Policy Library

7,020 documents

Safe Third Country Agreements with Northern Triangle Countries: Background and Legal Issues
Congressional Research Service · 2020-01-30 · Posts · 2,789 words · PDF available
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) recently began implementing an agreement with the government of Guatemala that allows DHS to transfer some asylum seekers to that country instead of evaluatin...
USMCA: A Legal Interpretation of the Panel-Formation Provisions and the Question of Panel Blocking
Congressional Research Service · 2020-01-30 · Resources · 1,704 words · PDF available
Congress has shown an interest in the effectiveness of the dispute settlement mechanism in the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), which will replace the North American Free Trade Agreement...
Competition on the Edge of the Internet
Congressional Research Service · 2020-01-30 · Reports · 8,103 words · PDF available
Edge providers are individuals and entities that provide content, applications, services, and devices accessed over the internet. An edge provider can be a personal blog created by an individual or a ...
Overview of FY2020 Appropriations for Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies (CJS)
Congressional Research Service · 2020-01-29 · Reports · 10,292 words
This report describes actions taken by the Trump Administration and Congress to provide FY2020 appropriations for Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies (CJS) accounts. The annual CJS approp...
The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the Kyoto Protocol, and the Paris Agreement: A Summary
Congressional Research Service · 2020-01-29 · Reports · 6,057 words · PDF available
The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) has been the principle forum for cooperation among nations on greenhouse gas (GHG)-induced climate change since its adoption in 1992....
Recent Slower Economic Growth in the United States: Policy Implications
Congressional Research Service · 2020-01-28 · Reports · 8,095 words · PDF available
The current economic expansion is the longest in recorded U.S. history, but it has not been characterized by rapid economic growth. From the beginning of the current economic expansion in the third qu...
Government Expenditures on Defense Research and Development by the United States and Other OECD Countries: Fact Sheet
Congressional Research Service · 2020-01-28 · Reports · 1,335 words · PDF available
Research and development (R&D) has played a central role in the national security of the United States and its allies. R&D creates the foundation for new and improved technologies that underpin a wide...
Aircraft Noise and Air Traffic Control Modernization
Congressional Research Service · 2020-01-27 · Resources · 1,387 words · PDF available
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is replacing its radar-based air traffic control system with a satellite-based navigation and tracking system called NextGen. The stated purpose of NextGen is...
The Texas Border Barrier Litigation: Implications for Appropriations Law
Congressional Research Service · 2020-01-24 · Posts · 2,518 words · PDF available
A little-noted rule of appropriations law and an obscure provision of Congress’s annual appropriations acts have assumed prominent roles in the Trump Administration’s effort to accelerate border-barri...
Federal Income Tax Treatment of the Family Under the 2017 Tax Revision
Congressional Research Service · 2020-01-24 · Reports · 9,979 words · PDF available
The federal income tax treatment of the family is affected by several major structural elements applicable to all taxpayers: amounts deductible from taxable income through standard deductions, persona...
The Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) in Social Security: Comparing Current Law with Proposed Proportional Formulas
Congressional Research Service · 2020-01-24 · Reports · 8,882 words · PDF available
Social Security is a work-based federal insurance program that provides income support to workers and their eligible family members in the event of a worker’s retirement, disability, or death. About 6...
Petitions for Rulemaking: An Overview
Congressional Research Service · 2020-01-23 · Reports · 8,174 words · PDF available
The Administrative Procedure Act (APA), enacted in 1946, is known primarily for its procedural requirements for notice-and-comment rulemaking. Those requirements state that when issuing regulations, a...
The Legal Framework of the Federal Power Act
Congressional Research Service · 2020-01-22 · Resources · 1,695 words · PDF available
The Federal Power Act (FPA or the Act) (16 U.S.C. §§ 791 et seq.) is the primary federal statute governing the wholesale transmission and sale of electric power, as well as the regulation of hydroelec...
Veterans’ Benefits and Bankruptcy
Congressional Research Service · 2020-01-21 · Posts · 2,431 words · PDF available
Federal law entitles veterans to certain types of monetary benefits, such as compensation for disabled veterans injured in the line of duty. Recent statistics from the U.S. Census Bureau suggest, howe...
Obtaining Witnesses In an Impeachment Trial: Compulsion, Executive Privilege, and the Courts
Congressional Research Service · 2020-01-21 · Posts · 2,423 words · PDF available
The Constitution grants the Senate wide-ranging discretion in the exercise of its “sole Power to try all Impeachments.” Beyond the requirements that the Constitution expressly sets forth (Senators sit...
FY2020 Appropriations for Agricultural Conservation
Congressional Research Service · 2020-01-21 · Reports · 5,116 words · PDF available
The Agriculture appropriations bill funds the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) except for the Forest Service. The FY2020 Further Consolidated Appropriations Act (P.L. 116-94, Division B) includes...
FDA Regulation of Cannabidiol (CBD) Consumer Products: Overview and Considerations for Congress
Congressional Research Service · 2020-01-21 · Reports · 15,401 words · PDF available
Cannabidiol (CBD), a compound in the Cannabis sativa plant, has been promoted as a treatment for a range of conditions, including epileptic seizures, post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, inflammat...
China’s Corporate Social Credit System
Congressional Research Service · 2020-01-17 · Resources · 1,662 words · PDF available
China’s construction of a nationwide social credit system has been identified as a major concern by both the executive branch and some Members of Congress, because of the broad controls such a system ...
Trying to Kill An FBI Agent: Sentence Too Low
Congressional Research Service · 2020-01-16 · Posts · 1,153 words · PDF available
The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit (Second Circuit) on December 27, 2019, rejected as “shockingly low” a seventeen-year prison term imposed on a terrorist who attempted to kill ...
Social Security and Vulnerable Groups—Policy Options to Aid Widows
Congressional Research Service · 2020-01-16 · Reports · 13,568 words · PDF available
As Congress actively considers Social Security reform options, one area of interest is Social Security policy levers to aid vulnerable groups—widows, low earners, caregivers, older beneficiaries, spou...
A Persistent and Evolving Threat: An Examination of the Financing of Domestic Terrorism and Extremism
Congressional Research Service · 2020-01-15 · Testimony · 3,276 words · PDF available
Chairman Cleaver, Ranking Member Hill, Members of the Subcommittee, thank you for the opportunity to testify today. My name is Rena Miller, and I have been a Specialist in Financial Economics at the C...
Processing of Adults and Family Units Arriving at the Southern Border Without Valid Documents
Congressional Research Service · 2020-01-14 · Infographics · 571 words
/ Processing of Adults and Family Units Arriving at the Southern Border Without Valid Documents The Trump Administration has implemented a series of policies that change the processing of non-U.S. na...
Presidential Pardons: Overview and Selected Legal Issues
Congressional Research Service · 2020-01-14 · Reports · 14,543 words · PDF available
Article II, Section 2 of the U.S. Constitution authorizes the President “to grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offenses against the United States, except in Cases of Impeachment.” The power has its roots...
Iran’s Central Bank Asks Supreme Court to Consider Whether the Bank’s Assets Abroad are Immune from Attachment to Satisfy Terror Judgments
Congressional Research Service · 2020-01-14 · Posts · 1,081 words · PDF available
Update: The Supreme Court on January 13, 2020, granted review and vacated the decision below, remanding to the Second Circuit for reconsideration in light of section 1226 of the National Defense Autho...
Kashmir: Background, Recent Developments, and U.S. Policy
Congressional Research Service · 2020-01-13 · Reports · 13,828 words · PDF available
In early August 2019, the Indian government announced that it would make major changes to the legal status of its Muslim-majority Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) state, specifically by repealing Article 370 o...
Copyright Act and Communications Act Changes in 2019 Related to Television
Congressional Research Service · 2020-01-13 · Reports · 10,279 words · PDF available
On December 20, 2019, President Donald J. Trump signed the Satellite Television Community Protection and Promotion Act of 2019, and the Television Viewer Protection Act of 2019 (Titles XI and X of Div...
Iranian Offensive Cyberattack Capabilities
Congressional Research Service · 2020-01-13 · Resources · 1,587 words · PDF available
Threat Evolution Iran’s use of cyberspace has evolved from an internal means of information control and repression to more aggressive attacks on foreign targets. The regime has been developing its own...
Appeals Court Says First Amendment Limits Regulation of Online Political Advertising: Implications for Congress
Congressional Research Service · 2020-01-10 · Posts · 2,189 words · PDF available
The proliferation of online political advertising has sparked a national conversation about its perceived harms. Some have argued that online political ads are more likely than their offline counterpa...
H.R. 1865 and the Look-Through Treatment of Payments Between Related Controlled Foreign Corporations
Congressional Research Service · 2020-01-10 · Resources · 1,072 words · PDF available
The House amendment to the Senate amendment to H.R. 1865, the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2020, extended certain expiring provisions, including a number that were last extended through 20...
The SECURE Act and the Retirement Enhancement and Savings Act Tax Proposals (H.R. 1994 and S. 972)
Congressional Research Service · 2020-01-10 · Resources · 1,482 words · PDF available
Both the House and the Senate have considered legislation that addresses issues associated with tax-favored retirement plans. On May 23, the House passed the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement ...
Potential Effect of FCC Rules on State and Local Video Franchising Authorities
Congressional Research Service · 2020-01-09 · Reports · 11,818 words · PDF available
Local and state governments have traditionally played an important role in regulating cable television operators, within limits established by federal law. In a series of rulings since 2007, the Feder...
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA): FY2020 Budget Request and Appropriations
Congressional Research Service · 2020-01-09 · Resources · 1,294 words · PDF available
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA’s) mission is to understand and predict changes in weather, climate, oceans, and coasts; to share that information with others; and to conse...
USMCA: Investment Provisions
Congressional Research Service · 2020-01-08 · Resources · 1,469 words · PDF available
The United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) is a proposed free trade agreement (FTA) that, if approved by Congress and ratified by Canada and Mexico, would replace the North American Free Trade ...
Early Withdrawals from Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs) and 401(k) Plans
Congressional Research Service · 2020-01-08 · Resources · 1,489 words · PDF available
Background Congress created incentives for certain individuals to save for retirement through Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs) and 401(k)s. Employees (and sometimes employers in the case of 401(k...
Small Satellite Boom Poses Challenges for Regulators
Congressional Research Service · 2020-01-07 · Resources · 1,566 words · PDF available
Regulators and policymakers are struggling to keep pace with small satellites, spacecraft the size of shoe boxes that are displacing school bus-sized satellites for many purposes. “Smallsats,” as they...
Enforcing International Trade Obligations in USMCA: The State-State Dispute Settlement Mechanism
Congressional Research Service · 2020-01-03 · Resources · 1,372 words · PDF available
Enforcement of many obligations in the proposed United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), which would replace the existing North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) if ratified, is covered by t...
The Cable Franchising Authority of State and Local Governments and the Communications Act
Congressional Research Service · 2020-01-03 · Reports · 14,857 words · PDF available
Companies that provide cable television service (cable operators) are subject to regulation at the federal, state, and local levels. Under the Communications Act of 1934, the Federal Communications Co...
Nature-Based Infrastructure: NOAA’s Role
Congressional Research Service · 2020-01-02 · Reports · 5,910 words · PDF available
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) currently supports natural, nature-based, or green infrastructure and other related types of features (hereinafter referred to as nature-base...
Campaign and Election Security Policy: Overview and Recent Developments for Congress
Congressional Research Service · 2020-01-02 · Reports · 16,301 words · PDF available
In the United States, state, territorial, and local governments are responsible for most aspects of selecting and securing election systems and equipment. Foreign interference during the 2016 election...
Legal Authority to Repurpose Funds for Border Barrier Construction
Congressional Research Service · 2019-12-30 · Reports · 21,821 words · PDF available
President Trump has prioritized the construction of border barriers along the U.S.-Mexico border. Over the course of negotiations for FY2019 appropriations, the Administration asked Congress to approp...
The Power of Congress and the Executive to Exclude Aliens: Constitutional Principles
Congressional Research Service · 2019-12-30 · Reports · 35,743 words · PDF available
Supreme Court precedent establishes that inherent principles of sovereignty give Congress “plenary power” to regulate immigration. The core of this power—the part that has proven most impervious to ju...
The Office of Federal Student Aid as a Performance-Based Organization
Congressional Research Service · 2019-12-30 · Reports · 32,581 words · PDF available
The Office of Federal Student Aid (FSA), within the U.S. Department of Education (ED), is established as a performance-based organization (PBO) pursuant to Section 141 of the Higher Education Act (HEA...
Campaign Finance Law: Disclosure and Disclaimer Requirements for Political Campaign Advertising
Congressional Research Service · 2019-12-30 · Resources · 1,687 words · PDF available
Federal campaign finance law sets forth disclosure and disclaimer requirements for certain types of political campaign advertisements. The term disclosure refers to periodic reporting to the Federal E...
Iran’s Nuclear Program: Status
Congressional Research Service · 2019-12-20 · Reports · 49,411 words
Iran’s nuclear program began during the 1950s. The United States has expressed concern since the mid-1970s that Tehran might develop nuclear weapons. Iran’s construction of gas centrifuge uranium enri...
The WTO’s Appellate Body Loses Its Quorum: Is This the Beginning of the End for the “Rules-Based Trading System”?
Congressional Research Service · 2019-12-16 · Posts · 1,956 words · PDF available
Some trade practitioners, scholars, and other observers regard the multilateral World Trade Organization’s (WTO’s) dispute settlement mechanism as the “crown jewel” of the international rules-based tr...
Dairy Provisions in USMCA
Congressional Research Service · 2019-12-16 · Resources · 1,730 words · PDF available
On November 30, 2018, the leaders of the United States, Canada, and Mexico signed the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) to revise the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). The legislative bo...
Federal Employees’ Retirement System: Budget and Trust Fund Issues
Congressional Research Service · 2019-12-13 · Reports · 9,391 words · PDF available
Most of the civilian federal workforce is covered by one of two retirement systems: (1) the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) for individuals hired before 1984 or (2) the Federal Employees’ Retir...
Surprise Billing in Private Health Insurance: Overview and Federal Policy Considerations
Congressional Research Service · 2019-12-12 · Reports · 23,816 words · PDF available
In response to individuals receiving large, unexpected medical bills for out-of-network care, Congress has recently been considering legislation to address surprise billing. As the term is currently b...
An Army of Many: Veterans’ Benefits Class Actions in the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims
Update 12/11/2019: On December 6, 2019, the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims issued a decision in Skaar v. Wilkie certifying a class action in an appeal of a Board of Veterans’ Appeals decisi...
Religious Speech and Advertising: Current Circuit Split and its Implications for Congress
Congressional Research Service · 2019-12-11 · Posts · 2,483 words · PDF available
On September 17, 2019, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit (Third Circuit), in a divided decision, held that a transit system’s policy banning ads with religious and atheistic messages vio...