The executive budget process is a complex set of activities that includes formulation of the President’s budget, interaction with Congress, and execution of the budget. Table 1 provides a timetable of the major steps in the year and a half process. The initial development of the President’s budget begins in the individual federal agencies approximately 10 months before the President submits it to Congress (17 or 18 months before the start of the fiscal year).

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This report discusses congressional interest in the pace of U.S. technological advancement due to its influence on U.S. economic growth, productivity, and international competitiveness. The proper role of the federal government in technology development and the competitiveness of U.S. industry continues to be a topic of congressional debate.

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The Temporary Extended Unemployment Compensation Act of 2002 (TEUC), was signed into law March 9, 2002, as a part of P.L. 107-147. TEUC provides up to 13 weeks of additional federally funded unemployment compensation (UC) to individuals in all states who exhaust their regular UC benefits. TEUC also provides a second tier of 13 weeks of benefits to individuals who exhaust their benefits in a highunemployment state (TEUC-X). On January 8, 2003, Congress passed S. 23 (P.L. 108- 1) extending the TEUC program through May 31, 2003, and phasing-out benefits through August 30, 2003. On April 16, 2003, P.L. 108-11 was signed into law, creating a parallel TEUC program called TEUC-A. TEUC-A provides up to 39 weeks of benefits for displaced airline workers, and provides a second tier (TEUC-AX) of benefits to individuals exhausting their TEUC-A benefits in a high-unemployment state. The Congress passed H.R. 2185, extending the TEUC program through December 31, 2003, and the President signed the bill into law on May 28, 2003 (P.L. 108-26). This report will be updated as events warrant.

In response to the foreign challenge in the global marketplace, the United States Congress has explored ways to stimulate technological advancement in the private sector. The government has supported various efforts to promote cooperative research and development activities among industry, universities, and the federal R&D establishment designed to increase the competitiveness of American industry and to encourage the generation of new products, processes, and services. Among the issues before Congress are whether joint ventures contribute to industrial competitiveness and what role, if any, the government has in facilitating such arrangements.

This report provides an overview of Federal Research and Development funding for FY2004.

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On July 22, as preparations continued for Senate Finance markup of a bill to reauthorize TANF, a bipartisan bill was introduced by Democratic former governors from Delaware and Nebraska and a Maine Republican. S.1443 would boost mandatory child care funding by $5.5 billion over 5 years and provide numerous special grants. It would increase work participation standards and lengthen the TANF work week (to 32 hours) for those without a child under 6, but give prorated credit for part-time work. On June 30, the scheduled expiration date of TANF, the President signed a bill that extended TANF, supplemental TANF grants, mandatory child care, abstinence education, and transitional medical assistance (TMA), on FY2002 terms, through September 30, 2003 (P.L. 108-40). These programs have operated under temporary authority since October 1, 2002.

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "As a separately organized agency within the Department of Energy (DOE), the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) administers the Stockpile Life Extension Program, whose purpose is to extend, through refurbishment, the operational lives of the weapons in the nuclear stockpile. NNSA encountered significant management problems with its first refurbishment. NNSA has begun three additional life extensions. This study was undertaken to determine the extent to which budgetary, cost accounting, and other management issues that contributed to problems with the first refurbishment have been adequately addressed."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) is responsible for providing over 48,000 children with a safe place to learn. In response to concerns that data in its old information system did not accurately reflect the condition of facilities, BIA acquired a new system, called the Facilities Management Information System (FMIS). GAO was asked to determine whether FMIS addresses the old system's weaknesses and meets BIA's management needs, whether BIA has finished validating the accuracy of data entered into FMIS from the old system, and how well the quality control measures are working for ensuring the accuracy of new data being entered into the system from individual schools."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "In fiscal years 1999, 2000, and 2003, the Congress authorized pilot programs to help the Department of Defense (DOD) laboratories and test centers explore innovative business partnerships and human capital strategies. Congressional concerns about DOD's implementation of the pilot programs have been growing. The Congress mandated that GAO review pilot program implementation. GAO (1) identified the pilot initiatives proposed and their current status, (2) examined factors that affected implementation, and (3) assessed implementation challenges the 2003 pilot program faces."

The objective of this work is to improve the process for CO{sub 2} capture by alkanolamine absorption/stripping by developing an alternative solvent, aqueous K{sub 2}CO{sub 3} promoted by piperazine. A rigorous thermodynamic model has been further developed with a standalone FORTRAN code to represent the CO{sub 2} vapor pressure and speciation of the new solvent. Gas chromatography has been used to measure the oxidative degradation of piperazine. The heat exchangers for the pilot plant have been received. The modifications are on schedule for start-up in November 2003.

CO{sub 2} emissions from the combustion of fossil fuels have been linked to global climate change. Proposed carbon management technologies include geologic sequestration of CO{sub 2}. A possible, but untested, sequestration strategy is to inject CO{sub 2} into organic-rich shales. Devonian black shales underlie approximately two-thirds of Kentucky and are thicker and deeper in the Illinois and Appalachian Basin portions of Kentucky than in central Kentucky. The Devonian black shales serve as both the source and trap for large quantities of natural gas; total gas in place for the shales in Kentucky is estimated to be between 63 and 112 trillion cubic feet. Most of this natural gas is adsorbed on clay and kerogen surfaces, analogous to methane storage in coal beds. In coals, it has been demonstrated that CO{sub 2} is preferentially adsorbed, displacing methane. Black shales may similarly desorb methane in the presence of CO{sub 2}. The concept that black, organic-rich Devonian shales could serve as a significant geologic sink for CO{sub 2} is the subject of current research. To accomplish this investigation, drill cuttings and cores were selected from the Kentucky Geological Survey Well Sample and Core Library. Methane and carbon dioxide adsorption analyses are being performed …

This report provides information about "Falun Gong" also known as " Falun Dafa" that combines an exercise regimen with meditation and moral guidelines.

This report discusses the India economic development and its trade relations with the United States

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