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This report is on Article 98 Agreements and Sanctions on U.S. Foreign Aid to Latin America.

This report discusses the Invisible Hand Theorem, which states that when certain assumptions hold, market outcomes will be efficient.

This report provides a general overview of HEA provisions that affect institutional eligibility for participation in Title IV student aid programs and, in some instances, discusses specific issues that may arise during the HEA reauthorization process.

This report identifies selected websites that provide general and statistical information on immigration topics. Selected government and organizational website addresses are included. As with all statistics, it is important to note the source and methodology when consulting immigration statistics, taking into account any organizational bias.

The report discusses the Federal Communications Commission (FCC)-Related Congressional Actions in the 112th Congress. The policymakers, including some in Congress, have long called for varying degrees and types of reform to the FCC. Most proposals fall into two categories: (1) procedural changes made within the FCC or through congressional action that would affect the agency's operations or (2) substantive policy changes requiring congressional action that would affect how the agency regulates different services and industry sectors.

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This report examines issues regarding broadband access in the U.S., more specifically the "digital divide,” which is a term that has been used to characterize a gap between “information haves and have-nots,” or in other words, between those Americans who use or have access to telecommunications technologies (e.g., telephones, computers, the Internet) and those who do not.

Most voting systems used in U.S. elections rely on computers in some way. The most computerized is the direct recording electronic voting machine, or DRE. In this system, votes are recorded directly onto computer memory devices. This report discusses questions that arise frequently with respect to the controversy surrounding DREs. Possible misperceptions in the debate can be classified into three categories: those relating to DREs themselves, those that relate to paper audit trails, and those that relate to recounts and audits.

The Department of Defense (DOD) and each of the military services have established new programs to care for the severely disabled, ensuring rehabilitative assistance and easing the transition back to civilian life. Congress has followed these initiatives with interest and recently directed DOD to develop policies and procedures to standardize these programs. This report examines the background for the new initiatives and provides a status of each program, including contact information.

This report is organized in three parts. First, it discusses the extent of GHG emissions associated with the U.S. agriculture sector, and cites current and potential estimates for U.S. agricultural soils to sequester carbon and partly offset national GHG emissions. Second, the report describes the types of land management and farm conservation practices that can reduce GHG emissions and/or sequester carbon in agricultural soils, highlighting those practices that are currently promoted under existing voluntary federal agricultural programs. Third, the report discusses the types of questions that may be raised regarding the role of the U.S. agriculture sector in the broader climate change debate, and also discusses the role of climate-related issues (e.g., GHG emissions reductions and carbon sequestration) in the context of farm program legislation that the 110th Congress may consider.

The potential of terrorist attacks against agricultural targets (agroterrorism) is increasingly recognized as a national security threat, especially after the events of September 11, 2001. This report focuses primarily on biological weapons (rather than chemical weapons) because biological weapons generally are considered the more potent agroterrorism threat. This report also focuses more on the threat of agroterrorism against agricultural production, rather than on food processing and distribution, although the latter is discussed.

This report describes the broad framework of U.S. assistance programs and policies in the former Soviet Union and then focuses on the foreign operations FREEDOM Support Act (FSA) account which, encompassing all U.S. objectives in the region, has often been the means by which Congress has expressed its views and sought to influence policy.

This report discusses the current political and social climate of Iraq, specifically in regards to the influence of the U.S. military presence over recent years. This report addresses planned and possible future efforts under the Obama Administration, including the scheduled gradual troops withdrawal. Some U.S. officials believe that a U.S. military presence is needed beyond the scheduled August 31, 2010 date, by which point all U.S. troops will have been withdrawn. This report also discusses the continued tensions between various Iraqi sociocultural groups.

The Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union, more often referred to as the “Committee of the Whole,” is the House of Representatives operating as a committee on which every Member of the House serves. The House of Representatives uses this parliamentary device to take procedural advantage of a somewhat different set of rules governing proceedings in the Committee than those governing proceedings in the House. The purpose is to expedite legislative consideration. This report briefly reviews the history of the Committee of the Whole, describes the current procedure associated with it, and identifies its procedural advantages.

This report provides background information on food allergies and review efforts to provide improved labeling information for food allergy sufferers.

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This report provides an analysis of litigation regarding school financing, including an overview of the legal issues involved in such litigation and a description of the leading school finance cases at both the federal and state level.

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Aquaculture — the farming of fish, shellfish, and other aquatic animals and plants in a controlled environment — is expanding rapidly abroad, with more modest advances in the United States. This report discusses the federal laws and regulations that guide the management of resources in open ocean and near-shore coastal areas.

This report provides background information on how the existing trust fund based aviation finance system operates, discusses several basic issues concerning aviation taxation, and identifies FAA programmatic spending.

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