Report on the military retirement system, including benefits, disability, budget, costs, cash bonuses, and more.

congress continues to debate NASA’s International Space Station (ISS), a permanently occupied facility in Earth orbit where astronauts live and conduct research. Congress appropriated approximately $35 billion for the program from FY1985-2005. The initial FY2006 ISS request was $2.180 billion: $1.857 billion for construction and operations and $324 million for research to be conducted by ISS crews. In a July budget the amendment, NASA transferred $168 million for ISS Crew/Cargo Services to another part of the NASA budget and reduced the ISS request commensurately. The FY2006 appropriations act that includes NASA (P.L. 109- 108) cut $80 million from the originally submitted budget, and NASA now plans to spend $306 million, instead of $324 million, on ISS research in FY2006.

This report includes information regarding various United States space programs.

Vladimir Putin won reelection as Russian President in March 2004, in an exercise in “managed democracy” in which he took 71% of the vote and faced no serious competition. The pro-Putin Unified Russia party similarly swept the parliamentary election in December 2003 and controls more than two-thirds of the seats in the Duma. Also in March, Putin replaced long-serving Premier Kasyanov with a little-known bureaucrat, Mikhail Fradkov, indicating Putin’s intent to take the reins of the government even more completely into his own hands.

This report gives an overview of dairy policy and issues. The contents include Milk Income Loss Contract(MILC ) payments, dairy price support program, federal milk marketing order issues, and milk protein concentrate trade issues.

This report discusses about energy tax policy. U.S energy tax policy promoted the supply of oil and gas but witnessed significant cutback, imposition of new excise taxes on oil and introduction of numerous tax preferences for energy conservation.

This report discusses policy options for Congress regarding gas prices. The high price of gasoline was an important consideration during the debate on major energy legislation, which ended August 8 as the President signed the Energy Policy Act of 2005, H.R. 6 (P.L. 109-58). However, prices continued to surge, spiking at the end of August when Hurricane Katrina shut down refining operations in the Gulf of Mexico. The continuing crisis renewed attention to some issues that were dropped or compromised in the debate over P.L. 109-58. A large number of factors combined to put pressure on gasoline prices, including increased world demand for crude oil and U.S. refinery capacity inadequate to supply gasoline to a recovering national economy. The war and continued violence in Iraq added uncertainty and a threat of supply disruption that added pressure particularly to the commodity futures markets.

To address the challenges facing the U.S. Intelligence Community in the 21st Century, Congressional and executive branch initiatives have sought to improve coordination among the different agencies and to encourage better analysis. In December 2004, the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act (P.L. 108-458) was signed, providing for a Director of National Intelligence (DNI) with substantial authorities to manage the national intelligence effort. The legislation calls for a separate Director of the Central Intelligence Agency.

This report includes information regarding Israel's government, economy, foreign policy, and relations with the United States.

This report discusses the Middle East peace talks, including the new peace process with the most recent developments,and the war against terrorism.

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This report includes information regarding current issues in Saudi Arabia, background to Saudi-U.S. relations, and congressional interest in Saudi Arabia

This report discusses issues in U.S.-Jordanian relations. These issues include the stability of the Jordanian regime, democratic reform under way in Jordan, the role of Jordan in the Arab-Israeli peace process, Jordan’s concerns over the U.S.-led campaign against Iraq in 2003, and its relations with other regional states.

The United States and Lebanon continue to enjoy good relations. Prominent current issues between the United States and Lebanon include progress toward a Lebanon-Israel a peace treaty, U.S. aid to Lebanon, and Lebanon’s capacity to stop Hizballah militia attacks on Israel. The United States supports Lebanon’s independence and favored the end of Israeli and Syrian occupation of parts of Lebanon. Israel withdrew from southern Lebanon on May 23, 2000, and Syria completed withdrawing its forces on April 26, 2005.

Syria, governed by President Hafiz al-Asad from 1970 until his death in June 2000, is a prominent player in the Middle East scene. Within the region, a number of borders disputes, problems of resource allocation, and political rivalries have caused frequent tensions between Syria and its neighbors. In particular, the Syrian Golan Heights territory, which Israel has occupied since 1967, has been one of the most intractable issues in the Arab-Israeli dispute.

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This report discusses the CAFE Standards of Automobile and Light Truck Fuel Economy.

The 109th Congress is considering issues related to the public lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the national forests managed by the Forest Service (FS). The Administration is addressing issues through budgetary, regulatory, and other actions. Several key issues of congressional and administrative interest are covered here.

This report includes information related to energy efficiency, including history, various bills and budgets, and conservation. Climate change and energy security related to energy efficiency are also discussed in this report.

Falling agricultural exports and declining commodity prices led farm groups and agribusiness firms to urge the 106th Congress to pass legislation exempting foods and agricultural commodities from U.S. economic sanctions against certain countries. In completing action on the FY2001 agriculture appropriations bill, Congress codified the lifting of unilateral sanctions on commercial sales of food, agricultural commodities, medicine, and medical products to Iran, Libya, North Korea, and Sudan, and extended this policy to apply to Cuba (Title IX of H.R. 5426, as enacted by P.L. 106-387; Trade Sanctions Reform and Export Enhancement Act of 2000). Related provisions place financing and licensing conditions on sales to these countries. Those that apply to Cuba, though, are permanent and more restrictive than for the other countries. Other provisions give Congress the authority in the future to veto a President's proposal to impose a sanction on the sale of agricultural or medical products.

This report includes information regarding nuclear proliferation issues. Aspects of this report discuss international nonproliferation structures, U.S. policy, and nuclear proliferation in specific regions.

This report includes background and analysis of the United States postal reform. Causes of financial crisis, transformative plans, and activity from past congresses are also discussed in this report.

Renewable energy is derived from resources that are generally not depleted by human use, such as the sun, wind, and water movement. This report discusses various aspects of policy regarding renewable energy including tax credits and budget legislation.

This report discusses projected agricultural imports and exports for FY2006, as well as legislation that deals with federal programs in support of agricultural exports and federal aid dedicated to farms and agricultural reform.