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 with the Energy Policy Act of 2005, H.R. 6 (P.L. 109-58). However, prices continued to surge, due to a large number of factors, such as the effects of Hurricane Katrina on Gulf Coast refineries, an increased world demand for crude oil, and inadequate U.S. refinery capacity.

This report provides an overview of current local, state, and federal policies and programs that support school choice and identifies and summarizes recent federal school choice legislation.

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 includes information regarding ocean commissions. Ocean policy review, further outlook, and legislation are among topics discussed in this report.

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This report includes information regarding various United States space programs.

This report discusses the AIDS issues in Africa and the Bush administration call to double U.S. international funding for AIDS.

This report includes information regarding North Korea's nuclear weapons program. This information includes background, development, and analysis

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This report includes information regarding the major legislative issues concerning military retirement. TERA, survivor benefit COLAs, and retirement budgeting are among topics discussed in this report.

This report is about the Broadband Internet Access, The Background and analysis of Broadband. It's importance, and about broadband technologies like Cable, Satellite and other technologies. The status of Broadband Deployment and Development Issues.

Sub-Saharan Africa has been far more severely affected by AIDS than any other part of the world. The United Nations reports that 25.8 million adults and children are infected with the HIV virus in the region, which has about 11.3% of the world's population but more than 64% of the worldwide total of infected people. This report discusses this issue in detail, including the cause of the African AIDS epidemic, the social and economic consequences, response and treatment, and U.S. policy.

This report summarizes the debate over government policy on industrial competitiveness and technological advancement and its connection to the U.S. economy. It also discusses congress' approach in the previous years on this topic, and the policy changes that have been implemented in recent years.

In response to the foreign challenge in the global marketplace, the United States Congress has explored ways to stimulate technological advancement in the private sector. The government has supported various efforts to promote cooperative research and development activities among industry, universities, and the federal R&D establishment designed to increase the competitiveness of American industry and to encourage the generation of new products, processes, and services. Among the issues before Congress are whether joint ventures contribute to industrial competitiveness and what role, if any, the government has in facilitating such arrangements.

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 provides background information and analysis regarding oil related issues and issues beyond the Energy Policy Act.

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Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley said September 4 that he would continue to work toward a bipartisan consensus on reauthorization of TANF, which is scheduled to expire on September 30. Noting the continued decline in the TANF caseload, the Senator said that “simply going off welfare doesn’t mean that families have achieved significant income and job security.” He said the next phase of welfare reform should focus on strengthening policies to provide every TANF family the opportunity to become self-sufficient and indicated that he supported expanded state flexibility, increased options for education and training, combined with an emphasis on job attainment and experience; and work supports,

The CWC bans the development, production, stockpiling, and use of chemical weapons by members signatories. It also requires the destruction of all chemical weapons stockpiles and production facilities. Neither the United States nor Russia will be able to meet the original CWC’s deadlines for destruction of their CW stockpiles, and have been granted extensions to at least 2012. The Convention provides the most extensive and intrusive verification regime of any arms control treaty, extending its coverage to not only governmental but also civilian facilities. The Convention also requires export controls and reporting requirements on chemicals that can be used as warfare agents and their precursors. The CWC establishes the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) to oversee the Convention’s implementation.

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