This report gives an overview of the federal debt limit, its history, and recent increases

The Eyjafjallajokull volcanic eruption in Iceland in April 2010 disrupted transportation in Europe which ultimately affected travel plans for many on a global basis. The Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre (VAAC) is responsible for providing guidance to the aviation industry of the transport of volcanic ash clouds. There are nine such centers located globally, and the London branch (headed by the United Kingdom Meteorological Office, or UKMet) was responsible for modeling the Iceland volcano. The guidance provided by the VAAC created some controversy due to the burdensome travel restrictions and uncertainty involved in the prediction of ash transport. The Iceland volcanic eruption provides a useful exercise of the European ENSEMBLE program, coordinated by the Joint Research Centre (JRC) in Ispra, Italy. ENSEMBLE, a decision support system for emergency response, uses transport model results from a variety of countries in an effort to better understand the uncertainty involved with a given accident scenario. Model results in the form of airborne concentration and surface deposition are required from each member of the ensemble in a prescribed format that may then be uploaded to a website for manipulation. The Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) is the lone regular United States participant throughout the 10-year …

A train derailment occurred in Graniteville, South Carolina during the early morning of January 6, 2005, and resulted in the release of a large amount of cryogenic pressurized liquid chlorine to the environment in a short time period. A comprehensive evaluation of the transport and fate of the released chlorine was performed, accounting for dilution, diffusion, transport and deposition into the local environment. This involved the characterization of a three-phased chlorine release, a detailed determination of local atmospheric mechanisms acting on the released chlorine, the establishment of atmospheric-hydrological physical exchange mechanisms, and aquatic dilution and mixing. This presentation will provide an overview of the models used in determining the total air-to-water mass transfer estimated to have occurred as a result of the roughly 60 tons of chlorine released into the atmosphere from the train derailment. The assumptions used in the modeling effort will be addressed, along with a comparison with available observational data to validate the model results. Overall, model-estimated chlorine concentrations in the airborne plume compare well with human and animal exposure data collected in the days after the derailment.

The High-Resolution Mid-Atlantic Forecasting Ensemble (HME) is a federated effort to improve operational forecasts related to precipitation, convection and boundary layer evolution, and fire weather utilizing data and computing resources from a diverse group of cooperating institutions in order to create a mesoscale ensemble from independent members. Collaborating organizations involved in the project include universities, National Weather Service offices, and national laboratories, including the Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL). The ensemble system is produced from an overlapping numerical weather prediction model domain and parameter subsets provided by each contributing member. The coordination, synthesis, and dissemination of the ensemble information are performed by the Renaissance Computing Institute (RENCI) at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. This paper discusses background related to the HME effort, SRNL participation, and example results available from the RENCI website.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Portland District (USACE) conducted the 20-year Columbia River Channel Improvement Project (CRCIP) to deepen the navigation channel between Portland, Oregon, and the Pacific Ocean to allow transit of fully loaded Panamax ships (100 ft wide, 600 to 700 ft long, and draft 45 to 50 ft). In the vicinity of Warrior Point, between river miles (RM) 87 and 88 near St. Helens, Oregon, the USACE conducted underwater blasting and dredging to remove 300,000 yd3 of a basalt rock formation to reach a depth of 44 ft in the Columbia River navigation channel. The purpose of this report is to document methods and results of the compliance monitoring study for the blasting project at Warrior Point in the Columbia River.

This report discusses the pros and cons of a proposed AT&T and T-Mobile merger. The largest con would be that the merged company would have over 70% of the cell phone market share. The largest pro would be that a merged company would be able to provide better service to its customers. The report also gives a brief overview of the mobile phone industry as a whole.

This report discusses nuclear energy issues currently facing Congress, such as federal incentives for new commercial reactors, radioactive waste management policy, research and development priorities, power plant safety and regulation, nuclear weapons proliferation, and security against terrorist attacks.

This CRS report discusses policy issues regarding military-to-mliitary contacts with the People's Republic of China (PRC) and provides a record of contacts since 1993. The United States suspended military contacts with China and imposed sanctions on arms sales in response to the Tiananmen Crackdown in 1989. In 1993, the Clinton Administration began to re-engage the PRC leadership up to the highest level and including China's military, the People's Liberation Army (PLA). Renewed military exchanges with the PLA have not regained the closeness reached in the 1980s, when U.S.-PRC strategic cooperation against the Soviet Union included U.S. arms sales to China. Issues for Congress include whether the current Administration under President Bush has complied with legislation overseeing dealings with the PLA and has determined a program of contacts with the PLA that advances a prioritized list of U.S. security interests.

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This report provides roll call vote data identified by the Congressional Research Service for measures to adjust the statutory debt limit.

The principle of sufficient reason asserts that anything that happens does so for a reason: no definite state of affairs can come into being unless there is a sufficient reason why that particular thing should happen. This principle is usually attributed to Leibniz, although the first recorded Western philosopher to use it was Anaximander of Miletus. The demand that nature be rational, in the sense that it be compatible with the principle of sufficient reason, conflicts with a basic feature of contemporary orthodox physical theory, namely the notion that nature's response to the probing action of an observer is determined by pure chance, and hence on the basis of absolutely no reason at all. This appeal to pure chance can be deemed to have no rational fundamental place in reason-based Western science. It is argued here, on the basis of the other basic principles of quantum physics, that in a world that conforms to the principle of sufficient reason, the usual quantum statistical rules will naturally emerge at the pragmatic level, in cases where the reason behind nature's choice of response is unknown, but that the usual statistics can become biased in an empirically manifest way when the reason for …

Proceedings of the House of Representatives of Texas for the seventy-third day of the Regular session of the 82nd Legislature documenting legislation, reports, discussions, votes, and points-of-order.

Bill introduced by the Texas Senate relating to the amount of outstanding total liability of a mortgage guaranty insurer.

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "To help combat fraud and abuse in health care programs, including Medicare and Medicaid, Congress enacted the Health Care Fraud and Abuse Control (HCFAC) program as part of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA). HIPAA requires that the Departments of Health and Human Services (HHS) and Justice (DOJ) issue a joint annual report to Congress on amounts deposited to and appropriated from the Federal Hospital Insurance (HI) Trust Fund for the HCFAC program. In April 2005, GAO reported on the results of its review of HCFAC program activities for fiscal years 2002 and 2003 and made recommendations to HHS and DOJ. The objectives of this requested review were to assess the extent to which HHS and DOJ (1) took actions to address the recommendations made in the 2005 report and (2) designed effective controls over reporting HCFAC deposits and expenditures for fiscal years 2008 and 2009. GAO reviewed HHS and DOJ documentation; selected nongeneralizable samples; and interviewed agency officials."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The federal government is the world's largest and most complex entity, with about $3.5 trillion in outlays in fiscal year 2010 that fund a broad array of programs and operations. GAO's long-term simulations of the federal budget show--absent policy change--growing deficits accumulating to an unsustainable increase in debt. While the spending side is driven by rising health care costs and demographics, other areas should also be scrutinized. In addition, there are significant performance and management challenges that the federal government needs to confront. GAO was asked to testify on the Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA) Modernization Act of 2010 (GPRAMA), as the administration begins implementing the act. This statement is based on GAO's past and ongoing work on GPRA implementation, as well as recently issued reports (1) identifying opportunities to reduce potential duplication in government programs, save tax dollars, and enhance revenue; and (2) updating GAO's list of government operations at high risk due to their greater vulnerabilities to fraud, waste, abuse, and mismanagement, or the need for transformation. As required by GPRAMA, GAO will periodically evaluate implementation of the act and report to Congress on its …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Since December 2008, the Department of the Treasury (Treasury) has committed $62 billion in Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) funding to General Motors (GM) and Chrysler. Under GAO's mandate to oversee TARP, this report addresses (1) how restructuring with federal assistance has affected GM's and Chrysler's financial condition, (2) what Treasury has done to ensure that it disinvests in GM and Chrysler so as to protect taxpayers' interests and what risks remain in recouping its investments, and (3) how restructuring has affected auto communities and what the White House Council on Auto Communities and Workers (Council) and its staff in the Department of Labor's Office of Recovery for Auto Communities and Workers (Auto Recovery Office) have done to mitigate these effects. GAO reviewed documents on the companies' financial performance and federal assistance to auto communities and interviewed company, Treasury, and community officials.."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and the U.S. Coast Guard manage the Transportation Worker Identification Credential (TWIC) program, which requires maritime workers to complete background checks and obtain a biometric identification card to gain unescorted access to secure areas of regulated maritime facilities. As requested, GAO evaluated the extent to which (1) TWIC processes for enrollment, background checking, and use are designed to provide reasonable assurance that unescorted access to these facilities is limited to qualified individuals; and (2) the effectiveness of TWIC has been assessed. GAO reviewed program documentation, such as the concept of operations, and conducted site visits to four TWIC centers, conducted covert tests at several selected U.S. ports chosen for their size in terms of cargo volume, and interviewed agency officials. The results of these visits and tests are not generalizable but provide insights and perspective about the TWIC program. This is a public version of a sensitive report. Information DHS deemed sensitive has been redacted."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "This testimony discusses credentialing issues associated with the security of U.S. transportation systems and facilities. Securing these systems requires balancing security to address potential threats while facilitating the flow of people and goods that are critical to the U.S. economy and international commerce. As we have previously reported, these systems and facilities are vulnerable and difficult to secure given their size, easy accessibility, large number of potential targets, and proximity to urban areas. The Maritime Transportation Security Act of 2002 (MTSA) required regulations preventing individuals from having unescorted access to secure areas of MTSA-regulated facilities and vessels unless they possess a biometric transportation security card and are authorized to be in such an area. MTSA further required that biometric transportation security cards be issued to eligible individuals unless determined that an applicant poses a security risk warranting denial of the card. The Transportation Worker Identification Credential (TWIC) program is designed to implement these biometric maritime security card requirements. The TWIC program, once implemented, aims to meet the following stated mission needs: (1) Positively identify authorized individuals who require unescorted access to secure areas of the nation's transportation system. …

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.

X-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD) is used to study the magnetic and electronic properties of the quaternary diluted magnetic semiconductor (Ga,Mn)(As,P) as a function of the P concentration y. A clear signature of the variation in strain, from compressive to tensile on increasing y, is observed in the angular dependence of the hybridized d{sup 5}-like Mn L{sub 2,3} XMCD spectra. The ferromagnetic transition temperature and magnetic moment per Mn ion both decrease steadily with increasing y.

This report addresses the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) organization’s desire to minimize the learning time required to understand the implications of smart-grid concepts so APEC members can advance their thinking in a timely manner and advance strategies regarding smart approaches that can help meet their environmental-sustainability and energy-efficiency policy goals. As significant investments are needed to grow and maintain the electricity infrastructure, consideration needs to be given to how information and communications technologies can be applied to electricity infrastructure decisions that not only meet traditional needs for basic service and reliability, but also provide the flexibility for a changing the mix of generation sources with sensitivity to environmental and societal impacts.