Search Results

open access

Department of Homeland Security Assistance to States and Localities: A Summary and Issues for the 111th Congress

Description: This report summarizes several emergency management and homeland security programs, and identifies and analyzes potential issues for the 111th Congress. These issues include the purpose and number of assistance programs; the evaluation of the use of grant funding; the determination of eligible grant recipients; the programs' funding amounts; and the programs; funding distribution methodologies.
Date: April 30, 2010
Creator: Reese, Shawn
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Financial Regulatory Reform: Systemic Risk and the Federal Reserve

Description: The recent financial crisis contained a number of systemic risk episodes, or episodes that caused instability for large parts of the financial system. The lesson some policymakers have taken from this crisis is that a systemic risk or "macroprudential" regulator is needed to prevent similar episodes in the future. This report defines the potential duties and responsibilities of a systemic risk regulator, relating those duties to events that potentially contributed to the recent crisis. It then … more
Date: April 30, 2010
Creator: Labonte, Marc
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Latin America and the Caribbean: Illicit Drug Trafficking and U.S. Counterdrug Programs

Description: This report provides an overview of the drug flows in the Americas and U.S. anti-drug assistance programs in the region. It also raises some policy issues for Congress to consider as it exercises oversight of U.S. anti-drug programs and policies in the Western Hemisphere.
Date: April 30, 2010
Creator: Ribando Seelke, Clare; Wyler, Liana Sun & Beittel, June S.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Oil Spills in U.S. Coastal Waters: Background, Governance, and Issues for Congress

Description: This report focuses on oil spills in U.S. coastal waters. The first section highlights background issues, including oil spill statistics and potential environmental impacts. The second section discusses the legal framework that governs oil spill prevention and response. The third section examines the threat of future oil spills in coastal waters and whether response personnel are prepared to respond to a major spill.
Date: April 30, 2010
Creator: Ramseur, Jonathan L.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response: The SAFER Grant Program

Description: This report discusses Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) Act, which was enacted by the 108th Congress as Section 1057 of the FY2004 National Defense Authorization Act (P.L. 108-136). It includes background of the SAFER Act, appropriations from FY2010-FY2011, reauthorization of the program in the House and Senate, and information about program implementation.
Date: April 30, 2010
Creator: Kruger, Lennard G.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Assistance to Firefighters Program: Distribution of Fire Grant Funding

Description: This report discusses the Assistance to Firefighters Grant (AFG) Program, also known as fire grants of the FIRE Act grant program, which provides federal grants directly to local fire departments and unaffiliated Emergency Medical Services (EMS) organizations to help address a variety of equipment, training, and other firefighter-related and EMS needs. This report also discusses the possible reauthorization of AFG and the related Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response Firefighters (S… more
Date: April 29, 2010
Creator: Kruger, Lennard G.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Burma's 2010 Elections: Implications of the New Constitution and Election Laws

Description: This report discusses the November 7, 2010 parliamentary elections in Burma, which have long been controversial, mainly due to election fraud concerns. The report discusses debates about U.S. policy toward Burma, which has been sparked by the elections and the issues surrounding them.
Date: April 29, 2010
Creator: Martin, Michael F.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Federal Evacuation Policy: Issues for Congress

Description: This report discusses federal evacuation policy and analyzes potential lessons learned from the evacuations of individuals in response to the Gulf Coast hurricanes of 2005. It also highlights several issue areas that might arise concerning potential lawmaking and oversight on evacuation policy.
Date: April 29, 2010
Creator: Lindsay, Bruce R.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Forestry in the Next Farm Bill

Description: This report discusses about Possible Forestry Issues for a future Farm bill, Markets for Carbon Sequestration, Markets for Other Ecosystem Services, Control of Invasive Species etc.
Date: April 29, 2010
Creator: Gorte, Ross W.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Agricultural Disaster Assistance

Description: This report has two sections. The first provides an overview of the current 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.
Date: April 28, 2010
Creator: Shields, Dennis A. & Chite, Ralph M.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Argentina's Defaulted Sovereign Debt: Dealing with the "Holdouts"

Description: This report reviews Argentina's financial crisis, the bond exchanges of 2005 and 2010, ongoing litigation, prospects for a final solution, related U.S. legislation, and broader policy issues. These include lessons on the effectiveness and cost of Argentina's default strategy, the ability to force sovereigns to meet their debt obligations, and ways to avoid future defaults like Argentina's.
Date: April 28, 2010
Creator: Hornbeck, J. F.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Defense Logistical Support Contracts in Iraq and Afghanistan: Issues for Congress

Description: This report examines logistical support contracts for troop support services (also known as service contracts) in Iraq and Afghanistan, primarily administered through a smaller program, the United States Air Force Contract Augmentation Program (AFCAP) and a larger program, the United States Army's Logistics Civil Augmentation Program (LOGCAP). It focuses on contracts involving Department of Defense (DOD) appropriated funds, although some projects involve a blending of funds from other agencies.
Date: April 28, 2010
Creator: Grasso, Valerie Bailey
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Iraq: Politics, Elections, and Benchmarks

Description: This report provides an overview of Iraq's political transition from the dictatorship of Saddam Hussein to a plural polity that encompasses varying sects and ideological and political factions. This report also addresses ongoing governmental instabilities and their causes, as well as U.S. concerns about possible Iranian influence in Iraq as U.S. forces depart the country.
Date: April 28, 2010
Creator: Katzman, Kenneth
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

TRICARE and VA Health Care: Impact of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA)

Description: The 111th Congress passed, and the President signed into law, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, as amended by the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010, and hereafter referred to as PPACA. This report addresses key questions concerning how PPACA affects the Department of Defense (DOD) TRICARE program and Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) health care.
Date: April 28, 2010
Creator: Panangala, Sidath Viranga & Jansen, Don J.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF): Budget and Operations for FY2010

Description: This report provides an overview of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) budget and operations. This report chronicles congressional action on the FY2011 Commerce, Justice, Science (CJS), and Related Agencies Appropriations bills, as well as any FY2010 supplemental appropriations bills, that provide funding for ATF.
Date: April 27, 2010
Creator: Krouse, William J.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Consolidation and Concentration in the U.S. Dairy Industry

Description: The changing structure of U.S. agriculture has generated concerns about reduced competition in a wide variety of agricultural products markets, including dairy. Two primary areas of concern in the dairy industry are consolidation- the shift to fewer an larger firms- and industry concentration- the extent to which a small number of firms control most of the sales. This report contains information on financial stress for dairy farmers, the development of the U.S. dairy industry, farm and retail p… more
Date: April 27, 2010
Creator: Shields, Dennis A.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Emergency Communications: Broadband and the Future of 911

Description: This report discusses the current 911 infrastructure and possible options for modernizing the system to Next Generation 911 technology (NG9-1-1). It includes information about relevant legislation and policy, funding and grants, ways to create a base for change, the potential role of the Department of Homeland Security, and Congressional policy.
Date: April 27, 2010
Creator: Moore, Linda K.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
Back to Top of Screen