This report examines Kyrgyzstan's uneven political and economic reform efforts. It discusses U.S. policy and assistance for democratization and other programs. Basic facts and biographical information are provided.

This report provides the highlights of 2013 farm income forecast. The report discusses farm asset values and debt, and average farm household income. It also provides annual figures regarding U.S. farms.

This report discusses several key provisions related to extended federal unemployment benefits that are temporary and, therefore, scheduled to expire. This report describes the consequences of these expirations for the financing and availability of unemployment benefits in states. It also summarizes the last three laws that have extended these expiring provisions: P.L. 112-240, P.L. 112-96, and P.L. 112-78.

This report analyzes several types of recent changes to state Unemployment Compensation (UC) programs. Three categories of UC state law issues are considered: (1) changes in the duration of state UC unemployment benefits; (2) changes in the UC weekly benefit amount; and (3) the enactment into state law of two trigger options for the Extended Benefit (EB) program.

This report discusses the current issues in Burma (Myanmar) in regards to political prisoners and the resulting U.S. sanctions against the nation. It includes an introduction and definitions; information about current estimates of prisoners and prisoner releases; the relation of political prisoners, parliamentary elections and national reconciliation; and U.S. sanctions and U.S. efforts regarding political prisoners, as well as relevant issues for Congress to consider.

This report discusses the requirements of commercial filming and photography in federal lands, such as national parks, forests, wildlife refuges, ranges, and other landscapes are popular locations for motion pictures and commercial photography

This report describes and compares the drug- and crime-related policy restrictions contained in selected federal programs that provide assistance to low-income individuals and families: the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) block grant, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly Food Stamps), and the three primary federal housing assistance programs (the public housing program, the Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher program, and the project-based Section 8 rental assistance program).

This report provides brief history of the chemical weapons program in Syria, and discusses current chemical weapons program, policy issues and cooperative threat reduction programs.

Report that first reviews the legislative history surrounding the enactment of the 1968 and 1976 amendments to the appointment of the FBI Director, as well as information on the nominees to the FBI Directorship since 1972. The report also provides a legal overview of the extension of a Director's tenure.

This report provides wildfire management statistics (e.g., number of wildfires, acres burned, select state wildfire activity, firefighter personnel), presents wildfire management (WFM) appropriations from fiscal years 2008 to the present, and discusses two related issues--wildfire suppression funding estimation and air tanker readiness.

This report discusses the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the New Source Performance Standards (NSPS) proposals for electric generating units (EGU) Greenhouse Gas Emissions.

Report that focuses on activity in Congress regarding recent high profile incidents of sexual assault in the military. Included are separate sections on the official responses related to these incidents by the Department of Defense (DOD), the Administration, and Congress including legislation in the 113th Congress. The last section is a resource guide for sources in this report and related materials on sexual assault and prevention.

Report that discusses the increasing concentrations of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere, and the extent of related effects on the ocean and marine resources.

This report aims to provide a snapshot of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) program, including its current funding levels and the budget request for FY2014, together with some discussion of the program's achievements and prospects for success in meeting its stated goals.

This report provides a background of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) financial crisis and the issues for Congress.

This report provides an overview of current issues in U.S.-Palestinian relations. It also contains an overview of Palestinian society and politics and descriptions of key Palestinian individuals and groups -- chiefly the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), the Palestinian Authority (PA), Fatah, Hamas, and the Palestinian refugee population.

This report lists hundreds of instances in which the United States has used its Armed Forces abroad in situations of military conflict or potential conflict or for other than normal peacetime purposes. It was compiled in part from various older lists and is intended primarily to provide a rough survey of past U.S. military ventures abroad, without reference to the magnitude of the given instance noted.

This report discusses the FY2014 budget proposal that outlines a set of proposals, framed as the termination of tax preferences, that would potentially increase the taxes paid by the oil and natural gas industries, especially those of the independent producers.

This report provides a legal overview of Section 2 of the VRA, a key provision affecting congressional redistricting, and selected Supreme Court case law. It discusses Sections 4 and 5, and the recent Supreme Court decision holding Section 4(b) unconstitutional, Shelby County v. Holder. Section 4 contained a coverage formula that identified states and jurisdictions that were required to gain federal approval or "preclearance" to proposed redistricting plans under Section 5. The report also provides an overview of selected legislation in the 112th and 113th Congresses that would establish additional requirements and standards for congressional redistricting.

This report provides a brief history of the chemical weapons program in Syria. It discusses policy issues, latest development regarding the current chemical weapons program.

This report summarizes legislative and other actions taken to repeal, defund, or delay the Affordable Care Act (ACA), since the law's enactment. The information is presented in four appendixes.

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Thirteen states reported that in fiscal year 2012 they paid a total of about $5.6 billion to limited benefit plans to provide mental health services to about 4.4 million adult Medicaid beneficiaries. States can enroll different populations--such as adults who are blind, disabled, or have developmental disabilities--in limited benefit plans, which could contribute to the variation in the number of adults enrolled and level of capitated payments made across the 13 states."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Since 2008, the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has awarded five contracts to research organizations to update national workforce projections, but HRSA has failed to publish any new reports containing projections. As a result, the most recent projections from HRSA available to Congress and others to inform health care workforce policy decisions are from the agency's 2008 report, which is based on data that are more than a decade old. While HRSA created a timeline for publishing new workforce projection reports in 2012, the agency missed its goal to publish a clinician specialty report by December 2012 projecting the supply of and demand for health care professionals through 2025. HRSA officials attributed the delay in publishing this report to data challenges and modeling limitations. HRSA has also revised its timeline to postpone publication of two other health care workforce reports, as shown in the table below. HRSA officials said that the agency does not have standard written procedures for preparing a report for publication after final reports are delivered from contractors, which may impede its ability …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has made considerable progress toward obtaining a clean opinion on its financial statements but limited progress in obtaining a clean opinion on its internal control over financial reporting. DHS continues to rely on compensating controls and complex manual work-arounds rather than sound internal control over financial reporting and effective financial management systems. DHS is working to resolve the deficiencies that caused its auditors to issue a qualified opinion on its fiscal year 2012 financial statements and has a goal of achieving a clean opinion in fiscal year 2013. In addition, DHS has plans to resolve the remaining five material internal control weaknesses, with a goal of achieving a clean opinion on internal control over financial reporting for fiscal year 2016. However, DHS's auditors stated that they may have identified additional material weaknesses in fiscal year 2012 had they been able to perform sufficient work to enable them to express an opinion on the effectiveness of DHS's internal control over financial reporting. DHS will continue to face challenges in obtaining and sustaining a clean opinion on its financial statements and attaining …