This report identifies the colleges and universities attended by Senators serving in the 108th Congress.

This report considers the value of U.S. agricultural exports. According to the report, these exports make up the equivalent of one fourth of the gross income of U.S. farmers. Moreover, the report lists a series of trade policies that the future of agriculture depends on.

None

None

This report identifies the colleges and universities attended by representatives and delegates in the 107th Congress grouped by state.

The purpose of this report is to provide background for and summarize current developments in U.S. - People’s Republic of China (PRC) relations, including current and pending congressional actions involving the PRC.

Cuba under Fidel Castro remains a hard-line communist state with a poor record on human rights that has deteriorated significantly since 2003. With the cutoff of assistance from the former Soviet Union, Cuba experienced severe economic deterioration from 1989 to 1993. While there has been some improvement since 1994, as Cuba has implemented limited reforms, the economy remains in poor shape. This report discusses the most recent development in Cuba, including political and economic conditions and the U.S. policy towards Cuba. It also considers the issues in U.S.-Cuban Relations.

The purpose of this report is to present a number of generally less broad legislative proposals related to child welfare financing have been introduced in the 108th Congress. Additional child welfare-related proposals designed to improve services, promote timely placement of children across state lines, and for other purposes, are described in this report.

This report includes recent developments in federal child care programs and tax provisions. The report discusses several federal programs that support child care or related services, primarily for low-income working families. In addition, the tax code includes provisions specifically targeted to assist families with child care expenses. The report presents the legislative activity in the 108th Congress in regard to child care legislature and provisions.

The Senate adopted ad hoc procedures in approving committee operating budgets. With the Senate divided 51-48-1 at the beginning of the 108th Congress, Senate Democrats argued for a proportional allocation of committee staff between the parties. On January 15, after a week-long delay in the appointment of Senate committees, a unanimous consent agreement was reached providing for the proportional allocation of staff and office space between the parties on each committee, with a separate provision for each committee chair to control up to 10% of the committee budget to employ administrative staff serving both parties.

None

Clean air issues were discussed at length in the 107th Congress, but legislation was not enacted, leaving the same issues for possible consideration in the 108th. The most prominent air quality issues discussed in this report are; the controversy over EPA’s proposed changes to the New Source Review (NSR) requirements, Clear Skies / Multi-Pollutant Legislation, gasoline additive MTBE, Conformity of Transportation Plans and SIPs Deadlines for Achieving the Ozone Air Quality Standard.

In this report several other Clean Water Act issues are likely to receive congressional attention, through oversight hearings and possibly in legislative proposals. Among the topics of interest is whether and how the Administration will revise the current program for restoration of pollution-impaired waters (the Total Maximum Daily Load, or TMDL program), in view of controversy over regulatory changes made during the Clinton Administration and continuing disagreement among states, cities, industry, and environmental advocates about program effectiveness and efficiency.

The 108th Congress has acted on a variety of disparate environmental measures; some of these represent proposals or issues that had been under consideration in the 107th Congress and earlier. Environmental issues considered by Congress tend to fall into several major categories: (1) funding issues — whether funding levels are adequate and focused on appropriate priorities; (2) expanding, renewing, or refocusing specific environment programs; (3) environmental issues that are important “subsets” of other major areas of concern, such as energy, defense, or transportation programs; and more recently, (4) terrorism and infrastructure protection in areas such as wastewater and chemical facilities.

This report discusses policy and legislation regarding fish and marine mammals. These animals are important resources in open ocean and nearshore coastal areas. Commercial and sport fishing are jointly managed by the federal government and individual states. Many laws and regulations guide the management of these resources by federal agencies.

None

None

This report provides information related to the fishery, aquaculture, and Maine mammal legislation enacted by the 108th Congress.

This report contains the information related to the fishery, aquaculture, and marine mammal legislation enacted by the 108th Congress

This report discusses the information related to gun control legislation. The contents include Gun-related statistics, federal regulation of firearms, possible issues in the 108th Congress

None

None

This report discusses the re authorization of transit programs funded by the Federal Transit Administration’s (FTA).

This report describes the bills introduced in the 108th Congress that would affect participants in either CSRS or FERS. It begins by summarizing laws enacted during the 107th Congress that affected CSRS or FERS.