The Arecibo Ionospheric Observatory (open access)

The Arecibo Ionospheric Observatory

This report discusses how the Arecibo Ionospheric Observatory gathers funding for future endeavors.
Date: January 25, 2012
Creator: Matthews, Christine M.
System: The UNT Digital Library
The EPA Draft Report of Groundwater Contamination Near Pavillion, Wyoming: Main Findings and Stakeholder Responses (open access)

The EPA Draft Report of Groundwater Contamination Near Pavillion, Wyoming: Main Findings and Stakeholder Responses

None
Date: January 25, 2012
Creator: Folger, Peter; Tiemann, Mary & Bearden, David M.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Social Security Administration (SSA): Budget Issues (open access)

Social Security Administration (SSA): Budget Issues

This report provides an overview of the SSA's mandatory spending but largely focuses on discretionary appropriations for the agency's administrative expenses. The size of the annual appropriations for administrative expenses affects the agency's ability to effectively administer the SSA's benefit programs as well as conduct program integrity activities designed to ensure that only eligible persons receive federal benefits.
Date: January 25, 2012
Creator: Szymendera, Scott
System: The UNT Digital Library
U.S.-Mexico Economic Relations: Trends, Issues, and Implications (open access)

U.S.-Mexico Economic Relations: Trends, Issues, and Implications

This report provides an overview of U.S.-Mexico trade and economic trends, the Mexican economy, the effects of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), and major trade issues between the United States and Mexico.
Date: January 25, 2012
Creator: Villarreal, M. Angeles
System: The UNT Digital Library
China and Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction and Missiles: Policy Issues (open access)

China and Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction and Missiles: Policy Issues

Congress has long been concerned about whether U.S. policy advances the national interest in reducing the role of the People's Republic of China (PRC) in the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and missiles that could deliver them. Recipients of China's technology reportedly include Pakistan and countries said by the State Department to have supported terrorism, such as Iran. This CRS Report, updated as warranted, discusses the security problem of China's role in weapons proliferation and issues related to the U.S. policy response since the mid-1990s.
Date: April 25, 2012
Creator: Kan, Shirley A.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Domestic Content Legislation: The Buy American Act and Complementary Little Buy American Provisions (open access)

Domestic Content Legislation: The Buy American Act and Complementary Little Buy American Provisions

Congress has broad authority to place conditions on the purchases made by the federal government or with federal dollars. One of many conditions that it has placed on direct government purchases is a requirement that they be produced in the United States. The most well-known of these requirements is the Buy American Act, which is the major domestic preference statute governing procurement by the federal government. This report summarizes (1) the Buy American Act, what it does and does not cover; (2) the Little Buy American Acts found in permanent law, emphasizing what they govern, major exceptions and why Congress felt them necessary in light of the requirements of the Buy American Act; and (3) the temporary Little Buy American provision found in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
Date: April 25, 2012
Creator: Luckey, John R.
System: The UNT Digital Library
EPA Regulations: Too Much, Too Little, or On Track? (open access)

EPA Regulations: Too Much, Too Little, or On Track?

This report examines 40 major or controversial regulatory actions taken by or under development at EPA since January 2009, providing details on the regulatory action itself, presenting an estimated timeline for completion of the rule and provides the EPA's estimates of costs and benefits where available. It provides background information on recent EPA regulatory activity to help address issues raised by this activity, as well as factors that will affect the timeframe in which these regulations will take place.
Date: April 25, 2012
Creator: McCarthy, James E. & Copeland, Claudia
System: The UNT Digital Library
Honduran-U.S. Relations (open access)

Honduran-U.S. Relations

This report examines current conditions in Honduras as well as issues in U.S-Honduran relations, including human rights, poverty, inequality, international support, democracy, security challenges, and international trade.
Date: April 25, 2012
Creator: Meyer, Peter J.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Hydraulic Fracturing and the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA): Selected Issues (open access)

Hydraulic Fracturing and the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA): Selected Issues

This report provides an overview of two situations in which agencies are arguing that they do not need to conduct a comprehensive environmental review of hydraulic fracturing under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).
Date: April 25, 2012
Creator: Murrill, Brandon J.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Members of Congress Who Die in Office: Historic and Current Practices (open access)

Members of Congress Who Die in Office: Historic and Current Practices

Since 1973, 84 Members of Congress-69 Representatives, and 15 Senators-have died in office. When a sitting Member dies, the House and Senate carry out a number of actions based on chamber rules, statutes, and longstanding practices. This report discusses these actions.
Date: April 25, 2012
Creator: Petersen, R. Eric & Manning, Jennifer E.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Navy Ship Names: Background for Congress (open access)

Navy Ship Names: Background for Congress

Congress has long maintained an interest in how Navy ships are named, and has influenced the naming of certain Navy ships. The Navy suggests that congressional offices wishing to express support for proposals to name a Navy ship for a specific person, place, or thing contact the office of the Secretary of the Navy to make their support known. Congress may also pass legislation relating to ship names. Measures passed by Congress in recent years regarding Navy ship names have all been sense-of-the-Congress provisions.
Date: April 25, 2012
Creator: O'Rourke, Ronald
System: The UNT Digital Library
Social Security: The Trust Fund (open access)

Social Security: The Trust Fund

None
Date: April 25, 2012
Creator: unknown
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Strategic Petroleum Reserve: Authorization, Operation, and Drawdown Policy (open access)

The Strategic Petroleum Reserve: Authorization, Operation, and Drawdown Policy

This report looks at the history, purpose, and current status of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.
Date: April 25, 2012
Creator: Andrews, Anthony & Pirog, Robert
System: The UNT Digital Library
Subsidy Cost of Federal Credit: Cost to the Government or Fair Value Cost? (open access)

Subsidy Cost of Federal Credit: Cost to the Government or Fair Value Cost?

Since the mid-1980s, budget experts have debated whether the best method of measuring the subsidy cost of federal credit (direct loans and loan guarantees) is the cost to the government or the fair value cost. This report presents a chronology of this still unresolved debate, which dates from the mid-1980s.
Date: April 25, 2012
Creator: Bickley, James M.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Addressing Medicare Hospital Readmissions (open access)

Addressing Medicare Hospital Readmissions

This report highlights the issue of one-fifth of medicare patients in 2005 being readmitted to a hospital within thirty days time. These readmissions put a strain on the budget, the majority of which it is estimated may be avoidable. The report notes that Medicare as a program is working on moving around those difficulties, without reducing the quality of care.
Date: May 25, 2012
Creator: Tilson, Sibyl
System: The UNT Digital Library
National Flood Insurance Program: Background, Challenges, and Financial Status (open access)

National Flood Insurance Program: Background, Challenges, and Financial Status

None
Date: May 25, 2012
Creator: unknown
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (open access)

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development

This report provides a background of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), financial crisis and the issues for Congress.
Date: May 25, 2012
Creator: Jackson, James K.
System: The UNT Digital Library
The FDA Medical Device User Fee Program (open access)

The FDA Medical Device User Fee Program

None
Date: June 25, 2012
Creator: Johnson, Judith A.
System: The UNT Digital Library
FDA Regulation of Medical Devices (open access)

FDA Regulation of Medical Devices

This report provides a description of FDA's medical device review process divided into two parts: pre market requirements and post market requirements. Appendix A provides a brief history of laws governing medical device regulation and Appendix B provides a table of acronyms used in the report.
Date: June 25, 2012
Creator: Johnson, Judith A.
System: The UNT Digital Library
FDA’s Authority to Ensure That Drugs Prescribed to Children Are Safe and Effective (open access)

FDA’s Authority to Ensure That Drugs Prescribed to Children Are Safe and Effective

The report describes why research on a drug's pharmacokinetics, safety, and effectiveness in children might be necessary. This report then presents why the marketplace has not provided sufficient incentives to manufacturers of drugs approved for adult use to study their effects in children. It also analyzes the impact of BPCA and PREA have had on pediatric drug research.
Date: June 25, 2012
Creator: Thaul, Susan
System: The UNT Digital Library
Haiti Under President Martelly: Current Conditions and Congressional Concerns (open access)

Haiti Under President Martelly: Current Conditions and Congressional Concerns

This report gives an overview of the current government in Haiti and status of recovery efforts following the 2010 earthquake. The Haitian government and the international donor community are implementing a 10-year recovery plan focusing on territorial, economic, social, and institutional rebuilding. The main priorities for U.S. policy regarding Haiti are to strengthen fragile democratic processes, continue to improve security, and promote economic development. Other concerns include the cost and effectiveness of U.S. aid; protecting human rights; combating narcotics, arms, and human trafficking; and alleviating poverty. Congressional concerns include the pace and effectiveness of reconstruction; respect for human rights, particularly for women; counternarcotics efforts; and security issues.
Date: June 25, 2012
Creator: Taft-Morales, Maureen
System: The UNT Digital Library
How FDA Approves Drugs and Regulates Their Safety and Effectiveness (open access)

How FDA Approves Drugs and Regulates Their Safety and Effectiveness

This report is a primer on drug approval and regulation: it describes how drugs are approved and come to the market, including FDA's role in that process and FDA and industry roles once drugs are on the pharmacy shelves.
Date: June 25, 2012
Creator: Thaul, Susan
System: The UNT Digital Library
Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) and Defined Benefit Pension Plan Funding Issues (open access)

Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) and Defined Benefit Pension Plan Funding Issues

None
Date: June 25, 2012
Creator: unknown
System: The UNT Digital Library
Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies (THUD): FY2013 Appropriations (open access)

Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies (THUD): FY2013 Appropriations

This report looks at Congress's FY2013 budget allocations for the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies (THUD) appropriations subcommittee.
Date: June 25, 2012
Creator: McCarty, Maggie & Peterman, David Randall
System: The UNT Digital Library