A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "GAO's seventh report on the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) focuses on the initial assistance the government provided to American International Group, Inc. (AIG)--an organization with over 200 companies operating in over 130 countries and jurisdictions and $830 billion in assets--in September 2008 and the restructuring of that assistance in November 2008 and March 2009. The unfolding crisis threatened the stability of the U.S. banking system and the solvency of a number of financial institutions, including AIG. In September 2008, downgrades of AIG's credit rating prompted collateral calls by counterparties and raised concerns that a rapid and disorderly failure of AIG would further destabilize the markets. As a result, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (Federal Reserve) authorized the Federal Reserve Bank of New York (FRBNY), in consultation with the Department of the Treasury (Treasury), to provide assistance to AIG. This report describes (1) the basis for the federal assistance, (2) the nature and type of assistance and steps intended to protect the government's interest, and (3) selected GAO-developed indicators of the status of federal assistance and AIG's financial condition. To do this, …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Approximately 6.6 percent of credit cards were 30 or more days past due in the first quarter of 2009--the highest rate in 18 years. To recover delinquent debt, credit card issuers may use their own collection departments, outside collection agencies, collection law firms, or sell the debt. GAO was asked to examine (1) the federal and state consumer protections and enforcement responsibilities related to credit card debt collection, (2) the processes and practices involved in collecting and selling delinquent credit card debt, and (3) any issues that may exist related to some of these processes and practices. To address these objectives, GAO analyzed documents and interviewed representatives from six large credit card issuers, six third-party debt collection agencies, six debt buyers, two law firms, federal and state agencies, and attorneys and organizations representing consumers and collectors."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "U.S. laboratories working with dangerous biological pathogens (commonly referred to as high-containment laboratories) have proliferated in recent years. As a result, the public is concerned about the oversight of these laboratories. The deliberate or accidental release of biological pathogens can have disastrous consequences. GAO was asked to determine (1) to what extent, and in what areas, the number of high-containment laboratories has increased in the United States, (2) which federal agency is responsible for tracking this expansion and determining the associated aggregate risks, and (3) lessons learned from highly publicized incidents at these laboratories and actions taken by the regulatory agencies. To carry out its work, GAO surveyed and interviewed federal agency officials, (including relevant intelligence community officials), consulted with experts in microbiology, reviewed literature, conducted site visits, and analyzed incidents at high-containment laboratories."

This report discusses congressional interest in expanding the use of nuclear power to a wider array of Navy surface ships, starting with the Navy’s planned CG(X) cruiser. The issue for Congress is whether the CG(X) or other future Navy surface ships should be nuclear-powered. Congress’s decisions on this issue could affect, among other things, future Navy capabilities, Navy funding requirements, and the shipbuilding industrial base.

The Department of Defense (DOD) increasingly relies upon contractors to support operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, which has resulted in a DOD workforce in those countries comprising approximately a comparable number of contractors (218,000) as uniformed personnel (195,000). This report discusses the issues raised by this fact including (1) what role contractors should play in contingency operations, (2) whether DOD is gathering and analyzing the right data on the use of contractors, (3) what steps DOD is taking to improve contract management and oversight, and (4) the extent to which contractors are being effectively included into military doctrine and strategy. The report examines current contractor trends in Iraq and Afghanistan, the steps DOD has taken to improve contractor oversight and management, and the extent to which DOD has incorporated the role of contractors into its doctrine and strategy. The report also reviews steps Congress has taken to exercise oversight over DOD contracting, including contracting issues that have been the focus of hearings and legislation.

This report includes legal analyses of three ATF-investigated, Southwest border gun trafficking cases to illustrate the federal statutes that are typically violated as part of wider gun trafficking schemes. The report also examines anti-gun trafficking proposals introduced in the 110th Congress.

This report examines Member use of one specific new electronic communication medium: Twitter. After providing an overview and background of Twitter, the report analyzes patterns of Member use of Twitter during two one-week periods in July and August 2009. This report is inherently a snapshot in time of a dynamic process. As with any new technology, the number of Members using Twitter and the patterns of use may change rapidly in short periods of time.

This report discusses the major debate over the government's role in the Internet. Legally, the question appears to be whether the Federal Communications Commission (FCC or Commission) currently has the authority to regulate the ways in which Internet Service Providers (ISPs) manage Internet traffic over their networks.