This report discusses the continued debate amongst congressional policymakers regarding telecommunications reform. A major point of the ongoing discussion is whether action is needed to ensure unfettered access to the Internet.

The United States provides assistance to 47 African countries, and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has 23 missions in Africa. In recent years, U.S. assistance to Africa saw a major increase, especially in health-related programs. This report provides an overview of U.S. aid to Africa, including the strategic objectives that shape U.S. aid to Africa, information about specific aid programs and initiatives, and the Obama Administration's FY2011 foreign aid budget request.

This report discusses the recent development in different programs administered by U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) with the goal to promote agricultural exports and to provide food aid. These programs include direct export subsidies, export market development, export credit guarantees, and foreign food aid.

This report presents some statistics and trends that indicate alcohol use is a a problem that merits Congressional attention as a public health program.

This report is intended to provide an overview of the fundamentals of the Senate amendment process. It summarizes many of the rules, precedents, and practices of the Senate affecting the consideration of amendments to measures on the floor.

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This report is on The Animal Welfare Act: Background and Selected Legislation.

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

This is a report from the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge about background and issues.

This report discusses the Assistance to Firefighters Grant (AFG) Program, also known as the FIRE Act grant program, which provides federal grants directly to local fire departments and Emergency Medical Services (EMS) organizations.

This report discusses the current state of Bahrain, which has undergone substantial political reforms since the late 1990s, but which still suffers from tension between the Shiite majority and the Sunni-led government. This report focuses particularly on Bahrain's relationship with Iran and Bahrain's relationship with the United States.

This report provides the summary of the energy reorganization act of 1974. It also discusses the statement by the president and executive order activating the energy resource council.

This report provides information about the Regulatory and Policy Issues Broadband over Power lines.

This report consists of campaign finance reform with a legal analysis of issue and express advocacy.

Issue advocacy communications have become increasingly popular over the federal election cycles. Often these advertisements could be interpreted to favor or disfavor certain candidates, while also serving to inform the public about a policy issue. However, unlike communications that expressly advocate the election or defeat of a clearly identified candidate, the Supreme Court has ruled that issue ads are constitutionally protected First Amendment speech and cannot be regulated in any manner. According to most lower court rulings, only speech containing express words of advocacy of election or defeat, also known as “express advocacy” or “magic words” can be regulated as election-related communications and therefore be subject to the requirements of the Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA). Unlike express advocacy communications, therefore, issue ads may be paid for with funds unregulated by federal law, i.e., soft money

This report discusses the basic methodology of life-cycle assessments and compares several of the publicly available studies of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions data for Canadian oil sands crudes against each other and against those of other global reference crudes. As congressional concern over the environmental impacts of Canadian oil sands production may encompass both a broad understanding of the resource as well as a specific assessment of the proposed Keystone XL pipeline, the report surveys both the general scientific literature as well as the individual findings in the State Department's 2011 Final Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) and 2013 Draft Supplementary EIS for the Keystone XL Project.

This report examines the subsidies that families might receive under the Child Care and Development Fund(CCDF) and the Dependent care tax credit(DCTC) and the subsequent out-of-pocket costs they might bear, depending on their income and the state in which they live.

This report addresses relevant policy questions in current U.S.-China relations, discusses trends and key legislation in the current Congress and provides a chronology of developments and high-level exchanges.

This report is a chronological list of events that shaped and defined the American Revolution.

This report provides background information and potential oversight issues for Congress on the Coast Guard's programs for procuring 8 National Security Cutters (NSCs), 25 Offshore Patrol Cutters (OPCs), and 58 Fast Response Cutters (FRCs).

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.

This report identifies the most commonly used motions and requests available to Members during proceedings in the House of Representatives. It does not identify motions and requests used when the House is in the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union.

This report contains the overview, history, and analysis of the Congressional charter of the American National Red Cross charters. The review and analysis raises questions about the provisions of the current charter of the American National Red Cross (ANRC) that Congress may wish to examine.

This report discusses the contested November 28, 2010, presidential election runoff election in Côte d'Ivoire. Laurent Gbagbo and his rival, former Prime Minister Alassane Ouattara, both continue to claim to have won the runoff and to exercise exclusive national executive authority, and to attempt to consolidate their control over state institutions. An increase in armed conflicts in late February 2011, among other indicators, signals the possible outbreak of a renewed civil war. This report discusses these events, as well as U.S. and international efforts to support a peaceful transition in Côte d'Ivoire, which has remained largely divided since the civil war that began in 2002.