This report summarizes and describes the EPA's (Environmental Protection Agency) final revisions to the NAAQS (National Ambient Air Quality Standards). The summary also explores how the revisions are contentious in certain areas that may not be meeting those standards which materializes as congressional oversight.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is currently engaged in a series of regulatory actions to address the transport of ozone pollution in the eastern United States. This report reviews this situation with respect to an EPA-proposed Ozone Transport Rule and other activities.

Among airborne intelligence, surveillance, and reconaissance (ISR) platforms, the U-2 Dragon Lady and the RQ-4A Global Hawk are especially valuable. This report discusses how best to use existing and planned manned and unmanned ISR aircraft to most effectively satisfy the Department of Defense's (Dod) requirements for timely and accurate information on enemy forces.

This report discusses the Assistance to Firefighters Grant (AFG) Program, also known as fire grants of the FIRE Act grant program, which provides federal grants directly to local fire departments and unaffiliated Emergency Medical Services (EMS) organizations to help address a variety of equipment, training, and other firefighter-related and EMS needs. This report also discusses the possible reauthorization of AFG and the related Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response Firefighters (SAFER) program.

This report provides information about the Budget Reconciliation FY2006. It proposed changes to Medicaid, Medicare, and State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP).

This report details the information related to Central Asia Regional developments and implications for the U.S interests.

This report documents the trends of economic well-being of children, giving data on child poverty and the employment rate of their mothers.

This report provides information about the Committee Markup Process in the House of Representatives.Committees do not actually change the texts of the bills they mark up.

The conference report presents the formal legislative language on which the conference committee has agreed. The joint explanatory statement explains the various elements of the conferees agreement in relation to the positions that the House and Senate had committed to the conference committee.

Various federal officials have spoken in favor of extending the Federal Communication Commission’s indecency restriction, which currently applies to broadcast television and radio, to cable and satellite television. This report examines whether such an extension would violate the First Amendment’s guarantee of freedom of speech.

To a worker contemplating retirement, there is perhaps no more important question than "How long will my money last?" Congress has a strong interest in the income security of older Americans because much of their income is either provided directly from public programs like Social Security, or in the case of pensions and retirement accounts, is subsidized through tax deductions and deferrals. This report discusses risks involved with retirement fund disbursement and strategies for dealing with such risks.

To a worker contemplating retirement, there is perhaps no more important question than "How long will my money last?" Congress has a strong interest in the income security of older Americans because much of their income is either provided directly from public programs like Social Security, or in the case of pensions and retirement accounts, is subsidized through tax deductions and deferrals. This report looks at strategies to help deal with the following risks: longevity, investment, inflation, and unexpected events.

This report examines the statutory procedures governing covert action and associated questions to consider.

This report discusses the Europe’s Convention on Cybercrime of November 2001, which includes forty-two countries and the United States.

This report summarizes several emergency management and homeland security programs, and identifies and analyzes potential issues for the 111th Congress. These issues include the purpose and number of assistance programs; the evaluation of the use of grant funding; the determination of eligible grant recipients; the programs' funding amounts; and the programs; funding distribution methodologies.

This report provides an economic analysis of the homebuyer tax credit. Data suggest that home prices in general may be stabilizing and that the home inventory is beginning to return to a more normal level. Given the close proximity of these improvements to when the homebuyer tax credit was enacted by the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 and first modified by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, one could argue that the tax credit was the cause of these improvements.

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This report is a guide to the regular appropriations bills that Congress considers each year. It is designed to supplement the information provided by the House and Senate Appropriations Subcommittees on Energy and Water Development. It summarizes the status of the bill, its scope, major issues, funding levels, and related congressional activity, and is updated as events warrant. The report lists the key CRS staff relevant to the issues covered and related CRS products.

In the 108th Congress, debate over energy efficiency programs has focused on budget, oil, natural gas, and electricity issues, and provisions in the omnibus energy policy bill, S. 2095, H.R. 6, and S. 14/S. 1149. The Bush Administration’s FY2005 budget request for the Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Energy Efficiency Program sought $875.9 million, including $543.9 for R&D and $332.0 million for grants. In the first session, the omnibus energy bill (H.R. 6) had several significant tax and regulatory measures for energy efficiency. It did not pass the Senate due to concerns about cost and an MTBE “safe harbor” provision.

This report provides a brief overview of the European Union's (EU) accession process; Turkey's path to EU membership; the impact of the Cyprus problem; and a review of the United States' interest in Turkey's future in the European Union.

This report provides information about "Donor-Donee" State Issues on Federal-Aid Highway Program which raised such heated debate as the arguments over how closely the program's payment to the individual states.

This report discusses federal funding for research and development. National R&D funding continues to grow, but the federal R&D share has declined to less than 30% of the total. Debates focus on which fields of federal R&D should be increased and how to set priorities and to "balance" health and nonhealth fields.

This report focuses on the floor activities of the House during its first formal session in a new Congress, and serves as a guide for participating in or watching these proceedings.

This report assesses recent international developments as the leaders from a number of nations work to reach a consensus on an informal set of best practices regarding national restrictions on foreign investment for national security purposes.