Policy Library

6,587 documents

The Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2010: Summary and Legislative History
Congressional Research Service · 2010-09-13 · Reports · 11,865 words
On February 12, 2010, President Barack Obama signed H.J.Res. 45 into law, as P.L. 111-139. In addition to an increase in the statutory limit on the public debt to $14.294 trillion, the act contains tw...
OMB Controls on Agency Mandatory Spending Programs: “Administrative PAYGO” and Related Issues for Congress
Congressional Research Service · 2010-08-19 · Reports · 15,334 words
On May 23, 2005, during President George W. Bush’s second term, then-Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Joshua B. Bolten issued a memorandum to the heads of agencies. The memorandum announ...
Independent Evaluators of Federal Programs: Approaches, Devices, and Examples
Congressional Research Service · 2010-08-16 · Reports · 18,220 words
Congress and the executive, as well as outside organizations, have long been attentive to the evaluation of federal programs, with frequent interest paid to the independent status of the evaluator. Th...
Drilling in the Great Lakes: Background and Issues
Congressional Research Service · 2010-07-29 · Reports · 9,904 words
Drilling for oil and gas in or under the Great Lakes has generated interest among Great Lakes stakeholders, states, and Congress. Some opposed to drilling are concerned about the potential environment...
Public Employees’ Right to Privacy in Their Electronic Communications: City of Ontario v. Quon in the Supreme Court
Congressional Research Service · 2010-07-28 · Reports · 3,834 words
In City of Ontario v. Quon, the Supreme Court held that officials had acted reasonably when they reviewed transcripts of messages sent to and from Sergeant Quon’s city-issued pager in order to determi...
Earmarks Disclosed by Congress: FY2008FY2010 Regular Appropriations Bills
Congressional Research Service · 2010-04-16 · Reports · 7,178 words
In 2007, both the House and the Senate established new earmark transparency procedures. They provide for public disclosure of approved earmarks and the identification of their congressional sponsors. ...
Prosecutorial Discretion in the Context of Corporate Attorney-Client Relations
Congressional Research Service · 2010-03-09 · Reports · 18,437 words
The Justice Department enjoys prosecutorial discretion to bring criminal charges against a corporation, its culpable officers or employees, or both. For a corporation, indictment alone can be catastro...
Prosecutorial Discretion in the Context of Corporate Attorney-Client Relations: A Sketch
Congressional Research Service · 2010-03-09 · Reports · 3,872 words
The Justice Department enjoys prosecutorial discretion to bring criminal charges against a corporation, its culpable officers or employees, or both. For a corporation, indictment alone can be catastro...
Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies (THUD): FY2010 Appropriations
Congressional Research Service · 2010-01-29 · Reports · 14,122 words
President Obama requested a total of $123.1 billion for the agencies included in H.R. 3288, the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Appropriations (THUD) bill for FY201...
Terrorist Attacks on Commercial Airlines: Federal Criminal Prohibitions
Congressional Research Service · 2010-01-22 · Reports · 7,585 words
Federal authorities can and have prosecuted terrorist attacks on commercial airlines under a wide variety of federal statutes. Some of those statutes outlaw crimes committed aboard a commercial airlin...
Homeland Security Department: FY2010 Appropriations
Congressional Research Service · 2009-12-14 · Reports · 46,284 words
This report describes the FY2010 appropriations for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The Administration requested a net appropriation of $44.1 billion in budget authority for FY2010. This am...
Congressional Budget Resolutions: Consideration and Amending in the Senate
Congressional Research Service · 2009-06-23 · Reports · 3,521 words
Title III of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 (Titles I-IX of P.L. 93-344, 2 U.S.C. 601-688) (“the Budget Act”), as amended, provides for the adoption of an annual concurrent resolution on the bud...
The Budget Resolution and Spending Legislation
Congressional Research Service · 2009-06-09 · Reports · 3,670 words
The budget resolution sets forth aggregate levels of spending, revenue, and public debt. It is not intended to establish details of spending or revenue policy and does not provide levels of spending f...
Unanimous Consent Agreements Establishing a 60-Vote Threshold for Passage of Legislation in the Senate
Congressional Research Service · 2009-05-12 · Reports · 1,455 words
The Senate frequently enters into unanimous consent agreements (sometimes referred to as “UC agreements” or “time agreements”) that establish procedures for the consideration of legislation that the S...
General Oversight Provisions in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA): Requirements and Related Issues
Congressional Research Service · 2009-05-11 · Reports · 18,069 words
In the wake of a rapidly deteriorating economic picture and year-long recession that the Congressional Budget Office has called the most severe since World War II, Congress passed the American Recover...
American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (P.L. 111-5): Summary and Legislative History
Congressional Research Service · 2009-04-20 · Reports · 23,056 words
President Barack Obama signed H.R. 1, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009, into law on February 17, 2009, as P.L. 111-5 (123 Stat. 115-521). The act is seen as one of the most si...
Recess Appointments Made by President George W. Bush
Congressional Research Service · 2009-04-15 · Reports · 6,787 words
Under the Constitution, the President and the Senate share the power to make appointments to the highest-level politically appointed positions in the federal government. The Constitution also empowers...
Homeland Security Department: FY2009 Appropriations
Congressional Research Service · 2009-03-04 · Reports · 48,794 words
This report describes the FY2009 appropriations for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The Administration requested a net appropriation of $38,849 million in budget authority for FY2009. The H...
Securing General Aviation
Congressional Research Service · 2009-03-03 · Reports · 27,170 words
General aviation (GA)—a catch-all category that includes about 54% of all civilian aviation activity within the United States—encompasses a wide range of airports, aircraft, and flight operations. Bec...
An Abbreviated Sketch of the William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008 (P.L. 110-457): Criminal Law Provisions
Congressional Research Service · 2009-02-04 · Reports · 3,413 words
The William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008 (H.R. 7311), passed both the House and the Senate on December 10, 2008. The President signed it into law on December ...
Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies (THUD): FY2009 Appropriations
Congressional Research Service · 2008-09-09 · Reports · 10,001 words
The FY2009 Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies appropriations bill (THUD) provides funding for the Department of Transportation (DOT), the Department of Housing and Urb...
Congressional Budget Act Points of Order
Congressional Research Service · 2008-08-19 · Reports · 1,078 words
Title III of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 (Titles I-IX of P.L. 93-344, 2 U.S.C. 601-688), as amended, contains several points of order that are used to enforce congressional budget procedures ...
Functional Categories of the Federal Budget
Congressional Research Service · 2008-08-19 · Reports · 825 words
The President’s budget and the congressional budget resolution classify federal budgetary activities into functional and subfunctional categories that represent the major purposes of the federal gover...
Revenue Legislation in the Congressional Budget Process
Congressional Research Service · 2008-08-19 · Reports · 1,062 words
Most of the laws establishing the federal government’s revenue sources are permanent and continue year after year without any additional legislative action. Congress, however, typically enacts revenue...
Budget Resolution Enforcement
Congressional Research Service · 2008-08-12 · Reports · 1,074 words
The annual budget resolution sets forth Congress’s budget plan for a period of at least five fiscal years. It includes total levels of new budget authority, outlays, revenues, the deficit, and the pub...
Overview of the Congressional Budget Process
Congressional Research Service · 2008-03-20 · Reports · 784 words
The congressional budget process, in the broadest sense, consists of the consideration and adoption of spending, revenue, and debt-limit legislation within the framework of an annual concurrent resolu...
Homeland Security Department: FY2008 Appropriations
Congressional Research Service · 2008-02-15 · Reports · 50,143 words · PDF available
This report describes the FY2008 appropriations for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The Administration requested a net appropriation of $35.5 billion in net budget authority for FY2008. The...
Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies (THUD): FY2008 Appropriations
Congressional Research Service · 2008-02-14 · Reports · 12,739 words
The FY2008 Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies appropriations bill (THUD) provides funding for the Department of Transportation (DOT), the Department of Housing and Urb...
Senate Committee Reports: Required Contents
Congressional Research Service · 2008-01-22 · Reports · 976 words
When a Senate committee reports a measure to the Senate, it usually prepares a written report that describes the purposes and provisions of the measure. Senate rules and statutes specify items that mu...
Reporting a Measure from a Senate Committee
Congressional Research Service · 2007-09-14 · Reports · 882 words
Senate rules require a majority of a committee to be physically present in order to vote to report a measure, although smaller quorums are allowed for voting on amendments and for other committee busi...
Markup in Senate Committee: Considering Amendments
Congressional Research Service · 2007-09-11 · Reports · 1,047 words
Senate rules pertaining to amending measures on the floor apply generally to a Senate committee markup as well. Within the confines of Senate rules, some committees have adopted their own rules govern...
Markup in Senate Committee: Choosing a Text
Congressional Research Service · 2007-09-10 · Reports · 810 words
Although a bill may be subsequently amended on the Senate floor, committees have the prerogative of shaping legislation before consideration by the full chamber. Shaping legislation in committee forma...
Preparation for Senate Committee Markup
Congressional Research Service · 2007-08-30 · Reports · 919 words
Markup is the legislative stage during which a committee chooses the language of a measure it expects to report to the Senate. Markups are carefully planned in advance to insure that the requirements ...
Consideration of the Budget Resolution
Congressional Research Service · 2007-05-01 · Reports · 993 words
Consideration of a concurrent budget resolution is governed by special procedures in the House and Senate. Although the procedures of each chamber differ, they serve generally to expedite consideratio...
Formulation and Content of the Budget Resolution
Congressional Research Service · 2007-05-01 · Reports · 920 words
The Congressional Budget Act of 1974 (Titles I-IX of P.L. 93-344, 88 Stat. 297-332) established the concurrent budget resolution as the centerpiece of the congressional budget process. The annual budg...
How Special Rules Regulate Calling up Measures for Consideration in the House
Congressional Research Service · 2005-12-05 · Reports · 944 words
A special rule is a House resolution that regulates consideration of a specific legislative measure named in the resolution. Members and staff commonly refer to a resolution of this kind simply as “th...
Floor Consideration of Conference Reports in the House
Congressional Research Service · 2004-11-05 · Reports · 985 words
When a committee of conference approves its report, the next step in the legislative process is for the report, along with a joint explanatory statement of the managers, to be presented to the House a...