Policy Library

6,587 documents

The TAKE IT DOWN Act: A Federal Law Prohibiting the Nonconsensual Publication of Intimate Images
Congressional Research Service · 2025-05-20 · Posts · 3,163 words · PDF available
On April 28, 2025, Congress passed S. 146, the TAKE IT DOWN Act, a bill that criminalizes the nonconsensual publication of intimate images, including “digital forgeries” (i.e., deepfakes), in certain ...
The Role of the States Under the Endangered Species Act (ESA)
Congressional Research Service · 2025-05-20 · Resources · 1,882 words · PDF available
The Endangered Species Act (ESA; 16 U.S.C. §§1531-1544) aims to conserve species determined to be endangered or threatened and the ecosystems upon which those species rely. To that end, the act author...
Federal Research Security Policies: Background and Issues for Congress
Congressional Research Service · 2025-05-20 · Reports · 18,531 words · PDF available
U.S. policies governing the conduct and results of federally funded basic and applied research generally encourage openness and information sharing with domestic and international collaborators, albei...
The Army’s Robotic Combat Vehicle (RCV) Program
Congressional Research Service · 2025-05-20 · Resources · 1,616 words · PDF available
Background The RCV is being developed as part of the Army’s Next Generation Combat Vehicle (NGCV) family of vehicles. As originally planned, the Army intended to develop three RCV variants: Light, Med...
Infrastructure Investment and the Federal Government
Congressional Research Service · 2025-05-20 · Resources · 1,435 words · PDF available
The condition and performance of infrastructure are generally thought to be important for the nation’s health, welfare, and economy. More contentious are the optimal level of infrastructure investment...
District Court Rules FDA Lacks Authority to Regulate Laboratory Developed Tests
Congressional Research Service · 2025-05-19 · Posts · 2,213 words · PDF available
On March 31, 2025, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas ruled—in two consolidated cases, American Clinical Laboratory Association (ACLA) v. FDA and Association for Molecular Patho...
Supreme Court Hears Challenges to Nationwide Injunctions
Congressional Research Service · 2025-05-19 · Posts · 4,021 words · PDF available
On May 15, 2025, the Supreme Court heard oral argument in Trump v. CASA, Inc., Trump v. Washington, and Trump v. New Jersey, a trio of cases involving nationwide injunctions against the federal govern...
Temporary Judgeships: Frequently Asked Questions
Congressional Research Service · 2025-05-19 · Reports · 5,270 words · PDF available
This report provides data and analysis related to temporary judgeships authorized for the federal judiciary. A temporary judgeship is authorized by Congress to temporarily increase a court’s size by a...
Agriculture and Related Agencies: FY2025 Appropriations
Congressional Research Service · 2025-05-19 · Reports · 11,904 words · PDF available
The Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act (Agriculture appropriations) funds the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), except for the U...
Jordan: Background and U.S. Relations
Congressional Research Service · 2025-05-19 · Reports · 6,185 words · PDF available
The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan is a key U.S. partner in the Middle East, and the two countries have cooperated on a number of regional and international issues. Jordan remains at peace with Israel an...
Domestic Preference Statutes: The Berry Amendment and the Kissell Amendment
Congressional Research Service · 2025-05-19 · Resources · 1,464 words · PDF available
Two laws—commonly referred to as the Berry and Kissell Amendments—require that certain products purchased by the Department of Defense (DOD) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) be produced w...
Alien Registration Requirements
Congressional Research Service · 2025-05-19 · Resources · 1,756 words · PDF available
Section 262 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) requires most aliens (i.e., non-U.S. citizens or nationals) who are age 14 and older and present in the United States for 30 days or more to ap...
Stablecoin Legislation: An Overview of S. 919, GENIUS Act of 2025
Congressional Research Service · 2025-05-19 · Posts · 1,016 words · PDF available
On March 18, the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee reported S. 919, the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins Act of 2025, or GENIUS Act. The bill would e...
Recent Executive Actions Related to Gain-of-Function Research and Laboratory Biosafety
Congressional Research Service · 2025-05-19 · Posts · 973 words · PDF available
In the United States, oversight of the life sciences, in particular laboratory biosafety and biosecurity, is exercised pursuant to a mixture of federal law, federal guidance, and self-governance, depe...
Oversight and Enforcement of the Animal Welfare Act
Congressional Research Service · 2025-05-19 · Resources · 1,605 words · PDF available
Background Federal oversight of animal welfare includes inspections, licensing, and enforcement actions to ensure compliance with the Animal Welfare Act (AWA; 7 U.S.C. §§2131-2159) provisions and asso...
Finding Medical Device and Drug Approval Information Through the Food and Drug Administration Databases
Congressional Research Service · 2025-05-19 · Reports · 4,669 words · PDF available
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) maintains a variety of publicly available databases containing information vital to the agency’s regulatory oversight of the medical device and pharmaceutic...
The Development of Federal Recommendations and Regulations for Fluoride in Drinking Water
Congressional Research Service · 2025-05-16 · Reports · 22,284 words · PDF available
Fluoride is a naturally occurring mineral present at some level in virtually all water. Fluoridation is the process of adding fluoride to a water supply. Since 1962, federal agencies have recommended ...
Universities and Indirect Costs for Federally Funded Research
Congressional Research Service · 2025-05-16 · Reports · 8,567 words · PDF available
The federal government is the largest source of academic research and development (R&D) funding in the United States, providing funds through more than two dozen federal agencies. U.S. colleges and un...
U.S. Interest in Seabed Mining in Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction: Brief Background and Recent Developments
Congressional Research Service · 2025-05-16 · Resources · 1,803 words · PDF available
In 1980, Congress passed the Deep Seabed Hard Mineral Resources Act (DSHMRA; 30 U.S.C. §1401 et seq.) as an interim measure to allow the United States to proceed with seabed mining activities in areas...
The War and Humanitarian Crisis in Sudan
Congressional Research Service · 2025-05-16 · Resources · 1,931 words · PDF available
The conflict in Sudan that began in 2023 between rival elements of its security forces has fueled the world’s largest humanitarian crisis. More than 15 million people are displaced, including over 11 ...
Case Studies of How Generative Artificial Intelligence is Changing Work
Congressional Research Service · 2025-05-16 · Posts · 732 words · PDF available
Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) is a new technology that can generate new code, text, images, and other content based on machine learning systems and can be trained using large quantities o...
Title X Family Planning Program
Congressional Research Service · 2025-05-16 · Resources · 1,669 words · PDF available
Introduction The Title X Family Planning Program (Title X) was enacted in 1970 as Title X of the Public Health Service Act (PHSA, codified at 42 U.S.C. §§300 to 300a-6). Title X provides grants to pu...
Homeownership
Congressional Research Service · 2025-05-15 · Resources · 839 words · PDF available
Over the past several years, notable increases in house prices and mortgage interest rates have heightened congressional interest in homeownership affordability, especially for certain groups such as ...
The Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC)
Congressional Research Service · 2025-05-15 · Reports · 7,267 words · PDF available
The Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) has served as a mandatory funding mechanism for agricultural programs since 1933. The CCC Charter Act enables the CCC to broadly support the U.S. agriculture ind...
Energy and Water Development: FY2025 Appropriations
Congressional Research Service · 2025-05-15 · Reports · 21,975 words · PDF available
The Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies appropriations (E&W) bill funds civil works activities of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) in the Department of Defense; the Department of...
Surface Transportation Devolution: Shifting Responsibility to States and Localities
Congressional Research Service · 2025-05-15 · Reports · 8,405 words · PDF available
Surface transportation “devolution” refers to shifting most current federal responsibility for building and maintaining highways and public transportation systems from the federal government to states...
Hypersonic Missile Defense: Issues for Congress
Congressional Research Service · 2025-05-15 · Resources · 1,463 words · PDF available
The Missile Defense Agency (MDA) and Space Development Agency (SDA) are currently developing elements of a missile defense system that may be able to defend against hypersonic weapons and other emergi...
Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies (THUD) Appropriations for FY2025
Congressional Research Service · 2025-05-15 · Reports · 10,320 words · PDF available
The House and the Senate Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies (THUD) Appropriations Subcommittees are charged with providing annual appropriations for the U.S. Departmen...
State Service Data for the Adult Activities Program Under the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act
Congressional Research Service · 2025-05-15 · Reports · 4,977 words · PDF available
The Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act of 2014 (WIOA; P.L. 113-128) is the primary federal workforce development statute. The Adult Activities program under Title I of WIOA (WIOA-AA) is a formul...
Burkina Faso: Conflict and Military Rule
Congressional Research Service · 2025-05-15 · Resources · 1,735 words · PDF available
Burkina Faso has been under military rule since 2022, part of a wave of coups in the Sahel and West Africa. The military’s seizure of power put an end to Burkina Faso’s brief tenure as an emerging dem...
The Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant (JAG) Program
Congressional Research Service · 2025-05-14 · Infographics · 523 words · PDF available
/ The Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant (JAG) Program The Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant (JAG) program is a Department of Justice (DOJ) formula grant program. The JAG prog...
Medicaid: Selected Resources for National, State, and Local Enrollment Data
Congressional Research Service · 2025-05-14 · Reports · 4,045 words · PDF available
This report serves as a guide to selected federal and nonfederal sources for statistics on Medicaid enrollment and enrollee characteristics. It is intended to assist decisionmakers considering Medicai...
Permanent Normal Trade Relations and U.S.-China Tariffs
Congressional Research Service · 2025-05-14 · Resources · 1,940 words · PDF available
The 119th Congress is considering legislation that would revoke the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC or China) permanent normal trade relations (PNTR) status. Most-favored nation (MFN) status is a ke...
The End of the Affordable Connectivity Program: Options for Consumers and Congress
Congressional Research Service · 2025-05-13 · Resources · 1,430 words · PDF available
The Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC’s) Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) was established in 2021 by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (P.L. 117-58) during the COVID-19 pandemic. ...
India-Pakistan Conflict in Spring 2025
Congressional Research Service · 2025-05-13 · Resources · 1,632 words · PDF available
India and Pakistan in early May 2025, engaged in the worst fighting between the two nuclear powers in decades. The crisis was sparked by the deadliest militant attack in Kashmir since 2019 and the gov...
Advanced Wireless Services (AWS-3) Spectrum: Issues for Congress
Congressional Research Service · 2025-05-13 · Reports · 11,377 words · PDF available
Radio spectrum is the foundation of wireless communications. It refers to the range of frequencies used to transmit and receive radio signals that carry voice and data communications from one location...
Army Security Force Assistance Brigades (SFABs)
Congressional Research Service · 2025-05-13 · Resources · 1,342 words · PDF available
What Is Security Force Assistance (SFA)? Security Force Assistance (SFA) is defined as “unified action to generate, employ, and sustain local, host-nation, or regional security forces in support of a ...
Management of Sleep and Fatigue in Military Aviation
Congressional Research Service · 2025-05-13 · Resources · 1,464 words · PDF available
Over the past decade, Congress has expressed interest in the effects of sleep deprivation on servicemember health and military readiness, as well as its impact on military aviation safety. Aviators in...
Resources for Tracking Federal COVID19 Spending
Congressional Research Service · 2025-05-13 · Reports · 3,613 words · PDF available
Congress has responded to the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic with supplemental appropriations measures providing relief and assistance to individuals and families, state and local govern...
Stepping In: The FCC’s Authority to Preempt State Laws Under the Communications Act
Congressional Research Service · 2025-05-12 · Reports · 20,533 words · PDF available
The line between federal and state authority plays a central role in modern communications law. Rather than fully displacing state law, the Communications Act of 1934 (Communications Act) sets up a du...
Recreation.gov: Overview and Issues for Congress
Congressional Research Service · 2025-05-12 · Resources · 1,492 words · PDF available
For many people looking to experience the country’s federal lands and waters, their trip begins with a visit to Recreation.gov. Recreation.gov is a cloud-based website that offers federal recreation i...
International Trade Agreements and U.S. Tariff Laws
Congressional Research Service · 2025-05-12 · Resources · 1,841 words · PDF available
The United States is a party to several trade agreements that obligate member countries not to impose or increase certain tariffs and other trade barriers, with some exceptions. Recent U.S. tariff act...
House Oversight and Government Reform (HOGR) Reconciliation Committee Print Pursuant to H.Con.Res. 14
Congressional Research Service · 2025-05-12 · Resources · 1,786 words · PDF available
On April 30, 2025, HOGR held a markup in response to the reconciliation directives included in H.Con.Res. 14, the Concurrent Resolution on the Budget for FY2025. Specifically, Section 2001(a)(9) of H....
Congressional Review of U.S. Membership in the WTO
Congressional Research Service · 2025-05-12 · Resources · 1,825 words · PDF available
The United States was a key architect of the multilateral trading system, as a founding member of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) in 1947 and its successor, the World Trade Organizat...
Comparing DHS Component Funding, FY2025: In Brief
Congressional Research Service · 2025-05-12 · Reports · 4,164 words · PDF available
The Department of Homeland Security appropriations bill includes all annual appropriations for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), providing resources to every departmental component. The Table...
Federal Election Commission: Membership and Policymaking Quorum, In Brief
Congressional Research Service · 2025-05-12 · Reports · 4,975 words · PDF available
The Federal Election Commission (FEC) is the nation’s civil campaign finance regulator. The agency ensures that campaign fundraising and spending is publicly reported; that those covered by the Federa...
Geofence Warrants and the Fourth Amendment
Congressional Research Service · 2025-05-09 · Posts · 2,919 words · PDF available
Introduction From thermal imaging and wiretaps to GPS tracking and various forms of electronic eavesdropping, the emergence of new technologies and their investigative use have sometimes created legal...
Social Security Administration (SSA): FY2025 Annual Limitation on Administrative Expenses (LAE) Appropriation: In Brief
Congressional Research Service · 2025-05-09 · Reports · 2,820 words
The Social Security Administration (SSA) is responsible for administering Social Security and Supplemental Security Income (SSI), which are the nation’s primary income support programs for older adult...
Federal Legislative History: A Research Guide for Congressional Staff
Congressional Research Service · 2025-05-09 · Reports · 4,655 words · PDF available
This report provides an overview of federal legislative history research, the legislative process, and where to find congressional documents. The report also summarizes some of the reasons researchers...
Trump Administration Actions: Geographic Naming
Congressional Research Service · 2025-05-09 · Resources · 1,721 words · PDF available
On January 20, 2025, President Trump signed Executive Order (E.O.) 14172, “Restoring Names That Honor American Greatness,” to change the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America, reinstate th...