Appropriations are one part of a complex federal budget process that includes budget resolutions, appropriations (regular, supplemental, and continuing) bills, rescissions, and budget reconciliation bills. This report is a guide to CRS reports that provide analytical perspectives on the 13 annual appropriations bills, and other related appropriation measures. It does not include a detailed explanation or description of the budget or appropriations processes.

The House of Representatives distinguishes between privileged business and questions of privilege. Privileged business consists of those bills, resolutions, and other matters that Members can bring up for consideration on the House floor. These matters are privileged to interrupt the regular order of business that is defined in the House's rules. Questions of privilege constitute one form of privileged business. Clause 1 of House Rule IX recognizes two kinds of questions of privilege: questions of the privileges of the House, and questions of personal privilege.

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A weekly publication, the Texas Register serves as the journal of state agency rulemaking for Texas. Information published in the Texas Register includes proposed, adopted, withdrawn and emergency rule actions, notices of state agency review of agency rules, governor's appointments, attorney general opinions, and miscellaneous documents such as requests for proposals. After adoption, these rulemaking actions are codified into the Texas Administrative Code.

A weekly publication, the Texas Register serves as the journal of state agency rulemaking for Texas. Information published in the Texas Register includes proposed, adopted, withdrawn and emergency rule actions, notices of state agency review of agency rules, governor's appointments, attorney general opinions, and miscellaneous documents such as requests for proposals. After adoption, these rulemaking actions are codified into the Texas Administrative Code.

Document issued by the Office of the Attorney General of Texas in Austin, Texas, providing an interpretation of Texas law. It provides the opinion of the Texas Attorney General, Dan Morales, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification; Authority of the Texas Natural Resources Conservation Commission to require a municipality to obtain permission to regulate on-site facilities (RQ-588)

Document issued by the Office of the Attorney General of Texas in Austin, Texas, providing an interpretation of Texas law. It provides the opinion of the Texas Attorney General, John Cornyn, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification: How a school district should determine that a design/build contract will provide the school district with the best value for purposes of Education Code section 44.031(a), and related questions (RQ-870)

Document issued by the Office of the Attorney General of Texas in Austin, Texas, providing an interpretation of Texas law. It provides the opinion of the Texas Attorney General, John Cornyn, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification: Authority of the Secretary of State to adopt rules restricting use of state funds for voter registration under chapter 19 of the Election Code (RQ-524)

Letter opinion issued by the Office of the Attorney General of Texas in Austin, Texas, providing an interpretation of Texas law. It provides the opinion of the Texas Attorney General, Dan Morales, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification;Whether the Lubbock county hospital district may contribute funds for construction of an international cultural center at Texas Tech University(RQ-502).

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the labelling requirements for fresh produce, focusing on: (1) the potential costs associated with the compliance and enforcement of a mandatory country-of-origin labelling requirement at the retail level for fresh produce; (2) the potential trade issues associated with such a requirement; (3) the potential impact of such a requirement on the ability of the federal government and the public to respond to outbreaks of illness caused by contaminated fresh produce; and (4) consumers' views of country-of-origin labelling."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on families no longer receiving welfare, focusing on: (1) the extent to which states have reported information on the condition of families who have left welfare in the following key areas: (a) economic status; (b) family composition; and (c) family and child well-being; (2) generalizable state studies on what is known about the status of former welfare families in the key areas; and (3) federal and state efforts to improve the usefulness of the data obtained through these state efforts."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the potential threat to the public's health from antimicrobial resistant bacteria, focusing on: (1) what is known about the public health burden--in terms of illnesses, deaths and treatment costs--due to antimicrobial resistance; (2) potential future burden, given what is known about the development of resistance in microbes and usage of antimicrobials; and (3) federal efforts to gather and provide information about resistance."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO evaluated the Department of the Interior's High-Level Implementation Plan for improving its management of the Indian trust funds and resources under its control, focusing on whether the Interior has reasonable assurance that: (1) the High-Level Plan provides an effective solution for addressing its long-standing problems; and (2) its acquisition of a new asset and land records management service will cost effectively satisfy trust management needs."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on antibiotic resistance issues that may stem from the use of antibiotics in agriculture, focusing on the: (1) use of antibiotics in agriculture and the implications of that use for human health; (2) federal roles and responsibilities for overseeing the use of antibiotics in agriculture; and (3) issues surrounding the debate over whether to further regulate or restrict the use of antibiotics in agriculture."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "GAO reported on the results of the financial-related audit, conducted by KPMG Peat Marwick LLP, of the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission's (MedPAC) Schedules of Expenditures and Budgetary Resources for the year ended September 30, 1998."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on year 2000 costs and funding at 41 federal agencies and organizations, focusing on the: (1) agency-reported year 2000 costs through fiscal year (FY) 1998 and the agency processes used to track these costs; (2) reported status of FY 1999 obligations for year 2000 activities; (3) estimated year 2000 costs for FY 1999 and the planned uses of emergency funds; and (4) estimated year 2000 costs for FY 2000."

Report describing activities and plans of the Transportation Improvement Program, which outlines a program of federally-assisted transportation projects that will be implemented over a three year period in the San Antonio - Bexar County area.

The Overture framework is an object-oriented environment for solving partial differential equations in two and three space dimensions. It is a collection of C++ libraries that enables the use of finite difference and finite volume methods at a level that hides the details of the associated data structures. Overture can be used to solve problems in complicated, moving geometries using the method of overlapping grids. It has support for grid generation, difference operators, boundary conditions, data-base access and graphics. Short sample code segments are presented to show the power of this approach.

Coating systems by Protection Enterprises, Ameron, Carboline, and Steelcote were evaluated. Each manufacturer has a coating system that is acceptable for use in the 340 Vault (see Appendix A). The choice of which system to use will be made after in-place adhesion tests are complete. The Protection Enterprises coating has the greatest potential for acceptable adhesion with minimal surface preparation. Total project cost for engineering and construction is $1,220,000 including 50% for contingency (see Appendix B). If the existing vault coverblock access hatch can satisfy entry requirements, $95,000 can be saved from the removal of coverblocks and the erection and disassembly of the greenhouse.

The first project objective is to utilize reservoir characterization and advanced technologies to optimize the design of a carbon dioxide (CO2) project for the South Cowden Unit (SCU) located in Ector County, Texas. The SCU is a mature, relatively small, shallow shelf carbonate unit nearing waterflood depletion. The second project objective is to demonstrate the performance and economic viability of the project in the field. All work during the fourth quarter falls within the demonstration project.

The Canister Storage Building (CSB) will be constructed in the 200 East Area of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Hanford Site. The CSB will be used to stage and store spent nuclear fuel (SNF) removed from the Hanford Site K Basins. The objective of this chapter is to describe the characteristics of the site on which the CSB will be located. This description will support the hazard analysis and accident analyses in Chapter 3.0. The purpose of this report is to provide an evaluation of the CSB design criteria, the design's compliance with the applicable criteria, and the basis for authorization to proceed with construction of the CSB.

Longitudinal feedback systems based on a common programmable DSP architecture have been commissioned at 4 laboratories. In addition to longitudinal feedback and beam diagnostics these flexible systems have been programmed to provide diagnostics for transverse motion. The diagnostic functions are based on transient domain techniques which record the response of every bunch while the feedback system manipulates the beam. Operational experience from 4 installations is illustrated via experimental results from PEP-II, DAFNE, ALS and SPEAR. Modal growth and damping rates for transverse and longitudinal planes are measured via short (20 ms) transient excitations for unstable and stable coupled-bunch modes. Data from steady-state measurements are used to identify unstable modes, noise-driven beam motion, and noise sources. Techniques are illustrated which allow the prediction of instability thresholds from low-current measurements of stable beams. Transverse bunch train grow-damp sequences which measure the time evolution of instabilities along the bunch train are presented and compared to signatures expected from ion and fast ion instabilities.

One of the major functions of the Tank Waste Remediation System (TWRS) is to characterize wastes in support of waste management and disposal activities at the Hanford Site. Analytical data from sampling and analysis, along with other available information about a tank, are compiled and maintained in a tank characterization report (TCR). This report and its appendices serve as the TCR for single-shell tank 241-S-111. The objectives of this report are: (1) to use characterization data to address technical issues associated with tank 241-S-111 waste; and (2) to provide a standard characterization of this waste in terms of a best-basis inventory estimate. The response to technical issues is summarized in Section 2.0, and the best-basis inventory estimate is presented in Section 3.0. Recommendations regarding safety status and additional sampling needs are provided in Section 4.0. Supporting data and information are contained in the appendices. This report also supports the requirements of Hanford Federal Facility Agreement and Consent Order (Ecology et al. 1996) milestone M-44-10.

Mixed-conducting Sr-Fe-Co oxides have potential applications in dense ceramic membranes for high-purity oxygen separation and/or methane conversion to produce syngas (CO + H{sub 2}), because of their combined high electronic/ionic conductivity and significant oxygen permeability. We studied the crystal structure and microstructure of the system in X-ray diffraction experiments and by using scanning electron microscopy, respectively. Thermogravimetric analysis was conducted on the SrFeCo{sub 0.5}O{sub x} sample in environments of various oxygen partial pressures (pO{sub 2}). Conductivity increased while weight decreased with increasing temperature. Activation energy decreased while conductivity increased with increasing pO{sub 2}. The pO{sub 2}-dependent conducting behavior of the SrFeCo{sub 0.5}O{sub x} system can be understood by considering the trivalent-to-divalent transition of transition-metal ions.