This report outlines the effects of "social indicators", data series on the condition of society intended to describe and measure social changes in public programs, government decisions and national goals.

This report discusses issues related to peace in the Middle East, including post-Gulf War negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians, Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon; U.S. interest in these and continuing negotiations and peacetalks between Middle Eastern countries; and the role of the U.S., the U.N., the European Union, and Russia in Middle Eastern relations.

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This report reviews the public record concerning federal continuity of government arrangements.

This report reviews and discusses President Obama's Open Government Initiative and the Open Government Directive. The report then analyzes both agency response to the OGI and the OGD, and examines whether the OGD's requirements can meet the stated goals of the Administration. The report discusses the three central tenets of the Administration's OGD--transparency, public participation, and collaboration--and analyzes each one individually to determine whether agencies are meeting these requirements and whether the requirements may improve the effectiveness of the federal government.

This report examines Member adoption of social media platforms outside of Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube, such as Instagram, Flickr, and Google+, which have each been adopted by at least 2.5% of Representatives and Senators. It discusses the possible implications of the adoption of social media, including managing multiple platforms, the type of content and posting location, the allocation of office resources to social media communications, and archiving social media content.

This report examines the legislative history of the various proposals that ultimately emerged as the proposed Equal Rights Amendment and both identifies and provides an analysis of contemporary factors that may bear on its present and future viability.

This report briefly describes the methodology and selected findings of three large federally funded surveys that provide national prevalence estimates of diagnosable mental illness: the National Comorbidity Survey Replication (NCS-R), the National Comorbidity Survey Replication Adolescent Supplement (NCS-A), and the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH). This report presents prevalence estimates of any mental illness and serious mental illness based on each survey and ends with a brief discussion of how these prevalence estimates might inform policy discussions.

This report looks at how Article V of the Constitution allows Congress to propose amendments, specifically the process of organizing an Article V Convention, a method which has never been used and which is only breifly outlined in the Constitution.

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This report provides federal spending data by agency and by budget function for fiscal year 2001 through fiscal year 2005. The data, ranked by size, reveal the concentrated nature of federal spending. The largest four agencies (of 51 listed) produce 83% of total outlays and the six largest (of 19) budget functions produce 86% of total outlays. Most of the spending by the largest agencies and within the largest budget functions is either mandatory spending (such as Social Security, Medicaid, and income support, among others), defense spending, or net interest spending on federal debt.

This report provides a brief history of federal Indian education programs, a discussion of data on students served by these programs, an overview of the programs and their funding, a discussion of the application to BIE schools of key provisions of the No Child Left Behind Act, and brief discussions of selected issues in Indian education.

This report describes the consequences of foreclosure on homeowners, outlines recent foreclosure prevention plans implemented by the government and private organizations, and discusses the challenges associated with foreclosure prevention.

This report is designed to introduce congressional staff to selected governmental and nongovernmental sources that are useful in tracking and obtaining information on federal legislation and regulations. It includes governmental, nongovernmental, or commercial sources, and highlights classes offered by the Congressional Research Service (CRS) and the Law Library of Congress.

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This report analyzes the current crises that the U.S. newspaper industry is facing in light of the recent economic downturn and the increasing number of readers who turn to the Internet for their news instead of to traditional media. Congress has begun debating whether the financial problems in the newspaper industry pose a public policy issue that warrants federal action.

This report describes the Small Business Investment Company (SBIC) program's structure and operations, focusing on SBIC eligibility requirements, investment activity, and program statistics. It also includes information concerning the SBIC program's debenture SBIC program, participating securities SBIC program, impact investment SBIC debenture program (targeting underserved markets and communities facing barriers to access to credit and capital), and the now-sunset early stage debenture SBIC initiative.

This report details the information related to the Wilderness act, which was enacted by Congress in 1964. The contents include the history of wilderness, what exactly it is, prohibited and permitted uses, and the data presented in figures and tables.

This report focuses on heritage areas designated by Congress, and related issues and legislation.

This report describes Juneteenth (also known as Emancipation Day, Juneteenth Independence Day, and Black Independence Day), which celebrates the end of slavery in the United States.

The “oil-for-food” program (OFFP) was the centerpiece of a long-standing U.N. Security Council effort to alleviate human suffering in Iraq while maintaining key elements of the 1991 Gulf war-related sanctions regime. In order to ensure that Iraq remained contained and that only humanitarian needs were served by the program, the program imposed controls on Iraqi oil exports and humanitarian imports. All Iraqi oil revenues legally earned under the program were held in a U.N.-controlled escrow account and were not accessible to the regime of Saddam Hussein.

This report is on Avatars, Virtual Reality Technology, and the U.S. Military: Emerging Policy Issues.

This report provides background on the framework for constitutional appointments, discusses Congress's constitutional authority to set qualifications for appointees, discusses congressional practices in this area, and provides related analysis and options. It also includes two tables with examples of existing positions with qualification requirements.

This report covers a variety of topics related to cybersecurity in order to provide context and a framework for further discussion on selected policy areas. These topics include cybersecurity incidents, major federal agency roles and responsibilities, recent policy actions by Congress and the White House, and descriptions of policy issues that may be of interest for the 115th Congress.