This report discusses the causes of funding gaps and shutdowns of the federal government, processes that are associated with shutdowns, and how agency operations may be affected by shutdowns. The report concludes with a discussion of potential issues for Congress.

This report discusses the Navy's plan to develop and design a class of 12 next-generation ballistic missile submarines, or SSBN(X)s, as replacements for the 14 Ohio class SSBNs currently in operation. The report explores certain related issues for Congress, including the affordability of the project and its potential impact on other Navy shipbuilding programs, alternatives to the program, and which shipyard or shipyards will build the proposed ships.

This report provides: (1) a background on Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) origins and program operations; (2) discussion of the international development finance context; and (3) analysis of key issues for Congress related to OPIC.

This report outlines the severe challenges faced by Tajikistan since its five-year civil war ended in 1997, including such problems as deep poverty and poor governance. The report discusses U.S. policy and assistance. Basic facts and biographical information are provided. This report may be updated.

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Between fiscal years 2010 and 2012, the Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) border and maritime research and development (R&D) components reported producing 97 R&D deliverables at an estimated cost of $177 million. The type of border and maritime R&D deliverables produced by DHS's Science and Technology (S&T) Directorate, the Coast Guard, and the Domestic Nuclear Detection Office (DNDO) varied, and R&D customers we met with reported mixed views on the impact of the R&D deliverables they received. These deliverables were wide-ranging in their cost and scale, and included knowledge products and reports, technology prototypes, and software (as shown in the figure below). The Coast Guard and DNDO reported having processes in place to collect and evaluate feedback from its customers regarding the results of R&D deliverables. However, S&T has not established timeframes and milestones for collecting and evaluating feedback from its customers on the extent to which the deliverables it provides to DHS components--such as US Customs and Border Protection (CBP)--are meeting its customer's needs. Doing so could help S&T better determine the usefulness and impact of its R&D projects and deliverables and make better-informed decisions …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Since fiscal year 2008, U.S. agencies allocated over $1.2 billion in funding for Central America Regional Security Initiative (CARSI) activities and non-CARSI funding that supports CARSI goals. As of June 1, 2013, the Department of State (State) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) obligated at least $463 million of the close to $495 million in allocated funding for CARSI activities, and disbursed at least $189 million to provide partner countries with equipment, technical assistance, and training to improve interdiction and disrupt criminal networks. Moreover, as of March 31, 2013, U.S. agencies estimated that they had allocated approximately $708 million in non-CARSI funding that supports CARSI goals, but data on disbursements were not readily available. U.S. agencies, including State, the Department of Defense (DOD), and the Department of Justice, use this funding to provide equipment, technical assistance, and training, as well as infrastructure and investigation assistance to partner countries. For example, DOD allocated $25 million in funding to help Guatemala establish an interagency border unit to combat drug trafficking."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) carries out a variety of programs and activities abroad within its areas of expertise that could have the effect of thwarting terrorists and their plots while also combating other categories of transnational crime, and DHS expended approximately $451 million on programs and activities abroad in fiscal year 2012. For example, through the Visa Security Program, DHS has deployed personnel abroad to help prevent the issuance of visas to people who might pose a threat. As of May 2013, DHS has stationed about 1,800 employees in almost 80 countries to conduct these and other activities. In addition, DHS has delivered training and technical assistance in areas such as border and aviation security to officials from about 180 countries to enhance partner nations' security capacities."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Defense (DOD) has improved its methodology for estimating and comparing the full cost to the taxpayer of work performed by military and civilian personnel and contractor support, but the methodology continues to have certain limitations. Best practices state that cost estimating rules should include a common set of standards that minimize conflicts in definitions, but DOD's methodology does not provide guidance for certain costs. For instance, its estimate of service training costs divides total training funding by the number of servicemembers. Using this method yields an average training cost of $6,490 per servicemember in the Army for fiscal year 2012. However, Army data show that training for a general aviation officer can be as high as $93,600 a year, while the training for an enlisted infantryman can be as low as about $4,600 a year. DOD's Cost Assessment and Program Evaluation (CAPE) office has not provided more specific direction on training costs, although some officials have requested it. Additionally, CAPE officials told GAO they did not include Reserve and National Guard personnel in the methodology because usually these personnel are used on a …

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Performance audits as well as traditional financial and compliance audits are essential tools that national audit offices have to help their respective governments identify and address challenging national and global problems. Performance auditing provides objective analysis so that management and those charged with governance and oversight can use the information to improve program performance and operations, reduce costs, facilitate decision making by parties with responsibility to oversee or initiate corrective action, and contribute to public accountability."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "No overarching federal privacy law governs the collection and sale of personal information among private-sector companies, including information resellers. Instead, a variety of laws tailored to specific purposes, situations, or entities governs the use, sharing, and protection of personal information. For example, the Fair Credit Reporting Act limits the use and distribution of personal information collected or used to help determine eligibility for such things as credit or employment, but does not apply to information used for marketing. Other laws apply specifically to health care providers, financial institutions, videotape service providers, or to the online collection of information about children."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Federal outlays for grants to state and local governments totaled more than $606 billion in fiscal year 2011. Over the last three decades, these grants have consistently been a significant component of federal spending, but the focus of this spending has changed over time. For example, during this period the proportion of federal outlays to state and local governments dedicated to Medicaid grants more than tripled, rising from 2.4 percent of total federal government outlays in 1980 to 7.6 percent in 2011. The increase in federal outlays for Medicaid and other health-related grant programs was offset by an approximately equivalent decrease in grants to state and local governments targeted for other areas such as transportation, education, and regional development."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Nearly half of the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) Hiring Program (CHP) funding from fiscal years 2008 through 2012 was awarded to grantees in six states, and award amounts varied considerably in certain years. During this period, state, county, and city law enforcement agencies nationwide received CHP grant awards to hire or rehire officers to advance community policing, with 48 percent of the funds awarded to grantees in California, Florida, Michigan, New Jersey, Ohio, and Texas. For grantees awarded the same number of officers, differences were driven mainly by variation across grantees' respective entry-level officer salaries and benefits. Variation in grantee award amounts were more prominent during 2009, 2010, and 2011, when salary and benefit levels were not statutorily capped, and grantees with higher officer salary and benefit levels generally received more CHP funding relative to other CHP grantees for the same number of officers."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of State (State) and the Department of Defense (DOD) provide guidance to address the Leahy laws, but State's guidance for implementing one requirement of the State Leahy law is unclear. State has used a variety of mechanisms to provide guidance to address the Leahy laws, including guidance to address six of seven new procedural requirements added to the State Leahy law in December 2011. State officials anticipate issuing guidance to address the seventh requirement by October 2013. DOD has provided guidance to address the DOD Leahy law through a 2004 Joint Staff message, and DOD officials said DOD personnel also follow State guidance. While State has provided guidance to embassies to address the duty-to-inform requirement of the State Leahy law, officials at six of the eight embassies GAO visited said that they would like additional guidance that clarifies how to implement the requirement. The duty-to-inform requirement directs State to inform the foreign government if funds are withheld under the law and, to the maximum extent practicable, assist the foreign government in bringing those responsible to justice. With clarifying guidance, embassies will be better able …

This report outlines federal and state oversight of navigators, the role of brokers and agents, and previous education and outreach efforts for federal health care programs.

This report discusses how the total debt of the federal government can increase, an historical overview of debt limits, and how the current economic slowdown has led to higher deficits and thereby a series of debt limit increases, as well as legislation related to these increases.

In 2015, the Supreme Court issued a decision in Young v. United Parcel Service. In the case, a United Parcel Service (UPS) worker named Peggy Young challenged her employer’s refusal to grant her a light-duty work assignment while she was pregnant, claiming that UPS’s actions violated the Pregnancy Discrimination Act (PDA). This report begins with a discussion of the facts in the Young case, followed by an overview of the PDA. The report then provides an analysis of the Young case, its implications, and a potential legislative response.

This report consists of altering house ethics committee sanction recommendations on the floor: Past Precedent and Options for Action.

Reactive Gas Recycling (RGR) technology development has been initiated at Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL), with a stretch-goal to develop a fully dry recycling technology for Used Nuclear Fuel (UNF). This approach is attractive due to the potential of targeted gas-phase treatment steps to reduce footprint and secondary waste volumes associated with separations relying primarily on traditional technologies, so long as the fluorinators employed in the reaction are recycled for use in the reactors or are optimized for conversion of fluorinator reactant. The developed fluorination via SF{sub 6}, similar to the case for other fluorinators such as NF{sub 3}, can be used to address multiple fuel forms and downstream cycles including continued processing for LWR via fluorination or incorporation into a aqueous process (e.g. modified FLUOREX) or for subsequent pyro treatment to be used in advanced gas reactor designs such metal- or gas-cooled reactors. This report details the most recent experimental results on the reaction of SF{sub 6} with various fission product surrogate materials in the form of oxides and metals, including uranium oxides using a high-temperature DTA apparatus capable of temperatures in excess of 1000{deg}C . The experimental results indicate that the majority of the fission products form stable …

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This program applied reservoir cathode technology to increase the lifetime of cesiated tungsten photocathodes. Cesiated tungsten photocathodes provide a quantum efficiency of approximately 0.08% when cesium is initially applied to the surface. During operation, however, the cesium evaporates from the surface, resulting in a gradual decrease in quantum efficiency. After 4-6 hours of operation, the efficiency drop to below useful levels, requiring recoating on the emission surface. This program developed a cathode geometry where cesium could be continuously diffused to the surface at a rate matching the evaporation rate. This results in constant current emission until the cesium in the reservoir is depleted. Measurements of the evaporation rate indicated that the reservoir should provide cesium for more than 30,000 hours of continuous operation. This is orders of magnitude longer operation then previously available. Experiments also demonstrated that the photocathode could be rejuvenated following contamination from a vacuum leak. Recoating of the emission surface demonstrated that the initial quantum efficiency could be recovered.

This report describes the results of electrochemical tests used to determine the relationship between the concentration of the aggressive anions in washed sludge and the minimum effective inhibitor concentration. Sodium nitrate was added as the inhibitor because of its compatibility with the DWPF process. A minimum of 0.05M nitrite is required to inhibit the washed sludge simulant solution used in this study. When the worst case compositions and safety margins are considered, it is expected that a minimum operating limit of nearly 0.1M nitrite will be specified. The validity of this limit is dependent on the accuracy of the concentrations and solubility splits previously reported. Sodium nitrite additions to obtain 0.1M nitrite concentrations in washed sludge will necessitate the additional washing of washed precipitate in order to decrease its sodium nitrite inhibitor requirements sufficiently to remain below the sodium limits in the feed to the DWPF. Nitrite will be the controlling anion in "fresh" washed sludge unless the soluble chloride concentration is about ten times higher than predicted by the solubility splits. Inhibition of "aged" washed sludge will not be a problem unless significant chloride dissolution occurs during storage. It will be very important tomonitor the composition of washed sludge …

We present a new variational principle for the gyrokinetic system, similar to the Maxwell-Vlasov action presented in Ref. 1. The variational principle is in the Eulerian frame and based on constrained variations of the phase space fluid velocity and particle distribution function. Using a Legendre transform, we explicitly derive the field theoretic Hamiltonian structure of the system. This is carried out with the Dirac theory of constraints, which is used to construct meaningful brackets from those obtained directly from Euler-Poincare theory. Possible applications of these formulations include continuum geometric integration techniques, large-eddy simulation models and Casimir type stability methods. __________________________________________________

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