Policy Library

6,587 documents

Prospects for Coal in Electric Power and Industry
Congressional Research Service · 2013-02-04 · Reports · 9,342 words
For most of the twentieth century, the primary use of coal in the United States was for electric power generation, and for most of the history of power generation in the United States, coal has been t...
Civilian Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act: Federal Contractor Criminal Liability Overseas
Congressional Research Service · 2013-01-28 · Reports · 8,947 words
The United States government uses hundreds of thousands of civilian contractors and employees overseas. They and their dependants are often subject to local prosecution for the crimes they commit abro...
Cybersecurity: Cyber Crime Protection Security Act (S. 2111, 112th Congress)—A Legal Analysis
Congressional Research Service · 2013-01-28 · Reports · 8,317 words
The Cyber Crime Protection Security Act (S. 2111) would enhance the criminal penalties for the cybercrimes outlawed in the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA). Those offenses include espionage, hackin...
The Endangered Species Act and “Sound Science”
Congressional Research Service · 2013-01-23 · Reports · 17,504 words
The adequacy of the science supporting implementation of the Endangered Species Act (ESA) has received considerable congressional attention over the years. While many scientific decisions pass unremar...
“First Day” Proceedings and Procedural Change in the Senate
Congressional Research Service · 2013-01-18 · Reports · 7,627 words
In the early weeks of the 112th Congress, the Senate considered proposals to change its Standing Rules, as well as proposals to alter other practices and procedures. Three resolutions that proposed to...
House Sergeant at Arms: Legislative and Administrative Duties
Congressional Research Service · 2013-01-18 · Reports · 3,937 words
The Sergeant at Arms is an elected officer of the House of Representatives, nominated at the beginning of each Congress by the House majority leadership, and elected by the House membership. The Serge...
Lead-Based Paint Poisoning Prevention: Summary of Federal Mandates and Financial Assistance for Reducing Hazards in Housing
Congressional Research Service · 2013-01-17 · Reports · 3,401 words
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), about 1.4% of surveyed children living in the United States between the ages of 1 and 5 years have an unacceptably high level of lead...
Proposals to Change the Operation of Cloture in the Senate
Congressional Research Service · 2013-01-11 · Reports · 13,605 words
Paragraph 2 of Senate Rule XXII, also known as the “cloture rule,” was adopted in 1917. It established a procedure, amended several times over the intervening years, by which the Senate may limit deba...
Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act: A Primer
Congressional Research Service · 2013-01-02 · Reports · 3,863 words
Enacted by the 100th Congress, the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act requires qualified employers that intend to carry out plant closings or mass layoffs to provide 60 days’ not...
Tax Cuts on Repatriation Earnings as Economic Stimulus: An Economic Analysis
Congressional Research Service · 2012-12-21 · Reports · 6,681 words
From the start of the 112th Congress, reform of the current U.S. corporate tax system has been widely debated as an option to stimulate the economy. Most of the debate has focused on lowering the corp...
Offshoring of Airline Maintenance: Implications for Domestic Jobs and Aviation Safety
Congressional Research Service · 2012-12-21 · Reports · 11,891 words
Airlines outsource maintenance to countries like China and El Salvador to achieve cost savings from the comparatively lower wages and from lower costs to build and maintain repair facilities. In some ...
The Project BioShield Act: Issues for the 112th Congress
Congressional Research Service · 2012-12-21 · Reports · 9,899 words
In 2004, Congress passed the Project BioShield Act (P.L. 108-276) to provide the federal government with new authorities related to the development, procurement, and use of medical countermeasures aga...
Administrative Subpoenas in Criminal Investigations: A Sketch
Congressional Research Service · 2012-12-19 · Reports · 1,752 words · PDF available
Proponents refer to administrative subpoenas as a quick, efficient and relatively nonintrusive law enforcement tool. Opponents express concern that they pose a threat of unchecked invasions of privacy...
Administrative Subpoenas in Criminal Investigations: A Brief Legal Analysis
Congressional Research Service · 2012-12-19 · Reports · 14,140 words
Administrative subpoena authority is the power vested in various administrative agencies to compel testimony or the production of documents or both in aid of the agencies’ performance of their duties....
Electricity Transmission Cost Allocation
Congressional Research Service · 2012-12-18 · Reports · 11,798 words
Perhaps the most contentious electricity transmission financing issue is cost allocation for new interstate transmission lines—that is, deciding which electricity customers pay how much of the cost of...
Federal Land Transaction Facilitation Act: Operation and Issues for Congress
Congressional Research Service · 2012-12-10 · Reports · 8,397 words
The Federal Land Transaction Facilitation Act (FLTFA), which expired on July 25, 2011, provided for the sale or exchange of lands owned by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) that have been identified...
Motions to Recommit in the House
Congressional Research Service · 2012-12-03 · Reports · 1,102 words
A motion to recommit is one of the final steps in House consideration of legislation. The rules of the House permit motions to recommit under two different circumstances. First, immediately before the...
Entitlements and Appropriated Entitlements in the Federal Budget Process
Congressional Research Service · 2012-11-26 · Reports · 1,575 words
Entitlements are programs that require payments to persons, state or local governments, or other entities if specific eligibility criteria established in the authorizing law are met. Entitlement payme...
Overview of the Authorization-Appropriations Process
Congressional Research Service · 2012-11-26 · Reports · 1,048 words
A primary avenue for exercising Congress’s power of the purse is the authorization and appropriation of federal spending to carry out government activities. While the power over appropriations is gran...
Basic Federal Budgeting Terminology
Congressional Research Service · 2012-11-26 · Reports · 989 words
In its most elemental form, the federal budget is a comprehensive accounting of the government’s spending, revenues, and borrowing. This report provides a brief overview of the basic terminology and c...
Baselines and Scorekeeping in the Federal Budget Process
Congressional Research Service · 2012-11-26 · Reports · 1,157 words
Baselines and scorekeeping are an integral part of the federal budget process, providing lawmakers with a framework for making and enforcing budgetary decisions. The existing-law baseline, currently u...
House Legislative Procedures: Published Sources of Information
Congressional Research Service · 2012-11-21 · Reports · 656 words
The House of Representatives has published information about its current procedures in three primary sources: a House manual, a book on House procedure written for everyday use, and a set of House pre...
Congressional Redistricting: An Overview
Congressional Research Service · 2012-11-21 · Reports · 13,335 words
The decennial apportionment process determines the number of seats in the House of Representatives for which each state qualifies, based on population counts (for more on the apportionment process, se...
Pesticide Law: A Summary of the Statutes
Congressional Research Service · 2012-11-14 · Reports · 7,584 words
This report summarizes the major statutory authorities governing pesticide regulation: the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA), and Section 408 of the Federal Food, Drug, and C...
U.S. Renewable Electricity: How Does Wind Generation Impact Competitive Power Markets?
Congressional Research Service · 2012-11-07 · Reports · 10,237 words
U.S. wind power generation has experienced rapid growth in the last 20 years as total installed capacity has increased from 1,500 megawatts (MW) in 1992 to more than 50,000 MW in August of 2012. Accor...
The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act: Title VII, Derivatives
Congressional Research Service · 2012-11-06 · Reports · 11,338 words · PDF available
The financial crisis implicated the over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives market as a major source of systemic risk. A number of firms used derivatives to construct highly leveraged speculative positions...
Reallocation of Water Storage at Federal Water Projects for Municipal and Industrial Water Supply
Congressional Research Service · 2012-10-31 · Reports · 12,173 words · PDF available
Pursuant to congressional authorization, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation), the agencies with primary responsibility for federal water resources...
U.S. Renewable Electricity: How Does the Production Tax Credit (PTC) Impact Wind Markets?
Congressional Research Service · 2012-10-10 · Reports · 7,493 words
U.S. wind projects that use large turbines—greater than 100 kilowatts (kW)—are eligible to receive federal tax incentives in the form of production tax credits (PTC) and accelerated depreciation. Orig...
Privacy: An Abridged Overview of the Electronic Communications Privacy Act
Congressional Research Service · 2012-10-09 · Reports · 4,966 words
This report provides an overview of federal law governing wiretapping and electronic eavesdropping under the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA). It is a federal crime to wiretap or to use a...
Privacy: An Overview of the Electronic Communications Privacy Act
Congressional Research Service · 2012-10-09 · Reports · 56,978 words
This report provides an overview of federal law governing wiretapping and electronic eavesdropping under the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA). It also appends citations to state law in the...
Federal Grants-in-Aid Administration: A Primer
Congressional Research Service · 2012-10-03 · Reports · 5,227 words · PDF available
Congressional authorization of federal assistance to state and local governments can be traced back to the Continental Congress and its approval of the granting of nationally owned land to states form...
U.S. Initial Public Stock Offerings and the JOBS Act
Congressional Research Service · 2012-09-27 · Reports · 18,430 words
Over the past decade, many sources have reported a precipitous decline in the number of initial public offerings (IPOs) in the United States. These statistics raise several questions: what has caused ...
Airport Body Scanners: The Role of Advanced Imaging Technology in Airline Passenger Screening
Congressional Research Service · 2012-09-20 · Reports · 5,687 words
Responding to the need to reliably detect explosives, bomb-making components, and other potential security threats concealed by airline passengers, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has...
Family Law: Congress’s Authority to Legislate on Domestic Relations Questions
Congressional Research Service · 2012-09-13 · Reports · 15,019 words
Under the United States Constitution, Congress has little direct authority to legislate in the field of domestic relations. The primary authority and responsibility to legislate in the domestic relati...
The National Labor Relations Act: Background and Selected Topics
Congressional Research Service · 2012-09-07 · Reports · 4,770 words · PDF available
The National Labor Relations Act (NLRA or “the Act”) recognizes the right of employees to engage in collective bargaining through representatives of their own choosing. By “encouraging the practice an...
Child Custody and Support: Frequently Asked Questions
Congressional Research Service · 2012-08-17 · Reports · 2,701 words
Under the U.S. Constitution, Congress has little direct authority to legislate in the field of domestic relations. Generally, state policy guides these decisions. Despite the lack of direct authority ...
Wiretapping, Tape Recorders, and Legal Ethics: An Overview of Questions Posed by Attorney Involvement in Secretly Recording Conversation
Congressional Research Service · 2012-08-09 · Reports · 13,453 words
In some jurisdictions, it is unethical for an attorney to secretly record a conversation even though it is not illegal to do so. A few states require the consent of all parties to a conversation befor...
Wiretapping, Tape Recorders, and Legal Ethics: An Abridged Overview of Questions Posed by Attorney Involvement in Secretly Recording Conversation
Congressional Research Service · 2012-08-09 · Reports · 1,733 words · PDF available
In some jurisdictions, it is unethical for an attorney to secretly record a conversation even though it is not illegal to do so. A few states require the consent of all parties to a conversation befor...
Interim Continuing Resolutions (CRs): Potential Impacts on Agency Operations
Congressional Research Service · 2012-07-25 · Reports · 8,844 words
Continuing appropriations acts, often known as continuing resolutions (CRs), have been a component of the annual appropriations process for decades. When Congress and the President do not reach final ...
An Analysis of Charitable Giving and Donor Advised Funds
Congressional Research Service · 2012-07-11 · Reports · 12,908 words
Congress has long been concerned with ensuring that contributions for which tax deductions are claimed directly benefit charitable activities. Private foundations, a traditional arrangement that allow...
Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act: A Summary of Superfund Cleanup Authorities and Related Provisions of the Act
Congressional Research Service · 2012-06-14 · Reports · 21,835 words
Congress enacted the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA; P.L. 96-510) in response to a growing desire for the federal government to ensure the cleanu...
The 3.8% Medicare Contribution Tax on Unearned Income, Including Real Estate Transactions
Congressional Research Service · 2012-05-18 · Reports · 1,769 words
The Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 (HCERA, P.L. 111-152) contains a provision that will subject certain individuals to a 3.8% “unearned income Medicare contribution” tax beginnin...
Clean Energy Standard: Summary and Analysis of S. 2146
Congressional Research Service · 2012-05-09 · Reports · 6,220 words
U.S. policymakers have considered and deliberated on several policy designs that could potentially reduce energy-related carbon emissions. In his 2011 State of the Union address, President Obama propo...
Reconciliation Directives: Components and Enforcement
Congressional Research Service · 2012-05-03 · Reports · 5,219 words
The purpose of the reconciliation process is to enhance Congress’s ability to bring existing spending, revenue, and debt-limit laws into compliance with current fiscal priorities established in the an...
Sufficiency of Signatures on Conference Reports
Congressional Research Service · 2012-05-02 · Reports · 2,362 words
The House and Senate both require that a conference report be signed by a majority of House conferees and a majority of Senate conferees. When some conferees are appointed only for limited purposes, t...
Prosecution of Public Corruption: An Abridged Overview of Amendments Under H.R. 2572 and S. 2038
Congressional Research Service · 2012-04-11 · Reports · 4,912 words
The House Judiciary Committee has approved an amended version of the Clean Up Government Act (H.R. 2572). The Senate has passed nearly identical provisions as Title II of the Stop Trading on Congressi...
Prosecution of Public Corruption: An Overview of Amendments Under H.R. 2572 and S. 2038
Congressional Research Service · 2012-04-11 · Reports · 14,176 words
The House Judiciary Committee has approved an amended version of the Clean Up Government Act (H.R. 2572). The Senate has passed nearly identical provisions as Title II of the Stop Trading on Congressi...
The Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA): A Summary
Congressional Research Service · 2012-04-05 · Reports · 2,727 words
This report summarizes the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA) and the major regulatory programs that mandate reporting by industrial facilities of releases of potentially hazar...
Energy Storage for Power Grids and Electric Transportation: A Technology Assessment
Congressional Research Service · 2012-03-27 · Reports · 59,242 words
Energy storage technology has great potential to improve electric power grids, to enable growth in renewable electricity generation, and to provide alternatives to oil-derived fuels in the nation’s tr...
Compensating State and Local Governments for the Tax-Exempt Status of Federal Lands: What Is Fair and Consistent?
Congressional Research Service · 2012-03-22 · Reports · 15,440 words · PDF available
The federal government owns significant amounts of land and resources that are exempt from state and local taxation. State and local governments provide a wide variety of services—education, social se...