This report discusses the ongoing debate about whether or not to approve energy development in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). Current law forbids energy leasing in the Refuge. This report addresses several legislative options on the issue, as well as policymakers' arguments for and against development, especially in the wake of increasing terrorism since 2000-2001.

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 Appropriations Subcommittees on Defense. It summarizes the status of the bill, its scope, major issues, funding levels, and related congressional activity.

This is a report on Automatic Enrollment in section 401(k) plans.

This report discusses enrollment practices for 401k retirement plans. Historically, most employers that have sponsored retirement savings plans under §401(k) of the Internal Revenue Code (IRC) have required employees to decide whether to enroll in the plan. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has issued rulings to inform employers that current law allows them to enroll employees automatically, provided that the employee is notified in advance and is permitted to leave the plan.

This report Addresses Multiple Strains Cause Different Effects Worldwide of Avian Influenza.

This documents explains the House's bill of president George Bush's faith-based initiatives.

This report provides information about the Background and Funding on Child Nutrition and WIC Programs. child nutrition programs provide free meals to lower-income children.The CACFP subsidies meals and snacks served by children.

P.L. 104-193 (the 1996 welfare reform law) made major changes to the Child Support Enforcement (CSE) program. Some of the changes include requiring states to increase the percentage of fathers identified, establishing an integrated, automated network linking all states to information about the location and assets of parents, and requiring states to implement more enforcement techniques to obtain collections from debtor parents. Additional legislative changes were made in 1997, 1998, and 1999, but not in 2000, 2001, 2002, or 2003. This report describes several aspects of the revised CSE program and discusses three issues of concern to the 108th Congress — CSE financing, parental access by noncustodial parents, and distribution of child support payments.

U.S.-China economic ties have expanded substantially over the past several years. China is now the third largest U.S. trading partner, its second largest source of imports, and its fourth largest export market. However, U.S.-China commercial ties have been strained by a number of issues, including a surging U.S. trade deficit with China, China's refusal to float its currency, and failure to fully comply with its World Trade Organization (WTO) commitments, especially its failure to provide protection for U.S. intellectual property rights (IPR). This report explores these issues in detail, especially concerning the lack of protection for U.S. IPR.

China’s economy remained relatively healthy in 2002, despite economic slowdowns in other parts of the world. Foreign investment continued to pour into China, and the Chinese government effectively used public spending to boost the economy. However, painful economic reforms will be necessary to keep the economic strong in 2003 and beyond. The recent outbreak in early 2003 of a very contagious virus called SevereAcuteRespiratory Syndrome (SARS) in China appears to have had a short-term negative impact on the Chinese economy.

This report is on Civil Charges in Corporate Scandals.

This report provides information about the Clean Air Act Issues in the 106th Congress. Congress last enacted major amendments to the clear air act in 1990 and EPA is in the midst of implementing numerous provisions of those amendments.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) final rule on clarifying the definition of routine maintenance under its New Source Review (NSR) process exempts industrial facilities from undergoing NSR if they are replacing safety, reliability, and efficiency rated components with new, functionally equivalent equipment and if the cost of the replacement components is under 20 percent of the replacement value of the process unit.

Initiated in part as a proposal to reform U.S. high schools, concurrent enrollment programs enable high school aged students to take college level course work and receive college credit while enrolled in high school. Concurrent enrollment programs can be best described as a secondary/postsecondary school hybrid. This report provides a brief history of these programs and a description of the different types of programs, including participation data.

This report provides information about Crime and Forfeiture. Forfeiture has been an effective law enforcement tool. Modern Forfeiture follows one of the two procedural routes.

This report is a research aid, which lists the Department of Defense (DOD) authorization bills (Table 1) and appropriations bills (Table 2).

This report provides an organizational chart of the Department of Homeland Security.

DNA evidence is a powerful forensic tool in criminal cases. Its use and capabilities have increased substantially since it was first introduced in the late 1980s. That growth has led to the emergence of the following issues that were considered by the 106th Congress in legislative initiatives: eliminating the nationwide backlog of unanalyzed DNA samples, expanding the kinds of offenders who are profiled, providing opportunities for post-conviction testing of DNA evidence, and continuing development of forensic science capabilities. This report discusses those and related issues and the legislation proposed and enacted to address them. It begins by describing provisions in prior federal law and then discusses issues and the legislation proposed, including the enacted DNA Analysis Backlog Elimination Act of 2000 (H.R. 4640, which became P.L. 106-546).

The 12th Amdendment to the Constitution requires that candidates for President and Vice President receive a majority of electoral votes to be elected. If no candidate receives a majority, the President is elected by the House of Representatives (which occurred once, in 1825), and the Vice President is elected by the Senate (which also occurred once, in 1837). This process is known as contingent election. This report contains information on the 12th Amendment Constitutional History, previous contingent elections, the 20th Amendment and the Presidential Succession Act of 1947, and related information.

This report summarizes the technology and administration of EAS and some current proposals for an all-hazard network.

This report discusses various measures being considered by Congress that propose to amend the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (ESA). Major issues in recent years have focused on whether to incorporate further protection for property owners and reduce regulatory impacts, whether to increase the protection afforded listed species, or whether to modify various aspects of the ESA, such as the role of science in decision-making.

The history of omnibus energy legislation in the 108th Congress has been protracted. The House passed the conference version of H.R. 6 on November 18, 2003. On November 21, a cloture motion to limit debate in the Senate on the H.R. 6 conference report failed (57-40). Efforts to bring the bill back to the Senate floor early in the second session were unsuccessful. Some argued that any major changes to the legislation would not be viable because of the careful regional and political compromises that were reached to get a bill out of conference and through the House. The closest consensus was that the cost of the bill had to be reduced.

Under provisions of the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001 (EGTRRA, P.L. 107-16, enacted June 7, 2001), the estate tax and generation-skipping transfer tax are scheduled to be repealed in 2010 but reinstated in 2011. This is because all tax cut provisions of EGTRRA are scheduled to sunset on December 31, 2010. This report tracks actions in the 108th Congress to permanently repeal — or retain but alter — the estate tax.

Because of the continuing threat of terrorism, concerns have been raised about the potential for terrorist events to occur close to or during the voting process for the November 2004 elections. For instance, the question has been raised as to whether a sufficiently calamitous event could result in the postponement of the election, and what mechanisms are in place to deal with such an event. This report focuses on who has the constitutional authority to postpone elections, to whom such power could be delegated, and what legal limitations exist to such a postponement.