This report consists of the budget for fiscal year 2005.

Facilities handling large amounts of potentially hazardous chemicals (i.e., chemical facilities) might be of interest to terrorists, either as targets for direct attacks meant to release chemicals into the community or as a source of chemicals for use elsewhere. Because few terrorist attacks have been attempted against chemical facilities in the United States, the risk of death and injury in the near future is estimated to be low, relative to the likelihood of accidents at such facilities or attacks on other targets using conventional weapons. For any individual facility, the risk is very small, but risks may be increasing with potentially severe consequences for human health and the environment. Available evidence indicates that many chemical facilities may lack adequate safeguards.

The continued rise in the U.S.-China trade imbalance, complaints from several U.S. manufacturing firms over the competitive challenges posed by cheap Chinese imports, and concerns that U.S. manufacturing jobs are being lost to Chinese competitors have led several Members to call on the Bush Administration to take a more aggressive stance against certain Chinese trade policies deemed to be unfair. This report explores these issues in detail, especially concerning the lack of protection for U.S. IPR.

In 2004, concerns arose that certain antidepressants, other medicines, and medical devices, had been marketed to consumers despite unresolved safety issues. Data from clinical trials conducted both before and after a product goes to market are central to assessing its safety and effectiveness, but there is currently no centralized system for reporting results. This report includes information on recent events as related to clinical trial reporting as of the writing of this report and legislation introduced on the subject in the 108th Congress.

In November 2003 the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed a policy regarding a type of wastewater treatment practice called blending. Some cities use blending to manage peak flows of water and waste into wastewater treatment plants during and after storms as a way to prevent conditions that otherwise result in raw sewage backups into homes and other buildings or overflows into nearby waters. This report provides background on blending, why and how it is practiced, EPA’s proposed policy, associated issues, and congressional interest in the topic.

This report provides historical background on wildfires, and describes concerns about the wildland-urban interface and about forest and rangeland health.

Congress continues to face questions about forestry practices, funding levels, and the federal role in wildland fire protection. The 2000 and 2002 fire seasons were, by most standards, among the worst in the past half-century. National attention began to focus on wildfires when a prescribed burn in May 2000 escaped control and burned 239 homes in Los Alamos, NM. President Clinton responded by requesting a doubling of wildfire management funds, and Congress enacted much of this proposal in the FY2001 Interior Appropriations Act (P.L. 106-291).

This report provides information about the FY2006 Appropriations for State and Local Homeland Security. This report is a preliminary overview of the administration FY2006 budget request and congress proposed appropriations for selected programs of homeland security.

Elections for a transitional National Assembly, provincial councils, and a Kurdish regional assembly were held on January 30, 2005. High voter turnout in mostly Shiite and Kurdish areas led to a first and second-place finish for slates backed by these two communities. Sunni Arabs, dominant under Saddam Hussein, appear to have been further marginalized by their relative lack of participation in the vote. This report will be updated regularly. See CRS Report RL31339, Iraq: U.S. Regime Change Efforts and Post-Saddam Governance.

This report summarizes the amount of federal appropriations for K-12 education, including total elementary and secondary funding, recent increases, and the major components counted in the K-12 total. K-12 components include: the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA), as amended by the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLBA), P.L. 107-110; the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA); the Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Technical Education Act of 1998; and the Adult Education and Family Literacy Act (AEFLA).

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This report discusses the current congressional issues which include (1) deciding the amount to appropriate each year to each of the four federal agencies, and to the state grant program; (2) identifying which lands should be acquired; and (3) determining whether the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) funds should be appropriated for additional related purposes.

This report provides a concise overview of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and its major functions, and highlights a number of issues influenced by OMB in matters of policy, budget, management, and OMB's internal operations.

Pakistan is a strategically important country and home to one of the world’s largest Muslim populations. In October 1999, Pakistan’s Chief of Army Staff Gen. Pervez Musharraf replaced Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in a bloodless coup. In the wake of the military overthrow of the elected government, Islamabad faced considerable international opprobrium and was subjected to automatic coup-related U.S. sanctions. The September 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States and Musharraf’s ensuing withdrawal of support for the Afghan Taliban regime, however, had the effect of greatly reducing Pakistan’s international isolation. Congress removed restrictions, and large-scale U.S. aid to the country resumed, in the final months of 2001.

This report provides an overview of the President’s Management Agenda, announced in August 2001, and comprising five government-wide initiatives, including strategic management of human capital, competitive sourcing, improved financial performance, expanded electronic government, and budget and performance integration. Related developments, such as introduction of a Management Scorecard for gauging agency achievement on the initiatives and development of a program assessment rating tool (PART) for evaluating program performance, are also discussed. This report will be updated as developments warrant.