Legal Services Corporation: Background and Funding (open access)

Legal Services Corporation: Background and Funding

This report discusses the responsibilities of Legal Services Corporation (LSC), which is a private, nonprofit, federally funded corporation that helps provide legal assistance to low-income people in civil (i.e., noncriminal) matters.
Date: January 29, 2014
Creator: Solomon-Fears, Carmen
System: The UNT Digital Library
Special Immigrant Juveniles: In Brief (open access)

Special Immigrant Juveniles: In Brief

This report provides a brief explanation of the statutory basis of special immigrant juvenile (SIJ) status and how it has evolved. It also presents statistics on the number of children who have applied for and received SIJ status since FY2005. The report concludes with a discussion of the applicability of SIJ status for unaccompanied alien children.
Date: August 29, 2014
Creator: Wasem, Ruth Ellen
System: The UNT Digital Library
Latin America and the Caribbean: Key Issues for the 113th Congress (open access)

Latin America and the Caribbean: Key Issues for the 113th Congress

This report provides an overview of U.S. policy toward Latin America and the Caribbean, including the Obama Administration's priorities; examines changes in the region's economic and political environment that affect U.S. relations with the region; and analyzes U.S. policy toward the region and various recommendations made by policy analysts and think tanks.
Date: August 29, 2014
Creator: Sullivan, Mark P.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Guam: U.S. Defense Deployments (open access)

Guam: U.S. Defense Deployments

This report discusses the strategic significance of Guam for defense buildup and the force relocation and deployments from the U.S. mainland. It also discusses the concerns and issues for Congress, such as allies and partners, relations with China, and legislation.
Date: April 29, 2014
Creator: Kan, Shirley A.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Multilateral Development Banks: How the United States Makes and Implements Policy (open access)

Multilateral Development Banks: How the United States Makes and Implements Policy

This report analyzes how the United States makes policy towards the multilateral development banks (MDBs) and identifies ways by which Congress can shape U.S. policy and influence the activities of the banks themselves.
Date: April 29, 2014
Creator: Nelson, Rebecca M. & Weiss, Martin A.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Cluster Munitions: Background and Issues for Congress (open access)

Cluster Munitions: Background and Issues for Congress

This report discusses the background of cluster munitions in the U.S. military, and the current Department of Defense (DOD) and Obama Administration stances on the topic. It also discusses the two major international initiatives to address cluster munitions: the Convention on Cluster Munitions (CCM) and negotiations under the U.N. Convention on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW).
Date: April 29, 2014
Creator: Feickert, Andrew & Kerr, Paul K.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Bankruptcy for Marijuana Businesses? (open access)

Bankruptcy for Marijuana Businesses?

This legal sidebar discusses recent bankruptcy court cases that suggest that one such risk may be the ultimate unavailability to both debtors and creditors of the protections, benefits, and predictability of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code when state-regulated marijuana businesses fail.
Date: October 29, 2014
Creator: unknown
System: The UNT Digital Library
Federal Land Ownership: Overview and Data (open access)

Federal Land Ownership: Overview and Data

None
Date: December 29, 2014
Creator: Vincent, Carol Hardy; Hanson, Laura A. & Bjelopera, Jerome P.
System: The UNT Digital Library
House Committee Chairs: Considerations, Decisions, and Actions as One Congress Ends and a New Congress Begins (open access)

House Committee Chairs: Considerations, Decisions, and Actions as One Congress Ends and a New Congress Begins

This report covers the period from the House's early organization meetings through the spring district work period, which normally occurs in March or April.
Date: October 29, 2014
Creator: Schneider, Judy & Koempel, Michael L.
System: The UNT Digital Library
EPA’s Proposed Wood Stove / Wood Heater Regulations: Frequently Asked Questions (open access)

EPA’s Proposed Wood Stove / Wood Heater Regulations: Frequently Asked Questions

This report addresses some of the most frequent questions raised concerning the proposal, in order to provide basic information about EPA's action, its potential impacts, and industry and other reactions to the rule.
Date: April 29, 2014
Creator: McCarthy, James E.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Child Support Enforcement: $25 Annual User Fee (open access)

Child Support Enforcement: $25 Annual User Fee

This report discusses the child support enforcement. It is categorized into three categories: (I) Background, (II) Annual CSE User Fee, and (III) Implementation of CSE User Fee.
Date: July 29, 2014
Creator: Solomon-Fears, Carmen
System: The UNT Digital Library
Federal Pell Grant Program of the Higher Education Act: How the Program Works and Recent Legislative Changes (open access)

Federal Pell Grant Program of the Higher Education Act: How the Program Works and Recent Legislative Changes

This report reviews how the program works and provides an analysis of recent program costs and funding, recipients, and the role the program plays in the distribution of federal student aid.
Date: September 29, 2014
Creator: Dortch, Cassandria
System: The UNT Digital Library
Conservation Reserve Program (CRP): Status and Issues (open access)

Conservation Reserve Program (CRP): Status and Issues

This report discusses the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP), which provides payments to agricultural producers to take highly erodible and environmentally sensitive land out of production and install resource conserving practices for 10 or more years. CRP was first authorized in the Food Security Act of 1985 (P.L. 99-198, 1985 farm bill) and is administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) Farm Service Agency (FSA) with technical support from other USDA agencies.
Date: August 29, 2014
Creator: Stubbs, Megan
System: The UNT Digital Library
Defense Surplus Equipment Disposal: Background Information (open access)

Defense Surplus Equipment Disposal: Background Information

This report discusses the Department of Defense (DOD) policy for disposing of items via the Defense Utilization and Marketing Service (DRMS); this method is used for government equipment and supplies considered surplus or deemed unnecessary to the agency's currently designated mission. The report focuses on DRMS background, as well as the most recent DRMS policy modifications.
Date: April 29, 2014
Creator: Bailey Grasso, Valerie
System: The UNT Digital Library
House Offset Amendments to Appropriations Bills: Procedural Considerations (open access)

House Offset Amendments to Appropriations Bills: Procedural Considerations

This report is an introduction to selected House rules and practices governing the consideration of offset amendments to appropriations measures considered in the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union.
Date: September 29, 2014
Creator: Tollestrup, Jessica
System: The UNT Digital Library
Federal Funding for Health Insurance Exchanges (open access)

Federal Funding for Health Insurance Exchanges

This report discusses the health insurance exchanges established as mandated by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA).To fund the establishment of exchanges, the ACA authorizes the HHS Secretary to award grants to states through 2014. Each exchange is expected to generate its own funds to sustain its operations beginning January 1, 2015. This report provides a state-by-state breakdown of the grants awarded to date. It then briefly describes the requirement for exchanges to be self-sustaining, and concludes with a discussion of the sources and amounts of funding that HHS has used and plans to use to support FFE operations.
Date: October 29, 2014
Creator: Mach, Annie L. & Redhead, C. Stephen
System: The UNT Digital Library
Medal of Honor Recipients: 1979-2014 (open access)

Medal of Honor Recipients: 1979-2014

The Medal of Honor (MOH) is the nation's highest award for military valor. It is presented by the President in the name of Congress and is often called the Congressional Medal of Honor. Since its first presentation in 1863, close to 3,500 MOHs have been awarded. In 1973, the Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs issued a committee print, Vietnam Era Medal of Honor Recipients 1964-72, followed by the committee print, Medal of Honor Recipients: 1863-1978, in 1979. Both committee prints list recipients and provide the full text of the citation, which describes the actions that resulted in the awarding of the medal. This report covers additions and changes to the list of recipients of the medal since the release of the committee print.
Date: October 29, 2014
Creator: Leland, Anne
System: The UNT Digital Library
Permanent Legal Immigration to the United States: Policy Overview (open access)

Permanent Legal Immigration to the United States: Policy Overview

This report provides an overview of the current state of legal immigration policy in the U.S. In FY2013, just under 1 million aliens became U.S. legal permanent residents (LPRs).
Date: October 29, 2014
Creator: Kandel, William A.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Social Security: Cost-of-Living Adjustments (open access)

Social Security: Cost-of-Living Adjustments

To compensate for the effects of inflation, Social Security recipients usually receive an annual cost-of-living adjustment (COLA). Benefits will be increased by 1.7% in 2015, following an increase of 1.5% in 2014. This report discusses how the COLA is determined.
Date: October 29, 2014
Creator: Sidor, Gary
System: The UNT Digital Library