Policy Library

7,020 documents

Made in China 2025 and Industrial Policies: Issues for Congress
Congressional Research Service · 2024-12-12 · Resources · 1,667 words · PDF available
The People’s Republic of China (PRC or China) aims to gain a global economic and technology leadership position through a range of state-led industrial and related science and technology (S&T) policie...
The Minority Business Development Agency’s Rural Business Center Program
Congressional Research Service · 2024-12-11 · Resources · 1,550 words · PDF available
According to the Department of Commerce’s Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA), there are over 544,000 minority business enterprises (MBEs) in rural parts of the United States. MBEs are defined...
Desalination: Converting Saline Water into a Municipal Water Source
Congressional Research Service · 2024-12-11 · Posts · 1,071 words · PDF available
Desalination is increasingly playing a role in U.S. municipal water supplies. Congress has funded both desalination research and municipal desalination construction projects. Additionally, desalinatio...
Argentina: Overview and U.S. Relations
Congressional Research Service · 2024-12-11 · Reports · 15,161 words · PDF available
Located on the Atlantic coast of South America, Argentina is the third-largest economy (after Brazil and Mexico) and has the fourth-largest population (after Brazil, Mexico, and Colombia) in Latin Ame...
F-35 Lightning II: Background and Issues for Congress
Congressional Research Service · 2024-12-11 · Reports · 16,984 words · PDF available
The F-35 Lightning II is a strike fighter aircraft and the Department of Defense’s (DOD’s) largest procurement program. Lockheed Martin manufactures the aircraft for the U.S. Air Force, Marine Corps, ...
Defense Primer: Congress’s Constitutional Authority with Regard to the Armed Forces
Congressional Research Service · 2024-12-11 · Resources · 1,636 words · PDF available
Article I, Section 8, Clauses 11-14 The Congress shall have power *** ; To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water. To raise and support...
Defense Primer: President’s Constitutional Authority with Regard to the Armed Forces
Congressional Research Service · 2024-12-11 · Resources · 1,755 words · PDF available
Article II, Section 2, Clause 1 The President shall be Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the Militia of the several States, when called into the actual Service of th...
A Guide to Major Congressional and Presidential Awards
Congressional Research Service · 2024-12-10 · Reports · 2,684 words · PDF available
This report is intended to help congressional offices obtain information about awards authorized by Congress and the President. It provides details about the establishment, criteria, selection process...
The Committee Markup Process in the Senate
Congressional Research Service · 2024-12-10 · Reports · 11,251 words · PDF available
One of the primary functions of committees is to assess and recommend legislation to the Senate for floor consideration. Committees accomplish this task through formal meetings, called markups, where ...
Social Security: Finances and Policy Options
Congressional Research Service · 2024-12-10 · Resources · 1,678 words · PDF available
Background Social Security is the federal government’s largest program in terms of both the number of people affected (i.e., covered workers and beneficiaries) and its finances. In 2024, the program c...
Regulation of U.S. Outbound Investment to China
Congressional Research Service · 2024-12-10 · Resources · 1,782 words · PDF available
Introduction The U.S. government has generally supported an open investment environment at home and abroad to promote U.S. economic growth, sustain the U.S. position as a premier destination for forei...
The Backlog of Requests for Aid from the Federal Highway Administration’s Emergency Relief Program
Congressional Research Service · 2024-12-10 · Reports · 6,823 words · PDF available
The Federal Highway Administration’s (FHWA’s) Emergency Relief (ER) program provides funds to states to repair disaster-damaged highways and bridges. Once FHWA determines that an emergency qualifies f...
Joint Session of Congress for Counting Electoral Votes for President
Congressional Research Service · 2024-12-10 · Reports · 12,169 words · PDF available
Every four years, the House and Senate meet in a joint session to count the votes for President and Vice President that were submitted by electors from each state and the District of Columbia (DC). Th...
Defense Primer: Legal Authorities for the Use of Military Forces
Congressional Research Service · 2024-12-10 · Resources · 1,486 words · PDF available
By the Framers’ apparent design, to keep the nation’s “purse” and the “sword” in separate hands and in other ways hinder the nation’s embroilment in unnecessary wars, the Constitution divides war powe...
Section 307 and Imports Produced by Forced Labor
Congressional Research Service · 2024-12-10 · Resources · 1,744 words · PDF available
The International Labor Organization (ILO) estimated that in 2021 on any given day 27.6 million people were forced to labor against their will globally. The products of that forced labor entered globa...
Improper Payments: Ongoing Challenges and Recent Legislative Proposals
Congressional Research Service · 2024-12-10 · Reports · 10,851 words · PDF available
Improper payments—those that should not have been made or that were made for the wrong amount—are a long-standing concern for the federal government. Since FY2004, agencies have reported $2.7 trillion...
The Freely Associated States and Issues for Congress
Congressional Research Service · 2024-12-10 · Reports · 10,125 words · PDF available
This report provides background information and issues for Congress on the Freely Associated States (FAS)—the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI), Federated States of Micronesia (FSM), and Republic...
Statistics on Women in National Governments Around the World
Congressional Research Service · 2024-12-10 · Reports · 8,795 words · PDF available
Women and girls make up half of the world’s population; however, in most countries, women are underrepresented in the political process at the national level. As this report shows, in 2024, women hold...
Terrorist Financing: Hamas and Cryptocurrency Fundraising
Congressional Research Service · 2024-12-09 · Resources · 1,617 words · PDF available
Policymakers, including some Members of Congress, are scrutinizing U.S. efforts to counter the role that cryptocurrency fundraising plays in the financing of terrorism. In November 2023, the U.S. Depa...
Congressional Court Watcher: Circuit Splits from November 2024
Congressional Research Service · 2024-12-09 · Posts · 1,912 words · PDF available
The U.S. Courts of Appeals for the thirteen “circuits” issue thousands of precedential decisions each year. Because relatively few of these decisions are ultimately reviewed by the Supreme Court, the ...
Federal Research and Development (R&D) Funding: FY2025
Congressional Research Service · 2024-12-09 · Reports · 28,211 words · PDF available
The U.S. government supports a broad range of scientific and engineering research and development (R&D). The purposes of this R&D include addressing national defense, health, safety, the environment, ...
D.C. Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium Campus Revitalization Act
Congressional Research Service · 2024-12-09 · Posts · 993 words · PDF available
The D.C. Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium Campus Revitalization Act (H.R. 4984), if enacted, would transfer administrative jurisdiction of most of the federally owned Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stad...
U.S. Anti-Personnel Landmine Use Policy
Congressional Research Service · 2024-12-09 · Resources · 1,524 words · PDF available
Current United States Policy on Anti-Personnel Landmines (APLs) On June 21, 2022, National Security Council (NSC) Spokesperson Adrienne Watson announced the United States would “align its policy conce...
The Federal Taxing Power: A Primer
Congressional Research Service · 2024-12-09 · Reports · 19,150 words · PDF available
The Taxing and Spending Clause of the U.S. Constitution provides Congress with the power to tax. The U.S. Supreme Court has interpreted Congress’s power to tax broadly, except for a few cases decided ...
Whole-of-society resilience: A new deterrence concept in Taipei
Brookings Institution · 2024-12-06 · Article · 2,751 words
The whole-of-society resilience effort is a substantial part of Taiwan’s overall approach to defense and deterrence.
Defense Primer: Defense and Intelligence Unfunded Priorities
Congressional Research Service · 2024-12-06 · Resources · 1,509 words · PDF available
Introduction By law, certain U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) officials and other executive branch agency officials are required to submit reports to Congress describing defense and intelligence-relat...
U.S.-China Competition in Emerging Technologies: LiDAR
Congressional Research Service · 2024-12-06 · Resources · 1,745 words · PDF available
The governments of the United States and the People’s Republic of China (PRC or China) have both identified strategic and emerging technologies as a key element of economic competitiveness and nationa...
Defense Primer: Defense Appropriations Process
Congressional Research Service · 2024-12-06 · Resources · 1,614 words · PDF available
The Constitution gives Congress the power of the purse in Article I, Section 9, which provides that “No money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in Consequence of Appropriations made by Law.” To fu...
Defense Primer: Concurrent Receipt of Military Retirement and VA Disability
Congressional Research Service · 2024-12-06 · Resources · 1,216 words · PDF available
Concurrent receipt refers to a veteran’s simultaneous receipt of two types of monetary benefits: military retired pay from the Department of Defense (DOD) and disability compensation from the Departme...
U.S.-Mexico-Canada (USMCA) Trade Agreement
Congressional Research Service · 2024-12-06 · Resources · 1,447 words · PDF available
Overview Congress, in both legislative and oversight capacities, may continue to be active in numerous trade policy issues related to the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), which entered i...
Defense Primer: DOD Transfer and Reprogramming Authorities
Congressional Research Service · 2024-12-06 · Resources · 1,264 words · PDF available
In provisions of the United States Code (U.S.C.) and annual authorization and appropriations acts, Congress provides the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) limited authorities to obligate funds for purp...
USMCA: Automotive Rules of Origin
Congressional Research Service · 2024-12-06 · Resources · 1,553 words · PDF available
The United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA; P.L. 116-113) entered into force on July 1, 2020, replacing the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). NAFTA was viewed as instrumental in ...
The Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 (OSH Act): A Legal Overview
Congressional Research Service · 2024-12-06 · Reports · 17,449 words · PDF available
Congress enacted the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSH Act or Act) in 1970 “to assure safe and healthful working conditions for working men and women.” The Act created the Occupational Safety an...
Defense Primer: Military Retirement
Congressional Research Service · 2024-12-06 · Resources · 1,242 words · PDF available
The military retirement system is a government-funded system that provides a defined benefit to all retirees and matching government contributions to the Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) for eligible service...
Defense Primer: Personnel Tempo (PERSTEMPO)
Congressional Research Service · 2024-12-06 · Resources · 1,459 words · PDF available
As a result of the nation’s extended involvement in contingency operations around the globe, some U.S. servicemembers have experienced prolonged, recurrent, and stressful deployments. In addition, pre...
Defense Primer: Defense Working Capital Funds
Congressional Research Service · 2024-12-06 · Resources · 1,427 words · PDF available
Since 1870, the U.S. military has operated various types of working capital funds to procure and provide materiel and commercial products and services to its forces. Codified under Title 10, Section 2...
Defense Primer: Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps
Congressional Research Service · 2024-12-06 · Resources · 1,541 words · PDF available
Background The Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (JROTC) is a federally funded program of instruction for high school-aged students administered by the armed forces. The purpose of JROTC, accord...
Defense Primer: Military Separation and Severance Pay
Congressional Research Service · 2024-12-06 · Resources · 1,587 words · PDF available
Congress has authorized separation or severance pay for involuntarily and voluntarily discharged servicemembers throughout most of the military’s history (see Table 1). The purposes for these authorit...
1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom: Fact Sheet
Congressional Research Service · 2024-12-06 · Reports · 993 words · PDF available
This fact sheet is designed to assist congressional offices with work related to the anniversary of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. It contains a brief history of the March, lists sample...
U.S.-North Korea Relations
Congressional Research Service · 2024-12-06 · Resources · 1,623 words · PDF available
Since 2016, North Korea’s advances in nuclear weapons and missile capabilities under leader Kim Jong-un have catapulted Pyongyang from a threat to U.S. interests in East Asia to a potential direct thr...
Defense Primer: DOD Domestic School System
Congressional Research Service · 2024-12-06 · Resources · 1,596 words · PDF available
The Department of Defense Education Activity (DODEA) manages federally funded school systems overseas and domestically that provide pre-kindergarten (pre-K) through grade 12 education, primarily for t...
Defense Primer: Planning, Programming, Budgeting, and Execution (PPBE) Process
Congressional Research Service · 2024-12-06 · Resources · 1,335 words · PDF available
Introduction The Planning, Programming, Budgeting, and Execution (PPBE) process is a U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) system for allocating resources among the military departments, defense agencies, ...
Exploring and improving how state water funding flows amid a surge in federal infrastructure investment
Brookings Institution · 2024-12-05 · Article · 7,395 words · PDF available
The United States’ water infrastructure—including its drinking water, wastewater, and stormwater systems—faces enormous investment gaps.
Federal Aviation Administration Oversight of Boeing
Congressional Research Service · 2024-12-05 · Resources · 1,802 words · PDF available
Commercial air travel is one of the safest forms of transportation, and fatal crashes are extremely rare. Between 2013 and 2022, U.S. air carriers flew more than 175 million cumulative flight hours an...
Syria: Conflict Resurgence
Congressional Research Service · 2024-12-05 · Posts · 1,161 words · PDF available
Two coalitions of armed groups opposed to Syrian President Bashar Al Asad (alt. Assad) have made rapid and unexpected advances since late November 2024, taking Aleppo, the country’s second largest cit...
Funding Limits on Federal Prosecutions of State-Legal Medical Marijuana
Congressional Research Service · 2024-12-05 · Posts · 2,646 words · PDF available
Federal law generally prohibits the production, distribution, and possession of marijuana for both medical and recreational purposes. In May 2024, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) proposed to...
Israel: Major Issues and U.S. Relations
Congressional Research Service · 2024-12-05 · Reports · 20,852 words · PDF available
Since October 7, 2023, Israel has been at war with the Palestinian Sunni Islamist group Hamas (a U.S.-designated foreign terrorist organization, or FTO), which led attacks on that day from the Gaza St...
Bank Holding Companies: Background and Issues for Congress
Congressional Research Service · 2024-12-05 · Reports · 17,566 words · PDF available
Companies that control banks are required to be regulated and supervised by the Federal Reserve (Fed) as bank holding companies (BHCs). The BHC structure is widely used by both small community banks w...
Budgetary Decisionmaking in Congress
Congressional Research Service · 2024-12-05 · Resources · 1,570 words · PDF available
The Congressional Budget Process The congressional budget process may be better understood as an array of legislative opportunities for affecting the federal budget rather than a linear set of events....
Artemis: NASA’s Program to Return Humans to the Moon
Congressional Research Service · 2024-12-05 · Resources · 1,524 words
Between 1969 and 1972, the Apollo program of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) landed 12 American men on the Moon and returned them safely to Earth (see Figure 1). Since then, n...