Policy Library

7,020 documents

Federal and State Courts: Structure and Interaction
Congressional Research Service · 2023-08-02 · Reports · 18,694 words · PDF available
In the United States, the federal government and the states each have their own set of laws and their own court systems. Federal and state courts vary in structure, with significant differences betwee...
Regulating Drinking Water Contaminants: EPA PFAS Actions
Congressional Research Service · 2023-08-02 · Resources · 1,764 words · PDF available
The detection of certain per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in some public water supplies has generated public concern and increased attention to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EP...
Senate Staff Levels, 1977-2022
Congressional Research Service · 2023-08-02 · Reports · 3,232 words · PDF available
The way staff are deployed within an organization may reflect the missions and priorities of that organization. This report provides staffing levels in Senators’ Senate committee, leadership, and othe...
Xylazine: Considerations for Federal Control
Xylazine is a sedative drug used in veterinary medicine. It is not approved or intended for human consumption. Some drug users intentionally consume xylazine in combination with drugs of abuse, such a...
Russia’s Wagner Private Military Company (PMC)
Congressional Research Service · 2023-08-01 · Resources · 1,655 words
Russia uses private military companies (PMCs) to project power globally. These outfits range in size and scope and act as an unofficial (albeit nominally illegal) tool of Russian foreign policy. The m...
Consol-Type Perpetual Bonds and the Debt Limit: In Brief
Congressional Research Service · 2023-07-31 · Reports · 3,924 words · PDF available
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Congressional Court Watcher: Recent Appellate Decisions of Interest to Lawmakers (July 24, 2023–July 30, 2023)
Congressional Research Service · 2023-07-31 · Posts · 2,306 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...
Russia’s War Against Ukraine: Related CRS Products
Congressional Research Service · 2023-07-28 · Reports · 1,223 words · PDF available
Since February 24, 2022, the Russian Federation’s war against Ukraine has had wide-ranging implications for U.S. national security and for an array of global geopolitical and economic issues. This rep...
Experimental Populations Under the Endangered Species Act and Gray Wolves
Congressional Research Service · 2023-07-28 · Reports · 9,088 words · PDF available
Section 10(j) of the Endangered Species Act (ESA; 16 U.S.C. §§ 1531 et seq.) allows for the establishment of experimental populations of endangered or threatened species and delineates how experimenta...
Immigration Judge Hiring and Projected Impact on the Immigration Courts Backlog
Congressional Research Service · 2023-07-28 · Reports · 3,865 words · PDF available
Immigration courts operate within the Department of Justice’s Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR). EOIR’s immigration judges (IJs) adjudicate removal proceedings, during which they determin...
Trinidad and Tobago
Congressional Research Service · 2023-07-28 · Resources · 1,508 words · PDF available
Political and Economic Environment Trinidad and Tobago, the second-most-populous English-speaking Caribbean country after Jamaica, is located in the southeast Caribbean, just seven miles from Venezuel...
Social Media Algorithms: Content Recommendation, Moderation, and Congressional Considerations
Congressional Research Service · 2023-07-27 · Resources · 1,586 words · PDF available
Social media plays an integral role in modern life for many. It facilitates the spread of information and serves as a key source of news, entertainment, and financial opportunity. In 2022, over 70% of...
Experimental Populations Under the Endangered Species Act
Congressional Research Service · 2023-07-27 · Resources · 1,603 words · PDF available
Section 10(j) of the Endangered Species Act (ESA; 16 U.S.C. §§ 1531 et seq.) allows for the establishment of experimental populations of endangered or threatened species listed under the act and delin...
Federal Employee Travel: Per Diem Reimbursement Rates
Congressional Research Service · 2023-07-26 · Resources · 1,537 words · PDF available
Background In the course of their duties, federal employees may engage in official travel within the continental United States (CONUS), outside of the continental United States (OCONUS), and to foreig...
Belts and Suspenders: Analysis of Large Bank Capital Standards
Congressional Research Service · 2023-07-26 · Reports · 6,947 words · PDF available
One way regulators ensure that banks operate in a safe and sound manner is by establishing capital requirements that banks must meet. Bank capital serves as a layer of protection against losses, and i...
Casino Gambling and Economic Development
Congressional Research Service · 2023-07-26 · Resources · 1,481 words · PDF available
In recent decades, some officials and policymakers at the federal, state, and local levels have argued that gambling—in particular, casino gambling, but also online and sports betting—can help facilit...
Stafford Act Cost Shares: History, Trends, Analysis
Congressional Research Service · 2023-07-26 · Reports · 18,402 words
The Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (the Stafford Act, P.L. 93-288, as amended) confers upon the President a broad set of authorities “to alleviate the suffering and da...
Louisiana Court Rules on Government Communications with Social Media Companies
Congressional Research Service · 2023-07-26 · Posts · 2,818 words · PDF available
On July 4, 2023, a Louisiana federal district court entered a preliminary injunction in Missouri v. Biden, preventing a number of executive branch agencies and employees from communicating with social...
The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy: Issues and Options for the 118th Congress
Congressional Research Service · 2023-07-26 · Reports · 13,534 words · PDF available
Congress has a long-standing interest in the development and implementation of science and technology (S&T) policies across the federal government as well as the effective coordination of multi-agency...
The Role of Earmarks in CWSRF and DWSRF Appropriations in the 117th Congress
Congressional Research Service · 2023-07-25 · Reports · 15,508 words · PDF available
National attention to municipal water infrastructure has stemmed from, among other things, water infrastructure damage from extreme weather events (e.g., hurricanes and drought); detection of elevated...
Retirement Benefits for Members of Congress
Congressional Research Service · 2023-07-25 · Reports · 9,367 words · PDF available
Prior to 1984, neither federal civil service employees nor Members of Congress paid Social Security taxes, nor were they eligible for Social Security benefits. Members of Congress and other federal em...
An Introduction to Trademark Law in the United States
Congressional Research Service · 2023-07-24 · Resources · 1,728 words · PDF available
Trademarks are a form of intellectual property that serve to identify the sources of goods. Trademarks have attracted renewed attention since the U.S. Supreme Court decided two cases regarding the mai...
Congressional Court Watcher: Recent Appellate Decisions of Interest to Lawmakers (July 17, 2023–July 23, 2023)
Congressional Research Service · 2023-07-24 · Posts · 1,971 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...
Bank Failures and Congressional Oversight
Congressional Research Service · 2023-07-21 · Resources · 1,802 words · PDF available
The failures of three large banks in spring 2023—Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), Signature, and First Republic—has resulted in congressional attention on how the federal banking agencies—the Federal Reserv...
Race Discrimination at School: Title VI and the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights
Congressional Research Service · 2023-07-21 · Resources · 1,642 words · PDF available
Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits discrimination based on race, color, or national origin in programs that receive federal financial assistance. While that bar applies broadly to fede...
Lesser Prairie Chicken Listing Under the Endangered Species Act (ESA)
Congressional Research Service · 2023-07-21 · Reports · 6,854 words · PDF available
On November 25, 2022, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) listed two populations of the lesser prairie chicken (LPC) pursuant to the Endangered Species Act (ESA; 16 U.S.C. §§1531 et seq.). Listin...
Long-Term Care Insurance: Overview
Congressional Research Service · 2023-07-21 · Resources · 1,571 words · PDF available
What Is Long-Term Care Insurance? Long-term care insurance (LTCI) is a type of insurance policy designed to cover the future costs of care associated with a chronic condition or disability that requir...
Energy Tax Credits and the Global Minimum Tax
Congressional Research Service · 2023-07-21 · Resources · 1,458 words · PDF available
The Internal Revenue Code (IRC) (often referred to simply as the tax code) contains a number of credits to encourage certain investments. These include energy credits, some of which were enacted in P....
H.R. 4563, the American Confidence in Elections Act (ACE Act): Legal Background
Congressional Research Service · 2023-07-21 · Resources · 1,691 words · PDF available
On July 11, 2023, H.R. 4563, the American Confidence in Elections Act (ACE Act), was introduced in the 118th Congress. The ACE Act proposes to amend federal election law primarily in the areas of elec...
State Department Country Reports on Terrorism: 2001–2021
Congressional Research Service · 2023-07-21 · Resources · 1,629 words · PDF available
Overview By April 30 of each year, 22 U.S.C §2656f requires the Secretary of State to provide Congress an annual country report on terrorism. The report must contain “detailed assessments with respect...
Legal Challenges to the Terrorist Screening Database
Congressional Research Service · 2023-07-20 · Posts · 2,631 words · PDF available
“On September 11, 2001, agents of the al Qaeda terrorist organization hijacked commercial airplanes and attacked the World Trade Center in New York City and the national headquarters of the Department...
Trade Adjustment Assistance for Workers: Background and Current Status
Congressional Research Service · 2023-07-19 · Reports · 3,026 words · PDF available
Trade Adjustment Assistance, TAA, TAAW, Outsourcing, offshoring, foreign trade, foreign competition, free trade, job training, income support, unemployment, dislocated workers, unemployment insurance,...
Fourth Circuit Says Public Charter Schools Are State Actors, Supreme Court Declines to Weigh In
Congressional Research Service · 2023-07-19 · Posts · 2,096 words · PDF available
On June 14, 2022, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit (Fourth Circuit) held in Peltier v. Charter Day Schools that a public charter school’s dress code policy discriminated against female...
The Child Support Enforcement Program: Summary of Laws Enacted Since 1950
Congressional Research Service · 2023-07-19 · Reports · 28,282 words · PDF available
The Child Support Enforcement (CSE) program was enacted in 1975 as a federal-state program (Title IV-D of the Social Security Act [SSA], P.L. 93-647). This followed several precursor laws creating fed...
Environmental Justice and the National Environmental Policy Act
Congressional Research Service · 2023-07-19 · Posts · 2,091 words · PDF available
In spring 2023, Congress amended the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) as part of the Fiscal Responsibility Act (P.L. 118-5). Weeks earlier, President Biden issued Executive Order (E.O.) 14096....
H.R. 4563, the American Confidence in Elections (ACE) Act
Congressional Research Service · 2023-07-19 · Resources · 1,631 words · PDF available
H.R. 4563, the American Confidence in Elections (ACE) Act, proposes substantial changes to federal election administration and campaign finance law. The Committee on House Administration (CHA) ordered...
Mandatory Minimum Sentencing: Federal Aggravated Identity Theft
Congressional Research Service · 2023-07-19 · Reports · 6,820 words · PDF available
Aggravated identity theft is punishable by a mandatory minimum sentence of imprisonment for two years or by imprisonment for five years, if it relates to a terrorism offense. At least thus far, the go...
Strategic Competition in the Arctic
Congressional Research Service · 2023-07-18 · Testimony · 5,368 words · PDF available
Arctic, strategic competition, great power competition, homeland security, coast guard, icebreaker, Polar Security Cutter, PSC, Russia, China
The Department of Homeland Security’s “Metering” Policy: Legal Issues
Congressional Research Service · 2023-07-17 · Posts · 3,443 words · PDF available
Generally, an alien who arrives in the United States without valid documentation is subject to a streamlined, expedited removal process, but may pursue asylum and related protections if, during proces...
Gun Control, Veterans’ Benefits, and Mental Incompetency Determinations
Congressional Research Service · 2023-07-14 · Reports · 4,567 words · PDF available
The federal Gun Control Act of 1968, as amended, prohibits certain classes of persons from purchasing or possessing firearms and ammunition. One of the classes of prohibited persons are those who have...
Department of Defense Community Support Programs
Congressional Research Service · 2023-07-14 · Reports · 7,025 words · PDF available
For decades the Department of Defense has provided financial support for local communities near military installations that seek help adjusting to the economic impact of a DOD installation closing, do...
The House Consensus Calendar: Principal Features and Practice in the 117th Congress (2021-2022)
Congressional Research Service · 2023-07-13 · Reports · 4,183 words · PDF available
First established in the 116th Congress (2019-2020) in clause 1 of House Rule XIII and clause 7 of House Rule XV, the Consensus Calendar provides an alternative route to the floor for certain unreport...
International Law and Agreements: Their Effect upon U.S. Law
Congressional Research Service · 2023-07-13 · Reports · 24,776 words · PDF available
International law is derived primarily from two sources: international agreements and customary international practice. Under U.S. law, the United States enters into international agreements by either...
Holds on Nominations
Congressional Research Service · 2023-07-13 · Posts · 1,007 words · PDF available
In the Senate, a hold on a nomination is a communication to the majority or minority leader that a Senator would object to approving the nomination by unanimous consent. When Senators inform their lea...
Offshore Energy Agency Appropriations, FY2023
Congressional Research Service · 2023-07-13 · Resources · 1,459 words · PDF available
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 ...
Stablecoin Policy Issues for the 118th Congress
Congressional Research Service · 2023-07-12 · Resources · 1,712 words · PDF available
Stablecoins are digital financial instruments that use technology underpinning cryptocurrencies (e.g., Bitcoin and Ether) but attempt to eliminate volatility by pegging their value to a stable asset (...
The Equal Rights Amendment: Background and Recent Legal Developments
Congressional Research Service · 2023-07-11 · Reports · 5,675 words · PDF available
In 1972, Congress approved a constitutional amendment to guarantee that “[e]quality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any State on account of sex.” This a...
Supreme Court Holds That Federal Labor Relations Authority Has Jurisdiction to Regulate State National Guards
Congressional Research Service · 2023-07-11 · Posts · 2,251 words · PDF available
On May 18, 2023, the Supreme Court decided Ohio Adjutant General’s Department v. Federal Labor Relations Authority, a case on the Federal Labor Relations Authority’s (FLRA’s) power to regulate the lab...
Covert Action and Clandestine Activities of the Intelligence Community: Selected Congressional Notification Requirements
Congressional Research Service · 2023-07-10 · Reports · 5,704 words · PDF available
Section 3091 of Title 50, U.S. Code requires the President of the United States to ensure that the congressional intelligence committees are “kept fully and currently informed of the intelligence acti...
The Payments in Lieu of Taxes (PILT) Program: An Overview
Congressional Research Service · 2023-07-10 · Reports · 7,527 words · PDF available
The Department of the Interior’s (DOI’s) Payments in Lieu of Taxes (PILT; 31 U.S.C. §§6901-6907) program provides compensation for certain tax-exempt federal lands, known as entitlement lands. PILT pa...