This report discusses the 10-20-30 plan of reallocating funds in rural development programs toward counties with systemic poverty levels defined as 20% of the population being at or below poverty level for 30 years. This report explains why targeting funds to persistent poverty counties might be of interest, how "persistent poverty" is defined and measured, and how different interpretations of the definition and different data source selections could yield different lists of counties identified as persistently poor. This report does not compare the 10-20-30 plan's advantages and disadvantages against other policy options, nor does it examine the range of programs or policy goals for which the 1020-30 plan might be an appropriate policy tool.

This report analyzes the financing of Medicare and its impact on the federal budget. It includes a discussion of the Medicare "trigger," which requires certain actions to be taken should general revenue funding be expected to exceed a certain proportion of total Medicare outlays within a certain number of years.

This report documents, in tabular form, House committee party ratios for 18 Congresses -- covering the period from the 98th Congress (1983-1985) through February 2017, the first part of the 115th Congress (2017-2019).

This report provides, in tabular form, Senate committee party ratios for 18 Congresses, covering the period of the 98th Congress (1983-1985) through April 2017, the first part of the 115th Congress (2017-2019).

This report discusses the funding process for House committees. It is organized in three sections: [1] an overview of the committee funding process in the House and analyzes funding levels since 1996; [2] a review of House floor and committee action on committee funding in the 115th Congress, and [3] a summary of the rules and regulations that structure the use of committee funds, with analysis of actual committee funding spending patterns during six previous years.

This report outlines the 2019 fiscal year budget request for the U.S. State Department, foreign operations, and related programs such as foreign aid. It discusses information about funding levels requested, major projects for the year, and Congressional actions.

This report discusses the U.S. export control system and the initiative started by President Obama to study and make recommendations for reform of the export control system by streamlining processes and consolidating control of the program in one agency.

This report discusses the Missing and Exploited Children Program's various parts such as the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, The Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force, and the Amber Alert program along with their funding levels.

This report discusses Native American tribes rights to groundwater on tribal land and the recent Supreme Court decision to not review the decision of the Ninth Circuit Court which upheld the groundwater rights of a California Tribe. The concepts of quantity, quality, and pore space as related to groundwater are also discussed.

This report discusses the concept of executive privilege and whether the communications of a president-elect are protected by executive privilege.

This report outlines regulations for vessels discharging ballast water into U.S waters, to prevent the spread of invasive species and pollution of bodies of water. It discusses various federal, state, and Coast Guard requirements along with exempted vessel types, and recent legislative action regarding the issue.

This report provides an overview of U.S.-South Korea agricultural trade, including details of key agricultural products and issues affecting U.S. exports.

This report discusses the U.S. Department of Agruculture's (USDA) broadband loan and grant program in rural utilities areas.

This report is an update of an earlier report regarding Title VII of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) and its expiration on January 19, 2018, along with proposed reforms to the FISA process.

This report describes the Department of Housing and Urban Development's (HUD's) 2018 budget appropriations. The report tracks progress on FY2018 HUD appropriations and provides detailed account-level, and in some cases sub-account-level, funding information (Table 1) as well as a discussion of selected key issues.

This report answers selected frequently-asked questions about military health care, including: 1) How is the Military Health System structured?, 2) What is TRICARE?, 3) What are the different TRICARE plans and who is eligible?, 4) What are the costs of military health care to beneficiaries?, 5) What is the relationship of TRICARE to Medicare?, 6) How does the Affordable Care Act affect TRICARE?, 7) When can beneficiaries change their TRICARE plan?, and 8) What is the Medicare Eligible Retiree Health Care fund, which funds TRICARE for Life?

This report provides basic information on the Department of the Navy, which includes both the Navy and the Marine Corps. It also describes the Coast Guard's relationship to the Department.

This report describes how world geography influences U.S. military strategy. Of particular importance to U.S. policymakers is preventing the emergence of a regional hegemony in one part of Eurasia.

This report provides an overview of the United States Naval Forces, which includes the Navy and Marine Corps.

This report discusses the rules and procedures regarding a Congress member sponsoring or cosponsoring a bill in the House.

This report discusses the Supreme Court opinion that an appellate court should exercise its discretion to correct an unpreserved error "if the error seriously affects the fairness, integrity or public reputation of judicial proceedings."

This report discuses the idea of requiring a balanced budget for the U.S. government and provides an overview of the issues and options that have been raised during prior consideration of proposals for a balanced budget constitutional amendment.

This report discusses energy tax provisions or "tax extenders" which expired at the end of 2017 and their economic impact.

This report addresses the questions that have arisen about the future of the Supreme Court's abortion jurisprudence, after the recent retirement of Justice Kennedy, the last remaining justice from the Casey plurality. The report first reviews the undue burden standard set from the Casey decision and discusses Justice Kennedy's views on the standard in the case law that has developed since Casey. Then, in light of President Trump's July 9, 2018 nomination of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to replace Justice Kennedy, it examines Judge Kavanaugh's only substantive abortion opinion: a dissent in the 2017 case from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit (D.C. Circuit), Garza v. Hargan. Finally, as lower courts continue to apply the undue burden standard to new abortion regulations, the report concludes by noting some of the abortion cases that the Supreme Court could possibly review in the near future.