Policy Library

6,587 documents

Mandatory Minimum Sentencing for Federal Sex Offenses: An Overview
Congressional Research Service · 2012-03-02 · Reports · 26,876 words
Sex offenses are usually state crimes. Federal law, however, outlaws sex offenses when they occur on federal lands or in federal prisons, when they involve interstate or foreign travel, or when they i...
Mandatory Minimum Sentencing for Federal Sex Offenses: An Abridged Overview
Congressional Research Service · 2012-03-02 · Reports · 9,030 words
Sex offenses are usually state crimes. Federal law, however, outlaws sex offenses when they occur on federal lands or in federal prisons, when they involve interstate or foreign travel, or when they i...
Budget Process Reform: Proposals and Legislative Actions in 2012
Congressional Research Service · 2012-03-02 · Reports · 4,340 words
An array of budget process reform proposals are put forth each year seeking to refine or modify the existing constitutional requirements, laws, and rules that make up the federal budget process. This ...
Changes to the Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA): Overview of the New Framework of Products and Processes
Congressional Research Service · 2012-02-29 · Reports · 19,180 words
On January 4, 2011, the GPRA Modernization Act of 2010 (GPRAMA) became law. The acronym “GPRA” in the act’s short title refers to the Government Performance and Results Act of 1993 (GPRA 1993), a law ...
Homeland Security Department: FY2012 Appropriations
Congressional Research Service · 2012-02-21 · Reports · 41,910 words
This report describes the FY2012 appropriations for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The Administration requested a total appropriation (mandatory and discretionary) of $45,015 million in bu...
Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization: P.L. 111-296
Congressional Research Service · 2012-02-06 · Reports · 7,815 words
The most recent WIC and child nutrition reauthorization, P.L. 111-296, “Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010,” was signed into law at the end of the 111th Congress on December 13, 2010. Subsequently,...
Internet Gambling: An Overview of Federal Criminal Law
Congressional Research Service · 2012-01-24 · Reports · 38,719 words
This is a summary of the federal criminal statutes implicated by conducting illegal gambling using the Internet. Gambling is primarily a matter of state law, reinforced by federal law in instances whe...
Internet Gambling: An Abridged Overview of Federal Criminal Law
Congressional Research Service · 2012-01-24 · Reports · 6,229 words
This is a summary of the federal criminal statutes implicated by conducting illegal gambling using the Internet. Gambling is primarily a matter of state law, reinforced by federal law in instances whe...
Loan Guarantees for Clean Energy Technologies: Goals, Concerns, and Policy Options
Congressional Research Service · 2012-01-17 · Reports · 9,114 words
Government guaranteed debt is a financial tool that has been used to support a number of federal policy objectives: home ownership, higher education, and small business development, among others. Loan...
Natural Gas Passenger Vehicles: Availability, Cost, and Performance
Congressional Research Service · 2012-01-11 · Reports · 3,126 words
Higher gasoline prices in recent years and concerns over U.S. oil dependence have raised interest in natural gas vehicles (NGVs). Use of NGVs for personal transportation has focused on compressed natu...
Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies: FY2012 Appropriations
Congressional Research Service · 2012-01-11 · Reports · 9,681 words
The Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies (THUD) appropriations subcommittee is charged with providing annual appropriations for the Department of Transportation (DOT), D...
Warrantless Seizures in Forfeiture Cases: Due Process and Alvarez v. Smith in the Supreme Court
Congressional Research Service · 2012-01-03 · Reports · 2,815 words
Alvarez v. Smith became moot while pending before the United States Supreme Court. At the time, the Court had agreed to decide whether a six-month delay between a state’s seizure of property and its f...
United States v. Comstock: Legislative Authority Under the Necessary and Proper Clause
Congressional Research Service · 2012-01-03 · Reports · 4,181 words
The Adam Walsh Act created 18 U.S.C. 4248, which authorizes civil commitment as sexually dangerous those otherwise about to be released from federal custody. In United States v. Comstock, the United S...
Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD): FY2012 Appropriations
Congressional Research Service · 2011-12-09 · Reports · 15,853 words
The President’s FY2012 budget was released on February 14, 2011. It included a request for nearly $47.9 billion in gross new appropriations for HUD in FY2012. After accounting for rescissions of prior...
Solar Projects: DOE Section 1705 Loan Guarantees
Congressional Research Service · 2011-10-25 · Reports · 2,766 words
Solyndra Photovoltaics PV CPV Solar Loan guarantee Section 1705 Department of Energy DOE CPV bankruptcy
Market Dynamics That May Have Contributed to Solyndra’s Bankruptcy
Congressional Research Service · 2011-10-25 · Reports · 3,088 words
Solyndra Solar Loan guarantee Section 1705 solar modules polysilicon photovoltaics PV DOE subsidies bankruptcy
Deprivation of Honest Services as a Basis for Federal Mail and Wire Fraud Convictions
Congressional Research Service · 2011-09-16 · Reports · 13,633 words
The United States Supreme Court in Skilling v. United States construed the honest services branch of the federal mail and wire fraud statutes to reach no more than cases involving bribery or kickbacks...
Forest Certification Programs
Congressional Research Service · 2011-09-08 · Reports · 15,334 words · PDF available
The national forests have been the focus of controversy for many years. Reduced timber harvests, increased wildfire risks, degraded forest health, and disagreements among users and other stakeholders ...
Crosscut Budgets in Ecosystem Restoration Initiatives: Examples and Issues for Congress
Congressional Research Service · 2011-08-03 · Reports · 7,923 words
In the last 30 years, the United States has devoted enormous effort and committed billions of dollars toward restoring large ecosystems such as the Chesapeake Bay and the Great Lakes. These ecosystem ...
Statutory Limits on Total Spending as a Method of Budget Control
Congressional Research Service · 2011-07-26 · Reports · 10,292 words
Often when there is dissatisfaction with budgetary levels, budget process reforms are proposed to mandate a specific budgetary policy or fiscal objective. This report focuses specifically on one such ...
Statutory Budget Controls in Effect Between 1985 and 2002
Congressional Research Service · 2011-07-01 · Reports · 6,078 words
Between 1985 and 2002, several statutory budget controls were enacted to reduce the budget deficit. Chief among these were the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 and the Budget ...
Ashcroft v. al-Kidd: Official Immunity and Material Witnesses Before the Supreme Court
Congressional Research Service · 2011-07-01 · Reports · 9,987 words
Public officials cannot be sued personally for injuries resulting from the performance of their duties. They lose this qualified immunity when the injuries resulted from their violation of clearly est...
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA): Appropriations for FY2011
Congressional Research Service · 2011-06-30 · Reports · 14,166 words
Enacted April 15, 2011, the Department of Defense and Full-Year Continuing Appropriations Act, 2011 (P.L. 112-10, H.R. 1473), provided funding for the remainder of FY2011 for those agencies typically ...
National Security Letters: Proposals in the 112th Congress
Congressional Research Service · 2011-06-30 · Reports · 15,180 words
National Security Letters (NSLs) are roughly comparable to administrative subpoenas. Various intelligence agencies use them to demand certain customer information from communications providers, financ...
The Liability Risk Retention Act: Background, Issues, and Current Legislation
Congressional Research Service · 2011-06-24 · Reports · 6,800 words
Risk retention groups (RRGs) and risk purchasing groups (RPGs) are alternative insurance entities authorized by Congress to expand insurance supply through a simplification of insurance regulation. Th...
The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD): FY2011 Appropriations
Congressional Research Service · 2011-06-24 · Reports · 19,532 words
The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is the federal agency charged with administering a number of programs designed to promote the availability of safe, decent, and affordable housing...
Warrantless, Police-Triggered Exigent Searches: Kentucky v. King in the Supreme Court
Congressional Research Service · 2011-06-17 · Reports · 2,055 words
Authorities may enter and search a home without a warrant if they have probable cause and reason to believe that evidence is being destroyed within the home. So declared the United States Supreme Cour...
Electronic Voting System in the House of Representatives: History and Usage
Congressional Research Service · 2011-06-13 · Reports · 8,422 words
On January 23, 1973, 87 years after the first legislative proposal to use an automated system to record votes was introduced, the House of Representatives used its electronic voting system for the fir...
The Donor-Donee State Issue in Highway Finance
Congressional Research Service · 2011-06-13 · Reports · 15,126 words
Few issues in federal highway finance have raised such heated debate as how closely each state’s federal highway grants should match its highway users’ payments to the Highway Trust Fund (HTF). This “...
Economic Development Administration: A Review of Elements of Its Statutory History
Congressional Research Service · 2011-06-03 · Reports · 8,993 words · PDF available
As the 112th Congress considers legislation reauthorizing the Public Works and Economic Development Act of 1965 (PWEDA; P.L. 89-136), which created the Economic Development Administration (EDA) and it...
Murder or Attempted Murder of a Member of Congress and Other Federal Officials and Employees: Implications in Federal Criminal Law and Procedure of Events in Tucson
Congressional Research Service · 2011-05-31 · Reports · 5,723 words
Jared Lee Loughner was arrested for the attempted murder of Representative Gabrielle Giffords, the murder of United States District Court Judge John Roll, and the murder or attempted murder of several...
Crimes of Violence Committed Against Federal Officials or Employees: A Brief Overview of Federal Criminal Law
Congressional Research Service · 2011-05-31 · Reports · 2,395 words
Dozens of federal statutes outlaw homicide, assault, and threats under varying jurisdictional circumstances. Those which appear most relevant to tragic events in Tucson, AZ, are identified in abbrevia...
Implications of Egypt’s Turmoil on Global Oil and Natural Gas Supply
Congressional Research Service · 2011-05-04 · Reports · 2,240 words
The change in Egypt’s government will likely not have a significant direct impact on the global oil and natural gas markets. There may be some short-term movements in price, mostly caused by perceived...
The Congressional Research Service and the American Legislative Process
Congressional Research Service · 2011-04-12 · Reports · 5,356 words
The Library of Congress, as its name suggests, is a library dedicated to serving the United States Congress and its Members. It serves additionally as an unexcelled national library. The Library was l...
Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies (THUD): FY2011 Appropriations
Congressional Research Service · 2011-04-07 · Reports · 12,481 words
President Obama requested a total of $123.7 billion for FY2011 for the Department of Transportation, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, and the related agencies that are funded through t...
Actual Innocence and Habeas Corpus: In re Troy Davis
Congressional Research Service · 2011-04-04 · Reports · 7,803 words
In re Davis presented the Supreme Court with another opportunity to decide whether a state death row inmate, who on the basis of newly available evidence establishes that he is actually innocent, is e...
Federal Rulemaking: The Role of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs
Congressional Research Service · 2011-03-21 · Reports · 17,852 words
The Paperwork Reduction Act of 1980 created the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) within the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). Executive Order 12291, issued by President Reagan ...
Forest Management for Resilience and Adaptation
Congressional Research Service · 2011-03-14 · Reports · 13,088 words
U.S. forests are primarily temperate forests, often with relatively few species dominating over wide areas. Such forests respond and adapt to an array of environmental factors—sunlight levels and dura...
Middle East and North Africa Unrest: Implications for Oil and Natural Gas Markets
Congressional Research Service · 2011-03-10 · Reports · 7,612 words
Political unrest in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) has contributed to higher oil prices and added instability to energy markets. Supply disruptions and fears about the possible spread of unre...
Taxation of Private Equity and Hedge Fund Partnerships: Characterization of Carried Interest
Congressional Research Service · 2011-03-10 · Reports · 2,229 words
General partners in most private equity and hedge funds are compensated in two ways. First, to the extent that they contribute their capital in the funds, they share in the appreciation of the assets....
How Legislation Is Brought to the House Floor: A Snapshot of Recent Parliamentary Practice in the 111th Congress (2009-2010)
Congressional Research Service · 2011-03-09 · Reports · 4,151 words
The House of Representatives has several different parliamentary procedures through which it can bring legislation to the chamber floor. Which of these will be used in a given situation depends on man...
Amendments Between the Houses: A Brief Overview
Congressional Research Service · 2011-02-25 · Reports · 1,269 words
The House and Senate must approve an identical version of a measure before it can be presented for the President’s approval or veto. If the House and Senate approve differing versions of a measure, th...
Committee on the Budget in the House of Representatives: Structure and Responsibilities
Congressional Research Service · 2011-01-13 · Reports · 4,234 words
The basic framework that is used today for congressional consideration of budget policy was established in the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974. This act provides for the annua...
Habeas Corpus Legislation in the 111th Congress
Congressional Research Service · 2010-12-30 · Reports · 4,508 words
Federal habeas corpus is the process under which those in official detention may petition a federal court for their release based on an assertion that they are being held in violation of the Constitut...
National Security Letters: Proposed Amendments in the 111th Congress
Congressional Research Service · 2010-12-27 · Reports · 18,214 words
Five federal statutes authorize various intelligence agencies to demand, through National Security Letters (NSLs), certain customer information from communications providers, financial institutions, a...
Special Rules and Options for Regulating the Amending Process
Congressional Research Service · 2010-11-17 · Reports · 794 words
A special rule is a House resolution intended to regulate floor consideration of a specific legislative measure named in the resolution. When adopted by the House, the requirements prescribed by a spe...
House Rules Committee Hearings on Special Rules
Congressional Research Service · 2010-11-17 · Reports · 1,025 words
When the Rules Committee reports a resolution on the order of business, commonly called a “rule” or “special rule,” the committee usually has two purposes in mind: first, to make it in order for the H...
Special Rules and Waivers of House Rules
Congressional Research Service · 2010-11-17 · Reports · 795 words
A special rule is a House resolution intended to regulate floor consideration of a specific legislative measure named in the resolution. The requirements prescribed by a special rule can supersede the...
Obstruction of Congress: A Brief Overview of Federal Law Relating to Interference with Congressional Activities
Congressional Research Service · 2010-11-05 · Reports · 35,294 words
Obstruction of justice is the impediment of governmental activities. There are a host of federal criminal laws that prohibit obstructions of justice. The six most general outlaw obstruction of judicia...
Obstruction of Congress: An Abridged Overview of Federal Criminal Laws Relating to Interference with Congressional Activities
Congressional Research Service · 2010-11-05 · Reports · 3,400 words
Obstruction of justice is the frustration of governmental purposes by violence, corruption, destruction of evidence, or deceit. It is a federal crime. In fact, it is several crimes. Obstruction prosec...