This report contains a guide to obtaining copies of the constitution of the United States, the Bill of Rights, and the Declaration of Independence.

This report summarizes by what measures the Constitution requires Congress to determine its own pay, the annual payment adjustment procedure, changes in pay over time since 1789, and related legislation.

This report contains information on the general structure of the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate committee structure, types of committees, and subcommittees.

This report updates earlier information concerning North Korea's ballistic missile development and that country's technological missile-launch capabilities.

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This report contains an overview of the comparison of the top executives and other worker's pay.

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This report provides Review of 10 States based on Home and Community-Based Services — States Seek to Change the Face of Long-Term Care of Illinois.

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Appropriations are one part of a complex federal budget process that includes budget resolutions, appropriations (regular, supplemental, and continuing) bills, rescissions, and budget reconciliation bills. This Report is a guide to one of the 13 regular appropriations bills that Congress passes each year. It is designed to supplement the information provided by the House and Senate Interior Appropriations Subcommittees.

The United States and its allies are helping Afghanistan emerging from more than 22 years of warfare, although substantial risk to Afghan stability remains. Before the U.S. military campaign against the orthodox Islamist Taliban movement began on October 7, 2001, Afghanistan had been mired in conflict since the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979. The defeat of the Taliban has enabled the United States and its coalition partners to send forces throughout Afghanistan to search for Taliban and Al Qaeda fighters and leaders that remain at large, including Osama bin Laden. As the war against remaining Al Qaeda and Taliban elements winds down, the United States is shifting its military focus toward stabilizing the interim government, including training a new Afghan national army, and supporting the international security force (ISAF) that is helping the new government provide security.

Restrictions on travel to Cuba have been a key and often contentious component in U.S. efforts to isolate the communist government of Fidel Castro for much of the past 40 years. Over time, there have been numerous changes to the restrictions, and for 5 years, from 1977 until 1982, there were no restrictions on travel to Cuba. In March 2003, the Administration eased restrictions on those visiting close family members in Cuba, while at the same time it eliminated travel for people-to-people educational exchanges unrelated to academic coursework.

The CWC bans the development, production, stockpiling, and use of chemical weapons by members signatories. It also requires the destruction of all chemical weapons stockpiles and production facilities. Neither the United States nor Russia will be able to meet the original CWC’s deadlines for destruction of their CW stockpiles, and have been granted extensions to at least 2012. The Convention provides the most extensive and intrusive verification regime of any arms control treaty, extending its coverage to not only governmental but also civilian facilities. The Convention also requires export controls and reporting requirements on chemicals that can be used as warfare agents and their precursors. The CWC establishes the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) to oversee the Convention’s implementation.

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On June 30, the scheduled expiration of TANF, a bill was presented to the President to extend TANF, supplemental TANF grants, mandatory child care, abstinence education, and transitional medical assistance (TMA) for another quarter, through September 30, 2003. The Welfare Reform Extension Act (H.R. 2350), which passed the House on June 11, was held at the Senate desk until June 27, when it was passed by unanimous consent. It was uncertain when the Senate Finance Committee would mark up a comprehensive reauthorization measure, for which staffers are preparing. Pending are four bills H.R. 4, the House Republican leadership bill, passed by the House February 13, S. 5, the Senate Republican leadership bill, and two Democratic alternatives, S. 367, and S. 448. H.R. 4 is almost identical to the bill passed by the House last year (H.R. 4737). Both H.R. 4 and S. 5 set the work week for most TANF recipients at 40 hours and require that states eventually engage 70% of recipients in a work activity. S. 5 would allow states to privatize determination of food stamp eligibility

The House passed a bill (H.R. 3146) on September 24 to extend TAIF, mandatory child care, abstinence education, and transitional Medicaid, on current terms, through March 31, 2004. In the absence of legislation, these programs would expire on September 30. The Senate Finance Committee approved a comprehensive TAIF preauthorization proposal of Chairman Chuck Grassley on September 10. Entitled Personal Responsibility and Individual Development for Everyone (PRIDE), the legislation would extend TANF, mandatory child care, abstinence education, and transitional Medicaid for 5 years, FY2004 through FY2008. It would raise TANF work participation standards, increase weekly work hours, add new countable work activities,

This report discusses the burden of a national debt, the view among economists, the federal budget deficits, and the financial burden that future generations will inherit, a larger privately owned capital stock and a higher level of income.

This report presents an overview of two national incidence studies prepared by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) to determine annually the number of reported missing and recovered children in the nation. It also discusses the AMBER Alert System created to help recover reported missing children, legislation introduced in the 108th Congresses to address the missing children issue, and questions that remain regarding concerns about missing children.

The purpose of this report is to present a number of generally less broad legislative proposals related to child welfare financing have been introduced in the 108th Congress. Additional child welfare-related proposals designed to improve services, promote timely placement of children across state lines, and for other purposes, are described in this report.