This report addresses legal issues after the United States signed the Kyoto Protocol to the UnitedNations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The protocol is not yet in effect internationally and cannot be legally binding on the U.S. unless and until the Senate gives its advice and consent.

This report gives a map of current commercial nuclear power plants and their relation to seismic hazards.

This report provides an overview of major budget estimates and projections for the FY2011 federal budget cycle. The report presents and compares budget projections calculated by the Obama Administration's Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the Congressional Budget Office (CBO).

This report discusses the federal debt limit and its suspensions and resets since 2011.

This report provides a graphical overview of historical trends in discretionary budget authority (BA) from FY1976 through FY2011, enacted levels for FY2012 spending, and the levels consistent with President Obama's proposals for FY2013 through FY2017. It also includes a background on functional categories and a section discussing historical spending trends.

This report analyzes war funding for the Department of Defense (DOD) and tracks funding for USAID and Veteran's Affairs (VA) Medical funding. Information on costs helps Congress to assess the FY2010 Supplemental for war costs for the Department of Defense (DOD) and State/USAID FY2011 war requests; conduct oversight of past war costs; and consider the longer-term costs implications of the buildup of troops in Afghanistan and potential problems in the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq.

This report explores several questions that have been often asked in relation to the Boko Haram, a violent Islamist insurgent group originally based in northeast Nigeria, the impact of its attacks, and the response of the Nigerian government and other international actors, including the United States.

This report discusses price support for wool and mohair, which became mandatory through legislation enacted in 1947 and in 1949. The National Wool Act of 1954 (P.L. 83-690) established direct payments for wool and mohair producers. The act’s stated purpose was to encourage production of wool because it was considered an essential and strategic commodity.

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This report provides background on regulatory requirements, controversies and legal challenges to mountaintop mining, and recent Administration actions. Congressional interest in these issues also is discussed, including legislation in the 111th Congress seeking to restrict the practice of mountaintop mining and other legislation intended to block the Obama Administration’s regulatory actions. Attention to EPA’s veto of the West Virginia mining permit and other federal agency actions has increased in the 112th Congress.

This report discusses major judicial opinions concerning suspected enemy belligerents detained in the conflict with Al Qaeda and the Taliban. The report addresses all Supreme Court decisions concerning enemy combatants. It also discusses notable circuit court opinions addressing issues of ongoing relevance.

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This report covers the 2007 Department of Defense (DOD) major procurement initiative to replace most up-armored High Mobility, Multi-Wheeled Vehicles (HMMWVs) with Mine-Resistant, Ambush-Protected (MRAP) vehicles. It looks at the cost and subsequent budgets of this initiative. Among potential issues for congressional consideration are the status of older, unused MRAPS in Afghanistan that are reportedly not being used because of their size and weight; possible redundancies with the MRAP, M-ATV, and the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV) programs; and actual Marine M-ATV requirements.

This report discusses health insurance premium tax credits and cost-sharing subsidies which assist low-income individuals and families in buying health insurance.

The Department of Defense (DOD) and each of the military services have established new programs to care for the severely disabled, ensuring rehabilitative assistance and easing the transition back to civilian life. Congress has followed these initiatives with interest and recently directed DOD to develop policies and procedures to standardize these programs. This report examines the background for the new initiatives and provides a status of each program, including contact information.

This report gives a brief overview of P.L. 110-49, the Foreign Investment and National Security Act of 2007. Although both the President and Congress are directly involved in formulating the scope and direction of U.S. foreign investment policy, this law broadens Congress' oversight role; it also explicitly includes the areas of homeland security and critical infrastructure as separately-identifiable components of national security that the President must consider when evaluating the national security implications of a foreign investment transaction.

This report covers the recent background of the Exon-Florio provision with special regards to issues faced in the 112th Congress. The Exon-Florio provision grants the President the authority to block proposed or pending foreign acquisitions of "persons engaged in interstate commerce in the United States" that threaten to impair the national security.

This report describes the Select Committees on Intelligence and then the former Joint Committee on Atomic Energy, often cited as a model for a counterpart on intelligence. The study also sets forth proposed characteristics for a joint committee on intelligence, differences among these, and their pros and cons.

This report discusses regulations for large banks under the Dodd-Frank Act and recently proposed changes to the regulations proposed in S. 2155.

This report discusses inflation including its causes and effect on the economy. In particular, it brings together broad knowledge from economists to discuss the real costs of inflation on the economy.

This report first explains the connection made over the past several years between farm labor and immigration policies. It next examines the composition of the seasonal agricultural labor force and presents the arguments of grower and farmworker advocates concerning its adequacy relative to employer demand. The report closes with an analysis of the trends in employment, unemployment, time worked and wages of authorized and unauthorized farmworkers to determine whether they are consistent with the existence of a nationwide shortage of domestically available farmworkers.

This report discusses the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative's (USTR) recent investigation under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 to determine whether acts, policies, and practices of the Government of China related to technology transfer, intellectual property, and innovation were unreasonable or discriminatory and burdening or restricting U.S. commerce and President Trumps's memorandum in response.

This report is the part two of two of a report on the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative's (USTR) recently concluded its investigation under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 (the "Section 301 Investigation") "to determine whether acts, policies, and practices of the Government of China related to technology transfer, intellectual property, and innovation are unreasonable or discriminatory and burden or restrict U.S. commerce." This part of the report applies the general legal framework to this specific Section 301 Investigation, providing background on the investigation, describing the USTR's findings and the President's directives, and concluding by addressing what legal issues lie ahead.

This report provides background information about health plans sold in the private health insurance (PHI) market and briefly describes state and federal regulation of private plans. The second part summarizes selected federal requirements and indicates each requirement's applicability to one or more of the following types of private health plans: individual, small group, large group, and self-insured. Many of the federal requirements described in this report were established under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA; P.L. 111-148, as amended); however, some were established under federal laws enacted prior to the ACA.