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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
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
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.
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.
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.
open access

United States v. Jones: GPS Monitoring, Property, and Privacy

Description: In United States v. Jones, 132 S. Ct. 945 (2012), a Global Positioning System (GPS) device was attached to the undercarriage of Jones's car by the police to track his movements for four weeks. This report will examine three decisions regarding searching, attachment, and monitoring in an effort to find their place in the body of existing Fourth Amendment law pertaining to privacy, property, and technology.
Date: April 30, 2012
Creator: Thompson, Richard M., II
open access

U.S. Household Savings for Retirement in 2010

Description: This report provides data on a variety of household wealth measures in 2010 from the Federal Reserve's triennial Survey of Consumer Finances. Although the amount of retirement assets is the primary focus of the report, other measures of wealth (such as the amount of total assets, financial assets, total debt, net worth, and housing equity) are also included.
Date: April 30, 2013
Creator: Topoleski, John J.
open access

The United Nations Human Rights Council: Issues for Congress

Description: This report provides historical background of the Council, including the role of the previous Commission. It discusses the Council's current mandate and structure, as well as U.S. policy and congressional actions. Finally, it highlights possible policy issues for the 113th Congress, including the overall effectiveness of the Council in addressing human rights situations, implications for U.S. membership, and U.S. financial contributions to the Council.
Date: April 30, 2013
Creator: Blanchfield, Luisa
open access

China and the United States--A Comparison of Green Energy Programs and Policies

Description: This report looks at the laws, programs, and policies encouraging development of wind, solar, and biomass power in the China and the United States. While hydropower is the most developed source of renewable electricity in both China and the United States, additional development of conventional hydropower is not currently a major focus of energy policy in the United States.
Date: April 30, 2014
Creator: Campbell, Richard J.
open access

Congressional Primer on Responding to Major Disasters and Emergencies

Description: This report covers the role of the government in disaster management. While the disaster response and recovery process is fundamentally a relationship between the federal government and the requesting state government, there are roles for congressional offices to play in providing information to the federal/state response and recovery teams in their respective states and districts, and as a source of accurate and timely information to their constituents.
Date: April 30, 2014
Creator: McCarthy, Francis X. & Brown, Jared T.
open access

Genetically Engineered Salmon

Description: This report discusses the genetically modified salmon. The term “genetic modification” refers to changes in an organism’s genetic makeup that do not occur in nature. Also, if approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Atlantic salmon would be the first genetically engineered (GE) animal to be marketed in the United States for human consumption.
Date: April 30, 2014
Creator: Upton, Harold F. & Cowan, Tadlock
open access

The Global Climate Change Initiative (GCCI): Budget Authority and Request, FY2010-FY2015

Description: This report discusses financial assistance for global climate change initiatives in developing countries. The Global Climate Change Initiative (GCCI) -- one of the three main pillars to the 2010 directive -- aims to integrate climate change considerations into relevant foreign assistance, from FY2008 enacted funding request for FY2010 through the FY2014.
Date: April 30, 2014
Creator: Lattanzio, Richard K.
open access

Defense Acquisitions: How and Where DOD Spends Its Contracting Dollars

Description: This report examines how much money DOD obligates on contracts, what DOD is buying, and where that money is being spent. This report also examines the extent to which these data are sufficiently reliable to use as a factor when developing policy or analyzing government operations.
Date: April 30, 2015
Creator: Schwartz, Moshe; Ginsberg, Wendy & Sargent, John F., Jr.
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