Policy Library

6,587 documents

Supreme Court Term October 2023: A Review of Selected Major Rulings
Congressional Research Service · 2024-09-13 · Reports · 25,934 words · PDF available
The Supreme Court issued a number of opinions of interest to Congress in the term that began on October 2, 2023. Over the course of the term, the Court decided cases addressing high-profile issues inc...
Turkey (Türkiye)-U.S. Relations: Timeline and Brief Historical Context
Congressional Research Service · 2024-09-13 · Resources · 1,322 words · PDF available
This timeline tracks major developments from the beginning of close U.S.-Turkey (Türkiye) ties after World War II to the present. The information provides context for lawmakers assessing the tenor and...
Commercial Real Estate and the Banking Sector
Congressional Research Service · 2024-09-12 · Reports · 8,341 words · PDF available
Relatively high interest rates and increased telework opportunities have had significant effects on the commercial real estate (CRE) sector, specifically office buildings. High inflation in the years ...
Sports Gambling and Consumer Finance
Congressional Research Service · 2024-09-12 · Resources · 1,619 words · PDF available
Sports gambling is a common form of gambling where bettors wager on the results of athletic events. Before 2018, sports gambling was illegal in most states. In 2018, the Supreme Court held in Murphy v...
Components of Federal Criminal Law
Congressional Research Service · 2024-09-12 · Reports · 40,279 words · PDF available
Congress has enacted many federal criminal laws covering topics as diverse as drug trafficking, immigration, assault, computer hacking, bribery, and wildlife trafficking, among others. Congress’s cont...
Alcohol Excise Taxes: An Overview
Congressional Research Service · 2024-09-12 · Reports · 14,335 words · PDF available
The federal excise tax on alcoholic beverages is imposed at the manufacturer and importer level, based on the per unit production or importation of alcoholic beverages (e.g., distilled spirits, wine, ...
DOL Final Rule Addressing H-2A Worker Protections and Pending Litigation
Congressional Research Service · 2024-09-12 · Posts · 2,351 words · PDF available
On April 29, 2024, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) published the final rule “Improving Protections for Workers in Temporary Agricultural Employment in the United States” (the “Farmworker Protection...
Equal Protection and Race- or Sex-Conscious Government Action: Case Developments
Congressional Research Service · 2024-09-12 · Posts · 3,304 words · PDF available
A number of federal lawsuits have alleged that certain race- or sex-conscious federal programs are unconstitutional on equal protection grounds. Challenged programs include COVID-19 relief programs, a...
Analyzing Constitutionality Under the First Amendment's Free Speech Clause
Congressional Research Service · 2024-09-12 · Infographics · 426 words · PDF available
/ Information as of September 12, 2024. Prepared by Victoria L. Killion, Legislative Attorney, and Jamie L. Bush, Visual Information Specialist. For more information, see CRS Report R47986, Freedom of...
Moody v. NetChoice, LLC: The Supreme Court Addresses Facial Challenges to State Social Media Laws
Congressional Research Service · 2024-09-11 · Posts · 2,730 words · PDF available
On July 1, 2024, the Supreme Court vacated the judgments in two consolidated First Amendment challenges to state laws that regulate certain online platforms’ moderation of user-posted content and rema...
U.S. Counterspace Capabilities
Congressional Research Service · 2024-09-11 · Posts · 1,086 words · PDF available
What Is Counterspace? Counterspace operations can be either offensive or defensive. Offensive counterspace operations aim to deceive an adversary, disrupt the use of a space system (such as a satellit...
Klamath River Dam Removal and Restoration
Congressional Research Service · 2024-09-11 · Resources · 1,496 words · PDF available
The Klamath River Basin (Figure 1)—a 12,000 square mile area on the California-Oregon border—is a focal point for discussions on water allocation and species protection. These issues have generated co...
The United Nations System: Frequently Asked Questions
Congressional Research Service · 2024-09-10 · Reports · 11,816 words · PDF available
The United Nations (UN) system is a group of interconnected entities that includes the United Nations itself, UN specialized agencies, UN peacekeeping operations, UN funds and programs, and other rela...
Joint Employment and the National Labor Relations Act
Congressional Research Service · 2024-09-10 · Reports · 5,158 words · PDF available
The National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) recognizes the right of most private sector employees to engage in collective bargaining through their chosen representatives. By “encouraging the practice and ...
Post-9/11 GI Bill Transferability: Frequently Asked Questions
Congressional Research Service · 2024-09-10 · Reports · 5,263 words · PDF available
Congress determined that because military service in Iraq and Afghanistan following September 11, 2001, was particularly challenging, servicemembers from that era deserved a veterans educational assis...
The HIPAA Privacy Rule: Overview and Issues
Congressional Research Service · 2024-09-10 · Resources · 1,756 words · PDF available
The final HIPAA Privacy Rule (the Rule) was first issued in December 2000, and a final modified rule was issued in August of 2002, pursuant to authority in the Health Insurance Portability and Account...
Regulating Contaminants Under the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA)
Congressional Research Service · 2024-09-10 · Reports · 13,693 words · PDF available
Detections of contaminants in public water supplies in numerous states have raised questions about drinking water quality and have increased congressional interest in the Environmental Protection Agen...
Iraq: Attacks and U.S. Strikes Reopen Discussion of U.S. Military Presence
Congressional Research Service · 2024-09-10 · Posts · 1,031 words · PDF available
After a months-long pause (Figure 1), recurrent attacks on facilities in Iraq hosting U.S. personnel and U.S. defensive measures could affect U.S.-Iraqi talks on the future of U.S. forces in Iraq. Ira...
The FY2025 President’s Budget in Historical Context
Congressional Research Service · 2024-09-10 · Posts · 1,391 words · PDF available
On March 11, 2024, the Biden Administration submitted its budget for FY2025, which proposes increased federal revenues, continued growth in mandatory outlays, and decreased discretionary outlays relat...
Macroeconomic Theory for Policymakers: An Illustrated Guide
Congressional Research Service · 2024-09-10 · Reports · 2,462 words · PDF available
This report serves as a visual guide to macroeconomic theory, and includes graphics related to economic growth, aggregate supply and aggregate demand, fiscal policy, monetary policy, the dollar, excha...
Election Worker Safety and Privacy
Congressional Research Service · 2024-09-09 · Posts · 1,078 words · PDF available
Concerns about election workers’ safety and privacy have been reported in surveys, news articles, and congressional hearings from the 2020 elections through the current election cycle. Those concerns,...
The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) Exemption for Executive, Administrative, and Professional (EAP) Employees
Congressional Research Service · 2024-09-09 · Resources · 1,706 words · PDF available
The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) establishes a federal minimum wage for most private and public sector employees and generally requires overtime compensation at a rate of one and one-half times an ...
Medicare Coverage of GLP-1 Drugs
Congressional Research Service · 2024-09-09 · Resources · 1,650 words · PDF available
Glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonists, marketed under brand names such as Wegovy and Ozempic, are a class of medications used primarily in the treatment of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM)....
Home Energy Rebates from the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, P.L. 117-169: Frequently Asked Questions
Congressional Research Service · 2024-09-09 · Reports · 1,556 words · PDF available
P.L. 117-169, commonly known as the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (IRA), appropriated $9 billion for residential energy efficiency and electrification financial assistance programs. These include tw...
Congressional Court Watcher: Circuit Splits from August 2024
Congressional Research Service · 2024-09-06 · Posts · 2,123 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 ...
Johnson v. National Collegiate Athletic Association: Third Circuit Allows College Athletes’ Claim for Wages to Move Forward
Congressional Research Service · 2024-09-06 · Posts · 1,715 words · PDF available
In Johnson v. National Collegiate Athletic Association, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit (Third Circuit) considered whether college athletes can be barred as a matter of law from assert...
Houthi Attacks in the Red Sea: Issues for Congress
Congressional Research Service · 2024-09-06 · Posts · 1,329 words · PDF available
Since the October 7, 2023, Hamas attacks and Israel’s military response in Gaza, the Ansar Allah/Houthi movement, an Iran-backed force in Yemen, has targeted (Figure 1) Israeli territory and commercia...
Department of Labor’s 2024 Independent Contractor Rule
Congressional Research Service · 2024-09-05 · Posts · 2,587 words · PDF available
On January 10, 2024, the Department of Labor (DOL) issued a rule that identifies criteria for how it classifies whether a worker is an employee or independent contractor for purposes of the Fair Labor...
Unaccompanied Alien Children: An Overview
Congressional Research Service · 2024-09-05 · Reports · 31,105 words · PDF available
The number of unaccompanied alien children (UAC, unaccompanied children) apprehended at the Southwest border between U.S. ports of entry while attempting to enter the United States without authorizati...
Enactment of Appropriations Measures During Lame Duck Sessions
Congressional Research Service · 2024-09-05 · Reports · 6,508 words · PDF available
Fourteen of the past 15 Congresses have concluded with post-election, or “lame duck,” sessions. Under contemporary conditions, any meeting of Congress that occurs between a congressional election in N...
“Too Big to Fail” Financial Institutions: Policy Issues
Congressional Research Service · 2024-09-05 · Resources · 1,797 words · PDF available
Some financial institutions are perceived to be “too big to fail” (TBTF), meaning that their failure would trigger financial instability. Although the term TBTF is a popular shorthand, “too interconne...
Defined Contribution Retirement Plans: Automatic Enrollment
Congressional Research Service · 2024-09-05 · Resources · 1,412 words · PDF available
Many employers offer their employees the opportunity to save for retirement in defined contribution (DC) plans, of which the most common is the 401(k) plan. Sponsors of DC plans have two ways to enrol...
Immigration Legislation and Issues in the 118th Congress
Congressional Research Service · 2024-09-05 · Reports · 13,824 words · PDF available
This report discusses immigration-related bills that have received congressional action in the 118th Congress as of the report’s cover date. For the purposes of the report, bills receiving congression...
Military Construction: Authorities and Processes
Congressional Research Service · 2024-09-05 · Reports · 19,520 words · PDF available
Congress appropriates several billion dollars annually to support construction projects for the Department of Defense’s (DOD’s) worldwide military installations. The military construction (MILCON) pro...
State Regulation of Prescription Drug Prices: Prescription Drug Affordability Boards and Related Litigation
Congressional Research Service · 2024-09-04 · Posts · 3,625 words · PDF available
As conversations about health care costs, including prescription drug prices, continue in the 118th Congress, the federal Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Program, created in the Inflation Reduction Ac...
Georgia: Background and U.S. Policy
Congressional Research Service · 2024-09-04 · Reports · 14,970 words · PDF available
Georgia has been one of the United States’ closest partners among the post-Soviet states that gained their independence after the Soviet Union’s dissolution in 1991. Building on a history of substanti...
Climate Change: What Are Net-Zero Emissions?
Congressional Research Service · 2024-09-04 · Resources · 1,656 words · PDF available
“Net-zero emissions” refers to a situation in which human-caused greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from sources such as fossil fuel combustion and deforestation are fully balanced by carbon dioxide remov...
Federal Communications Commission: Agency Regulatory Authority and Selected Rules
Congressional Research Service · 2024-09-04 · Resources · 1,705 words · PDF available
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent federal administrative agency established by the Communications Act of 1934 (1934 Act; 47 U.S.C. §151 et seq.) to regulate interstate and ...
Sources of Data on Federal Small Business Contracts: In Brief
Congressional Research Service · 2024-09-04 · Reports · 3,452 words · PDF available
This report describes and discusses sources of data on federal contracts made to small businesses. It aims to serve as a road map of what data is collected, where it is made available, and ways it may...
Courts Consider Recent Agency Regulations Prohibiting Gender Identity Discrimination Before and After Loper Bright
Congressional Research Service · 2024-09-03 · Posts · 2,897 words · PDF available
In spring 2024, the Departments of Education (ED) and Health and Human Services (HHS) released new regulations interpreting sex discrimination to include gender identity discrimination under two feder...
Continuity of Congressional Representation: Background and Issues for Congress
Congressional Research Service · 2024-09-03 · Reports · 8,627 words · PDF available
Challenges to congressional operations have been posed in the past by a range of incidents. These motivate ongoing consideration of contingency planning options in Congress. In Congress, contingency p...
Education Department Updates Title IX Regulations: Protections for Pregnant Students and Employees
Congressional Research Service · 2024-09-03 · Resources · 1,676 words · PDF available
Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 (hereinafter, “Title IX”) bars sex discrimination in education programs that receive federal financial assistance (20 U.S.C. §§ 1681 et seq.). The U.S. Dep...
Animal Disease Traceability: Electronic Identification Requirements
Congressional Research Service · 2024-09-03 · Reports · 7,750 words · PDF available
Animal disease traceability (ADT) is the concept of ensuring a rapid, coordinated national response in the event of an animal disease outbreak by knowing where diseased and at-risk animals are located...
Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA): Pension Programs
Congressional Research Service · 2024-09-03 · Reports · 5,083 words · PDF available
Within the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), the Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA) administers three veteran pension programs. These programs provide monthly benefits to wartime service vetera...
Support Offices in the House of Representatives: Roles and Authorities
Congressional Research Service · 2024-08-30 · Reports · 11,576 words · PDF available
Article I of the Constitution, in Sections 2 and 3, authorizes the House of Representatives and Senate to choose their own officers. The number of such congressional support personnel, as well as thei...
Required Minimum Distribution (RMD) Rules for Original Owners of Retirement Accounts
Congressional Research Service · 2024-08-29 · Resources · 1,574 words · PDF available
Introduction Required minimum distributions, or RMDs, are annual withdrawals that individuals with certain retirement accounts are required to make after (1) reaching a specified age (or retiring) or ...
District of Columbia Voting Representation in Congress: Overview of Proposals
Congressional Research Service · 2024-08-29 · Resources · 1,651 words · PDF available
The U.S. Constitution provides for the creation of a district to serve as the permanent seat of the federal government. Article I, Section 8, Clause 17 also grants Congress plenary legislative authori...
DOD Plans for “Stabilizing and Improving the Military Health System”
Congressional Research Service · 2024-08-29 · Posts · 1,058 words · PDF available
The Department of Defense (DOD) administers a Military Health System (MHS) that provides health care entitlements authorized in Title 10, Chapters 55 and 56, of the U.S. Code, and is organized, in par...
Vietnam’s Nonmarket Economy (NME) Status
Congressional Research Service · 2024-08-29 · Posts · 992 words · PDF available
Shortly after extending normal trade relations (NTR) status to Vietnam in 2001, the United States designated Vietnam as a “nonmarket economy” (NME) for the purposes of antidumping (AD) and countervail...
Tax Credit Transfers and Direct Payments in the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022
Congressional Research Service · 2024-08-29 · Resources · 1,491 words · PDF available
The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (IRA; P.L. 117-169) created or modified 20 energy-related income tax credits. These credits subsidize clean or efficient energy production and usage by individuals ...