This report provides committee funding requests and authorizations as adopted pursuant to primary expense authorizations for House committees in the 104th-112th Congresses.

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Legislative initiatives to comprehensively amend the Clean Water Act have talked for some time as interested parties have debated whether and exactly how to change the law. Congress has recently focused legislative attention on narrow bills to extend or modify selected Clean Water Act programs, rather than taking up comprehensive proposals. This report contains information on the recent developments as of its writing, background and analysis as related to the Clean Water Act legislative actions, and legislative issues of the 109th Congress.

This report discusses several dairy issues that have been or are being considered by the 109th Congress, some of which affect the three major federal dairy policy tools -- the Milk Income Loss Contract (MILC) program, federal milk marketing orders, and the dairy price support program.

This issue brief discusses reform proposals from both the Administration and Amtrak in the 109th Congress. It addresses the appropriations requested by Amtrak, the reluctance of the Administration to provide aid, and its willingness to let Amtrak enter bankruptcy, resulting in restructuring and reform of inefficient operations.

This report discusses various issues in the 109th Congress pertaining to water infrastructure and water quality standards. Legislative initiatives to comprehensively amend the Clean Water Act (CWA) have stalled for some time as interested parties have debated whether and exactly how to change the law. Congress has recently focused legislative attention on narrow bills to extend or modify selected CWA programs, rather than taking up comprehensive proposals.

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The 109th Congress examined the role of groups organized under section 527 of the Internal Revenue Code(IRC) that are involved in federal elections but are operating under the requirements and restrictions of federal election law.

Conferees on H.R. 6, the Energy Policy Act of 2005, began meeting July 14, 2005, and are predicting that the conference will be completed July 25. The Senate passed its version of the bill June 28, and the House passed its version April 21. The Senate and House bills are similar, but major differences exist, including the following areas: ethanol and methyl tertiary-butyl ether, Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, electricity restructuring, renewable energy, climate change, tax provisions, outer continental shelf, and the siting of LNG terminals

Conferees on H.R. 6, the Energy Policy Act of 2005, began meeting July 14, 2005, and are predicting that the conference will be completed July 25. The Senate passed its version of the bill June 28, and the House passed its version April 21. The Senate and House bills are similar, but major differences exist, including the following areas: ethanol and methyl tertiary-butyl ether, Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, electricity restructuring, renewable energy, climate change, tax provisions, outer continental shelf, and the siting of LNG terminals

The 108th Congress completed a full trade agenda with the passage of legislation on a broad spectrum of issues. The 109th Congress is expected to face a trade agenda that will be at least as extensive, covering a wide range of issues, from the extension of presidential trade promotion (fast track) authority to consideration of more free trade agreements and oversight of the World Trade Organization (WTO) trade negotiations. In some respects, these issues are distinct, each with its own policy and economic implications. In other respects the issues are interrelated. They have emerged from common sets of domestic politics, foreign policy, and economic factors and affect or are affected by the concerns of Members of Congress, of other policymakers and of many interest groups. These issues and how policymakers deal with them will define overall U.S. trade policy.

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Under provisions of the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001 (EGTRRA, P.L. 107-16), the estate tax and generation-skipping transfer tax are scheduled to be repealed effective January 1, 2010. But the estate tax repeal, and all other provisions of EGTRRA, are scheduled to sunset December 31, 2010. If the sunset provision is not repealed, or the law is not otherwise changed beforehand, in 2011 estate and gift tax law will return to what it would have been had EGTRRA never been enacted. The unified estate and gift taxes will be reinstated with an exclusion amount of $1 million. The maximum tax rate will revert to 55%.

Congress generally authorizes Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) water resources projects before considering them in the annual appropriations process. The 109th Congress is considering authorizing Corps projects through two Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) bills — S. 728 and H.R. 2864. The House passed H.R. 2864 in July 2005; S. 728 was placed on the Senate calendar in April 2005. Previous WRDAs followed a loosely biennial schedule; however, the last WRDA was enacted in 2000.

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This report reviews the status of energy efficiency and renewable energy legislation introduced during the 109th Congress. Action in the second session has focused on appropriations bills; the first session focused on omnibus energy policy bill H.R. 6 and several appropriations bills. this report describes several major pieces of legislation, including the Energy Policy Act of 2005 and the Transportation Equity Act. For each bill listed in this report, a brief description and a summary of action are given, including references to committee hearings and reports. Also, a selected list of hearings on renewable energy is included.

This report gives an overview of the major regulatory relief provisions in H.R. 3505 and S. 2856, focusing on their potential impact on bank concentration. The report examines both bills’ provisions to assess whether they are likely to support or discourage bank consolidation. The consolidation of the banking industry arguably reduces competition, which could tend to raise the price of banking services. On the other hand, there is empirical evidence that shows economies of scale in banking, including economies in complying with banking regulations, suggesting larger banks might be able to provide banking services at lower cost than smaller banks.

Report on immigration with a focus on border security and related legislation, considered by the 109th Congress.

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