This report discusses the use of biomass, its legislative history, and the proposed redefinition of biomass in legislation.

This report is intended as a primer on the policy issues, science, and governance of geoengineering technologies. The report will first set the policy parameters under which geoengineering technologies may be considered. It will then describe selected technologies in detail and discuss their status. The third section provides a discussion of possible approaches to governmental involvement in, and oversight of, geoengineering, including a summary of domestic and international instruments and institutions that may affect geoengineering projects.

The report provides an overview the Indian tribes, which are quasi-sovereign entities that enjoy all the sovereign powers that are not divested by Congress or inconsistent with the tribes' dependence on the United States. The report discusses tribal jurisdiction over nonmember Indians.

Report that provides background information and potential issues for Congress on the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS).

Report that discusses the current economic and political state of the island nation of Singapore, focusing in particularly on its economic success and its relationship with the United States.

Report that analyzes U.S. and international sanctions against Iran and, in so doing, provides examples, based on a wide range of open source reporting, of companies and countries that conduct business with Iran.

Report that provides links to cybersecurity hearings and legislation under consideration in the 113th and 112th Congresses, as well as executive orders and presidential directives, data and statistics, glossaries, and authoritative reports.

This report briefly describes the Guidance; provides opposing views on the Guidance, including past congressional legislation; summarizes a study on potential corporate costs and benefits of implementing the Guidance; and examines the impact of the Guidance from the perspectives of investors, corporations, and finance professionals.

This report provides an overview of guidelines that have governed planning for Department of Defense (DOD) operations over the last 30 years in the event of a funding lapse. It also discusses the implications of the guidelines for a possible impending shutdown and briefly reviews what is known about current DOD planning for a shutdown.

Report that describes and analyzes student loan interest rate proposals that have been made in the 113th Congress to establish new policies for setting the interest rates that borrowers will pay on loans made through the Direct Loan program.

Report that provides background and information on the increasing volume of electronic records and the variety of platforms used to create them.

This report includes a discussion of the impact of women in Congress as well as historical information, including the number and percentage of women in Congress over time, means of entry to Congress, comparisons to international and state legislatures, records for tenure, firsts for women in Congress, women in leadership, and African American and Asian Pacific American women in Congress.

This report includes biographical information, including the names, committee assignments, dates of service, listings by Congress and state, and (for Representatives) congressional districts of the 297 women who have served in Congress.

This report examines the original intent and purpose of the Berry Amendment and legislative proposals to amend the application of domestic source restrictions, as well as potential options for Congress.

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins ""

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and the Indian Health Service (IHS) have developed mechanisms to implement and monitor their memorandum of understanding (MOU); however, the performance metrics developed to assess its implementation do not adequately measure progress made toward its goals. VA and IHS have defined common goals for implementing the MOU and developed strategies to achieve them. They have also created two mechanisms to implement the MOU--12 workgroups with members from both agencies to address the goals of the MOU, and a Joint Implementation Task Force, comprised of VA and IHS officials, to oversee the MOU's implementation. These steps are consistent with practices that GAO has found enhance and sustain agency collaboration. The agencies have also developed three metrics aimed at measuring progress toward the MOU's goals. However, two of the three metrics are inadequate because their connection to any specific MOU goal is not clear and, while they include quantitative measures that tally the number of programs and activities increased or enhanced as a result of the MOU, they lack qualitative measures that would allow the agencies to assess the degree to which …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The — executive branch has taken a number of steps to implement key provisions of the GPRA Modernization Act (the act). The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) developed interim cross-agency priority (CAP) goals, and agencies developed agency priority goals (APG). Agency officials reported that their agencies have assigned performance management leadership roles and responsibilities to officials who generally participate in performance management activities, including quarterly performance reviews (QPR) for APGs. Further, OMB developed Performance.gov, a government-wide website, which provides quarterly updates on the CAP goals and APGs."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) has worked with U.S. implementing agencies, international donors, and partner countries to increase the efficiency and reliability of antiretroviral (ARV) drug supply chains. It has done so by improving drug supply planning and procurement as well as incountry distribution of drugs. First, PEPFAR has consolidated supply chains for ARV drug procurement for more than 20 partner countries to enhance efficiency and reduce costs and has begun further consolidation with other U.S. global health programs. Second, PEPFAR has improved coordination among donors by creating an information-sharing network to help detect and resolve supply gaps and other supply chain weaknesses and by developing an emergency drug procurement mechanism. Third, PEPFAR has provided partner countries with technical assistance, such as assessment tools and training, to help them better manage drug supply planning, procurement, and distribution."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "From fiscal years 2007 through 2011, three individuals who served as Attorney General (AG) and the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) accounted for 95 percent (659 out of 697 flights) of all Department of Justice (DOJ) executive nonmission flights using DOJ aircraft at a total cost of $11.4 million. Specifically, the AG and FBI Director collectively took 74 percent (490 out of 659) of all of their flights for business purposes, such as conferences, meetings, and field office visits; 24 percent (158 out of 659) for personal reasons; and 2 percent (11 out of 659) for a combination of business and personal reasons. All AGs and FBI Directors are "required use" travelers who are required by executive branch policy to use government aircraft for all their travel, including travel for personal reasons, because of security and communications needs. However, according to DOJ officials, while the AG has historically been required to use government aircraft for all types of travel, including personal travel, the FBI Director had, until 2011, the discretion to use commercial air service for his personal travel. DOJ officials told us …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In its quarterly readiness reports that covered the period from April 2012 through March 2013, the Department of Defense (DOD) addressed most but not all required reporting elements. Section 482 of Title 10 of the U.S. Code requires DOD to report on 26 elements including readiness deficiencies, remedial actions, and data specific to the military services in the areas of personnel, training, and equipment. In analyzing DOD's reports, GAO found that DOD addressed 18 of the 26 elements, partially addressed 3 elements and did not report on 5 elements. For the elements partially addressed--personnel stability, training operations tempo, and deployed equipment--reporting was incomplete because some services reported information and others did not report. When all the services reported on an element, they at times did so inconsistently, with varying amounts and types of information. For example, the services all reported information on training commitments and deployments, but used different timeframes when providing information on planned training events in the future. The services reported differently because DOD has not provided guidance on the information to be reported. For the elements that DOD did not address, including borrowed …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Contracting is a prevalent means of providing transit services. About 61 percent of the 463 transit agencies responding to GAO's survey reported they contract out some or all operations and services, while the rest reported that they do not contract out at all. According to GAO's survey, paratransit (services for the disabled), demand response (also known as dial-a-ride), and commuter rail service are most often contracted out, and fixed-route bus, heavy rail, and light rail service are most often operated by the transit agency. Operations are most frequently contracted out, followed by maintenance services. Transit agencies most consistently cite reducing costs as a factor influencing their decision to contract. Contracting can reduce costs because contractors' workforces are more flexible, with more employees working in part-time positions, and lower insurance costs, among other things. Transit agencies also frequently cited starting new service, improving efficiency, and allowing for more flexible service as reasons for contracting. State laws are generally not a reason for contracting, according to GAO's survey. Transit agencies that do not contract most often cited one of these three reasons: desire to maintain control over operations, …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins ""

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Complexity of the reviews, overly broad guidance, and limited monitoring for consistency impeded the ability of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) and the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (Federal Reserve) to achieve the goals of the foreclosure review--to identify as many harmed borrowers as possible and ensure similar results for similarly situated borrowers. Regulators said that coordinating among foreclosure review participants was challenging, and consultants said that the reviews were complex. In spite of regulators' steps to foster consistency, broad guidance and limited monitoring reduced the potential usefulness of data from consultants and increased risks of inconsistency. For example, GAO found that guidance was revised throughout the process, resulting in delays. Other guidance did not specify key sampling parameters for the file reviews and regulators lacked objective monitoring measures, resulting in difficulty assessing the extent of borrower harm. Good planning and collecting objective data during monitoring provide a basis for making sound conclusions. Without using objective measures to assess sampling or comparing review methods across consultants, regulators' ability to monitor progress toward achievement of foreclosure review goals was hindered."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Defense (DOD) provided information on all 12 required reporting elements in its fiscal year 2012 prepositioning report; however, 3 of these elements were only partially addressed. For example, DOD provided a list of non-standard items slated for inclusion in its prepositioned stocks but did not include a specific plan for funding those items as required by the law. Federal internal control standards state that decision makers need complete and relevant information to manage risks and achieve efficiency and effectiveness goals. However, GAO found that DOD's report contained some inconsistencies in information across the services as well as several inaccuracies and omissions. For example, DOD's report included funding information for 6 or 7 fiscal years for most of the services but only 2 fiscal years for the Navy's stocks. Service information was also presented in different formats in the report, which makes it difficult to compare data. Because the Joint Staff did not provide specific guidance to the services to ensure consistency when requesting data, the services adopted separate approaches to reporting information to the Joint Staff for compilation in the report. In addition, …