Policy Library

6,587 documents

Social Security: The Trust Funds
Congressional Research Service · 2024-05-23 · Reports · 8,945 words · PDF available
The Social Security program pays monthly cash benefits to retired or disabled workers and their family members and to the family members of deceased workers. Program income and outgo are accounted for...
Department of Homeland Security Appropriations: FY2024 Provisions
Congressional Research Service · 2024-05-23 · Reports · 10,184 words · PDF available
Through appropriations legislation, Congress provides not only budget authority for federal agencies and departments to operate, but also legally binding direction on how that budget authority can (or...
Department of Health and Human Services: FY2025 Budget Request
Congressional Research Service · 2024-05-23 · Reports · 6,915 words · PDF available
This report provides information about the FY2025 budget request for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Historically, HHS has been one of the larger federal departments in terms o...
Social Services Block Grant
Congressional Research Service · 2024-05-23 · Resources · 1,491 words · PDF available
Introduction The Social Services Block Grant (SSBG) is a flexible funding stream used by states and territories to support a wide variety of social services. At the federal level, the SSBG is administ...
Burden and the Paperwork Reduction Act: An Overview
Congressional Research Service · 2024-05-22 · Resources · 1,804 words · PDF available
A fundamental purpose of the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA)—codified at Title 44, Sections 3501-3521, of the U.S. Code—is to minimize the burden that federal information collections impose on the publi...
Presidential Transition Act: Provisions and Funding
Congressional Research Service · 2024-05-22 · Reports · 6,888 words · PDF available
The Presidential Transition Act of 1963 (PTA) authorizes funding for the General Services Administration (GSA) to provide suitable office space, staff compensation, and other services associated with ...
U.S.-Kenya Trade Negotiations
Congressional Research Service · 2024-05-22 · Resources · 1,804 words · PDF available
The United States and Kenya began free trade agreement (FTA) negotiations in 2020 under then-President Donald Trump and then-President Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya. The Joseph R. Biden Administration did n...
U.S. Security Assistance to Ukraine
Congressional Research Service · 2024-05-22 · Resources · 1,440 words · PDF available
The United States has been a leading provider of security assistance to Ukraine, particularly since Russia launched its expanded invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022. Since then, the United States...
Military Memorials, Monuments, and Museums: Selected Resources for Federal, State, and Local Funding
Congressional Research Service · 2024-05-21 · Reports · 7,026 words · PDF available
This report provides selected resources to aid congressional offices with constituent grantseekers in identifying potential funding opportunities for military-related historic preservation and commemo...
The Crime Victims Fund (CVF): Federal Support for Victims of Crime
Congressional Research Service · 2024-05-21 · Reports · 10,611 words · PDF available
In 1984, the Crime Victims Fund (CVF, or the Fund) was established by the Victims of Crime Act (VOCA, P.L. 98-473) to provide funding for state victim compensation and assistance programs. Since 1984,...
AUKUS Pillar 2 (Advanced Capabilities): Background and Issues for Congress
Congressional Research Service · 2024-05-21 · Reports · 8,340 words · PDF available
AUKUS Pillar 2 refers to a suite of cooperative activities conducted by the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia to develop and field “advanced capabilities” under the AUKUS security partn...
Legislative Branch: FY2024 Appropriations
Congressional Research Service · 2024-05-21 · Reports · 14,004 words · PDF available
The legislative branch appropriations bill provides funding for the Senate; House of Representatives; Joint Items; Capitol Police; Office of Congressional Workplace Rights; Congressional Budget Office...
DHS Budget Request Analysis: FY2025
Congressional Research Service · 2024-05-21 · Reports · 11,906 words · PDF available
On March 11, 2024, President Joe Biden’s Administration released its budget request for FY2025, including $107.74 billion in total noncontingent budget authority for the Department of Homeland Securit...
Bulgaria: An Overview
Congressional Research Service · 2024-05-21 · Resources · 1,633 words · PDF available
After decades of single-party communist rule and a difficult transition period in the 1990s, Bulgaria joined NATO in 2004 and the European Union (EU) in 2007. Bulgaria’s Black Sea location and NATO an...
EPA’s Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund (GGRF)
Congressional Research Service · 2024-05-21 · Resources · 1,467 words · PDF available
On August 16, 2022, President Biden signed H.R. 5376 (P.L. 117-169), a budget reconciliation measure commonly referred to as the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (IRA). IRA contains eight titles, each ...
The Armed Forces Retirement Home
Congressional Research Service · 2024-05-21 · Resources · 1,291 words · PDF available
Since the late 1700s, Congress has established numerous federal programs to provide housing, housing assistance, and health care support to certain wounded, ill, or injured servicemembers, military re...
The Agricultural Cooperative Extension System: An Overview
Congressional Research Service · 2024-05-20 · Reports · 7,975 words · PDF available
The Smith-Lever Act of 1914 (7 U.S.C. §§341 et. seq.) established the Agricultural Cooperative Extension System (CES), or simply extension, which delivers research-based knowledge to farmers, ranchers...
Congressional Court Watcher: Recent Appellate Decisions of Interest to Lawmakers (May 13–May 19, 2024)
Congressional Research Service · 2024-05-20 · Posts · 1,999 words · PDF available
The federal courts issue hundreds of decisions every week in cases involving diverse legal disputes. This Sidebar series selects decisions from the past week that may be of particular interest to fede...
Overview of the National Estuary Program (NEP)
Congressional Research Service · 2024-05-20 · Reports · 8,087 words · PDF available
Estuaries—coastal waterbodies where freshwater from rivers and streams mixes with the ocean’s saltwater—are among the world’s most productive ecosystems. They are beneficial in many ways—providing hab...
The Terrorist Watchlist
Congressional Research Service · 2024-05-20 · Resources · 895 words · PDF available
The Terrorist Screening Dataset (TSDS), more commonly referred to as the Terrorist Watchlist (or the Watchlist) and formerly known as the Terrorist Screening Database, is the U.S. government’s consoli...
Removal of Inspectors General: The First Tests of New Statutory Requirements
Congressional Research Service · 2024-05-20 · Posts · 983 words · PDF available
In the past two months, President Biden has twice exercised his authority to change the leadership of inspector general (IG) offices by notifying Congress of his intent to remove the IG for the Railro...
HUD’s Consolidated Planning Process: An Overview
Congressional Research Service · 2024-05-20 · Reports · 12,555 words · PDF available
The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Office of Community Planning and Development (CPD) administers several formula grant programs that provide funds to states or eligible local gover...
Offshore Energy Agency Appropriations, FY2024
Congressional Research Service · 2024-05-17 · Resources · 1,408 words
Three entities in the Department of the Interior (DOI) share responsibility for managing the nation’s ocean energy resources on almost 2.5 billion acres of the U.S. outer continental shelf (OCS). The ...
Attacks on Ukraine’s Electric Grid: Insights for U.S. Infrastructure Security and Resilience
Congressional Research Service · 2024-05-17 · Reports · 15,743 words · PDF available
Russia has conducted a deliberate campaign to destroy Ukrainian electricity infrastructure as part of its larger war effort against Ukraine. This campaign dates to the initiation of hostilities in 201...
Seabed Mining in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone
Congressional Research Service · 2024-05-17 · Infographics · 530 words · PDF available
/ Seabed Mining in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone Resource demands for energy transition technologies have increased interest in seabed mining. Polymetallic nodules containing critical minerals occur ac...
An Overview of H.R. 4763, Financial Innovation and Technology for the 21st Century Act
Congressional Research Service · 2024-05-17 · Posts · 1,014 words · PDF available
On Friday May 10, the House Committee on Rules publicly noticed its intent to consider H.R. 4763, the Financial Innovation and Technology for the 21st Century Act (FIT21), which could lead to a floor ...
International Trade and Jobs
Congressional Research Service · 2024-05-17 · Resources · 1,668 words · PDF available
The 118th Congress is engaged in a range of legislative and oversight activities related to trade. The impact of trade agreements on U.S. jobs has been a key, long-standing policy consideration for Me...
CFIUS Executive Order on Evolving National Security Risks and CFIUS Enforcement Guidelines
Congressional Research Service · 2024-05-17 · Resources · 1,624 words · PDF available
On September 15, 2022, the Biden Administration issued the “first-ever presidential directive” defining additional national security factors for the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United State...
Disrupting Botnets: An Overview of Seizure Warrants and Other Legal Tools
Congressional Research Service · 2024-05-16 · Posts · 2,799 words · PDF available
In January and February 2024, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced the disruption of two different foreign-state-sponsored botnets. The term botnet is a portmanteau of “robot” and “network.” It g...
China’s “One Belt, One Road” Initiative: Economic Issues
Congressional Research Service · 2024-05-16 · Resources · 1,729 words · PDF available
The People’s Republic of China (PRC or China) in 2013 launched an ambitious and multifaceted foreign economic policy initiative—One Belt, One Road—to expand China’s global economic reach and influence...
Regulation of Data Brokers: Executive Order 14117 on Preventing Access to Americans’ Sensitive Data by Countries of Concern
Congressional Research Service · 2024-05-16 · Posts · 986 words · PDF available
In February 2024, the Biden Administration issued Executive Order (E.O.) 14117 Preventing Access to Americans’ Bulk Sensitive Personal Data and United States Government-Related Data by Countries of Co...
The Role of Earmarks in SRF Appropriations in the 118th Congress
Congressional Research Service · 2024-05-15 · Reports · 13,589 words · PDF available
The condition of the nation’s drinking water and wastewater systems continues to garner congressional attention. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) periodically reports on the capital cost...
Nuclear Energy in a Climate Change Context: Current Appropriations for Nuclear Energy Development
Congressional Research Service · 2024-05-15 · Resources · 1,515 words · PDF available
The potential role of nuclear energy in mitigating climate change has been a significant element of recent congressional discussions about energy and environmental policy. For example, Senate Environm...
Energy and Water Development: FY2024 Appropriations
Congressional Research Service · 2024-05-15 · Reports · 21,565 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...
Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza in Dairy Herds
Congressional Research Service · 2024-05-15 · Resources · 1,781 words · PDF available
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) confirmed a strain (H5N1) of highly pathogenic avian Influen...
Potential Disapproval of SEC Staff Accounting Bulletin No. 121 Under the Congressional Review Act
Congressional Research Service · 2024-05-15 · Posts · 969 words · PDF available
A growing number of firms are providing platforms for crypto transactions, which has prompted the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to consider how crypto exposures should be treated. Many of t...
Department of Homeland Security Appropriations: FY2024 State of Play
Congressional Research Service · 2024-05-15 · Reports · 3,730 words · PDF available
This is an “In Brief” style report, and as such, should have its summary and TOC suppressed. FY2024 marks the 21st annual appropriations cycle with a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) appropriatio...
Bureau of Reclamation Funding in the Inflation Reduction Act (P.L. 117-169)
Congressional Research Service · 2024-05-15 · Resources · 1,362 words · PDF available
In August 2022, Congress enacted P.L. 117-169, popularly known as the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). Among its funding provisions, the law provided approximately $4.6 billion in mandatory appropriatio...
An Overview of Small Business Contracting
Congressional Research Service · 2024-05-14 · Reports · 16,535 words · PDF available
Congress has broad authority to impact the federal procurement process and how agencies purchase goods and services from private sector firms. One way in which Congress has exercised this authority is...
Trade-Related Agencies: FY2024 Appropriations, Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies (CJS)
Congressional Research Service · 2024-05-14 · Reports · 6,107 words · PDF available
This report provides an overview of actions by the Biden Administration and Congress to provide FY2024 appropriations for the International Trade Administration (ITA) of the Department of Commerce, th...
U.S. Review of an Arms Sale to Israel: Issues for Congress
Congressional Research Service · 2024-05-14 · Posts · 941 words · PDF available
Overview In May 2024, U.S. officials confirmed reports that the Biden Administration is “reviewing some near-term security assistance” for Israel and has paused a shipment of 2,000-pound bombs and 50...
Russia’s War in Ukraine: Status Update
Congressional Research Service · 2024-05-14 · Posts · 969 words · PDF available
Overview As Russia’s war in Ukraine enters its third year, both Ukraine and Russia continue to battle for territory along the 600-mile front line. At various points in the conflict, the advantage has ...
Proposed Transfer of Space Aligned National Guard Units
Congressional Research Service · 2024-05-14 · Posts · 1,190 words · PDF available
On March 29, 2024, the Secretary of the Air Force (SECAF) submitted a legislative proposal (LP480) asking Congress to allow transfer of “covered space functions” of the Air National Guard (ANG) to the...
State Marijuana “Legalization” and Federal Drug Law: A Brief Overview for Congress
Congressional Research Service · 2024-05-14 · Posts · 2,432 words · PDF available
State marijuana laws have changed significantly in recent years, and federal law appears poised to change in the coming months. At the state level, many states have enacted laws authorizing the use of...
Congressional Recognition of Commemorative Days, Weeks, and Months: Background and Current Practice
Congressional Research Service · 2024-05-13 · Reports · 9,533 words · PDF available
In each Congress, Members typically introduce hundreds of legislative measures to recognize, support, honor, or acknowledge certain days, weeks, and months. Some scholars have observed that commemorat...
Congressional Court Watcher: Recent Appellate Decisions of Interest to Lawmakers (May 6–May 12, 2024)
Congressional Research Service · 2024-05-13 · Posts · 2,620 words · PDF available
The federal courts issue hundreds of decisions every week in cases involving diverse legal disputes. This Sidebar series selects decisions from the past week that may be of particular interest to fede...
How Does the Social Security Cost-of-Living Adjustment (COLA) Impact Households’ SNAP Benefits?
Congressional Research Service · 2024-05-10 · Resources · 1,450 words · PDF available
The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) increases the food purchasing power of eligible low-income households by helping them buy a nutritionally adequate low-cost diet. Many SNAP recipie...
Department of the Interior Support for Tribal Water Projects
Congressional Research Service · 2024-05-10 · Resources · 1,556 words · PDF available
Congress regulates tribal affairs, including tribal access to water resources, pursuant to its constitutional authority. In addition, the federal government has a federal trust responsibility to prote...
Taiwan Defense Issues for Congress
Congressional Research Service · 2024-05-10 · Reports · 6,213 words · PDF available
U.S. policy toward Taiwan has long prioritized the maintenance of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait. The People’s Republic of China (PRC) claims Taiwan as its territory and has not renounce...
Considerations for Federal Leasing of Onshore Energy: Oil and Gas and Geothermal Power
Congressional Research Service · 2024-05-10 · Reports · 12,397 words · PDF available
Both oil and gas (O&G) and geothermal power are longstanding energy sectors for the United States. The two sectors have many similar characteristics including accessing subsurface resources, having si...