The United States Congress conducts several types of activities for which it employs staff. These activities include assisting Members in official responsibilities in personal, committee, leadership, or administrative office settings. This report focuses on positions in House and Senate personal offices (Member staff), and provides sample position descriptions for 14 positions with similar job titles in each chamber. This report, which will be updated as warranted, is one of several CRS products focusing on various aspects of congressional operations and administration. Others are listed within this report.

This report discusses several issues relating to homelessness among veterans, which has become more prominent since the beginning of the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.

This report, which will be updated as warranted, discusses House and Senate rules and guidelines, laws, and regulations affecting congressional casework, as well as the role of caseworkers. It also provides sample outlines and document templates for implementing and managing congressional casework.

This report briefly describes the roles, expectations, and duties of a Member of Congress, namely representation, legislation, and constituent service and education, as well as political and electorcal activities.

Under the U.S. Constitution, each House of Congress has the express authority to be the judge of the "elections and returns" of its own Members. Although initial challenges and recounts for the House are conducted at the state level, under the state's authority to administer federal elections, continuing contests may be presented to the House, which, as the final arbiter, may make a conclusive determination of a claim to the seat. This report describes these procedures.

This report presents background and analysis on the development of Trade Promotion Authority (TPA), which expired on July 1, 2007. The report also includes a summary of the major provisions under the recently expired authority and a discussion of the issues that have arisen in the debate over TPA renewal. It also explores the policy options available to Congress and will be updated as the congressional debate unfolds.

This report analyzes relevant provisions in enacted legislation and selected pending bills relating to teh U.S. Naval Station in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, a facility in which alleged enemy belligerents are detained.

This report provides statistical information on and selected analyses of the House committee party ratios for 14 Congresses, covering the period from the 98th through the 111th Congresses (1983-2011). This report also discusses trends and compares party ratios in selected Congresses. Possible reforms to the apportionment of committee seats are also examined.

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The United States has 26 agreements in force for peaceful nuclear cooperation. Under the U.S. Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended, these agreements are a prerequisite to certain aspects of U.S. nuclear cooperation with other cooperating partners. GAO was asked to (1) quantify the amount and value of U.S. nuclear exports facilitated by these agreements, (2) assess U.S. efforts to support the U.S. nuclear industry's ability to compete for sales, and (3) examine U.S. nuclear industry challenges to exporting. To conduct this work, GAO reviewed and assessed data collection efforts by U.S. agencies from 1994 through 2008, analyzed available data, and interviewed U.S. industry representatives and U.S. and foreign government officials."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Defense (DOD) relies heavily on its civilian workforce to perform duties usually performed by military personnel--including combat support functions such as logistics. Civilian senior leaders--some of whom occupy positions that might be cut during DOD's latest attempts to reduce overhead costs--are among those who manage DOD's civilians. In 2007, Congress mandated that DOD assess requirements for its civilian senior leader workforce in light of recent trends. DOD reported its recent reply to this requirement in its 2009 update to the Civilian Human Capital Strategic Plan, which used information from a 2008 baseline review to validate its senior leader requirements. GAO was asked to review DOD's approach for (1) assessing its civilian senior leader workforce requirements, (2) identifying and communicating the need for additional senior leaders, and (3) developing and managing this workforce. GAO reviewed submissions for DOD's baseline review and requests for additional senior leaders, including DOD's intelligence agencies. GAO also interviewed DOD and Office of Personnel Management officials."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The use of pesticides and fertilizers contributes to U.S. agricultural productivity and helps ensure a generally stable, plentiful, and inexpensive food supply. However, these chemicals may also harm human health, water quality, and food safety. The U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) collects, analyzes, and disseminates Agricultural Chemical Usage (ACU) data to meet regulatory, business, and other informational needs. In fiscal years 2007 through 2009, NASS substantially scaled back the ACU program before restoring it in 2010. GAO was asked to examine (1) what factors NASS considered in reducing the ACU program; (2) how ACU data users were affected by the temporary cutback, and their views on the data's quality and usefulness; and (3) the extent to which agricultural pesticide and fertilizer usage data are available from sources other than NASS. GAO reviewed relevant NASS documents and interviewed NASS officials as well as 25 selected ACU data users."

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "We have performed the procedures described in this letter, which we agreed to perform and with which the Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Transportation concurred, solely to assist the Inspector General's office in ascertaining whether the net excise tax revenue distributed to the Highway Trust Fund (HTF) for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2010, is supported by the underlying records. As agreed with the Inspector Generals' office, we evaluated fiscal year 2010 activity affecting excise tax distributions to the HTF. We conducted the engagement in accordance with U.S. generally accepted government auditing standards, which incorporate certain financial audit and attestation standards established by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. The Inspector General is responsible for the adequacy of these agreed-upon procedures to meet your objectives, and we make no representation in that respect. The procedures we agreed to perform were related to (1) transactions that represent the underlying basis of amounts distributed from the general fund to the HTF during fiscal year 2010, (2) the Internal Revenue Service's (IRS) quarterly HTF excise tax receipt certifications prepared during fiscal year 2010, (3) the U.S. Department …

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "We have performed the procedures, which we agreed to perform and with which the Department of Transportation's Inspector General concurred, solely to assist the Inspector General's office in ascertaining whether the net excise tax revenue distributed to the Airport and Airway Trust Fund (AATF) for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2010, is supported by the underlying records. As agreed with the Inspector General's office, we evaluated fiscal year 2010 activity affecting excise tax distributions to the AATF. We conducted the engagement in accordance with U.S. generally accepted government auditing standards, which incorporate certain financial audit and attestation standards established by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. The Department of Transportation's Inspector General Office is responsible for the adequacy of these agreed-upon procedures to meet the office's objectives, and we make no representation in that respect. The procedures we agreed to perform were related to (1) transactions that represent the underlying basis of amounts distributed from the general fund to the AATF during fiscal year 2010, (2) the Internal Revenue Service's (IRS) quarterly AATF excise tax receipt certifications prepared during fiscal year 2010, (3) the U.S. Department …

This report discusses the current political and economic conditions in Russia, focusing on the impact of Vladimir Putin's leadership and the leadership of his successor/protégé, Dmitriy Medvedev, both of which have steered Russia away from progress toward democratization. The report also discusses the state of the economy since the Soviet collapse in 1999, how the recent global economic downturn has affected Russia, the state of Russia's military, and the current relationship between Russia and the United States.

This report discusses how the total debt of the federal government can increase, an historical overview of debt limits, and how the current economic slowdown has led to higher deficits and thereby a series of debt limit increases, as well as legislation related to these increases.

Free weekly newspaper that includes business and classified advertising.

Weekly newspaper from Port Aransas, Texas on Mustang Island that includes local, state and national news along with extensive advertising.

Free weekly newspaper that includes business and classified advertising.

Daily student newspaper from the University of North Texas in Denton, Texas that includes local, state, and campus news along with advertising.

Weekly Jewish newspaper from Fort Worth, Texas that includes local, state and national news along with extensive advertising.

Document issued by the Office of the Attorney General of Texas in Austin, Texas, providing an interpretation of Texas law. It provides the opinion of the Texas Attorney General, Greg Abbott, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification regarding: Whether revenue from the sale of prepaid phone cards in a county jail commissary should be credited to the sheriff or the general fund of the county (RQ-0867-GA).

Document issued by the Office of the Attorney General of Texas in Austin, Texas, providing an interpretation of Texas law. It provides the opinion of the Texas Attorney General, Greg Abbott, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification: Whether, under chapter 42, Human Resources Code, the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services has rule-making authority to increase the number of training hours required for a employee of a day-care center or group day-care home (RQ-0868)

Document issued by the Office of the Attorney General of Texas in Austin, Texas, providing an interpretation of Texas law. It provides the opinion of the Texas Attorney General, Greg Abbott, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification; Authority of the Dallas County Commissioners Court to retain independent legal counsel in particular circumstances(RQ-0870-GA).

Graphene grown by chemical vapor deposition and supported on SiO2 and sapphire substrates was studied following controlled introduction of defects induced by 35 keV carbon ion irradiation. Changes in Raman spectra following fluences ranging from 1012 cm-2 to 1015 cm-2 indicate that the structure of graphene evolves from a highly-ordered layer, to a patchwork of disordered domains, to an essentially amorphous film. These structural changes result in a dramatic decrease in the Hall mobility by orders of magnitude while, remarkably, the Hall concentration remains almost unchanged, suggesting that the Fermi level is pinned at a hole concentration near 1x1013 cm-2. A model for scattering by resonant scatterers is in good agreement with mobility measurements up to an ion fluence of 1x1014 cm-2.