This report provides a summary of contested election cases from the 73rd Congress through the 109th Congress, 1933 to 2005. The descriptions primarily provide information concerning the nature of the action and the disposition of the case. The summary is limited to only those cases that were considered by the House of Representatives; cases decided at the state level are beyond the scope of this report.

This report discusses a plan announced by EPA in January 2005, called the Air Compliance Agreement, that would produce air quality monitoring data on animal agriculture emissions from a small number of farms, while at the same time protecting all participants (including farms where no monitoring takes place) through a “safe harbor” from liability under certain provisions of federal environmental laws.

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This report provides background and discussion of policy issues relating to U.S. ethanol production, especially ethanol made from corn.

This report discusses the President's fiscal year (FY) 2007 budget (February 2006) included a revised FY2006 deficit estimate of $423 billion, $72 billion larger than its previous estimate (July 2005) and $53 billion larger than its original deficit estimate in February 2005.

This report describes the recent changes to file a federal income tax return as a head of household.

This report tracks current appropriations and related legislation for Title I of the Workforce Investment Act of 1998 (WIA) (P.L. 105-220). Following a brief summary of each WIA program, the report presents the status of legislative proposals contained in the Administration’s FY2007 budget request and compares WIA funding in the FY2006 appropriation, the FY2007 budget request, and the FY2007 House and Senate Appropriations Committee reports.

This report identifies additional bills that have been introduced in the 109th Congress to address specific concerns related to how the Endangered Species Act (ESA is implemented and how endangered species are managed, and will be updated periodically to reflect legislative action.

This report discusses the section 303(d) of the Clean Water Act, which requires states to identify waters that are impaired by pollution, even after application of pollution controls. For those waters, states must establish a total maximum daily load (TMDL) of pollutants to ensure that water quality standards can be attained. Implementation of this provision has been dormant until recently, when states and EPA were prodded by numerous lawsuits. The TMDL issue has become controversial, in part because of requirements and costs now facing states to implement a 25-year-old provision of the law. Congressional activity to reauthorize the Act, a possibility in the 2nd Session of the 105th Congress, could include TMDL issues, but the direction for any such action is unclear at this time.

As highlighted by the Social Security Administration (SSA), the aging of the (United States) population, hastened by the impending retirement of the huge baby-boom generation, has caused policy-makers to question whether the U.S. Social Security system can meet the demands for retirement benefits in the future. Because the current system largely pays benefits through taxes paid by current workers, the financial health of the system is sensitive to the ratio of dependents to workers—sometimes called the age dependency ratio or support ratio. Trends and projections of dependency ratios, including the relationship between both older (years 65 and older) and younger (under age 20) dependents to the working-age population in the United States are considered in the first section of this demographic report. Next, the United States is compared to nine other nations, including the seven other members of the G8. In the final section, policy implications of the changing dependent-to-worker ratios are considered in the context of pay-as-you-go (paygo) social security systems.

Key components of federal policies to reduce fuel consumption include the promotion of alternatives to petroleum fuels and the promotion of more efficient vehicles. This report provides an overview of current issues surrounding alternative fuels and advanced technology vehicles — issues discussed in further detail in other CRS reports referred to in each section.

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This report explains cleanup requirements for the transfer and reuse of properties on closed bases, discusses property transfer status and cleanup costs on bases closed in prior rounds, and examines estimates of costs to clean up bases to be closed in the 2005 round to make these properties safe for civilian reuse.

This report contains brief summaries of federal animal protection statutes, listed alphabetically. It includes statutes enacted to implement treaties, those that protect certain groups of animals (e.g., protection of "game" animals rather than predators), statutes to conserve fish, statutes that allow the disabled to use service animals, and 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).

This report discusses the enrollment process for private prescription drug plans (PDPs) or Medicare Advantage prescription drug (MA-PD) plans. At a minimum, these plans offer "standard coverage" or alternative coverage with actuarially equivalent benefits. Beneficiaries are required to enroll in one of these private plans in order to obtain coverage.

This report discusses the debate over western water resources, which revolves around the issue of how best to plan for and manage the use of this renewable, yet sometimes scarce and increasingly sought after, resource.

This report discusses relevant congressional actions that lead to the passing of Defense budgets for FY2007.

This report is a brief discussion of the ethical, legal, and economic issues of gene patenting. The courts have upheld gene patents that meet the criteria of patentability defined by the Patent Act. However, the practice of awarding patents on genes has come under intense scrutiny by some scientists, legal scholars, politicians, and other experts.

This report briefly discusses how the Congressional Record is created and distributed. The Congressional Record is the most widely recognized published account of the debates and activities in Congress and it often reflects the intent of Congress in enacting legislation.

This report examines U.S. commodity subsidy programs, which have changing criteria due to the expiration of the World Trade Organization's (WTO's) so-called "Peace Clause." This change appears to have made U.S. export and domestic support programs more vulnerable to legal challenge under WTO rules.

This report discusses the "digital divide," a term that has been used to characterize a gap between those Americans who use or have access to telecommunications technologies (e.g., telephones, computers, the Internet) and those who do not. It particularly discusses one important subset of the digital divide debate concerns high speed Internet access or broadband.

This report summarizes the main provisions of the Pension Protection Act (PPA) as they affect single-employer defined benefit plans, multiemployer defined benefit plans, and defined contribution plans.

This report discusses the Global Environment Facility (GEF), serves as a primary source of funding for several major international environmental concerns. It was designed to provide incremental additional funding for development projects, in order to allow incorporation of environmental considerations in four specified areas: climate change, ozone depletion, biological diversity, and international waters. In recent years, land degradation and persistent organic pollutants have been added to its agenda. The GEF has provided funding to more than 1,300 projects in 140 nations. Although the United States has participated in the GEF since its inception, its level of contributions to the GEF has varied widely, from $30 million in 1994 to a high of $167 million in 1999, and to $80 million in 2006.