This report lists the current federal capital offenses and summarizes the procedures for federal civilian death penalty cases. Several laws are relevant to the topic including: P.L. 103-322, the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994; the Anti-terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996; and P.L. 107-197, the Terrorist Bombings Convention Implementation Act of 2002.

This report discusses discretionary spending, which is provided in annual appropriations acts, is constrained in part by limits set in the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985, as amended.

This report provides the following: an overview of postsecondary education (institutions and students), an overview of the Higher Education Act (HEA) with a focus on its most significant programs and provisions, and a discussion of major issues likely to be of interest to the Congress during the HEA reauthorization process.

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This report outlines the amended FY2002 defense budget request from the Bush administration, delivered to the Hill in June 2001.

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Federal agencies spent $136 billion dollars in 2001 acquiring services ranging from clerical support and consulting services to information technology services, such as network support, and management and operations of government facilities, such as national laboratories. To achieve greater cost savings and better outcomes with this spending, Congress and the administration have encouraged greater use of performance-based contracting. Under this approach, the contracting agency specifies the outcome or result it desires and leaves it to the contractor to decide how best to achieve the desired outcome. Most of the 25 contracts GAO reviewed exhibited at least one or more performance-based attributes, but there was a range in the degree to which they exhibited these attributes."

A briefing report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The attacks of September 11, 2001, and recent anthrax exposures have heightened long-standing concerns about the proliferation of biological weapons and the United States' ability to quickly respond to such incidents. The United States must identify technologies to protect against biological weapons, such as anthrax, without harming humans. Ionizing radiation has emerged as the leading current technology for mail sanitization. However, ionizing radiation may have adverse effects on mailed material, and it may not be applicable to some types of parcels, boxes, and large packages. In addition, applying ionizing radiation in a mail-processing environment requires radiation and biohazard precautions, such as shielding the radiation source and wearing protective gear."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Defense (DOD) estimates that cleaning up contamination and hazards at thousands of properties that it formerly owned or controlled will take more than 70 years and cost as much as $20 billion. These formerly used defense sites (FUDS), which can range in size from less than an acre to many thousands of acres, are now used for parks, farms, schools, and homes. Hazards at these properties include unsafe buildings, toxic and radioactive wastes, containerized hazardous wastes, and ordnance and explosive wastes. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is responsible for identifying, investigating, and cleaning up hazards resulting from military use. GAO found that the Corps lacks a sound basis for its conclusion that 38 percent of 3,840 FUDS need no further study or cleanup action. The Corps' determinations are questionable because there is no evidence that it reviewed or obtained information that would allow it to identify all the potential hazards at the properties, or that it took sufficient steps to assess the presence of potential hazards. GAO also found that the Corps often did not notify owners of its determinations that the …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Genetically modified foods pose the same risks to human health as do other foods. These risks include allergens, toxins, and compounds known as antinutrients which inhibit the absorption of nutrients. Before marketing a genetically modified food, company scientists seek to determine whether these foods pose any heightened risks. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) published guidelines in 1992 to ensure that companies worked with the agency to assess the safety of genetically modified foods. GAO found that FDA's evaluation process could be enhanced by randomly verifying the test data provided and by increasing the transparency of the evaluation process, including communicating more clearly the scientific rationale for FDA's final decision on an assessment of genetically modified food. Scientists expect that genetic modifications will increasingly enhance the nutritional value of genetically modified foods. Although current tests have been adequate for evaluating the few genetically modified foods that have, so far, undergone relatively simple compositional changes, new technologies are being developed to evaluate the increasingly complex compositional changes expected. Monitoring the long-term health risks of genetically modified foods is generally neither necessary nor feasible. No scientific evidence exists, …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has a staff of 6,426 and collected $1.1 billion in patent and trademark fees in fiscal year 2001. As the U.S. economy depends increasingly on new innovations, the need to patent or trademark quickly the intellectual property resulting from such innovations becomes more important. Expressing concerns about USPTO's plans for the future, Congress directed USPTO to develop a 5-year plan. In February 2001, USPTO issued its first 5-year plan, called the USPTO Business Plan. Because the Director of USPTO did not believe that the Business Plan went far enough, in June 2002, USPTO produced another 5-year plan, called the 21st Century Strategic Plan. GAO found that patent activity grew substantially from 1990 through 2001. The numbers of patent applications filed and patents granted nearly doubled; the inventory of patent applications nearly tripled; patent pendency increased from slightly over 18 months to nearly 25 months, and the number of patent examiners increased by about 80 percent. Furthermore, in fiscal year 2001, both fee collections and agency funding requirements exceeded $1 billion for the first time in the agency's history. Although …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The United States is increasingly dependent on space for its security and well being. The Department of Defense's (DOD) space systems collect information on capabilities and intentions of potential adversaries. They enable military forces to be warned of a missile attack and to communicate and navigate while avoiding hostile action. DOD's efforts to strengthen space control are targeted at seeking to promote better coordination among DOD components, prioritization of projects, visibility and accountability over funding, and interoperability among systems. Among other things, DOD is drafting a space control strategy that is to outline objectives, tasks, and capabilities for the next 20 years. It has also aggregated funding for space programs so that it can compare space funding, including space control funding, to its total budget, make decisions about priorities, and conduct future-trend analyses. In addition, DOD has changed its acquisition policy to include separating technology development from product development and encouraging an evolutionary, or phased, approach to development. There are, however, substantial challenges to making DOD's space control efforts successful. One challenge is putting needed plans in place to provide direction and hold the services accountable …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Several federal programs have been developed to provide homeownership opportunities for Native Americans because private institutions have rarely supplied conventional home loans to Native Americans on trust lands. In 1992, Congress directed the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to create the Native American Veterans Direct Home Loan Program to assist veterans in purchasing, constructing and improving homes. The Native American Veterans Direct Home Loan Program has been characterized by differences in the numbers served, with native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders together receiving almost five times as many as loans as Native Americans. Several factors that apply to Native Americans, but not to native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders, may explain this difference. Long-standing barriers to lending on Native American trust lands include insufficient income and credit history, a lack of meaningful interest in land among many Native Americans, and insufficient infrastructure on trust lands. Other factors that VA can address include program limits that may be lower than housing costs for some trust lands and potential applicants' inexperience with the mortgage lending process. VA has conducted outreach but has taken limited steps to meet the assessment and …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The mission of the National Nuclear Security Administration's (NNSA) Nonproliferation and Verification Research and Development (R&D) Program is to conduct needs-driven research, development, testing, and evaluation of new technologies that are intended to strengthen the United States' ability to prevent and respond to nuclear, chemical, and biological attacks. In fiscal years 1998 through 2002, the Nonproliferation and Verification R&D program received an average of $218 million per year--a total of $1.2 billion. Nearly 75 percent of that total was distributed for R&D at three NNSA national laboratories. Two of the three research areas of the Nonproliferation and Verification R&D Program lack a formal process to identify users' needs, and the tools used to monitor project progress are inadequate. In terms of users, NNSA's role is to develop technologies for, and transfer them to, users in the federal government, the intelligence community, law enforcement, and others. The program requires that projects' life-cycle plans and quarterly reports contain detailed information on project time frames, milestones, users of technologies, and deliverables. Officials from federal, state, and local agencies that use the technology developed by NNSA's R&D program have found …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "In 1998, the Health Care Financing Administration implemented a prospective payment system (PPS) for skilled nursing facility (SNF) services provided to Medicare beneficiaries. PPS is intended to control the growth in Medicare spending for skilled nursing and rehabilitative services that SNFs provide. Two years after the implementation of PPS, the mix of patients across the categories of payment groups has shifted, as determined by the patients' initial minimum data set assessments. Although the overall share of patients classified into rehabilitation payment group categories based on their initial assessments remained about the same, more patients were classified into the high and medium rehabilitation payment group categories, and fewer were initially classified into the most intensive (highest paying) and least intensive (lowest paying) rehabilitation payment group categories. Two years after PPS was implemented the majority of patients in rehabilitation payment groups received less therapy than was provided in 1999. This was true even for patients within the same rehabilitation payment group categories. Across all rehabilitation payment group categories, fewer patients received the highest amounts of therapy associated with each payment group."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "U. S. broadcast television stations are now switching from analog to digital television (DTV). The transition to digital technologies was sought by many broadcasters and was mandated by Congress and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). FCC established 2006 as the target date for ending analog transmissions---a deadline later codified by Congress. At least 24 percent of all commercial television stations are now broadcasting a digital signal. However, these stations report little interest in receiving DTV. Transitioning stations reported that funding was one of the most prevalent problems. Seventy-four percent of transitioning stations indicated that the problems they are facing are so significant that they may not be able to begin broadcasting a DTV signal by May 2002, as required. Sixty-eight percent of transitioning stations said that a realistic extension for them would be one year or more. Thirty-one percent of the transitioning stations that said they might miss their May 2002 deadline reported that, if the transition were driven by market forces such as competition, technology, and consumer demand, they likely would not be on the air with a digital signal until after 2010. Another four …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Poor oversight and management of DOD's travel card program has led to high delinquency rates, costing DOD millions in lost rebates and increased ATM fees. As a result, the Congress asked GAO to report on (1) the magnitude, impact, and cause of delinquencies, (2) the types of fraudulent and abusive uses of the travel card, and (3) the effectiveness of internal controls over DOD's travel card program. GAO previously reported on travel card management at the Army. This report focuses on travel card management at the Navy, including the Marine Corps."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA) provided $23 billion in monthly cash benefits to 3.2 million disabled veterans and their families through its compensation and pension program in fiscal year 2001. In the same year, VBA mailed 1.2 million "notification" letters to veterans and their families, informing them of VBA's decisions on compensation or pension benefits claims filed. VBA also sent 1.2 million "development" letters in fiscal year 2001 requesting information in order to make a decision on claims. VBA found in 1995 that its notification and development letters failed to communicate adequately, and launched an initiative, called Reader-Focused Writing, to improve its written communications. In its letters, VBA clearly explained some, but not all, of the key aspects that claimants needed to understand. Beyond the lack of clarity in these letters, various writing deficiencies, such as sequencing and formatting problems, reduced the value of VBA's letters. First, in many of its rating decision documents and development letters, VBA attempts to achieve more than one objective and, in doing so, compromises clarity for the reader. Second, although VBA's central office and some regional offices have developed boilerplate …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "United Nations sanctions were first imposed in August 1990 following Iraq's invasion of Kuwait. In 1991, the Security Council established sanctions to stop Iraq from acquiring or developing biological, chemical, and nuclear weapons. To achieve this, the Security Council prohibited all nations from buying Iraqi oil or selling the country any commodities except for food and medicine. It further established a weapons inspection regime to ensure that Iraq destroyed its weapons of mass destruction and stopped its weapons programs. Concerned about the humanitarian need of the Iraqi people, in 1995 the Security Council established a controls program for Iraq's oil sales that allows for the purchase of food, medicine, and essential civilian goods (the oil for food program). With international support for the sanctions eroding, in 2001 the Security Council passed a new sanctions resolution to address humanitarian concerns while keeping Iraq from rebuilding its weapons systems. Although the U.N. controlled $51 billion of Iraq's oil revenues from 1997 to 2001, Iraq earned an additional $6.6 billion in illegal revenue from oil smuggling and surcharges during the same time. Further, although the sanctions prohibit Iraq from …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) of 1996 changed the nation's cash assistance program for needy families with children by replacing the Aid to Families with Dependent Children program, with the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) block grant. As specified in PRWORA, TANF's goals include ending the dependence of families receiving government benefits by promoting job preparation, work, and marriage; preventing and reducing the incidence of non-marital pregnancies; and encouraging two-parent families. Contracting with nongovernmental entities to provide TANF-funded services occurs in most states and exceeded $1.5 billion in federal and state funds in 2001. A GAO survey indicated that the most commonly contracted services included education and training, job placement, and support services to promote job entry or retention. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) relies primarily on state single audit reports to oversee TANF contracting by states and localities. HHS officials told GAO that their regional offices follow up on the TANF deficiencies identified and that HHS focuses on reported deficiencies that involve unallowable or questionable costs. However, HHS officials said that they do not know the extent …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "China's entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO) on December 11, 2001, brought the world's seventh largest economy under global trade liberalizing rules. If implemented, China's commitments will open China's economy and reform its trading activities, thereby expanding U.S. companies' opportunities for investing in China and for exporting goods, agricultural products, and services to China. Understanding U.S. companies' expectations is fundamental for policymakers to judge the degree to which the benefits of China's WTO membership are being realized. GAO analyzed U.S. companies' views about (1) the importance of, (2) the anticipated effects of, and (3) prospects for China implementing its WTO commitments. GAO surveyed a random sample of 551 U.S. companies and interviewed 48 judgmentally selected companies in four cities in China. Survey results reflect responses from 191 companies--a response rate of 38 percent--and may not reflect the views of all U.S. companies with activities in China."

This report examines various issues pertaining to foreign students in the United States. Since the Immigration Act of 1924, the United States has expressly permitted foreign students to study in U.S. institutions. Most foreign students are at least 18 years old and are enrolled in higher education programs. Foreign students are generally considered to enrich cultural diversity of the educational experience for U.S. residents as well as enhance the reputation of U.S. universities as world-class institutions. Concerns have arisen in recent years that have caused Congress to take a new look at the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) provisions that govern their admission.

This report examines various issues pertaining to foreign students in the United States. Since the Immigration Act of 1924, the United States has expressly permitted foreign students to study in U.S. institutions. Most foreign students are at least 18 years old and are enrolled in higher education programs. Foreign students are generally considered to enrich cultural diversity of the educational experience for U.S. residents as well as enhance the reputation of U.S. universities as world-class institutions. Concerns have arisen in recent years that have caused Congress to take a new look at the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) provisions that govern their admission.