This report discusses the use of committees as crucial centers of policymaking, oversight of federal agencies, and public education is an organizing principle of the contemporary Congress.

This report discusses the violent crime control and law enforcement act of 1994, the federal death penalty that became available as a possible punishment for a substantial number of new and existing civilian offenses.

This report discusses what a farm bill is and the process of renewing one every year. This report specifically covers the farm bill for 2002 and the issues that come with it. Moreover, the report highlights the importance of exports within the U.S. agricultural economy and how this is a key interest in the renewal of farm bills.

This report provides figures regarding the population of the 50 states in 2000, which is 281,424,177, a figure 13.4% greater than in 1990.

This report discusses the process of conducting legislative research: deciding the scope, collecting the information and evaluating sources. Members of Congress need many kinds of information and analysis to support their legislative, oversight, and representational work, including both quick facts, or information to improve their understanding of a complex set of issues.

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This report details the history of the three federal transfer taxes, tracing their development from their eighteenth century roots to the present.

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This report provides answers to 10 of the most frequently-asked questions related to rules and provisions that govern savings in individual retirement accounts (IRAs).

Energy security, a major driver of federal energy efficiency programs in the past, came back into play as oil and gas prices rose late in the year 2000. Also, the electricity shortages in California have brought a new emphasis to the role that renewable energy may play in electricity supply.

Bankruptcy reform legislation has been reintroduced in the 107th Congress and appears to be on a fast track for consideration and possible enactment. S. 220 was introduced on January 30, 2001, and H.R. 333, entitled the "Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2001" was introduced on January 31.

This report discusses private actions to sue for civil rights violations in federally assisted programs following the Alexander v. Sandoval case. The report discusses the Sandoval decision as well as the implications the case can have in future perils.

Appropriations are one part of a complex federal budget process that includes budget resolutions, appropriations (regular, supplemental, and continuing) bills, rescissions, and budget reconciliation bills. This report is a guide to one of the 13 regular appropriations bills that Congress passes each year. It is designed to supplement the information provided by the House and Senate Interior Appropriations Subcommittees.

A United Nations Transitional Authority in East Timor (UNTAET) was established in October 1999 following the entrance of U.N.-sponsored international peacekeepers into East Timor. These measures came in response to Indonesian instigated violence against East Timorese who had voted overwhelmingly for independence from Indonesia in a referendum of August 30, 1999. UNTAET’s mandate is broad. It is to help East Timor recover from the violence through humanitarian aid and reconstruction of facilities that were damaged or destroyed. It is to help East Timor establish a functioning government, which will take over from the United Nations when East Timor formally becomes independent.

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This report discusses electronic warfare (EW) as an effective technique for increasing aircraft and aircrew survivability in hostile environments, which in turn improves the overall effectiveness of the air campaign.

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Sections 205 and 206 of the Federal Power Act concern rates and charges collected by a public utility in transmitting or selling electric energy in interstate commerce. These rates and charges are required to be just and reasonable. States retain jurisdiction over facilities for generation, distribution, or transmission of electric energy in intrastate commerce. The Commission has the authority to determine that an existing rate is unjust or unreasonable and set a new rate. In certain situations Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) may have authority to refund amounts paid in excess of just and reasonable rates. Case law is useful in determining when such a situation may exist.

In this report, the history of the federal transfer taxes, has been divided into four parts: (1) the federal death and gift taxes utilized in the period 1789 to 1915; (2) the development of the modern estate and gift taxes from 1916 through 1975; (3) the creation and refinement of a unified estate and gift tax system, supplemented by a generation-skipping transfer tax; and (4) the phase out and repeal of the estate and generation-skipping taxes, with the gift tax being retained as a device to protect the integrity of the income tax.

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