This report discusses recent administrative and Legislative developments with respect to the law regarding FCOIs and biomedical research. It also discusses about HHS requirements for FCOIs, Other Agency Requirements with Respect to FCOIs and Current Developments.

The Social Services Block Grant (SSBG) is a flexible source of funds that states use to support a wide variety of social services activities. States have broad discretion over the use of these funds. In FY2009, the most recent year for which expenditure data are available, the largest expenditures for services under the SSBG were for child care, foster care, and special services for the disabled. This report provides background and funding information about the SSBG.

This report provides a selective overview of court decisions that historically have most shaped EPA’s program under the Clean Air Act (CAA).

This report contains the appropriations and policy during the Fiscal Year 2015 on fish and wildlife service.

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This report describes exchange outreach programs, the role of brokers, agents, and insurers, and issues regarding consumer outreach assistance.

This report presents a discussion of the FY2014 enacted appropriations for selected EPA programs and activities highlighted in the congressional debate.

This report provides background information and issues for Congress on the sustainment and modernization of the Coast Guard's polar icebreaker fleet, which performs a variety of missions supporting U.S. interests in polar regions. The report is written in response to the Coast Guard's budget request for a new polar ice breaker (none are currently in operation).

This report examines the U.S. and EU reactions to the crisis in Ukraine, focusing on the EU's hesitation to issue severe sanctions on par with the U.S. prior to the crash of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17. The report discusses the EU's new, wider-ranging sanctions in the wake of MH17 and its implications on U.S.-EU relations.

This report surveys existing law for legal issues that have arisen, or may arise in the future, on account of climate change and government responses thereto.

This report discusses the calculations that go into taxing Social Security benefits, which prior to 1984 were exempt from taxation but have since been taxed at gradually increasing levels.

This report discusses the Ebola virus disease (Ebola or EVD), which is a severe, often fatal disease that was first detected near the Ebola River in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) in 1976.

This report addresses frequently asked questions about Ex-Im Bank, grouped in the following categories: congressional interest and the Ex-Im Bank reauthorization debate; market context; international context; organizational structure and management; programs; statutory requirements and policies; risk management; budget and appropriations; implications of a sunset in authority; and historical and current approaches to reauthorization.

This report examines the purpose and activities of Committee on House Administration as congressional Member organizations (CMO) and the reasons Members form them. It also identifies and describes seven CMO types, and it provides an overview of the historical development of informal Member organizations since the first Congress, focusing on their regulation in the House by the Committee on House Oversight/Committee on House Administration, the rise and fall of legislative service organizations (LSOs), and the House's decision in 1995 to issue regulations for establishing CMOs and governing their behavior. It concludes with a step-by-step guide for House Members and staff who might be interested in forming a CMO.

This report discusses the Spectrum Act, a provision of the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012. It includes an overview of the Spectrum Act, the specific policy revisions (deficit reduction, directed auctions, incentive auctions, federal spectrum use and reallocation, and unlicensed spectrum) and a conclusion discussing geographic coverage of spectrum licenses, spectrum caps, and planning for future needs.

This report gives an overview of the history of Special Weapons and Tactics teams, which are estimated to be deployed 45,000 times each year in the U.S. The report also discusses the "1033 Program" which authorizes federal and state law enforcement agencies to receive excess materials from Department of Defense stocks for use in counter-drug or counter-terrorism activities.

This report provides background information and issues for Congress on the LX(R) amphibious ship program, a Navy program to build a new class of 11 amphibious ships.

This report presents a profile of the membership of the 113th Congress (2013-2014). Statistical information is included on selected characteristics of Members, including data on party affiliation, average age, occupation, education, length of congressional service, religious affiliation, gender, ethnicity, foreign births, and military service.

This report provides background information and presents potential issues for Congress concerning the Navy's ship force-structure goals and shipbuilding plans. The planned size of the Navy, the rate of Navy ship procurement, and the prospective affordability of the Navy's shipbuilding plans have been matters of concern for the congressional defense committees for the past several years.

This document examines an apparent shift in priorities at the Department of Justice (DOJ) towards a renewed focus on domestic terrorism with the reestablishment of its Domestic Terrorism Executive Committee, which had been defunct for several years. The report considers why the shift in focus may be occurring and also briefly examines different types of domestic terror threats.

The quadrennial homeland security review is a process in which DHS examines the nation's homeland security strategy; the report provides an explanation of this process. Neither the review process nor the report to Congress is a strategy, instead the 2014 QHSR (both the process and report) are part of the constant reevaluation of the nation's homeland security and part of the process by which the combined National and Homeland Security Staff develops the next iteration of the national security strategy.

This report provides a background and analysis comparing military commissions as envisioned under the revised Military Commission ACT (MCA) to those established by the MCA 2006. The report provides an overview of the procedural safeguards provided in the MCA. Finally, the report provides two charts comparing the MCA as amended by the MCA 2009 to the original MCA enacted in 2006 and to general courts-martial.

This report examines juvenile victims of sex trafficking and their intersection with states' juvenile justice systems throughout the United States. It outlines the federal conceptualization of minors involved in commercial sexual activities and discusses factors that may contribute to the treatment of sex trafficking victims as perpetrators. It also outlines various criminal justice policy options and approaches to victim-centered policing.

This report presents policy and oversight issues for Congress arising from maritime territorial disputes involving China in the South China Sea (SCS), East China Sea (ECS), and an additional dispute over whether China has a right under international law to regulate U.S. and other foreign military activities in its maritime Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).