Bridging the Digital Divide: Broadband Workforce Considerations for the 118th Congress
As classrooms, workplaces, and social activities migrated online during the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, the digital divide—the gap between those who have access to broadband (i.e., h...
Back in Action, the U.S. Sentencing Commission to Resolve Circuit Splits on Controlled Substances and Sentencing Reductions
In 1984, Congress revolutionized federal sentencing. That year, Congress established the U.S. Sentencing Commission (the Commission) as an independent agency within the judicial branch and directed it...
The OPEN Government Data Act: A Primer
The Open, Public, Electronic, and Necessary Government Data Act—also called the OPEN Government Data Act (Title II of the Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act of 2018 [FEBPA], P.L. 115-435)...
FCC’s National Broadband Map: Implications for the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program
Access to high-speed internet (i.e., broadband) has been a focus of congressional interest for decades as a significant—and growing—number of daily activities are conducted online. Some areas of the U...
The U.N. Climate Conference 2022 (COP27): Outcomes
The 27th Conference of the Parties (COP27) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) met November 6-20, 2022, in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt. Over the course of two weeks, Parti...
Energy Transition: Affordability, Emissions, and Security
Overview
The United States is undergoing a transition in the energy sector, with a shift in energy supplies and production over relatively short periods of time. Over the last 20 years, natural gas ha...
FEMA’s Community Disaster Loan Program: History, Data, and Issues for Congress
Following a disaster, as businesses may close, properties may be abandoned, and tourism may decline, and local governments may lose revenue needed to support key activities such as trash collection, p...
Membership of the 117th Congress: A Profile
This report presents a profile of the membership of the 117th Congress (2021-2022) as of December 13, 2022, or at the beginning of the 117th Congress (January 3, 2021), where noted. Statistical inform...
Ownership of the U.S. Rental Housing Stock by Investor Type: In Brief
SUPRESS
On November 29, 2022, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the U.S. Census Bureau (Census) released data from the 2021 Rental Housing Finance Survey (RHFS), a trien...
Social Security: Potential Impacts of Changes in Computation Years
Social Security is a social insurance program that protects insured workers and their family members against loss of income due to old age (i.e., retirement), disability, or death. The amount of month...
Violent Crime Trends, 1990-2021
Since the 1930s, the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI’s) Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) program has collected data on reported crimes from federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement agenci...