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Since September 11, 2001, several bills introduced in the U.S. Congress have included provisions to assist emergency communications. Key provisions from a number of these bills have become law. This report summarizes progress in developing legislation, especially in the 109th Congress, in three areas of emergency communications: communications among first responders and other emergency personnel; emergency warnings and alerts; and 911 call centers and systems.

This report discusses the "minority witness rule." When a Senate committee, other than the Appropriations Committee, holds a hearing, the minority party members of the panel have the right to call witnesses of their choosing to testify during at least one day of that hearing.

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This report discusses the Greenhouse Gas reduction bills in the 110th Congress. It presents a side-by-side comparison of major provisions of those bills and includes a glossary of common terms.

This report reviews the history and trends of oil spills in the United States, and identifies the legal authorities governing oil spill prevention, response, and cleanup.

The Brownfields Act authorizes the Environmental Protection Agency to award grants for the assessment and cleanup of sites that pose a less serious threat to human health and the environment than sites addressed by the Superfund program. The authorization expired on September 30, 2006. In the 109th Congress, a reauthorization bill, H.B. 5810, was reported from the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure on July 28, 2006, but went no further. This report contains information on the EPA's involvement in the program, EPA appropriations, Housing and Urban Development's involvement in the program and appropriations, other federal Brownfield programs, and Congressional actions of the 109th and 110th Congresses as related to the programs.

The importance and necessity for a fully developed and implemented National Incident Management System (NIMS) has been demonstrated in recent years by the impact of national events such as Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Throughout the history of emergency response to major disasters, especially when multiple response organizations are involved, there have been systemic problems in the consistency and uniformity of response operations. Identifying national standards that support the development and implementation of NIMS is key to helping solve these systemic problems. The NIMS seeks to provide uniformity and consistency for incident management by using common terminology and protocols that will enable responders to coordinate their efforts to ensure an efficient response.

Under our grant, DE-FG02-03ER15480, "Early transition metal oxides as catalysts: crossing scales from clusters to single crystals to functioning materials," catalytic activity of high surface area, powdered transition metal oxides (TMO, e.g. vanadium, niobium, molybdenum, and tungsten) supported on Al2O3, SiO2, ZrO2 and TiO2 have been extensively studied. In contrast, virtually no studies have been conducted for TMOs supported on well-ordered, single-crystalline oxides. This is largely due to a number of experimental difficulties related to the preparation of well-ordered oxide surfaces and to the charging problems associated with electron based probes on insulators. In our experiments we have selected TiO2(110) as a well-ordered substrate. TiO2(110) is a semiconductor (EG = 3.0 eV) and as such it has been extensively studied using ensemble averaged, as well as atomically resolved probes.1 In this work our goal was to create a well characterized, WO3/TiO2(110) model catalyst and interrogate its chemical activity for reactions of interest to this program. Initial studies of the chemical activity of the WO3 clusters on TiO2(110) focused on the partial oxidation of CH3OH. Only molecular desorption of CH3OH was observed. For 1 ML of CH3OH adsorbed on clean TiO2(110), the fraction of CH3OH desorbing from Ti4+ (250-400K) and BBO …

This report provides a brief summary of the Economic Issues Surrounding the Estate and Gift Tax who provides a backstop to the individual income tax and appropriately target assets.

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This report mainly provides information about the Economic Issues and Options for U.S. Trade Policy on China’s Currency. Lower priced goods from China may hurt the U.S.

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This report discusses the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) preemption and examines the Fourth Circuit's decision in the context of the U.S. Supreme Court's past decisions on the subject. The report also considers the impact the decision could have on other attempts to enact fair share legislation

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This report provides information about the Status and Associated Issues of Disaster Debris Removal After Hurricane Katrina.Hurricane Katrina produced unprecedented destruction resulting in disaster debris from man-made structures.

The interactions of three variables underlie debates on the issue of climate change and what responses might be justified: the magnitude and rates of change of (1) population growth, (2) incomes, and (3) intensity of greenhouse gas emissions relative to economic activities. This report examines the interrelationships of the variables to explore their implications for policies that address climate change.

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This report provides background, discussing constitutional provisions allocating war powers between Congress and the President, and presenting a historical overview of relevant court cases.

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