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Domestic Drones and Privacy: A Primer
This report will provide a primer on privacy issues related to various UAS operations, both public and private, including an overview of current UAS uses, the privacy interests implicated by these operations, and various potential approaches to UAS privacy regulations.
East Asia’s Foreign Exchange Rate Policies
This report examines the de facto foreign exchange rate policies adopted by the monetary authorities of East Asian governments.
Energy and Water Development: FY2016 Appropriations
No Description Available.
Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education: FY2015 Appropriations
This report provides an overview of actions taken by Congress and the President to provide FY2015 appropriations for the accounts funded by the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and Related Agencies appropriations bill.
Membership of the 114th Congress: A Profile
No Description Available.
Peace Talks in Colombia
No Description Available.
Reauthorizing the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act of 2000
No Description Available.
The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act: Standards of Conduct of Brokers, Dealers, and Investment Advisers
No Description Available.
Executive Discretion as to Immigration: Legal Overview
No Description Available.
Keystone XL Pipeline: Overview and Recent Developments
This report describes the Keystone XL Pipeline Project and the process that the State Department must complete to decide whether it will approve or deny TransCanada's permit application. The report also discusses key energy security, economic, and environmental issues relevant to this determination. Finally, the report discusses the constitutional basis for the State Department's authority to issue a Presidential Permit, and opponents' possible challenges to this authority.
The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA): An Overview of Programs and Funding
This report provides an overview of funding and programs of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) bureau.
Senegal
No Description Available.
U.S. International Food Aid Programs: Background and Issues
This report includes three principal sections: the first section is a description of U.S. international food aid programs under current law; the second section discusses several important policy issues related to U.S. international food aid; and the third section describes Administration and congressional proposals intended to change the nature of U.S. food international aid.
The U.S. Wine Industry and Selected Trade Issues with the European Union
This report provides an overview of issues pertaining to the U.S. wine industry within ongoing U.S. trade negotiations in the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and the proposed Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (T-TIP).
Venezuela: Background and U.S. Relations
This report discusses current Congressional issues in relation to Venezuela, including background on the political situation and recent developments, the economic conditions, relevant U.S. policies, and the legislative initiatives in the 111th and 112th Congresses.
The Affordable Care Act’s Contraceptive Coverage Requirement: History of Regulations for Religious Objections
This report summarizes the issues involved with the Affordable Care Act's (ACA) requirement in group health plans for contraceptive coverage. Moreover, the report covers the history of how religious objections to this provision of the ACA have been handled. Specifically, the report discuses this topic in relation to employers providing health insurance for employees.
Agricultural Conservation: A Guide to Programs
This report provides a listing of federal agricultural conservation assistance programs. Each listing includes a brief description of the program, information on major amendments in the Agricultural Act of 2014 (P.L. 113-79, 2014 farm bill), national scope and availability, states with the greatest participation, the backlog of applications or other measures of continuing interest, program funding authority, FY2018 funding, FY2019 Administration budget request, statutory authority, the authorization expiration date, and a link to the program's website.
Conflict Minerals and Resource Extraction: Dodd-Frank, SEC Regulations, and Legal Challenges
This report discusses the two sections of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Protection Act (Dodd-Frank) that require the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC or Commission) to issue regulations to make public the involvement of U.S. companies in conflict minerals and in resource extraction payments.
Health Coverage Tax Credit
The report describes the expired eligibility criteria, as well as the types of health insurance to which the tax credit may have been applied. It discusses past federal and state roles in administering the HCTC program, and it summarizes analyses on the credit's effectiveness in reaching targeted populations and related equity and efficiency issues. In addition, the report includes a short discussion of relevant current law and summarizes statutory history of the HCTC program.
Kenya
No Description Available.
Rail Safety Efforts Miss Leading Cause of Fatalities
This report briefly discusses the debate over the reauthorization of the Rail Safety Improvement Act of 2008 (RSIA08; P.L. 110-432). Congress is focusing on steps to prevent train derailments and collisions. Such incidents often receive extensive publicity and cause harm to bystanders, such as the residents of Mount Carbon, West Virginia, who were forced to evacuate after a train carrying crude oil derailed and burned on February 16, 2015.
SAMHSA FY2016 Budget Request and Funding History: A Fact Sheet
No Description Available.
Social Media in the House of Representatives: Frequently Asked Questions
This report answers several questions about the regulation of social media accounts in the House of Representatives, as social media accounts for official representational duties have increased.
Status of a Senator Who Has Been Indicted for or Convicted of a Felony
This report summarizes the potential consequences, with respect to congressional status, that may result when a sitting Senator is indicted for or is convicted of a felony.
Terrorist Databases and the No Fly List: Procedural Due Process and Hurdles to Litigation
This report provides an overview of the operation of the government's watchlists, examines some of the legal issues implicated by challenges to the No Fly list, and describes recent case law on the matter.
Unfunded Mandates Reform Act: History, Impact, and Issues
This report examines debates over what constitutes an unfunded federal mandate and the implementation of the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995 (UMRA). It includes an overview of UMRA, its origins, and provisions; definitions for unfunded federal mandates; how UMRA relates to Congressional procedure (Title I) and to federal rulemaking (Title II); and concluding observations on the issues.
Veterans and Homelessness
This report includes information and figures regarding federal programs for homeless veterans. Figures include statistics and financial information.
Ballistic Missile Defense in the Asia-Pacific Region: Cooperation and Opposition
This report presents background information and discusses potential issues for Congress relating to U.S. ballistic missile defense (BMD) efforts in the Asia-Pacific region. These efforts pose several potential policy, funding, and oversight issues for Congress. Decisions that Congress makes on these issues could affect U.S. defense funding requirements and military capabilities, and U.S. relations with countries in the Asia Pacific region, including China, Japan, South Korea, North Korea, and Australia.
Boko Haram
This report details the emergence of Boko Haram as major terrorist organization.
OSHA State Plans: In Brief, with Examples from California and Arizona
No Description Available.
Al Shabaab
This report briefly examines Al Shabaab (aka Harakat Shabaab al Mujahidin, or Mujahidin Youth Movement) which is an insurgent and terrorist group that evolved out of a militant wing of Somalia’s Council of Islamic Courts in the mid-2000s.
U.S. Crude Oil and Natural Gas Production in Federal and Non-Federal Areas
This report examines U.S. oil and natural gas production data for federal and non-federal areas with an emphasis on the past five fiscal years of production.
The War Powers Resolution: Concepts and Practice
This report discusses and assesses the War Powers Resolution and its application since enactment in 1973, providing detailed background on various cases in which it was used, as well as cases in which issues of its applicability were raised. It will be revised biannually.
Statutory Interpretation: Theories, Tools, and Trends
This report begins by discussing the general goals of statutory interpretation, reviewing a variety of contemporary as well as historical approaches. The report then briefly describes the two primary theories of interpretation employed today, before examining the main types of tools that courts use to determine statutory meaning. The report concludes by exploring developing issues in statutory interpretation.
Attempt: An Abridged Overview of Federal Criminal Law
It is not a crime to attempt to commit most federal offenses. Unlike state law, federal law has no generally applicable of attempt. Congress, however, has outlawed the attempt to commit a substantial number of federal crimes on an individual basis. In doing so, it has proscribed the attempt, set its punishment, and left to the federal courts the task of further developing the law in the area. This is an abridged version of CRS Report R42001, Attempt: An Overview of Federal Criminal Law, by Charles Doyle, without the footnotes, attributions, citations to authority, or appendix found in the longer report.
Attempt: An Overview of Federal Criminal Law
It is not a crime to attempt to commit most federal offenses. Unlike state law, federal law has no generally applicable crime of attempt. Congress, however, has outlawed the attempt to commit a substantial number of federal crimes on an individual basis. In doing so, it has proscribed the attempt, set its punishment, and left to the federal courts the task of further developing the law in this area. This report gives a background on, defines, explores defenses of, the sentencing of, and relations of other offenses to attempts of federal crimes.
Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations (CJS): Trade-Related Agencies
This report tracks and describes actions taken by the Administration and Congress to provide FY2016 appropriations for the International Trade Administration(ITA) of the U.S. Department of Commerce, the U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC), and the Office of the United States Trade Representative.
The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act: Standards of Conduct of Brokers, Dealers, and Investment Advisers
No Description Available.
Farm Credit System
This report provides information about the farm credit system which provides financial cooperative lending to agricultural and aquatic producers, rural homeowners etc.
Federal Lands and Natural Resources: Overview and Selected Issues for the 114th Congress
No Description Available.
Free Exercise of Religion by Closely Held Corporations: Implications of Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc.
This report analyzes the Court's decision in Hobby Lobby, including arguments made between the majority and dissent, to clarify the scope of the decision and potential impacts for future interpretation of RFRA's applicability. It also examines potential legislative responses, should Congress consider addressing the current applicability of RFRA. Finally, the report addresses the decision's effect on requirements that employers offer contraceptive coverage in group health plans under federal or state law.
Net Neutrality: Selected Legal Issues Raised by the FCC's 2015 Open Internet Order
This report discusses the primary legal issues raised by the Federal Communication Commission's (FCC's) 2015 Open Internet Order: the FCC's authority to reclassify broadband Internet access services, the FCC's authority to forbear from the imposition of Title II regulations following reclassification, the FCC's authority under Section 706 of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, and whether the FCC properly complied with the Administrative Procedure Act.
Same-Sex Marriage: A Legal Overview
No Description Available.
Army Corps of Engineers: FY2016 Appropriations
This is a report is about the Army Corps of Engineers foor thhe fiscal Year 2016 appropriations.
Bureau of Reclamation: FY2016 Appropriations
This report presents the Appropriations for FY2016 for Bureau of Reclamation.
EPA and the Army Corps’ Proposed Rule to Define “Waters of the United States"
This report describes the proposed rule--which the agencies refer to as the Clean Water Rule-- and includes a table comparing the existing regulatory language that defines "waters of the United States" with the proposed revisions.
An Overview of Unconventional Oil and Natural Gas: Resources and Federal Actions
This report focuses on the growth in U.S. oil and natural gas production driven primarily by tight oil formations and shale gas formations. It also reviews selected federal environmental regulatory and research initiatives related to unconventional oil and gas extraction, including the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) hydraulic fracturing rule (finalized in March 2015) and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) actions.
Proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership
No Description Available.
Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) and Al Murabitoun
No Description Available.
Science and Technology Issues in the 114th Congress
No Description Available.
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