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This report considers the Agriculture and Related Agencies appropriations bill. The report compares and contrasts the Senate and House versions of the bill in terms of budgeting. Moreover, both bills reject the termination of the Commodity Supplemental Food Program.

This report discusses the President's fiscal year (FY) 2007 budget (February 2006) included a revised FY2006 deficit estimate of $423 billion, $72 billion larger than its previous estimate (July 2005) and $53 billion larger than its original deficit estimate in February 2005.

This report discusses federal research and development (R&D) funding. As in the recent past, the FY2007 increase over the FY2006 estimated funding levels is due to significant funding increases in the Department of Defense (DOD) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA's) space vehicles development program.

This report tracks appropriation action on the President's FY2007 funding request for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Issues of possible congressional concern are summarized, including a Joint Ocean Commission Initiative statement on ocean science and fisheries-related funding.

This report discusses Low-Income Home Energy Assistance program (LIHEAP) funds for FY2006 and FY2007. It also discusses current issues and legislation related to LIHEAP.

This report discusses the continuing resolution, or CR (P.L. 109-383, H.J.Res. 102) which provides spending at FY2006 levels (through February 15, 2007), for those agencies lacking enacted FY2007 appropriations bills.

This report is a guide to one of the regular appropriations bills that Congress considers each year. It summarizes the status of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies appropriations bill, its scope, major issues, funding levels, and related congressional activity.

The proof of concept of SO2 electrolysis for the hybrid sulfur (HyS) process is the second priority research target of the DOE Nuclear Hydrogen Initiative's thermochemical program for FY07. The proof of concept of the liquid-phase option must be demonstrated at the single cell level for an extended run times (>100 hours). The rate of development of HyS will depend on the identification of a promising membrane or an alternative means for controlling sulfur formation. Once successful long-duration operation has been demonstrated, SRNL will develop a multi-cell stack that can be connected to the H2SO4 decomposer being developed by SNL for the S-I ILS for a Hybrid Sulfur Integrated Laboratory-Scale Experiment during FY 2008. During the first quarter of FY07, SRNL continued the component development and membrane development activities with the goal of identifying and characterizing improved electrodes, electrocatalysts, membranes and MEA configurations which could then be tested at larger scale in the SDE test facility. A modified glass cell was fabricated to allow measurements of sulfur dioxide (SO2) transport across membrane samples at elevated temperatures (up to 70 C). This testing also includes evaluating SO2 transport in different sulfuric acid concentrations (30-70 wt%). A new potentiostat/frequency analyzer was installed …

This document provides an understanding of the near and long term computing and I/O resources in the Secure Computing Facility (SCF) and Open Computing Facility (OCF). Requirements for data flows, storage capacities and transfer rates are determined. Recommendations are made for architectures, timeframes for major deliverables, and procurements for the next fiscal year.

This document provides a mapping of technical issues associated with development of the Next Generation Nuclear Plant (NGNP) intermediate heat transport loop and nuclear hydrogen plant support systems to the work that has been accomplished or is currently underway. The technical issues are ranked according to priority and by assumed resolution dates. Due to funding limitations, not all high-priority technical issues are under study at the present time, and more resources will need to be dedicated to tackling such issues in the future. This technical issues map is useful for understanding the relative importance of various technical challenges and will be used as a planning tool for future work package planning.

This report discusses relevant congressional actions that lead to the passing of Defense budgets for FY2007.

The Stockpile Stewardship Program (SSP) is a single, highly integrated technical program for maintaining the safety and reliability of the U.S. nuclear stockpile. The SSP uses past nuclear test data along with current and future nonnuclear test data, computational modeling and simulation, and experimental facilities to advance understanding of nuclear weapons. It includes stockpile surveillance, experimental research, development and engineering programs, and an appropriately scaled production capability to support stockpile requirements. This integrated national program will require the continued use of current facilities and programs along with new experimental facilities and computational enhancements to support these programs. The Advanced Simulation and Computing Program (ASC) is a cornerstone of the SSP, providing simulation capabilities and computational resources to support the annual stockpile assessment and certification, to study advanced nuclear-weapons design and manufacturing processes, to analyze accident scenarios and weapons aging, and to provide the tools to enable Stockpile Life Extension Programs (SLEPs) and the resolution of Significant Finding Investigations (SFIs). This requires a balanced resource, including technical staff, hardware, simulation software, and computer science solutions. In its first decade, the ASC strategy focused on demonstrating simulation capabilities of unprecedented scale in three spatial dimensions. In its second decade, ASC is focused …

This report discusses the authorization of the National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign, a multi-media federal program to persuade America's youth not to use drugs, which expired at the end of FY2002. H.R. 2829 (passed by the House on March 13, 2006) and S. 2560 (reported by the Senate Judiciary Committee on May 25, 2006) would reauthorize the media campaign, along with the other programs run by the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) during FY2007.

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This report is a guide to one of the regular appropriations bills that Congress considers each year.

This report is a guide to one of the regular appropriations bills that Congress considers each year.

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This report considers the Agriculture and Related Agencies appropriations bill. The report compares and contrasts the Senate and House versions of the bill in terms of budgeting. Moreover, both bills reject the termination of the Commodity Supplemental Food Program.