Policy Library

7,020 documents

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...
Lessons for the next India-Pakistan war
Brookings Institution · 2025-05-14 · Article · 2,139 words
India and Pakistan will seek to quickly learn lessons from this conflict for future procurements and operational plans.
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...
Can the US and Taiwan advance a shared vision?
Brookings Institution · 2025-05-12 · Article · 1,646 words
If ever there was a moment that called for the U.S. and Taiwan to advance a shared vision, this would be it.
What does the US-UK deal mean for Trump's trade agenda?
Brookings Institution · 2025-05-12 · Article · 1,237 words · PDF available
A closer look at the U.S.-U.K. trade reveals the arrangement to be limited and selective, but mostly generates more questions.
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...
Economic Development Administration: An Overview of Programs and Appropriations (FY2011-FY2025)
Congressional Research Service · 2025-05-09 · Reports · 26,700 words · PDF available
The Economic Development Administration (EDA), a bureau of the U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC), is the only federal agency with economic development as its sole mission. The agency was established p...
Canons of Construction: A Brief Overview
Congressional Research Service · 2025-05-09 · Resources · 1,874 words · PDF available
The “canons of construction” are a set of judicial presumptions about statutory meaning. The canons are one of the traditional tools judges use to interpret statutes, along with the text’s ordinary me...
California and the Clean Air Act (CAA) Waiver: Frequently Asked Questions
Congressional Research Service · 2025-05-09 · Reports · 19,282 words · PDF available
In the Air Quality Act of 1967 (P.L. 90-148), later amended to the Clean Air Act (CAA; codified at 42 U.S.C. §§7401 et seq.), Congress preempted state governments from adopting their own air pollutant...
Year-Round Sale of E15
Congressional Research Service · 2025-05-09 · Posts · 1,024 words · PDF available
E15—a fuel blend of up to 15% ethanol and 85% gasoline—generally cannot be sold during the summer driving season (June 1 – September 15) because it does not meet the gasoline Reid Vapor Pressure (RVP)...
South Sudan
Congressional Research Service · 2025-05-09 · Resources · 1,942 words · PDF available
Peace has been elusive in South Sudan, which, with U.S. support, became the world’s newest country in 2011. The civil war that erupted there in late 2013 featured widespread sexual violence, mass kill...
U.S.-Singapore Relations
Congressional Research Service · 2025-05-09 · Resources · 1,693 words · PDF available
Overview With a land area about three times that of Washington, DC, and a population of 6 million, the city-state of Singapore has long punched above its weight diplomatically. Its stable government, ...
H.Con.Res. 14: The Budget Resolution for FY2025
Congressional Research Service · 2025-05-09 · Reports · 4,865 words · PDF available
In April 2025, the House and Senate adopted H.Con.Res. 14, a budget resolution for FY2025. The budget resolution generally represents an agreement between the House and Senate on a budgetary plan for ...
Introduction to Financial Services: The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB)
Congressional Research Service · 2025-05-09 · Resources · 1,732 words · PDF available
In 2010, through enactment of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank, P.L. 111-203), Congress established the CFPB to implement and enforce federal consumer financia...
Talking US national security with returning Senior Fellow Thomas Wright
Brookings Institution · 2025-05-08 · Article · 23,653 words · PDF available
Thomas Wright discusses his experiences serving in the Biden administration and the challenges facing the United States.
Q&A: Graduate Education Finance
Third Way · 2025-05-08 · Blog · 2,897 words
Third Way is a center-left think tank that champions modern solutions to the most challenging problems in US public policy, including the economy, climate and energy, national security, social policy,...
Cooperative Federalism and the Clean Air Act: EPA’s Good Neighbor Interstate Air Pollution Rule
The Clean Air Act (CAA) has been described as a model of cooperative federalism, whereby states share authority with the federal government by regulating within a federally established legal framework...
Economic Development Implications of Remote Work in the Post-Pandemic Environment
Congressional Research Service · 2025-05-08 · Reports · 11,192 words · PDF available
Remote work—in which an individual works for pay from a location other than a specified worksite of his or her employer, including through telework or periodic telework—was a major aspect of the COVID...
Alaska’s Active Volcanoes: Federal Role in Research, Monitoring, and Warning
Congressional Research Service · 2025-05-08 · Reports · 17,122 words · PDF available
Alaska has about 140 active volcanoes, and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) considers 86 to be threatening to people and property. Most of Alaska’s active volcanoes are stratovolcanoes, capable of ex...
U.S.-India Trade Relations
Congressional Research Service · 2025-05-08 · Resources · 1,830 words · PDF available
Trade and investment ties are a key aspect of U.S.-India relations. India is among the world’s fastest-growing major economies and presents U.S. commercial opportunities. Some commentators see potenti...
The Reorganization of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services: Selected Legal Issues
On March 27, 2025, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS, or the Department) announced a reorganization plan to consolidate several of its operating divisions and offices in accordance...
FY2025 Department of Defense Appropriations: Status of Legislative Activity
Congressional Research Service · 2025-05-08 · Posts · 1,126 words · PDF available
Congress enacted FY2025 appropriations for the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) through two short-term continuing resolutions (CRs; P.L. 118-83; P.L. 118-158) and one full-year CR (Title IV of the Ful...
Uruguay: An Overview
Congressional Research Service · 2025-05-08 · Resources · 1,659 words · PDF available
Uruguay is located on the Atlantic coast of South America between Brazil and Argentina (see Figure 1). The country stands out in Latin America for its strong democratic institutions; high per capita i...
Employment Authorization for Asylum Applicants
Congressional Research Service · 2025-05-08 · Resources · 1,504 words · PDF available
Aliens (i.e., persons who are not U.S. citizens or nationals) in the United States who are unable or unwilling to return to their country of nationality or last habitual residence due to persecution o...
FY2025 NDAA: Overview of Funding Authorizations and Related Provisions
Congressional Research Service · 2025-05-08 · Reports · 9,305 words · PDF available
The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) sets policy and authorizes appropriations for U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) activities and U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) national security programs. ...
OPM v. AFGE and Related Litigation: Supreme Court Stays Order Reinstating Federal Probationary Employees
Congressional Research Service · 2025-05-07 · Posts · 1,840 words · PDF available
On April 8, 2025, the Supreme Court in U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) v. American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) granted the government’s application to stay a preliminary injunc...
DOT’s Federal Pipeline Safety Program: Background and Issues for Congress
Congressional Research Service · 2025-05-07 · Reports · 18,275 words · PDF available
The U.S. energy pipeline network includes 3.3 million miles of onshore pipeline transporting natural gas, crude oil, and other hazardous liquids. Over the past decade, major safety incidents in Califo...
Housing Supply
Congressional Research Service · 2025-05-07 · Resources · 792 words · PDF available
Housing supply (along with housing demand) affects the affordability and availability of homes to own and rent. Many researchers suggest that the United States currently has an undersupply of homes, t...