A weekly publication, the Texas Register serves as the journal of state agency rulemaking for Texas. Information published in the Texas Register includes proposed, adopted, withdrawn and emergency rule actions, notices of state agency review of agency rules, governor's appointments, attorney general opinions, and miscellaneous documents such as requests for proposals. After adoption, these rulemaking actions are codified into the Texas Administrative Code.

Daily publication of the U.S. Office of the Federal Register contains rules and regulations, proposed legislation and rule changes, and other notices, including "Presidential proclamations and Executive Orders, Federal agency documents having general applicability and legal effect, documents required to be published by act of Congress, and other Federal agency documents of public interest" (p. ii). Table of Contents starts on page iii.

Daily publication of the U.S. Office of the Federal Register contains rules and regulations, proposed legislation and rule changes, and other notices, including "Presidential proclamations and Executive Orders, Federal agency documents having general applicability and legal effect, documents required to be published by act of Congress, and other Federal agency documents of public interest" (p. ii). Table of Contents starts on page iii.

This report gives a summary of the usage of the War Powers Resolution (WPR) and various issues related to proposals to modify or repeal the resolution. The report summarizes most recent developments and background, and gives an overview of United Nations actions, and WPR activities in former Yugoslavia/Bosnia, Kosovo, Iraq (post-1991), Haiti, and Somalia. It also includes commentary on the instances formally reported under the WPR, consultation with Congress, and the current issues which Congress is considering.

This report provides an overview of nanotechnology, the National Nanotechnology Initiative, possible reauthorization of the 21st Century Nanotechnology Research and Development Act of 2003 (P.L. 108-153), and appropriations issues.

This report presents current data on estimated ownership of U.S. Treasury securities and major holders of federal debt by country. Federal debt represents the accumulated balance of borrowing by the federal government.

This report describes the characteristics of fossil fuels that make it necessary to use precise terminology, summarizes the major terms and their meanings, and provides a brief summary of the United States’ endowment of fossil fuels and the relationship between the U.S. fossil fuel energy endowment and those of other nations.

This report covers the background, recent politics, governant, and economy of Senegal. It also looks at security and human rights issues and Senegal's ties with France and the Middle East. It ends with a look at U.S. - Senegal relations.

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) administers a Travel Beneficiary Program to help alleviate the costs of travel to medical appointments for eligible veterans. This report offers an overview of the benefit and includes a question-and-answer section with basic information about eligibility, the types of travel covered and how benefits are calculated, and how to apply for the benefit. The report also includes an appendix containing a review of major legislative and regulatory changes to the benefit since its inception in 1940 through the most recent changes enacted in 2010.

This report presents data regarding the persons killed, missing, and buildings totally or partially damaged after the disaster in Japan. The report discusses the economic impact the disaster had on Japan and the impact on U.S. imports from and exports to Japan.

This report evaluates design elements of previous Clean Energy Standards (CES) proposals, summarizes the Administration’s CES policy framework, provides state-level baseline CES compliance analysis, and presents several policy options that Congress might consider as part of a CES debate.

This report looks at the activities and effectiveness of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) - non-profit, charitable institutions - in the lives of ordinary North Koreans. The role of NGOs in North Korea may re-emerge as a congressional interest, as the Obama Administration has expressed interest in restarting humanitarian assistance to North Korea.

This report summarizes the FY2011 budget request for research & development (R&D) funding, including comparisons to R&D funding requests in the FY2010 budget. Congress will play a central role in defining the nation's R&D priorities, especially with respect to two overarching issues: the extent to which the Federal R&D investment can grow in the context of increased pressure on discretionary spending and how available funding will be prioritized and allocated. This report breaks down in detail the various aspects of the President's FY2011 R&D funding request.

This report describes recent trends in the number of civil service annuitants and the financial status of the Civil Service Retirement and Disability Fund.

This report is one of a series of reports on legislative process and research; it is intended to serve as a finding aid to sources of information, such as documents, news articles, analysis, contacts and services, used in legislative research.

This report discusses the federal law regarding marijuana that is classified as a Schedule I Controlled Substance. The federal Controlled Substances Act (CSA) outlaws the possession, cultivation, or distribution of marijuana except for authorized research.

This report discusses state medical marijuana laws that grants registered patients, their doctors, and providers immunity from the consequences of state law.

This report discusses the current political state of Afghanistan, and the Afghan government. It also discusses Afghanistan's relationship with the United States, particularly U.S. efforts to urge President Hamid Karzai to address corruption within the Afghan government.

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In March 2008, GAO designated the 2010 Census a high-risk area in part because of information technology (IT) shortcomings and uncertainty over the ultimate cost of the census, now estimated at around $15 billion. The U.S. Census Bureau (Bureau) has since made improvements to various IT systems and taken other steps to mitigate the risks to a successful census. However, last year, GAO noted that a number of challenges and uncertainties remained, and much work remained to be completed under very tight time frames. As requested, this testimony provides an update on the Bureau's readiness for an effective headcount, covering (1) the reliability of key IT systems; (2) a broad range of activities critical to an effective headcount, some of which were problematic in either earlier 2010 operations or in the 2000 Census, and (3) the quality of the Bureau's cost estimates. The testimony is based on previously issued and ongoing GAO work."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Mortgage loan defaults and foreclosures are key factors behind the current economic downturn. In response, Congress passed and the President signed the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008, which authorized the Department of the Treasury to establish the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP). Under TARP, Treasury created the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) as its cornerstone effort to meet the act's goal of protecting home values and preserving homeownership. This statement focuses on (1) HAMP's program activities to date, (2) status of GAO's July 2009 recommendations to strengthen HAMP's transparency and accountability, (3) preliminary findings from GAO's current work evaluating servicers' implementation of HAMP, and (4) additional challenges HAMP faces going forward. GAO obtained information from 10 HAMP servicers of various sizes that accounted for 71 percent of the TARP funds allocated to participating servicers. GAO reviewed their policies and procedures, interviewed management and quality assurance staff, and observed a sample of phone calls between borrowers and servicers. GAO is also reviewing samples of loan files for borrowers offered and denied HAMP trial modifications. Finally, GAO spoke with officials at Treasury and its financial agents--Fannie Mae and Freddie …

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Twelve of the 14 proposals we identified would eliminate means testing altogether as a requirement for states to receive federal funding to help pay for the costs associated with supporting children in foster care. Two other proposals would link means testing to a different benchmark. Half of the proposals would mitigate a potential increase in federal costs due to the elimination of means testing by either changing the rate of federal reimbursements, capping federal funding, or both. Additionally, half would attempt to mitigate the potentially negative effects of lowering the reimbursement rate on states by, for example, allowing states to access additional funding in the event of an unanticipated increase in foster care placements. All five proposals that specify how states should use any foster care maintenance savings they incur would require states to reinvest these savings in child welfare services that benefit all children at risk of neglect or abuse."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has made several changes to its criteria for including assets on the National Critical Infrastructure Prioritization Program (NCIPP) list of the nation's highest-priority infrastructure, but has not identified the impact of these changes or validated its approach. In 2009, DHS changed the criteria to make the list entirely consequence based--that is, based on the effect of an event on public health and safety, and economic, psychological, and government mission impacts. Subsequent changes introduced specialized criteria for some sectors and assets. For example, infrastructure that has received a specific, credible threat, but otherwise does not meet NCIPP criteria, may be included on the list. DHS's changes to the NCIPP criteria have changed the composition of the NCIPP list, which has had an impact on users of the list, such as the Federal Emergency Management Agency. However, DHS has not reviewed the impact of changes on users nor validated its approach to developing the list. While the change to an entirely consequence-based list created a common approach to identify infrastructure and align the program with applicable laws and the National Infrastructure Protection …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003 significantly reformed contracting for payment of Medicare's $310 billion per year in fee-for-service claims. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is transitioning claims administration to 19 new entities known as Medicare Administrative Contractors (MAC) and plans to complete the process ahead of October 1, 2011, the date required by law. In 2005, GAO reported that CMS's plan to accelerate the transition could create challenges and was based on estimated costs and savings that were uncertain. In this report GAO examined (1) how CMS has implemented Medicare contracting reform; (2) how CMS assessed the performance of the MACs and what the results of its assessments have been; and (3) what CMS's costs and savings have been for Medicare contracting reform. GAO selected a sample of 6 transitions to review from among the 10 MAC contracts awarded as of June 2008, based on factors such as geographic diversity, volume of claims workload, and transition complexity. GAO analyzed CMS documents related to the MAC transitions, including performance assessments for 3 of the 6 MACs in the sample …

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Our work over the past several years has highlighted long-standing, widespread, and significant problems with improper payments in the federal government. Fiscal year 2010 marked the seventh year of implementation of the Improper Payments Information Act of 2002 (IPIA), which requires executive branch agencies to annually review all programs and activities to identify those that are susceptible to significant improper payments, estimate the annual amount of improper payment for such programs and activities, report these estimates, and report on actions taken to reduce any improper payment estimates that exceed $10 million. On July 22, 2010, the Improper Payments Elimination and Recovery Act of 2010 (IPERA) was enacted. IPERA amended IPIA by expanding on the previous requirements for identifying, estimating, and reporting on programs and activities susceptible to significant improper payments and to expand requirements for recovering overpayments across a broad range of federal programs. IPERA provisions related to identifying, estimating, and reporting on improper payments generally become effective in fiscal year 2011. For fiscal year 2010, federal agencies reported an estimated $125.4 billion in improper payments, an increase of about $16 billion over the fiscal year 2009 estimate …