency Communications Safety Net: Integrating 911 and Other Services

Description: The present capability and future effectiveness of America's network of emergency telecommunications services are among the issues under review by Congress and other entities. As technologies that can support 911 improve, many are seeing the possibility of integrating 911 into a wider safety net of emergency communications and alerts. One of the intents of Congress in passing the Wireless Communications and Public Safety Act of 1999, and of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in impleme… more
Date: June 12, 2006
Creator: Moore, Linda K.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Public Safety Communications Policy

Description: Since September 11, 2001, the effectiveness of America's communications capabilities in support of the information needs of first responders and other public safety workers has been a matter of concern to Congress. Most public safety advocates consider that the communications failures following the onslaught of Hurricane Katrina demonstrate that there is much still to be done to provide the United States with adequate communications capabilities in emergencies. This report explores several piec… more
Date: July 24, 2006
Creator: Moore, Linda K.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Emergency Communications: The Emergency Alert System (EAS) and All-Hazard Warnings

Description: The Emergency Alert System (EAS) is built on a structure conceived in the 1950s when over-the-air broadcasting was the best-available technology for widely disseminating emergency alerts. Bills in the 109th Congress that would improve emergency alert systems, domestically and internationally, include S. 50 (Senator Inouye) and H.R. 296 (Representative Menendez); these bills were prompted by the tsunami disaster but include measures that also apply to the need for a better all-hazard warning sys… more
Date: July 17, 2006
Creator: Moore, Linda K.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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