A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991 prohibited invasive telemarketing practices, including the faxing of unsolicited advertisements, known as "junk faxes," to individual consumers and businesses. Junk faxes create costs for consumers (paper and toner) and disrupt their fax operations. The Junk Fax Prevention Act of 2005 clarified an established business relationship exemption, specified opt-out procedures for consumers, and requires the Federal Communications Commission (FCC)--the federal agency responsible for junk fax enforcement0--to report annually to Congress on junk fax complaints and enforcement. The law also required GAO to report to Congress on FCC's enforcement of the junk fax laws. This report addresses (1) FCC's junk fax procedures and outcomes, (2) the strengths and weaknesses of FCC's procedures, and (3) FCC's junk fax management challenges."

Renewable energy certificates (RECs) represent the bundle of information that describes the characteristics of renewable electricity generation, and may be (and increasingly are) sold separately from the underlying electricity itself. RECs are a relatively new phenomenon, emerging as a tradable commodity in voluntary markets in the late 1990s, and gaining strength as a means of compliance with various state policy requirements affecting renewable generation in the early 2000s (Holt and Bird 2005). Twenty states and Washington, D.C. now have mandatory renewables portfolio standard (RPS) obligations, and most of these may be satisfied by owning and retiring RECs. Many states also have fuel source and emissions disclosure requirements, for which RECs are useful. Even where state policy does not allow unbundled and fully tradable RECs to meet these requirements, RECs may still be used as an accounting and verification tool (REC tracking systems are in place or under development in many regions of the U.S.). These applications, plus REC trading activity in support of voluntary green claims, give rise to potential ''double counting'' to the extent that the purchaser of the RECs and the purchaser of the underlying electricity both make claims to the renewable energy attributes of the facility in …

This report includes information regarding Middle East peace talks. The role of the United States, the Israel-Jordan peace treaty, and congressional aid are among topics discussed in this report.

This report discusses various wetland policy topics, of particular interest are statements by the Bush Administration shortly after the 2004 election that restoration of 3 million wetland acres would be a priority.

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This report summarizes the activities of the United States Energy Association as it conducted the initial Ministerial Meeting of the International Partnership for the Hydrogen Economy in Washington, DC on November 18-21, 2003. The report summarizes the results of the meeting and subsequent support to the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy in its role as IPHE Secretariat.

Cross-comparison of the results of two computer codes for the same problem provides a mutual validation of their computational methods. This cross-validation exercise was performed for LLNL's ALE3D code and AKTS's Thermal Safety code, using the thermal ignition of HMX in two standard LLNL cookoff experiments: the One-Dimensional Time to Explosion (ODTX) test and the Scaled Thermal Explosion (STEX) test. The chemical kinetics model used in both codes was the extended Prout-Tompkins model, a relatively new addition to ALE3D. This model was applied using ALE3D's new pseudospecies feature. In addition, an advanced isoconversional kinetic approach was used in the AKTS code. The mathematical constants in the Prout-Tompkins code were calibrated using DSC data from hermetically sealed vessels and the LLNL optimization code Kinetics05. The isoconversional kinetic parameters were optimized using the AKTS Thermokinetics code. We found that the Prout-Tompkins model calculations agree fairly well between the two codes, and the isoconversional kinetic model gives very similar results as the Prout-Tompkins model. We also found that an autocatalytic approach in the beta-delta phase transition model does affect the times to explosion for some conditions, especially STEX-like simulations at ramp rates above 100 C/hr, and further exploration of that effect is warranted.

This report summarizes the activities of the United States Energy Association as it conducted the initial Ministerial Meeting of the International Partnership for the Hydrogen Economy in Washington, DC on November 18-21, 2003. The report summarizes the results of the meeting and subsequent support to the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy in its role as IPHE Secretariat.

Congress passed and the President signed a reconciliation bill (P.L. 109-171) to reduce mandatory spending by $39 billion between FY2006 and FY2010. A revenue reduction reconciliation bill (H.R. 4297) has not been enacted as of the date of this report. Many argue that tax and spending reductions will stimulate economic growth, whereas many others argue that tax cuts will lead to a larger deficit with adverse economic effects and that spending cuts will reduce critical government services. This report examines the effects of government spending and taxation on economic growth and economic well-being by comparing the United States with 20 other industrial Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries.

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This report is a guide to the regular appropriations bills that Congress considers each year. It is designed to supplement the information provided by the House and Senate Appropriations Subcommittees on Energy and Water Development. It summarizes the status of the bill, its scope, major issues, funding levels, and related congressional activity, and is updated as events warrant. The report lists the key CRS staff relevant to the issues covered and related CRS products.

Congress passed and the President signed a reconciliation bill (P.L. 109-171) to reduce mandatory spending by $39 billion between FY2006 and FY2010. A revenue reduction reconciliation bill (H.R. 4297) has not been enacted as of the date of this report. Many argue that tax and spending reductions will stimulate economic growth, whereas many others argue that tax cuts will lead to a larger deficit with adverse economic effects and that spending cuts will reduce critical government services. This report examines the effects of government spending and taxation on economic growth and economic well-being by comparing the United States with 20 other industrial Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries.

Direct assaults against Presidents, Presidents-elect, and candidates have occurred on 15 separate occasions, with five resulting in death. Ten incumbents (about 24% of the 42 individuals to serve in the office), including four of the past six Presidents, have been victims or targets. Four of the ten (and one candidate) died as a result of the attacks. This report identifies these incidents and provides information about what happened, when, where, and, if known, why.

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Two separate but closely related issues confront Congress each time the President introduces armed forces into a situation abroad that conceivably could lead to their involvement in hostilities. One issue concerns the division of war powers between the President and Congress, whether the use of armed forces falls within the purview of the congressional power to declare war and the War Powers Resolution. The other issue is whether or not Congress concurs in the wisdom of the action. This issue brief does not deal with the substantive merits of using armed forces in specific cases, but rather with the congressional authorization for the action and the application and effectiveness of the War Powers Resolution. The purpose of the War Powers Resolution (P.L. 93-148, passed over President Nixon’s veto on November 7, 1973) is to ensure that Congress and the President share in making decisions that may get the U.S. involved in hostilities.

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This report examines the efforts of overseas governments to combat the spread of avian influenza H5N1 which first appeared in birds and humans in Hong Kong in 1997, causing 100 reported human deaths from Vietnam to Turkey and appearing in birds in Africa and Europe.