This report discusses laws related to the protection of marine mammals when using mid-frequency active sonar including the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA), the Endangered Species Act (ESA), the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), and the Coastal Zone Management Act (CZMA). The report discusses each of the laws generally, and then reviews the litigation surrounding the Navy's compliance with these laws in the context of using the sonar for training purposes off California's coast.

This report examines logistical support contracts for troop support services in Iraq primarily administered through the U.S. Army's Logistics Civil Augmentation Program (LOGCAP).

This report discusses the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (the Stafford Act) that authorizes the President to issue major disaster, emergency, and fire management declarations, which in turn enable federal agencies to provide assistance to state and local governments overwhelmed by catastrophes.

This report categorizes, describes, and in some cases quantifies these barriers on a country-by-country basis. Sixty-two major trading partners are covered in the 2008 report.10 Sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) measures and technical barriers to trade (TBTs) are generally detailed in each country’s profile and, where feasible, their impacts on U.S. exports are quantified by U.S. Trade Representative (USTR).

This report analyzes war funding for the Defense Department and tracks funding for USAID and VA Medical funding.

This report discusses the polar bear status and they are affected by climate change, contaminants, and subsistence and sport hunting.

This report contains brief summaries of federal animal protection statutes, listed alphabetically. It includes statutes that allow the disabled to use service animals, statutes aimed at acts of animal rights advocates (the Animal Enterprise Protection Act of 1992, and the Recreational Hunting Safety and Preservation Act of 1994), as well as other statutes concerning animal protection and conservation.

This report provides information on the effect of the Executive Schedule (EX-IV) pay cap on pay for General Schedule (GS) employees; and discusses the potential implications of the pay cap on salaries, pensions, and the ability of agencies to recruit and retain staff. The report also provides some background information on the GS and Executive Schedule pay systems and the annual pay adjustment processes in those systems.

This report discusses the expanded GI bill, which provides educational benefits, offset by a tax surcharge, extends unemployment compensation payments, delays new Medicaid regulations that would reduce payments to the states, and provides $20 billion for a number of domestic and international affairs programs, including gulf coast hurricane protection and emergency international food aid.

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This report discusses veterans' benefits issues that are already part of the legislative agenda for the 110th Congress or are likely to be of interest to Congress. These benefits and issues fall under the jurisdiction of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA). Also presented in this report are an overview of the benefits and their eligibility requirements, data on both the veteran population and the benefit population, and summary information on the FY2008 budget for veterans' benefits.

This report describes the basic methods that are used by the Senate to bring legislation to the floor for consideration.

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The first section of this report discusses demographics and record keeping of missing adults and unidentified remains, and some of the factors that may contribute to the disappearance of adults. This section also discusses federally funded databases that are used to track data on missing adults and unidentified individuals. The second section of the report describes the federal programs and initiatives to assist in locating missing adults, including funding data for FY2002 through FY2008, where applicable.

This report discusses the federal government's role in the country's information technology (IT) research and development (R&D) activities. The government's support of IT R&D began because it had an important interest in creating computers and software that would be capable of addressing the problems and issues the government needed to solve and study.

This report discusses the idea that all Americans should be able to afford access to the telecommunications network; this is commonly called the "universal service concept" and can trace its origins back to the 1934 Communications Act.

Due to recent changes in federal law, individuals who declare that they are citizens for Medicaid eligibility purposes must present documentation that proves citizenship and documents personal identity. This report discusses issues related to Medicaid citizenship documentation that have received considerable media and interest group attention, as well as proposed legislation that would affect the requirement.

This report provides an overview of the Defense Base Act (DBA) and the systems used to provide DBA insurance at the Department of State (DOS), the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the Department of Defense (DOD), and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE). Also included are criticisms of the current DOD DBA policy raised by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) and Army auditors as well as responses to those criticisms by DOD and USACE. The report concludes with a discussion of several DBA reform options suggested by the House of Representatives in recent legislation.

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This report presents basic information about over-the-counter(OTC) markets, the instruments traded, the regulatory framework, speculation, and current legislative proposals.

This report discusses the sugar policy which is designed to guarantee the price received by sugar crop growers and processors and to operate at “no cost” to the U.S. Treasury.

This report discusses Afghanistan's political transition, which was completed with the convening of a parliament in December 2005. Since then, insurgent threats to Afghanistan's government have escalated to the point that some experts are questioning the future of U.S. stabilization efforts.

This report provides background information on Saddam-Al Qaeda links and the Iraq insurgency. U.S. officials assess AQ-I to be weakened almost to the point of outright defeat in Iraq, although they say it remains lethal and has the potential to revive in Iraq.