Policy Library

7,020 documents

Commemorative Coins: Background, Legislative Process, and Issues for Congress
Congressional Research Service · 2025-03-11 · Reports · 13,798 words · PDF available
Commemorative coins are produced by the U.S. Mint pursuant to an act of Congress and are often proposed by Members of Congress as part of their representational duties. These coins are legal tender th...
Extreme Heat and Climate Change
Congressional Research Service · 2025-03-11 · Resources · 1,103 words · PDF available
Scientific consensus supports a causal relationship between increasing global temperatures and the incidence of extreme heat. Extreme heat can have a range of serious consequences, with record-breakin...
U.S. Satellite Capabilities for Tracking the Wildfire Life Cycle
Congressional Research Service · 2025-03-11 · Resources · 1,665 words · PDF available
Satellite capabilities support virtually every aspect of the wildfire life cycle: characterizing the prefire environment (e.g., seasonal climate predictions, vegetation structure); detecting and monit...
Railroad Retirement Board: Retirement, Survivor, Disability, Unemployment, and Sickness Benefits
Congressional Research Service · 2025-03-11 · Reports · 7,442 words · PDF available
The Railroad Retirement Board (RRB), an independent federal agency, administers retirement, survivor, disability, unemployment, and sickness insurance for railroad workers and their families. During F...
Solomon Islands
Congressional Research Service · 2025-03-11 · Resources · 1,541 words · PDF available
Solomon Islands (colloquially, the Solomons) is a Pacific Islands Country (PIC) in the Melanesian sub-region roughly 2,000 miles northeast of Australia. Solomon Islands is a heterogenous society, with...
HEA Title IV Student Aid Program Enforcement Actions
Congressional Research Service · 2025-03-11 · Resources · 1,461 words · PDF available
Financial assistance provided under Title IV of the Higher Education Act (HEA) is the largest source of federal aid to assist students in obtaining a postsecondary education. Students may use Title IV...
Status of U.S. Offshore Wind Leasing and Permitting: President Trump’s January 2025 Wind Leasing Memorandum
Congressional Research Service · 2025-03-11 · Posts · 1,132 words · PDF available
On January 20, 2025, President Trump issued the memorandum “Temporary Withdrawal of All Areas on the Outer Continental Shelf from Offshore Wind Leasing and Review of the Federal Government’s Leasing a...
U.S. Democracy and Human Rights Assistance: Recent Administration Actions
Congressional Research Service · 2025-03-11 · Posts · 1,349 words · PDF available
On January 20, 2025, President Trump issued an executive order imposing a 90-day “pause” on nearly all U.S. foreign assistance. Secretary of State Marco Rubio later announced a pause and review of De...
Taiwan’s Role in Global Semiconductor Supply Chains
Congressional Research Service · 2025-03-11 · Infographics · 588 words · PDF available
/ Information as of March 11, 2025. Prepared by Karen Sutter, Specialist in Asian Trade and Finance; Cassandra Higgins, Geospatial Information Systems Analyst; and Juan Pablo Madrid, Visual Informati...
Housing Cost Burdens in 2023: In Brief
Congressional Research Service · 2025-03-11 · Reports · 2,361 words · PDF available
This report uses the 2023 American Community Survey to quantify the prevalence of housing cost burden in the U.S. in 2023. The report describes differences in housing cost burden rates among renters a...
The International Monetary Fund
Congressional Research Service · 2025-03-11 · Resources · 1,553 words · PDF available
The International Monetary Fund (IMF, the Fund) is an international organization that works to ensure the stability of the international monetary system. Founded in 1945, its membership has grown from...
House Rules Changes Affecting Floor Proceedings in the 119th Congress (2025-2026)
Congressional Research Service · 2025-03-11 · Reports · 4,371 words · PDF available
As agreed to in the House, H.Res. 5, adopting the rules of the House of Representatives for the 119th Congress (2025-2026), provided amendments to the standing rules that affect floor proceedings. In ...
Commemorative Coins: An Overview
Congressional Research Service · 2025-03-11 · Resources · 1,343 words · PDF available
Commemorative coins are produced by the U.S. Mint pursuant to an act of Congress. These coins celebrate and honor American people, places, events, and institutions. Although they are considered legal ...
Railroad Retirement Board: Retirement, Survivor, Disability, Unemployment, and Sickness Benefits
Congressional Research Service · 2025-03-11 · Resources · 1,529 words · PDF available
Introduction The Railroad Retirement Board (RRB) administers retirement, survivor, disability, unemployment, and sickness benefits for railroad workers and their families under the provisions of the R...
The State of U.S. Shipbuilding
Congressional Research Service · 2025-03-11 · Testimony · 19,019 words · PDF available
Navy, DOD, defense, shipbuilding, acquisition, procurement, industrial base, shipyards, suppliers, inflation
Using Data to Reduce Improper Payments: An Overview of the Do Not Pay Initiative
Congressional Research Service · 2025-03-10 · Resources · 1,635 words · PDF available
Payment integrity—ensuring that payments issued by federal agencies are accurate and proper—is a central concern in the stewardship of taxpayers’ dollars. The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) ide...
Federal Capital Punishment: Recent Executive Action
Congressional Research Service · 2025-03-10 · Posts · 1,151 words · PDF available
On January 20, 2025, President Trump issued an executive order addressing pursuit of the death penalty as a sentencing possibility in federal capital cases. Attorney General Pamela Bondi released a me...
Introduction to the Legislative Process in the U.S. Congress
Congressional Research Service · 2025-03-10 · Reports · 7,848 words · PDF available
A bill (or other item of business) may travel through a series of steps in the legislative process—from introduction to committee and floor consideration to possible presidential consideration. Howeve...
The 10-20-30 Provision: Defining Persistent Poverty Counties
Congressional Research Service · 2025-03-10 · Reports · 11,947 words · PDF available
Research has suggested that areas with a poverty rate 20% or greater experience more acute systemic problems than do lower-poverty areas. The poverty rate is the percentage of the population that is b...
Global Pandemics: Gain-of-Function Research of Concern
Congressional Research Service · 2025-03-10 · Resources · 1,622 words · PDF available
Gain-of-function (GOF) research is a broad area of scientific inquiry that examines how and why an organism gains a new property or an existing property is altered. The terms gain of function and loss...
Selected Potential Considerations with Respect to Marine Carbon Dioxide Removal: In Brief
Congressional Research Service · 2025-03-10 · Reports · 6,925 words · PDF available
Congressional and external stakeholders have shown increased interest in carbon dioxide removal (CDR) approaches to mitigate rising atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations. Marine CDR (mCDR, a...
Designating Cartels and Other Criminal Organizations as Foreign Terrorists: Recent Developments
Congressional Research Service · 2025-03-10 · Posts · 1,156 words · PDF available
In furtherance of President Donald Trump’s executive order (E.O.) Designating Cartels and Other Organizations as Foreign Terrorist Organizations and Specially Designated Global Terrorists (E.O. 14157 ...
Noncitizen Eligibility for Medicaid and CHIP
Congressional Research Service · 2025-03-10 · Resources · 1,620 words · PDF available
Medicaid and the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) provide a health care safety net for low-income populations. Noncitizen (i.e., alien in immigration law) eligibility for these program...
The Federal Employees’ Compensation Act (FECA): Workers’ Compensation for Federal Employees
Congressional Research Service · 2025-03-10 · Reports · 10,386 words · PDF available
The Federal Employees’ Compensation Act (FECA) is the workers’ compensation program for federal employees. Like all workers’ compensation programs, FECA pays disability, survivors, and medical benefit...
The Government’s Broad Power to Terminate Procurement Contracts
Congressional Research Service · 2025-03-07 · Posts · 2,071 words · PDF available
The scope and limits of the federal government’s power to terminate procurement contracts is a topic of recurring interest to Congress, federal contracting officers, and federal contractors. As discus...
Plastic Pollution and Policy Considerations: Frequently Asked Questions
Congressional Research Service · 2025-03-07 · Reports · 23,496 words · PDF available
Global and domestic plastic production has increased substantially since the mid-20th century—doubling in the last two decades. The durability, moldability, and versatility of plastic have led to its ...
H-1B, H-2A, and H-2B Temporary Worker Programs: Resources for Data and Statistics
Congressional Research Service · 2025-03-07 · Reports · 5,312 words · PDF available
This report provides a high-level overview of the processes through which employers can hire H-1B, H-2A, and H-2B workers and describes data available from the federal agencies involved in these proce...
Afghanistan: Background and U.S. Policy In Brief
Congressional Research Service · 2025-03-07 · Reports · 7,941 words · PDF available
Afghanistan under the Taliban, the Sunni Islamist group that retook power in 2021 as the United States ended its 20-year military and development mission in Afghanistan, remains one of the world’s poo...
Northern Ireland: The Peace Process, Ongoing Challenges, and U.S. Interests
Congressional Research Service · 2025-03-07 · Reports · 19,392 words · PDF available
Between 1969 and 1999, roughly 3,500 people died as a result of political violence in Northern Ireland, which is one of four component “nations” of the United Kingdom (UK). The conflict, often referre...
The Debt Limit
Congressional Research Service · 2025-03-07 · Resources · 1,554 words · PDF available
Overview The debt limit places a statutory constraint on the amount of money that Treasury may borrow to fund federal operations. The debt limit was reinstated on January 2, 2025, at $36.1 trillion, t...
The National Directory of New Hires: An Overview
Congressional Research Service · 2025-03-07 · Reports · 11,223 words · PDF available
The National Directory of New Hires (NDNH) is a database (part of the Federal Parent Locator Service [FPLS]) that contains personal and financial data on nearly every working American, as well as thos...
China and Russia’s strategic relationship amid a shifting geopolitical landscape
Brookings Institution · 2025-03-06 · Article · 8,346 words
Aslı Aydıntaşbaş, Angela Stent, Tara Varma, Ali Wyne, and Patricia Kim discuss the U.S.-China-Russia relationship.
Should China have a role in ending the war in Ukraine?
Brookings Institution · 2025-03-06 · Article · 11,140 words · PDF available
To explore China’s role in Ukraine, the Global China project convened six Brookings experts with a range of backgrounds and areas of expertise.
Congressional Commissions: Overview and Considerations for Congress
Congressional Research Service · 2025-03-06 · Reports · 9,320 words · PDF available
Congressional commissions are formal groups established to provide independent advice, recommend changes in public policy, study or investigate a particular problem or event, or commemorate an individ...
The Reconciliation Process: Frequently Asked Questions
Congressional Research Service · 2025-03-06 · Reports · 7,541 words · PDF available
When Congress adopts a budget resolution, it establishes budgetary goals for the years covered in the resolution. In some cases, it is necessary to change existing revenue, direct spending, or debt-li...
U.S.-South Africa Relations: Tensions Rise
Congressional Research Service · 2025-03-06 · Posts · 1,060 words · PDF available
On February 7, 2025, President Donald Trump issued Executive Order (EO) 14204, which stated that the South African government “has taken aggressive positions towards the United States and its allies” ...
Small Business Administration’s Continuity of Pandemic Program Oversight
Congressional Research Service · 2025-03-06 · Posts · 810 words · PDF available
Since the implementation of COVID-19 pandemic relief programs, Congress has expressed interest in the oversight of these programs. Oversight has been conducted by both the Small Business Administratio...
Firearms: Frequently Asked Questions
Congressional Research Service · 2025-03-06 · Reports · 9,499 words · PDF available
There is considerable congressional interest in firearms and federal firearms policy. In the 118th Congress, for example, legislators proposed hundreds of bills with provisions affecting firearms poli...
The fentanyl crisis: From naloxone to tariffs
Brookings Institution · 2025-03-05 · Article · 19,987 words · PDF available
In addition to having significant implications for public health and the economy, the fentanyl crisis intersects in many ways with U.S. foreign policy.
Federal Assistance for State and Local Entrepreneurship Development Policies and Recent Legislation
Congressional Research Service · 2025-03-05 · Resources · 1,590 words · PDF available
Entrepreneurship is often considered an engine of economic growth. Congress has authorized over 10 federal agencies to administer a number of programs to address common challenges faced by entrepreneu...
Critical Minerals and Materials for Selected Energy Technologies
Congressional Research Service · 2025-03-05 · Reports · 9,543 words · PDF available
Partly in response to rising global temperatures, some domestic and international policymakers have pursued alternative energy sources as a substitute for or supplement to fossil fuel energy sources. ...
U.S. Circuit Court Vacancies at the Beginning of New Presidencies: Historical Overview and Analysis
Congressional Research Service · 2025-03-05 · Posts · 1,034 words · PDF available
This Insight provides a historical overview and analysis of U.S. circuit court vacancies that existed at the beginning of each new presidency since 1993. This period includes the first year of the Cli...
Muslim Holidays: Fact Sheet
Congressional Research Service · 2025-03-05 · Reports · 2,086 words · PDF available
Islam is one of the three major Abrahamic faiths, alongside Judaism and Christianity. According to the 2020 U.S. Religion Census, the number of followers of Islam in the United States has risen to 4.5...
Debt Limit Policy Questions: What Are Extraordinary Measures?
Congressional Research Service · 2025-03-05 · Posts · 1,084 words · PDF available
Following a suspension period established by the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023 (P.L. 118-5), the statutory debt limit was reinstated on January 2, 2025, at $36.1 trillion, the precise level of fed...
The Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS): Primer and Issues for Congress
Congressional Research Service · 2025-03-05 · Reports · 8,952 words · PDF available
Emergency alerting is critical to emergency response. Effective dissemination of emergency alerting communications at all stages of an emergency can increase the likelihood that people take protective...
Firearms and Ammunition Excise Tax (FAET)
Congressional Research Service · 2025-03-05 · Resources · 1,483 words · PDF available
The federal government first imposed excise taxes on firearms and ammunition over 100 years ago. Today, Section 4181 of the Internal Revenue Code imposes an excise tax at 10% of the manufacturer’s pri...
Why a ceasefire holds little appeal for Zelenskyy
Brookings Institution · 2025-03-04 · Article · 768 words
Zelenskyy has good reasons for being wary of a ceasefire, but Trump and Vance allowed him no opportunity to explain.
China-Philippines Tensions in the South China Sea
Congressional Research Service · 2025-03-04 · Resources · 1,628 words · PDF available
Overview In 2023 and 2024, the People’s Republic of China (PRC, or China) increased pressure on the Philippines to abandon one of its nine outposts in the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea (SCS) ...
Selected Issues in Tax Reform: Itemized Deductions
Congressional Research Service · 2025-03-04 · Posts · 1,100 words · PDF available
P.L. 115-97, commonly known as the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), modified the treatment of various itemized deductions through the end of 2025. This Insight provides information on itemized deductions...
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA): Organization Overview and Issues for Congress
Congressional Research Service · 2025-03-04 · Reports · 13,302 words · PDF available
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), an agency within the Department of Commerce (DOC), is the principal federal agency tasked with understanding and predicting changes in clima...