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House Committee Hearings: The “Minority Witness Rule”

Congressional Research Service · 2015-08-14 · Reports · 1,252 words

House Rule XI gives the minority party members of committees the right to have witnesses of their choosing called to testify on at least one day of any hearing scheduled by the majority. The rule has ...

The Demand for Municipal Bonds: Issues for Congress

Congressional Research Service · 2015-08-14 · Reports · 11,257 words

Municipal bonds are debt securities issued by states, cities, counties, and other government-created agencies to finance capital projects, such as highways, airports, sewers, bridges, schools, hospita...

House Committee Hearings: Witness Testimony

Congressional Research Service · 2015-08-14 · Reports · 859 words

Witnesses before House committees must generally file advance copies of their written testimony with the committees and then limit their oral testimony to brief summaries (Rule XI, clause 2(g)(5)). A ...

The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA): Background, Legislation, and Policy Issues

Congressional Research Service · 2015-08-14 · Reports · 9,317 words

The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA; 5 U.S.C. §552) allows any person—individual or corporate, citizen or not—to request and obtain existing, identifiable, and unpublished agency records on any topic...

Overview and Issues for Implementation of the Federal Cloud Computing Initiative: Implications for Federal Information Technology Reform Management

Congressional Research Service · 2015-08-14 · Reports · 10,982 words

Cloud computing is a new name for an old concept: the delivery of computing services from a remote location, analogous to the way electricity, water, and other utilities are provided to most customers...

Filling the Amendment Tree in the Senate

Congressional Research Service · 2015-08-14 · Reports · 1,874 words

“Amendment trees” are charts that illustrate certain principles of precedence that guide the Senate amendment process. When all of the amendments permitted simultaneously by these principles have been...