Policy Library

6,587 documents

Confucius Institutes in the United States: Selected Issues
Congressional Research Service · 2023-05-02 · Resources · 1,617 words · PDF available
The People’s Republic of China’s (PRC’s or China’s) Confucius Institutes offer instruction in Chinese language in universities around the world. The Institutes have been the subject of controversy sin...
Congressional Court Watcher: Recent Appellate Decisions of Interest to Lawmakers (Apr. 24–Apr. 30, 2023)
Congressional Research Service · 2023-05-01 · Posts · 1,738 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...
Federal Involvement in Ocean-Based Research and Development
Congressional Research Service · 2023-05-01 · Reports · 12,284 words · PDF available
Multiple federal departments and agencies conduct ocean-based research, monitoring, and/or technological development. Federal departments and agencies also may support academic, commercial, and nonpro...
Senators Who Die In Office: History and Current Practices
Congressional Research Service · 2023-05-01 · Resources · 1,564 words · PDF available
Since 1789, 301 Senators have died in office. When a sitting Member dies, the Senate and House of Representatives carry out a number of actions based in part on chamber rules, statutes, long-standing ...
Federal Recognition of Indian Tribes: The Administrative Process
Congressional Research Service · 2023-04-28 · Infographics · 646 words · PDF available
/ Federal Recognition of Indian Tribes: The Administrative Process Federal recognition (sometimes called federal acknowledgment) is a term of art formalizing a relationship between the United States ...
Immigration Options and Professional Requirements for Foreign Health Care Workers
Congressional Research Service · 2023-04-28 · Reports · 17,808 words · PDF available
The United States has long relied on foreign nationals to supplement its health care workforce because of long-standing shortages of doctors in some underserved regions and of nurses nationwide. Despi...
New Federal Protections for Pregnant and Nursing Workers
Congressional Research Service · 2023-04-28 · Resources · 1,645 words · PDF available
Several federal laws protect workers during nursing and pregnancy, but two new federal laws, passed as part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023, go into effect this year and expand those pr...
Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD): FY2024 Budget Request Fact Sheet
Congressional Research Service · 2023-04-27 · Reports · 1,848 words · PDF available
This report provides a brief overview of the President’s FY2024 budget request for the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). It links to relevant Administration budget documents and Congr...
Status of FY2023 Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Appropriations: In Brief
Congressional Research Service · 2023-04-27 · Reports · 5,080 words · PDF available
This report provides a brief summary of the status of FY2023 Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and Related Agencies (LHHS) appropriations as of the cover date of this rep...
Data in Brief: Funding Status of Multiemployer Defined Benefit Pension Plans
Congressional Research Service · 2023-04-26 · Reports · 4,368 words · PDF available
Multiemployer defined benefit (DB) pension plans are private-sector pensions sponsored by more than one employer and maintained as part of a collective bargaining agreement. In DB pension plans, parti...
Second Circuit Applies Supreme Court Decision to Limit the Reach of Federal Fraud Statutes
Congressional Research Service · 2023-04-26 · Posts · 1,658 words · PDF available
In December 2022 the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit issued its second decision in United States v. Blaszczak (Blaszczak II), overturning convictions for wire fraud, securities f...
Social Security Fundamentals: A Fact-Based Foundation
Congressional Research Service · 2023-04-26 · Testimony · 6,548 words · PDF available
Social Security, Income Security, Social Insurance, Retirement, Retirement Security, OASI, OASDI
House Rules Changes Affecting Committee Procedure in the 118th Congress (2023-2024)
Congressional Research Service · 2023-04-26 · Reports · 5,348 words · PDF available
As agreed to in the House, H.Res. 5, a resolution adopting the rules of the House of Representatives, provided amendments to the rules, as well as separate orders, that affect committee procedure in t...
Connecting Constituents with Federal Programs for Drinking Water and Wastewater Infrastructure Projects
Congressional Research Service · 2023-04-26 · Resources · 1,272 words · PDF available
Congress has established programs to assist constituents—including individuals, organizations, and local governments—with drinking water and wastewater infrastructure projects. This In Focus includes ...
First Amendment Limitations on Disclosure Requirements
Congressional Research Service · 2023-04-26 · Resources · 1,727 words · PDF available
The government often requires regulated entities to make disclaimer statements or disclose information. These disclosure requirements are often seen as a more speech-friendly alternative to government...
Closed, Converted, Merged, and New Hospitals with Medicare Rural Designations: January 2018-November 2022
Congressional Research Service · 2023-04-26 · Reports · 14,287 words · PDF available
Hospital closures, conversions (or downsizes), and mergers, particularly hospitals located in rural areas, can have a significant impact, raising concerns about access to hospital and other health car...
Locate an Agency or Program Within Appropriations Bills
Congressional Research Service · 2023-04-25 · Reports · 3,312 words · PDF available
This report provides an alphabetical listing of federal agencies and programs, and it is an aid to identify the major source of their appropriated funding. A listing of House and Senate Appropriations...
Ocean Acidification: Frequently Asked Questions
Congressional Research Service · 2023-04-25 · Reports · 8,259 words · PDF available
The ocean absorbs carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere. Chemical reactions between CO2 and water can change the pH of seawater (pH is a measure of water’s acidity or basicity). The current shift i...
Transgender Students and School Bathroom Policies: Title IX Challenges Divide Appellate Courts
Congressional Research Service · 2023-04-25 · Posts · 2,726 words · PDF available
In the past several years, federal courts have disagreed about whether school policies that prohibit transgender students from using the school bathroom consistent with their gender identity violate T...
The Voting Rights Act: Historical Development and Policy Background
Congressional Research Service · 2023-04-25 · Reports · 14,069 words · PDF available
The Voting Rights Act (VRA) is one of the most significant elections statutes ever enacted. The law prohibits discrimination based on race, color, or language-minority status in registration and votin...
Frequently Asked Questions: CHIPS Act of 2022 Provisions and Implementation
Congressional Research Service · 2023-04-25 · Reports · 17,849 words · PDF available
Semiconductors are a uniquely important enabling technology, fundamental to nearly all modern industrial and national security activities, as well as essential building blocks of other emerging techno...
Military Medical Malpractice and the Feres Doctrine
Congressional Research Service · 2023-04-25 · Resources · 1,354 words · PDF available
The Department of Defense (DOD) employs physicians and other medical personnel to administer health care to servicemembers, military retirees, and their family members. If these providers commit medic...
An Overview of the Corporate Income Tax System
Congressional Research Service · 2023-04-24 · Reports · 12,316 words · PDF available
This report presents information and research on the U.S. corporate income tax to help policymakers understand and evaluate policies to modify it. The structure of the corporate tax can influence the ...
U.S. International Climate Finance: A Primer
Congressional Research Service · 2023-04-24 · Resources · 1,649 words · PDF available
International Environmental Assistance Many governments hold that environmental degradation and climate change pose international and transboundary risks to human populations, economies, and ecosystem...
U.S. International Climate Finance: FY2024
Congressional Research Service · 2023-04-24 · Resources · 1,193 words · PDF available
U.S. International Climate Finance Over the past several decades, to varying degrees, the United States has delivered financial and technical assistance for climate change activities in the developing...
The U.S. DOT Disadvantaged Business Enterprise Program
Congressional Research Service · 2023-04-24 · Resources · 1,560 words · PDF available
The Department of Transportation (DOT) Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) program seeks to offer small disadvantaged businesses a fair opportunity to compete for federally funded transportation c...
Single-Family Residential Appraisals: An Overview
Congressional Research Service · 2023-04-24 · Resources · 1,603 words · PDF available
A real estate appraisal is an estimate of the value that a property can be sold for, given prevailing market conditions. An appraisal (also called a valuation) is typically conducted prior to the comp...
Defining Final Agency Action for APA and CRA Review
Congressional Research Service · 2023-04-24 · Resources · 1,877 words · PDF available
Executive branch action may be subject to both judicial and congressional review. Two federal statutes authorizing such review are the Administrative Procedure Act (APA), which generally governs judic...
Subsistence Uses of Resources in Alaska: An Overview of Federal Management
Congressional Research Service · 2023-04-20 · Reports · 14,106 words · PDF available
Certain federal statutes provide avenues for individuals to engage in subsistence uses of natural resources. The term subsistence uses or subsistence in federal statutes and regulations generally refe...
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers: FY2023 Appropriations
Congressional Research Service · 2023-04-20 · Resources · 1,208 words · PDF available
Congress generally funds civil works activities of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) in annual Energy and Water Development appropriations acts. These activities include the planning and constr...
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Appropriations: FY2024 President’s Budget Request
Congressional Research Service · 2023-04-20 · Resources · 1,224 words · PDF available
Since FY2006, Congress has funded the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies appropriation acts. For FY2024, the President requested $12.08 billi...
Semiconductors and the Semiconductor Industry
Congressional Research Service · 2023-04-19 · Reports · 14,218 words · PDF available
Semiconductors (also known as integrated circuits, microelectronic chips, or computer chips) are tiny electronic devices (based primarily on silicon or germanium) composed of billions of components th...
Congressional Investigation of the Trump Indictment
Congressional Research Service · 2023-04-19 · Posts · 2,110 words · PDF available
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, Jr. recently asked a federal district court to declare invalid a House Judiciary Committee (Committee) deposition subpoena issued as part of an inquiry into th...
Rural Definitions Used for Eligibility Requirements in USDA Rural Development Programs
Congressional Research Service · 2023-04-19 · Reports · 7,871 words · PDF available
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Office of Rural Development (RD) administers more than 40 programs that support economic and community development in rural communities. For many of the progr...
Congressional Court Watcher: Recent Appellate Decisions of Interest to Lawmakers (April 10-April 14, 2023)
Congressional Research Service · 2023-04-19 · Posts · 1,859 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...
The Persistent Digital Divide: Selected Broadband Deployment Issues and Policy Considerations
Congressional Research Service · 2023-04-18 · Reports · 10,388 words · PDF available
Access to high-speed internet—known as broadband—has become a topic of increasing significance over the past few decades, with extra urgency in recent years due to the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-...
Private Health Insurance: A Primer
Congressional Research Service · 2023-04-18 · Reports · 9,849 words · PDF available
In general, a health insurance plan is an agreement that a plan enrollee will pay specified amounts in return for coverage of certain health care benefits (often, as furnished by certain health care p...
The Fundamentals of Unemployment Compensation
Congressional Research Service · 2023-04-18 · Resources · 1,455 words · PDF available
A Joint Federal-State Program The joint federal-state Unemployment Compensation (UC) program provides income support through UC benefit payments. Although there are broad requirements under federal la...
The Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA): A Legal Overview
Congressional Research Service · 2023-04-17 · Reports · 30,234 words · PDF available
A plaintiff injured by a defendant’s wrongful act may file a tort lawsuit to recover money from that defendant. To name a particularly familiar example of a tort, a person who negligently causes a veh...
National Heritage Areas: Background and Issues for Congress
Congressional Research Service · 2023-04-17 · Reports · 9,222 words · PDF available
Since 1984, Congress has established 61 national heritage areas (NHAs) to conserve, enhance, and interpret nationally significant natural, historic, scenic, and cultural resources of areas that illust...
Defense Primer: U.S. Defense Industrial Base
Congressional Research Service · 2023-04-17 · Resources · 1,517 words · PDF available
The Department of Defense (DOD) relies on a large and complex defense industrial base (DIB) for the materials, products, and services that enable the department’s warfighting capabilities and business...
Deep Fakes and National Security
Congressional Research Service · 2023-04-17 · Resources · 1,562 words
“Deep fakes”—a term that first emerged in 2017 to describe realistic photo, audio, video, and other forgeries generated with artificial intelligence (AI) technologies—could present a variety of nation...
Regulating Reproductive Health Services After Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization
Congressional Research Service · 2023-04-17 · Resources · 1,765 words · PDF available
Introduction In Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, a five-Justice majority overruled the Supreme Court’s prior decisions in Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v...
Student Loan Cancellation Under the HEROES Act
Congressional Research Service · 2023-04-14 · Reports · 31,628 words · PDF available
On August 24, 2022, Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona announced that he would invoke the Higher Education Relief Opportunities for Students Act of 2003 (HEROES Act) to cancel up to $20,000 of fede...
Overview of the Federal Procurement Process and Resources
Congressional Research Service · 2023-04-14 · Reports · 3,996 words · PDF available
In the basic federal procurement process, acquisition personnel, after determining their agencies’ requirements (that is, the goods and services the agencies need), post solicitations on the federal g...
Medications for Opioid Use Disorder
Congressional Research Service · 2023-04-14 · Resources · 1,515 words · PDF available
Opioids, such as heroin, fentanyl, and some prescription pain medications (including morphine and oxycodone) are substances that act on receptors in the brain important in regulating pain and emotion....
Dam Safety Overview and the Federal Role
Congressional Research Service · 2023-04-13 · Reports · 21,634 words · PDF available
Dams provide various services, including flood control, hydroelectric power, recreation, navigation, and water supply, but they require maintenance, and sometimes rehabilitation and repair, to ensure ...
World Trade Organization Fisheries Subsidies Negotiations
Congressional Research Service · 2023-04-13 · Resources · 1,453 words · PDF available
On June 17, 2022, World Trade Organization (WTO) members finalized a limited agreement on long-running negotiations aimed at curbing fisheries subsidies that lead to excess capacity and may contribute...
Economic Development Conveyances for BRAC Properties
Congressional Research Service · 2023-04-13 · Resources · 1,417 words · PDF available
Congress has approved five rounds of military base realignments and closures under the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) process: in 1988, 1991, 1993, 1995, and 2005. Since 2005, Congress has not au...
Casework in a Congressional Office
Congressional Research Service · 2023-04-13 · Reports · 5,835 words · PDF available
In a congressional office, the term casework refers to the response or services that Members of Congress provide to constituents who request assistance. Each year, thousands of constituents turn to Me...