This report discusses the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), the USA PATRIOT Act of 2001, and other related amendments that were included in the Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2002.

None

Lobbyists and interest groups play an active role in the American legislative process. Information on lobbyist registrations and on interest groups in general is available from a variety of online and printed sources, including files available for public inspection. This report is a guide for locating governmental sources that maintain files on lobby groups, their registrations, and finances. Also included in this report are nongovernmental sources that offer background information on the lobbyists and interest groups who focus on legislation in Washington.

This report begins with a discussion of the foster care system and the Social Security benefits available to eligible children, including those in foster care. It then describes the role of representative payees and their responsibilities. The report provides data on the use of Social Security benefits to reimburse states for child welfare, and includes a discussion of the Keffeler decision. Finally, the report concludes with proposals supported by some advocates to change the current practice of using SSI and other Social Security benefits to fund foster care, as well as with a discussion of state initiatives to screen all foster children for Social Security and to pass along some benefits to eligible children.

This report discusses the largest Older Americans Act program, funded at $714.6 million in FY2006, accounting for 40% of the Act’s total funding.

Two federal programs that support the price and income received by dairy farmers are expiring in 2007 — the dairy price support program and the Milk Income Loss Contract (MILC) program. This report discusses the reauthorization of these and other farm commodity price and income support programs, which is being debated by the 110th Congress in the context of a pending omnibus 2007 farm bill.

This report briefly discusses federal farm support, food assistance, agricultural trade, marketing, and rural development policies are governed by a variety of separate laws. Many of these laws periodically have been evaluated, revised, and renewed through an omnibus, multi-year farm bill. These policies can be and sometimes are modified through free-standing authorizing legislation, or as part of other laws.

Leaders and Members of the Senate and the House of Representatives, the Vice President, individuals in positions on the Executive Schedule (EX), and federal justices and judges receive an annual pay adjustment under the Ethics Reform Act of 1989, P.L. 101-194. This report includes five tables which provide the January 2004, January 2005, January 2006, and January 2007 salaries for federal officials, members of the Senior Executive Service (SES), and employees in senior-level (SL), scientific and professional (ST), and GS-15 positions in the Washington, DC, and the “Rest of the United States” locality pay areas.

When a Senator introduces a bill or joint resolution, the measure is usually referred to committee, pursuant to provisions of Senate Rules XIV, XVII, and XXV. This report describes the Senate Rule XIV, para. 2, which requires that bills and resolutions have three readings before passage, and that they be read twice before being referred to committee.

Although the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 (enacted February 8, 2006) included significant changes to the Child Support Enforcement (CSE) program, it did not include many of the child support provisions that had been considered during the preceding four-year debate within the context of welfare reauthorization. This report discusses 12 such provisions that were passed by either the House or the Senate Finance Committee (or both). The Administration has included several of these provisions in its FY2008 budget.

Numerous federal, state, and local agencies share responsibilities for regulating the safety of the U.S. food supply, which many experts say is among the safest in the world. Nevertheless, critics view this system as lacking the organization and resources to adequately combat foodborne illness, which sickens an estimated 76 million people and kills an estimated 5,000 each year in this country. The 110th Congress may face calls for a review of federal food safety agencies and authorities, and proposals for reorganizing them. Among the issues likely to arise are whether reform can improve oversight, and the cost to industry, consumers, and taxpayers. This report provides a brief introduction to the system and the debate on whether reorganization is needed.

Committee hearings allow Senators an opportunity to gather information on, and draw attention to, legislation and issues within a committee’s purview, conduct oversight of programs or agencies, and investigate allegations of wrongdoing. This report contains a checklist that identifies many of the tasks that need to be performed by a full committee and, in most cases, subcommittees in advance of a hearing. Some of the tasks are required by Senate or committee rules; others are common committee practice. Some tasks are usually the responsibility of the committee’s majority staff, some are shared by majority and minority staff, and some are performed by a Senator’s personal office staff.

None

This report outlines the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which provides broad nondiscrimination protection for individuals with disabilities. However, to be covered under the statute, an individual must first meet the definition of an individual with a disability. Questions have been raised as to whether and to what extent obesity is a disability under the ADA and whether the ADA protects obese individuals from discrimination. This report provides background regarding how obesity is covered under the ADA and its supporting regulations. It also discusses some of the ways in which courts have applied the ADA to obesity discrimination claims.

This report very briefly describes the education tax benefits available to individuals and highlights their permanent-versus-temporary features.

This report provides statistics on fatalities during Operation Iraqi Freedom, which began on March 19, 2003.

This report summarizes the Clean Air Act and its major regulatory requirements.

This report discusses soil and water conservation topics, which will be prominent in the 110th Congress, especially as it considers policy options for the next farm bill.

This report discusses pandemic flu in general, WHO and U.S. preparedness and response plans, and a number of relevant policy issues. The focus of this report is U.S. domestic public health preparedness and response planning, and the projected impacts of an influenza pandemic on Americans.

This report summarizes many issues raised in Congressional debates on the future of U.S. nonproliferation and threat reduction assistance. However, it first reviews the history of these programs, describing their origins in 1991, their expansion and evolution during the 1990s, and the changes in their direction during the first two years of the Bush Administration. The report also provides a broad summary of many of the program areas and projects supported by U.S. funding.

This report discusses President's budget request to Congress for Medicare, for the following federal fiscal year, along with projections for the five-year budget window. The President’s 2008 budget includes Medicare legislative proposals with estimated savings of $4.3 billion in 2008 and $65.6 billion over the five-year budget window.

This report provides analysis of the education tax credit program. The report begins with a review of the economic rationale for subsidizing education, then describes federal subsidies for education in general and education tax credits in particular. An analysis of the education credits follows, and the report concludes with a discussion of education tax credit policy options.

None

This report defines tax gap concepts, explains the methodology used to calculate the tax gap, examines the relationship between the tax gap and enforcement, and briefly discusses the Internal Revenue Service's (IRS's) strategy to reduce the gross tax gap.