This report examines arguments both for and against targeting assistance to geographic areas with specified characteristics, such as low income, high poverty, or high unemployment, as opposed to providing assistance to people or businesses with specified characteristics. It then assesses the arguments both for and against the continuation of the HUBZone program

Report containing reference material regarding the Affordable Care Act (ACA) individual provisions at the time of enactment. This report -- one in a series of CRS products summarizing ACA that were issued after the law's enactment -- describes the law's workforce, public health, quality, and related provisions.

Report that discusses the American Community Survey (ACS) and the gathering of detailed socioeconomic and housing data from a representative population sample in conjunction with the once-a-decade count of the population of the United States.

This report covers concerns that Congress has expressed over U.S. acquisition of rare earth elements, particularly those used in various components of defense weapon systems. Specific concerns are the acquisition of these elements, especially from foreign sources such as China; how dependence of foreign sources affects national security; and methods for decreasing the relationship between reliance on foreign sources and national security.

Report that provides an overview of Social Security financing and benefits under current law.

This report discusses categorical eligibility and some of the issues raised by it. It first describes the three different types of categorical eligibility: traditional categorical eligibility conveyed through receipt of need-based cash assistance, and the newer "narrow" and "broad-based" categorical eligibilities conveyed via TANF "noncash" benefits. It also provides recent information on current state practices with regard to categorical eligibility. Finally, the report discusses proposals to restrict categorical eligibility.

This report examines what has changed in the U.S. natural gas market and the prospects and implications of the United States becoming a significant net natural gas exporter.

This report provides a brief overview of the Science and Technology (S&T) Directorate's mission, organization, and budgetary structure; a discussion of selected critiques of the S&T Directorate; and an analysis of selected issues facing congressional policymakers.

Report that identifies various online sources for planning and acquiring funds for postsecondary education. This list includes both general and comprehensive sources, as well as those targeted toward specific types of aid and circumstances.

This report reviews federal laws and the regulatory regime governing the export of natural gas, crude oil, and coal.

This report provides committee funding requests and authorizations for Senate committees in the 106th through 113th Congresses.

This report provides an overview of nanotechnology, the National Nanotechnology Initiative, possible reauthorization of the 21st Century Nanotechnology Research and Development Act of 2003 (P.L. 108-153), and appropriations issues.

This report provides a brief overview of how foreign investments can affect the U.S.

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Agencies GAO surveyed reported operating fewer in-house printing plants than in 1990. Specifically, surveyed agencies reported operating 64 percent fewer plants than the number listed in the Congress's Joint Committee on Printing's (JCP) Government Printing and Binding Regulations, updated in 1990 (1990 JCP Regulations). The Department of Defense (DOD) accounted for the greatest decline in in-house printing plants. The 1990 JCP Regulations listed 142 DOD printing plants; however, the Defense Logistics Agency, which currently manages the majority of DOD's printing infrastructure, reported 17 in-house printing plants in GAO's survey. In addition, most agencies reported operating toner-based high-speed duplication machines, and fewer reported operating ink-based conventional printing presses. Of the 32 agencies operating in-house printing plants, 17 reported that all of their in-house printing was conducted on high-speed duplication machines; another 14 agencies reported operating some duplication equipment in addition to conventional printing presses (the remaining agency did not report its type of equipment). No agency reported having only ink-based conventional printing presses at its in-house plants. In addition, interviews with selected agencies showed declines in printing volumes and total spending, and suggested that agencies spent more …

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In September 2012, GAO reported that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) does not know the total amount its components invest in research and development (R&D) and does not have policies and guidance for defining R&D and overseeing R&D resources across the department. According to DHS, its Science & Technology Directorate (S&T), Domestic Nuclear Detection Office (DNDO), and U. S. Coast Guard (Coast Guard) are the only components that conduct R&D, and GAO found that these are the only components that report budget authority, obligations, or outlays for R&D activities to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) as part of the budget process. However, GAO identified an additional $255 million in R&D obligations made by other DHS components. According to DHS, it is difficult to identify all R&D investments across the department because DHS does not have a department wide policy defining R&D or guidance directing components how to report all R&D spending and activities. As a result, it is difficult for DHS to oversee components' R&D efforts and align them with agency wide R&D goals and priorities. GAO recommended that DHS develop specific policies and guidance …

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In brief, GAO's work found that CMS will operate a health insurance exchange in the 34 states that will not operate a state-based exchange for 2014. While CMS will retain full authority over each of these 34 FFEs, it planned to allow 15 of these states to assist it in carrying out certain FFE functions. However, the activities that CMS plans to carry out in these 15 exchanges, as well as in the 17 state-based exchanges, have evolved and may continue to change. For example, CMS approved states' exchange arrangements on the condition that states ultimately complete activities necessary for exchange implementation. Agency officials indicated that they were working with each state to develop mitigation strategies to ensure that all applicable exchange functions are operating in each state on October 1, 2013. CMS indicated that it would carry out more exchange functions if any state did not adequately progress towards implementation of all required activities."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "GAO found the following:"

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and selected components are implementing strategies to fill mission-critical occupations (MCO), which are those occupations most critical to an agency's mission. In 2011, the Office of Diversity and Inclusion (D&I)--which coordinates component recruiting efforts--developed the Coordinated Recruiting and Outreach Strategy (CROS). Through the CROS, D&I intends to better coordinate and link component recruiting and outreach efforts to hiring for DHS mission and workforce needs (for all positions, including MCOs), and to leverage resources as well as reduce recruiting costs, among other things. D&I has begun to implement the CROS through various means, including requiring components to develop their own outreach and recruiting plans that align with the CROS. However, D&I has been limited in its ability to implement some elements of the CROS--such as recruiter training--because of budget constraints, according to D&I officials. The components selected for GAO's review--the National Protection and Programs Directorate, Transportation Security Administration (TSA), U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, and U.S. Secret Service (USSS)--have also implemented various strategies to recruit and hire MCOs. In addition, these four components have generally been able to address hiring needs …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The performance of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) portfolio of major projects has improved in the areas of cost and schedule growth since GAO’s first assessment in 2009. Average development cost growth and schedule delay for the current portfolio have decreased to about a third of their 2009 levels."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The new F-35 acquisition baseline reflects positive restructuring actions taken by the Department of Defense (DOD) since 2010, including more time and funding for development and deferred procurement of more than 400 aircraft to future years. Overall, the program progressed on several fronts during 2012 to further improve the current outlook. The program achieved 7 of 10 key management objectives and made substantial progress on one other. Two objectives on aircraft deliveries and a corrective management plan were not met. The F-35 development test program substantially met expectations with some revisions to flight test plans and made considerable progress addressing key technical risks. Software management practices and some output measures improved, although deliveries to test continued to lag behind plans. Manufacturing and supply processes also improved--indicators such as factory throughput, labor efficiency, and quality measures were positive. While initial F-35 production overran target costs and delivered aircraft late, the latest data shows labor hours decreasing and deliveries accelerating."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Over time, Congress has modified how Medicare reimburses certain hospitals under the inpatient prospective payment system (IPPS), which pays hospitals a flat fee per stay, set in advance, with different amounts for each type of condition. GAO identified numerous statutory provisions that individually increased Medicare payments to a subset of hospitals."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The AMP process, which the judiciary has applied to about 67 percent of its courthouses, represents progress by the judiciary in aligning its capital-planning process with leading capital-planning practices, but the document the judiciary uses to request courthouse construction projects from Congress lacks transparency and key information. For example, the AMP process better aligns with leading practices for identifying real property needs by establishing a comprehensive, nationwide 328-factor analysis of every courthouse, whereas the previous process only assessed courthouses when requested by a local judicial district. However, the AMP process does not fully align with several leading practices due to, for example, its lack of linkage to the judiciary's strategic plan. Two courthouse projects illustrate how the AMP process has changed the way the judiciary evaluates its need for new courthouses. Specifically, two projects listed on a previous 5-year plan (covering fiscal years 2012 through 2016) were re-evaluated under AMP--San Jose, California, and Greenbelt, Maryland. Both had ranked among the top 15 most urgent projects nationwide under the previous capital-planning process, and as such, the judiciary prioritized them for new construction in 2010. However, after the judiciary evaluated …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "According to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), 12 of its 20 major information technology (IT) investments were within 10 percent of cost and schedule estimates or significantly below cost between October 2011 and October 2012. For the remaining 8 investments, 3 were reported as being significantly over cost and 5 were reported as being significantly behind schedule. Reported reasons for these significant variances include unplanned work activities, procurement delays, and additional costs associated with terminating an investment that was being replaced."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In fiscal year 2012, the Navy and the Air Force met their adjusted civilian workforce cap targets, but the Army did not. The Department of Defense (DOD) estimated the civilian workforce cap saved the department $2.2 billion in fiscal year 2012 and would save a total of $11.5 billion through 2016. At the time the cap was extended to the services, each was executing its fiscal year 2011 budgets with additional planned growth expected. Further, the services were granted departmentwide and service-specific exceptions to exceed their fiscal year 2010 levels by 13,001 full-time equivalents (FTE), or 3.7 percent."