Small Business Administration: A Primer on Programs (open access)

Small Business Administration: A Primer on Programs

None
Date: March 7, 2013
Creator: unknown
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Child Tax Credit: Current Law and Legislative History (open access)

The Child Tax Credit: Current Law and Legislative History

This report provides background information on the child tax credit. Specifically, this report provides an overview of the child tax credit under current law, as well as a legislative history of this tax benefit, which helps explain its purpose and current structure.
Date: March 25, 2013
Creator: Crandall-Hollick, Margot L.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Higher Education Tax Benefits: Brief Overview and Budgetary Effects (open access)

Higher Education Tax Benefits: Brief Overview and Budgetary Effects

This report provides a brief overview of the higher education tax benefits that are currently available to students and their families. The report contrasts higher education tax benefits with traditional student aid, presents a brief history of higher education tax policy over the past 60 years, summarizes key features of the available tax benefits, and provides JCT estimates of revenue losses resulting from individual tax provisions.
Date: March 12, 2013
Creator: Crandall-Hollick, Margot L.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Sessions, Adjournments, and Recesses of Congress (open access)

Sessions, Adjournments, and Recesses of Congress

None
Date: March 15, 2013
Creator: unknown
System: The UNT Digital Library
Conservation Reserve Program (CRP): Status and Issues (open access)

Conservation Reserve Program (CRP): Status and Issues

This report discusses the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP), which provides payments to agricultural producers to take highly erodible and environmentally sensitive land out of production and install resource conserving practices for 10 or more years. CRP was first authorized in the Food Security Act of 1985 (P.L. 99-198, 1985 farm bill) and is administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Farm Service Agency (FSA) with technical support from other USDA agencies.
Date: March 18, 2013
Creator: Stubbs, Megan
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Judgment Fund: History, Administration, and Common Usage (open access)

The Judgment Fund: History, Administration, and Common Usage

This report sets out specific instances in which the Fund can be accessed and illustrates the procedural mechanisms for obtaining payment under certain statutory causes of action. In addition, this report will briefly highlight several recently proposed changes to the Judgment Fund’s administration. In the 113th Congress, the Judgment Fund Transparency Act of 2013 (H.R. 317) would require the Secretary of the Treasury to post on a public website the claimant, agency, fact summary, and payment amount for each claim paid out of the Fund.
Date: March 7, 2013
Creator: Chu, Vivian S. & Yeh, Brian T.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Small Business: Access to Capital and Job Creation (open access)

Small Business: Access to Capital and Job Creation

None
Date: March 5, 2013
Creator: unknown
System: The UNT Digital Library
Analysis of Recent Proposals to Amend the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) to Create a Coal Combustion Residuals Permit Program (open access)

Analysis of Recent Proposals to Amend the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) to Create a Coal Combustion Residuals Permit Program

This report identifies key elements of the Environmental Protection Agency's approach to the implementation of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act and regulations of coal combustion residuals. Under this approach, the EPA would have no formal role in creating state program to regulate coal combustion residuals and instead allows states that opt in to implement a coal combustion residuals permit program.
Date: March 19, 2013
Creator: Luther, Linda
System: The UNT Digital Library
U.S.-Taiwan Relationship: Overview of Policy Issues (open access)

U.S.-Taiwan Relationship: Overview of Policy Issues

None
Date: March 20, 2013
Creator: unknown
System: The UNT Digital Library
Flow of Business: Typical Day on the Senate Floor (open access)

Flow of Business: Typical Day on the Senate Floor

Several authorities govern the daily chamber work of the Senate: its standing rules, standing orders, unanimous consent agreements, precedent, and tradition. Because these authorities have different influence at certain times, no Senate session day is truly typical. This report discusses procedures and business that usually occur every session day, and refers to certain business items that may occur less frequently.
Date: March 25, 2013
Creator: Davis, Christopher M.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Former Presidents: Pensions, Office Allowances, and Other Federal Benefits (open access)

Former Presidents: Pensions, Office Allowances, and Other Federal Benefits

This report provides a legislative and cultural history of the Former Presidents Act (FPA). It details the benefits provided to former Presidents and their costs. Congress has the authority to reduce, increase, or maintain the pension and benefits provided to former Presidents of the United States. This report considers the potential effects of maintaining the FPA or amending the FPA in ways that might reduce or otherwise modify a former President's benefits.
Date: March 21, 2013
Creator: Ginsberg, Wendy
System: The UNT Digital Library
Permanent Normal Trade Relations (PNTR) Status for Russia and U.S.-Russian Economic Ties (open access)

Permanent Normal Trade Relations (PNTR) Status for Russia and U.S.-Russian Economic Ties

This report discusses the issues surrounding whether or not the U.S. should grant Russia permanent normal trade relations (PNTR) following its accession into the World Trade Organization (WTO).
Date: March 28, 2013
Creator: Cooper, William H.
System: The UNT Digital Library
The National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for Particulate Matter (PM): EPA's 2006 Revisions and Associated Issues (open access)

The National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for Particulate Matter (PM): EPA's 2006 Revisions and Associated Issues

This report provides an analysis of the EPA's final 2006 revisions to the particulates National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS), and an overview of the estimated costs and benefits of the revised standards and of more stringent alternatives analyzed. The report highlights concerns and issues raised regarding the 2006 revisions to the particulates standards, including those of the science advisory committee (CASAC), and actions in Congress.
Date: March 14, 2013
Creator: Esworthy, Robert
System: The UNT Digital Library
New Zealand: U.S. Security Cooperation and the U.S. Rebalancing to Asia Strategy (open access)

New Zealand: U.S. Security Cooperation and the U.S. Rebalancing to Asia Strategy

This report discusses New Zealand's developing security cooperation with the United States.
Date: March 8, 2013
Creator: Vaughn, Bruce
System: The UNT Digital Library
Human Rights in China and U.S. Policy: Issues for the 113th Congress (open access)

Human Rights in China and U.S. Policy: Issues for the 113th Congress

This report examines human rights issues in the People's Republic of China (PRC), including ongoing rights abuses, legal reforms, and the development of civil society.
Date: March 15, 2013
Creator: Lum, Thomas
System: The UNT Digital Library
International Monetary Fund: Background and Issues for Congress (open access)

International Monetary Fund: Background and Issues for Congress

This report evaluates the purpose, membership, financing, and focus of the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) activities. It also discusses the role of Congress in shaping U.S. policy at the IMF and concludes by addressing key issues, both legislative and oversight-related, that Congress may wish to consider.
Date: March 21, 2013
Creator: Weiss, Martin A.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Military Uniform Procurement: Questions and Answers (open access)

Military Uniform Procurement: Questions and Answers

This report discusses military uniform procurement through the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA), an agency of the Department of Defense.
Date: March 28, 2013
Creator: Grasso, Valerie Bailey
System: The UNT Digital Library
United States Fire Administration: An Overview (open access)

United States Fire Administration: An Overview

This report describes and analyzes the United States Fire Administration's (USFA's) FY2013 budget proposal, as well as related information and legislation.
Date: March 4, 2013
Creator: Kruger, Lennard G.
System: The UNT Digital Library
U.S.-China Military Contacts: Issues for Congress (open access)

U.S.-China Military Contacts: Issues for Congress

This report discusses policy issues regarding military-to-military (mil-to-mil) contacts with the People's Republic of China (PRC) and provides a record of major contacts and crises since 1993.
Date: March 19, 2013
Creator: Kan, Shirley A.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Navy Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) Program: Background and Issues for Congress (open access)

Navy Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) Program: Background and Issues for Congress

This report provides background information and potential issues for Congress on the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS), a relatively inexpensive Navy surface combatant equipped with modular "plug-and-fight" mission packages. The Navy's proposed FY2013 budget requests funding for the procurement of four LCSs.
Date: March 14, 2013
Creator: O'Rourke, Ronald
System: The UNT Digital Library
Public Access to Data from Federally Funded Research: Provisions in OMB Circular A-110 (open access)

Public Access to Data from Federally Funded Research: Provisions in OMB Circular A-110

The results of scientific studies are used in making many governmental policy decisions. While the studies are often published, the data on which they are based may not be, even for federally funded research. Before 1999, academic and nonprofit performers of such research were permitted but not required to make their data available to the public through provisions of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). In October 1998, a provision in P.L. 105-277 changed that, requiring that such data be made publicly available. This report provides background on the 1999 revisions to federal policy, a discussion of the impacts of those changes, and an analysis of the issues raised by them.
Date: March 1, 2013
Creator: Fischer, Eric A.
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Trans-Pacific Partnership Negotiations and Issues for Congress (open access)

The Trans-Pacific Partnership Negotiations and Issues for Congress

This report examines the issues related to the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), the state and substance of the negotiations (to the degree that the information is publically available), the specific areas under negotiation, the policy and economic contexts in which the TPP would fit, and the issues for Congress that the TPP presents.
Date: March 19, 2013
Creator: Fergusson, Ian F.; Cooper, William H.; Jurenas, Remy & Williams, Brock R.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Navy Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD) Program: Background and Issues for Congress (open access)

Navy Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD) Program: Background and Issues for Congress

This report provides background information and issues for Congress on the Aegis ballistic missile defense (BMD) program, which is carried out by the Missile Defense Agency (MDA) and the Navy, and gives Navy Aegis cruisers and destroyers a capability for conducting BMD operations. Congress's decisions on the Aegis BMD program could significantly affect U.S. BMD capabilities and funding requirements, and the BMD-related industrial base.
Date: March 27, 2013
Creator: O'Rourke, Ronald
System: The UNT Digital Library
Iraq: Politics, Governance, and Human Rights (open access)

Iraq: Politics, Governance, and Human Rights

This report discusses the state of Iraqi politics, governance, and human rights. Topics include the worsening relations between local Sunni and Shiite populations.
Date: March 26, 2013
Creator: Katzman, Kenneth
System: The UNT Digital Library