A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Air Force has managed its remotely piloted aircraft (RPA) pilots using some strategic human-capital approaches, such as planning for the different levels of experience that it needs in these pilots. However, it continues to face challenges. High-performing organizations manage human capital to identify the right number of personnel and to target the right sources to fill personnel needs. In 2008, the Air Force determined the optimum number of RPA pilots—the crew ratio—for some units, but it did not account for all tasks these units complete. Air Force officials stated that, as a result, the crew ratio is too low, but the Air Force has not updated it. Air Force guidance states that low crew ratios diminish combat capability and cause flight safety to suffer, but the Air Force has operated below its optimum crew ratio and it has not established a minimum crew ratio. Further, high work demands on RPA pilots limit the time they have available for training and development and negatively affects their work-life balance. In addition, the Air Force faces challenges recruiting officers into the RPA pilot career and may face challenges …

This report discusses the budget background, the 2014 farm bill, house and senate bills, shares of the farm bills baseline, farm bill programs without baseline and effects on discretionary spending.

This report focuses on the potential implications of China's naval modernization for future required U.S. Navy capabilities. The report particularly discusses how potential United States responses to China's military modernization effort -- including its naval modernization effort -- have emerged as a key issue in U.S. defense planning.

This report covers what the social media app "Vine" does along with statistics of Vine's usage by members of Congress.

This report examines the source of Congress's contempt power; analyzes the procedures associated with inherent contempt, criminal contempt, and the civil enforcement of subpoenas; and discusses the obstacles that face Congress in enforcing a contempt action against an executive branch official.

This report examines the source of the contempt power, reviews the historical development of the early case law, outlines the statutory and common law basis for Congress's contempt power, and analyzes the procedures associated with inherent contempt, criminal contempt, and the civil enforcement of subpoenas. It also includes a detailed discussion of two recent information access disputes that led to the approval of contempt citations in the House against then-White House Chief of Staff Joshua Bolten and former White House Counsel Harriet Miers, as well as Attorney General Eric Holder. Finally, the report discusses both non-constitutional and constitutionally-based limitations on the contempt power.

This report discusses the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) Amendments of 1996, which authorized a drinking water state revolving loan fund (DWSRF) program. The program was intended to help public water systems finance infrastructure projects that were needed to comply with federal drinking water regulations and to meet the Act's health objectives. It includes an overview of funding, allotments and set-asides, drinking water infrastructure needs, program issues, and legislative activity.

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Inspector General Act of 1978, as amended (IG Act), originally established inspectors general (IG) appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate in 12 major departments and agencies of the government to conduct and supervise independent audits and investigations; recommend policies to promote economy, efficiency, and effectiveness; and prevent and detect fraud and abuse in their departments' and agencies' programs and operations. Based in part on GAO's findings that the internal audit offices of small federal agencies lacked independence and provided inadequate coverage of important programs, the Congress passed the IG Act Amendments of 1988 to establish IGs in designated federal entities (DFE), which are generally smaller agencies established in various statutes as commissions, boards, authorities, corporations, endowments, foundations, institutions, agencies, and administrations identified by the act. The DFE IGs are appointed by their respective entity heads with duties and responsibilities similar to those of IGs appointed by the President. The Congress used a budget threshold of $100 million to help determine which DFEs should have IGs. However, additional DFEs below this threshold were also included for specific reasons."

A paper about the defense cooperation between the United States and Mongolia.

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The KC-46 program has made good progress over the past year—acquisition costs have remained relatively stable, the critical design review was successfully completed, the program is on track to meet performance parameters, and the contractor started building development aircraft. As shown, total program acquisition costs—which include development, production, and military construction costs—and unit costs have changed less than 1 percent since February 2011."

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "GAO found that the Navy continued to make progress in the past year toward (1) establishing a knowledge-based program that generally aligned with acquisition best practices and (2) meeting corresponding statutory certification requirements for entering the Department of Defense (DOD) acquisition process in the engineering and manufacturing development phase. The Navy has met or expects to meet requirements relating to assessment of technology readiness, making appropriate trade-offs to achieve affordability and getting approval of requirements, and development of an independent cost estimate. DOD has, however, waived a requirement for competitive prototyping and the Navy plans to defer a system level preliminary design review (PDR) until after the start of development. GAO reviewed DOD’s waiver of competitive prototyping for the VXX program last year and found that it addresses one of the two bases provided in Weapon Systems Acquisition Reform Act of 2009 for such waivers; that is, that the cost to provide competitive prototypes exceeded the expected benefits. In addition, while the Navy’s plan to defer a system level PDR until after the start of system development deviates from acquisition best practices and is a waiver of a …

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Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Amphibious Combat Vehicle (ACV) effort has not yet reached Milestone A—the decision point in DOD’s acquisition process that generally authorizes assessment of potential technologies for an eventual acquisition program. At this point, Marine Corps officials are weighing the cost and technological feasibility of their required capabilities. In November 2011, the Marines Corps began an Analysis of Alternatives (AOA)—a key first step in the acquisition process intended to assess alternative weapon system solutions for addressing a validated need—to identify an affordable alternative to the canceled Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle. Following completion of that study in mid-2012, the Marine Corps Commandant directed the program to perform a second study to assess the feasibility and affordability of a variant capable of higher water speed. This second analysis has been completed, but no formal decisions have been made regarding whether to commence an acquisition program or what path it will take, if initiated. Program officials suggest that development of a high water speed technology may prove unaffordable at this time."

This report examines U.S. oil and natural gas production data for federal and non-federal areas with an emphasis on the past five years of production.

This report provides a brief overview of the three unemployment insurance programs--Unemployment Compensation (UC), the now-expired Emergency Unemployment Compensation (EUC08), and Extended Benefits (EB)--that may provide benefits to eligible unemployed workers. It contains a brief explanation of how some programs began to experience reductions in benefits as a result of the sequester order contained within the Budget Control Act of 2011 (P.L. 112-25) and descriptions of enacted and proposed unemployment insurance (UI) legislation in the 113th Congress.