This report discusses the budget resolution that include budget reconciliation directives instructing one or more committees to recommend legislative changes to meet the direct spending and revenue levels included in the budget resolution.

This legal sidebar discusses the incident widely known as "VisaGate 2015" regarding the timeframe for temporary alien guest workers to file applications for lawful permanent resident status. It includes an analysis of the decision from the federal district court in Washington State on the permissibility of certain changes made by the Department of State (DOS) regarding the incident.

This report examines U.S. humanitarian assistance in international crises and disaster situations. It considers the sources and types of U.S. government aid, the response mechanisms of key U.S. agencies and departments, and possible issues for Congress.

During the state visit on September 24-25, 2015, President Xi Jinping of China and President Barack Obama reached a Cyber Agreement. This report briefly discusses that agreement.

This report focuses on several key policy issues facing the Federal Employees' Compensation Act (FECA) program, including the disproportionate share of claims and program costs attributed to postal workers, the payment of FECA benefits after retirement age, the overall level of FECA disability benefits as compared with those offered by the states, and the administration of the FECA program.

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This report discusses procedures that usually occur every session day and notes certain business items that occur less frequently.

This report discusses funding issues for the Economic Development Administration (EDA), which was created pursuant to the enactment of the Public Works and Economic Development Act of 1965, with the objective of fostering growth in economically distressed areas characterized by high levels of unemployment and low per-capita income levels.

This report outlines the broad challenges for federal law enforcement agencies in identifying and confronting the challenges posed by the Islamic State in the United States. This report also highlights the interagency efforts taken in preempting terrorists in the screening processes, visa fraud, and stopping the radicalization of individuals.

This report provides a brief overview of the conflict with the Islamic State organization (IS, aka ISIL/ISIS/Daesh) and resulting military campaign.

This report assesses legal, military/operational, and diplomatic implications of the reclamation and construction activity. It surveys U.S. and Chinese statements on the situation, provides a history of reclamation activity by other nations including the United States and other South China Sea claimants, and discusses U.S. strategy and potential options for U.S. policymakers.

This report includes selected highlights of the versions of the FY2016 Defense Appropriations Bill passed by the House on June 11, 2015 (H.R. 2685) and reported by the Senate Appropriations Committee on June 11, 2015 (S. 1558).

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This report reviews the history and trends of oil spills in the United States, and identifies the legal authorities governing oil spill prevention, response, and cleanup.

This report discusses the parliamentary politics of Turkey in the wake of elections held on June 7, 2015. Although Turkey's Islamist-rooted Justice and Development Party (AKP) won the most seats in parliamentary elections, it lost the governing majority it had enjoyed since 2002--probably ending President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's (air-doe-wan) hopes for constitutional change to increase his formal powers.

This report discusses the current debate over "net neutrality." While there is no single accepted definition of "net neutrality," most agree that any such definition should include the general principles that owners of the networks that compose and provide access to the Internet should not control how consumers lawfully use that network, and they should not be able to discriminate against content provider access to that network.

This budget and appropriations tracking report describes selected major items from the Administration's FY2016 budget request for ARPA-E and tracks legislative action on FY2016 appropriations to the agency. It also provides selected historical funding data.

This report discusses domestic human trafficking-related issues that have received legislative action or are of significant interest in the 114th Congress.

This report provides background on key elements of the FEMA's Public Assistance Program, such as the eligibility of applicants, the types of assistance available, and the methods FEMA uses for awarding grant assistance. The PA Program provides financial grant assistance to states, tribes, and local communities both in the response to and recovery from significant disasters.

This report begins with a working definition of the mental health workforce and a brief discussion of alternative definitions. It then describes three dimensions of the mental health workforce that may influence quality of care, access to care, and costs of care. The report then briefly discusses how these dimensions of the mental health workforce might inform certain policy discussions.

This report provides an overview of North American trade liberalization before NAFTA, an overview of NAFTA provisions, the economic effects of NAFTA, and policy considerations.

This report provides an overview of North American trade liberalization before NAFTA, an overview of NAFTA provisions, the economic effects of NAFTA, and policy considerations.

This report provides background information and issues for Congress on the sustainment and modernization of the Coast Guard's polar icebreaker fleet, which performs a variety of missions supporting U.S. interests in polar regions.

While considerable debate exists with regard to the best strategies for protecting America’s various cyber-systems and promoting cybersecurity, one point of general agreement amongst cyber-analysts is the perceived need for enhanced and timely exchange of cyber-threat intelligence both within the private sector and between the private sector and the government. This report examines the various legal issues that arise with respect to the sharing of cybersecurity intelligence, with a special focus on two distinct concepts: (1) sharing of cyberinformation within the government’s possession and (2) sharing of cyber-information within the possession of the private sector.