According to the Administration’s “National Security Strategy” document released on March 16, 2006, the United States “may face no greater challenge from a single country than Iran.” To date, the Bush Administration has pursued several avenues to attempt to contain the potential threat posed by Iran, including supporting a long-term policy of changing Iran’s regime. However, the near-term Administration drive to prevent any Iranian nuclear weapons breakthrough has brought diplomatic and economic strategies to the forefront of U.S. policy.

In early 2005, the President appointed a tax reform advisory panel to formulate tax reform proposals. The report of the President’s Advisory Panel on Tax Reform, issued in November 2005, recommended two reform plans to consider: 1) a revised income tax, referred to as the simplified income tax (SIT); and 2) a consumption tax coupled with a tax on financial income, referred to as the growth and investment tax (GIT). This report discusses the provisions and implications of these two taxes in detail.

None

In August 2001, President Bush announced that federal funds, with certain restrictions, may be used to conduct research on human embryonic stem cells. Federal research is limited to “the more than 60” existing stem cell lines that were derived (1) with the informed consent of the donors; (2) from excess embryos created solely for reproductive purposes; and (3) without any financial inducements to the donors. No federal funds may be used for the derivation or use of stem cell lines derived from newly destroyed embryos; the creation of any human embryos for research purposes; or cloning of human embryos for any purposes.

This report discusses the debate over U.S. policy toward Iran, much of which has centered on the nature of the current regime. Some experts believe that Iran, a country of almost 70 million people, is a threat to U.S. interests because hardliners in Iran’s regime dominate and set a policy direction intended to challenge U.S. influence and allies in the region. President Bush, in his January 29, 2002, State of the Union message, labeled Iran part of an “axis of evil” along with Iraq and North Korea.

None

In August 2001, President Bush announced that federal funds, with certain restrictions, may be used to conduct research on human embryonic stem cells. Federal research is limited to “the more than 60” existing stem cell lines that were derived (1) with the informed consent of the donors; (2) from excess embryos created solely for reproductive purposes; and (3) without any financial inducements to the donors. No federal funds may be used for the derivation or use of stem cell lines derived from newly destroyed embryos; the creation of any human embryos for research purposes; or cloning of human embryos for any purposes.

This report provides statistics on fatalities during Operation Iraqi Freedom which began on March 19, 2003, as well as on the number of fatalities since May 1, 2003, plus statistics on those wounded, but not killed, since March 19, 2003.

According to an Administration national security strategy document released on March 16, 2006, the United States "may face no greater challenge from a single country than Iran." The Bush Administration announced May 31, 2006, that it would negotiate with Iran in concert with U.S. allies. If diplomacy and sanctions do not succeed, some advocate military action against Iran's nuclear infrastructure rather than acquiescence to a nuclear-armed Iran. U.S. concerns regarding Iran include Iran's nuclear program, Iran's influence on Iraq by way of providing arms and other material assistance to Shiite Islamist militias, and Iran's human rights practices, which include strict limits on free expression and repression of ethnic and religious minorities.

The second session of the 109th Congress has begun to face decisions regarding the preparation of U.S. military forces for stability missions, a major subset of which is peace operations. The involvement of U.S. military in peacekeeping operations has been opposed by Members of Congress and the Bush Administration. A major issue Congress continues to face is what, if any, adjustments should be made in order for the U.S. military to perform peacekeeping and stability missions -- in Afghanistan, Iraq, or elsewhere -- with less strain on the force, particularly the reserves.

In August 2001, President Bush announced that federal funds, with certain restrictions, may be used to conduct research on human embryonic stem cells. This report explains the limitations on this research, as well as corresponding and related legislation to the issue of embryonic stem cell research, including the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act of 2005.

This report presents casualty data compiled by the Department of Defense (DOD), as tallied from the agency’s press releases.

This report discusses Federal oversight and congressional concerns related to Credit Rating Agencies.

This report provides information about the Child Nutrition and Women, Infant and children (WIC) Legislation in the 108th and 109th Congresses.

None

This report focuses on animal ID and, to a lesser extent, on meat traceability. However, traceability, and the somewhat different but related concepts of "identity prevention" and "product segregation," also pertain to other agricultural products and issues.

None

None

None

None

A Wetlands Mitigation Bank was established at SRS in 1997 as a compensatory alternative for unavoidable wetland losses. Prior to restoration activities, 16 sites included in the project were surveyed for the SRS Site Use system to serve as a protective covenant. Pre-restoration monitoring ended in Fall 2000, and post restoration monitoring began in the Winter/Spring of 2001. The total interior harvest in the 16 bays after harvesting the trees was 19.6 ha. The margins in the opencanopy, pine savanna margin treatments were thinned. Margins containing areas with immature forested stands (bay 5184 and portions of bay 5011) were thinned using a mechanical shredder in November 2001. Over 126 hectares were included in the study areas (interior + margin). Planting of two tree species and the transplanting of wetland grass species was successful. From field surveys, it was estimated that approximately 2700 Nyssa sylvatica and 1900 Taxodium distichum seedlings were planted in the eight forested bays resulting in an average planting density of ≈ 490 stems ha-1. One hundred seedlings of each species per bay (where available) were marked to evaluate survivability and growth. Wetland grass species were transplanted from donor sites on SRS to plots that ranged in size …

In this project, GE developed electrolyzer stack technologies to meet DOE’s goals for low cost electrolysis hydrogen. The main barrier to meeting the targets for electrolyzer cost was in stack assembly and construction. GE’s invention of a single piece or “monolithic” plastic electrolyzer stack reduces these costs considerably. In addition, GE developed low cost cell electrodes using a novel application of metal spray coating technology. Bench scale stack testing and cost modeling indicates that the DOE targets for stack capital cost and efficiency can be met by full-scale production of industrial electrolyzers incorporating GE’s stack technology innovations.

This project was to design and build an RF test cell (TC), which could be operated at 800 MHz, filled with high pressure gases including hydrogen, at temperatures down to that of liquid nitrogen, in strong magnetic fields, in a strong radiation environment, and with interchangeable electrodes, in order to examine the use of high-pressure RF cavities for muon beam cooling.

Section 9006 of Title IX of The Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 (the '2002 Farm Bill') established the Renewable Energy Systems and Energy Efficiency Improvements Program (the 'Section 9006 program'). Administered by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), the Section 9006 program provides grants, loan guarantees, and - perhaps in the future - direct loans to farmers, ranchers, and rural small businesses for assistance with purchasing renewable energy systems and making energy efficiency improvements. In the three rounds of Section 9006 funding to date (FY03-FY05), roughly 40% of all grant dollars in aggregate have been awarded to 'large' (defined as > 100 kW) wind projects. Such projects are also typically eligible for the Federal Production Tax Credit (PTC) codified in Section 45 of the US tax code. Because the PTC provides a significant amount of value to a wind project, most 'large wind' applicants to the Section 9006 program have also tried to take advantage of the PTC. Through what are known as 'anti-double-dipping' or, more colloquially, 'haircut' provisions, however, the size of the PTC is reduced if a project receives certain other forms of governmental support. Specifically, Section 45(b)(3) of the US tax code reduces …