This report provides a history of the creation and evolution of the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct. Also known as the House Ethics Committee and the Committee on Standards, it was first established as a select committee in 1966. It became a standing committee in 1967. Since that time, it has undergone two major reorganizations, first in 1989, and again in 1997.

This report provides background on current International Criminal Court (ICC) cases and examines issues raised by the ICC's actions in Africa, including the potential deterrence of future abuses and the potential impact on African peace processes.

Livestock industry groups, animal health officials, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture have been working to establish a nationwide identification system capable of quickly tracking animals from birth to slaughter, to deal with animal diseases and/or to satisfy foreign market specifications. This report details information on what animal identification is and why is it used, animal health, commercial production and marketing, food safety, development of a national plan, and selected issues.

This report details the total cost of counterterrorism operations in the Global War on Terror (GWOT) since the September 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States. This report also includes descriptions of relevant budgetary legislation.

This report examines the Department of Defense's (DOD) four largest tactical aircraft modernization programs. The background section provides a brief description of each program, and a discussion of how tactical aircraft fit into military air operations: the missions they typically perform and how they contrast to longer-range combat aircraft. The analysis section examines a number of policy issues, including affordability, capability required, force structure, service roles and missions, industrial base, and transformation. The paper concludes with a synopsis of recent congressional action on these programs.

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Fish and marine mammals are important resources in open ocean and nearshore coastal areas; many federal laws and regulations guide their management. This report discusses a variety of laws and legislation pertaining to this issue.

This is a directory of telephone numbers and addresses that congressional offices may use to obtain publications from the Executive Office of the President, the executive departments, and the independent agencies and commissions of the federal government. Electronic sources are included for locating copies of government publications on the Internet. The information for each agency was provided by the agency itself.

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This report provides an overview of the constitutionality of requiring sexually explicit material on the internet to be under a separate domain name.

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"Gang of Four" intelligence notifications generally are oral briefings of certain particularly sensitive non-covert action intelligence activities, including principally, but not exclusively, intelligence collection programs, that the Intelligence Community typically limits to the chairmen and ranking members of the two congressional intelligence committees, and at times, but not always, to their respective staff directors. This report reviews the history of Gang of Four notification process and compares this procedure with that of the "Gang of Eight" notification procedure.

The Senate began floor debate on the FY2007 defense appropriations bill, H.R. 5631 on August 1, but it did not complete the bill before adjourning for the August recess. The Senate plans to resume action on September 5. As reported by the appropriations committee, the bill provided $453.5 billion for defense, including $50 billion in appropriations for overseas operations. The total is $9.1 billion less than the Administration requested. In floor action, the Senate added substantial amounts to the $50 billion in emergency spending, including $13.1 billion to reequip units returning from abroad and $1.8 billion for border security.

Throughout much of the George W. Bush Administration, U.S.-China relations have remained unusually smooth and stable. But U.S. policy toward China now appears to be subject to competing reassessments. While some U.S. policymakers appear to be willing to work cooperatively with a non-democratic China, others appear to be adopting somewhat tougher stances on issues involving China and U.S.-China relations, expressing their concerns about strong PRC economic growth and a more assertive and influential PRC diplomacy in the international arena. Another matter of growing U.S. concern is China's increasing global "reach" and the consequences that PRC expanding economic and political influence have for U.S. interests. Much of current concern about China appears driven by security calculations at the Pentagon and in Congress.

The bilateral relationship between the U.S. and the People's Republic of China (PRC) is vitally important, touching on a wide range of areas including, among others, economic policy, security, foreign relations, and human rights. This report addresses relevant policy questions in current U.S.-China relations, discusses trends and key legislation in the current Congress, and provides a chronology of developments and high-level exchanges.

The bilateral relationship between the U.S. and the People's Republic of China (PRC) is vitally important, touching on a wide range of areas including, among others, economic policy, security, foreign relations, and human rights. This report addresses relevant policy questions in current U.S.-China relations, discusses trends and key legislation in the current Congress, and provides a chronology of developments and high-level exchanges.

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This report summarizes the provisions affecting charitable contribution deductions of individuals, and then analyzes the incentive such a deduction would create for increased charitable giving beginning with the original proposal for a relatively low cap and then considering other approaches including the current one. It does not attempt to estimate other types of societal impacts. The non-itemizer’s charitable deduction was the single most important tax provision in the original version of H.R. 7. In S. 1924, S. 476, and the current version of H.R. 7, the nonitemizer provision was temporary and had a higher cap (and a floor). The provision affecting rollovers from IRAs, which can also function as a deduction for nonitemizers, is also discussed briefly.

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This report discusses the legislative requirement for the offices of the U.S. government to be located in the District of Columbia (DC), dating to 1790. The report provides an overview of the relevant provisions (codified at 4 U.S.C. 71 and 72) and agencies that have exemptions.