This report provides a background of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), financial crisis and the issues for Congress.

A weekly publication, the Texas Register serves as the journal of state agency rulemaking for Texas. Information published in the Texas Register includes proposed, adopted, withdrawn and emergency rule actions, notices of state agency review of agency rules, governor's appointments, attorney general opinions, and miscellaneous documents such as requests for proposals. After adoption, these rulemaking actions are codified into the Texas Administrative Code.

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and the Department of Labor (Labor) have taken steps to implement the executive order and help agencies recruit, hire, and retain more employees with disabilities. OPM provided guidance to help agencies develop disability hiring plans and reviewed the 66 plans submitted. OPM identified deficiencies in most of the plans. For example, though 40 of 66 agencies included a process for increasing the use of a special hiring authority to increase the hiring of people with disabilities, 59 agencies did not meet all of OPM’s review criteria, and 32 agencies had not addressed plan deficiencies as of April 2012. In response to executive order reporting requirements, OPM officials said they had briefed the White House on issues related to implementation, but they did not provide information on deficiencies in all plans. While the order does not specify what information these reports should include beyond addressing progress, providing information on deficiencies would enable the White House to hold agencies accountable. OPM is still developing the mandatory training programs for officials on the employment of individuals with disabilities, as required by the executive …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has taken steps to enhance its management of the Disaster Assistance Employee (DAE) program, such as through the establishment of a credentialing program, the FEMA Qualification System (FQS); however, management controls and training could be strengthened. For example, FEMA does not monitor how the regions implement DAE policies and how DAEs implement disaster policies across regions to ensure consistency. FEMA’s Administrator noted that due to differences in how regions operate, it is problematic to deploy someone based in one region to another during a disaster. Establishing a mechanism to monitor both the regional implementation of DAE policies and procedures and DAE’s implementation of disaster policies could help provide FEMA with reasonable assurance that disaster assistance is conducted in accordance with policy and implemented consistently."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Department of Defense (DOD) officials considered current beneficiary population data, contingency operations, and most of the expected changes in troop strength when planning for the replacement medical center. However, recently announced posture changes in January 2012 have yet to be assessed for their impact on the facility. DOD estimates that the replacement medical center will provide health care for nearly 250,000 beneficiaries. A majority of those who are expected to receive health care from the center come from within a 55-mile radius of the facility. DOD officials told us that because the replacement medical center was designed for peacetime operations—with the capacity to expand to meet the needs of contingency operations—reductions in ongoing contingency operations in Afghanistan would not have an impact on facility requirements. At the time of this review, DOD officials said they were in the process of assessing proposed changes in posture to better understand their possible impact on the sizing of the replacement medical center."

Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy project sheet summarizing general information about the Rare Earth Alternatives in Critical Technologies (REACT) program including critical needs, innovation and advantages, impacts, and contact information. This sheet discusses a high-current superconducting wire as part of the "High Performance, Low Cost Superconducting Wires and Coils for High Power Wind Generators" project.

Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy project sheet summarizing general information about the Rare Earth Alternatives in Critical Technologies (REACT) program including critical needs, innovation and advantages, impacts, and contact information. This sheet discusses a new type of traction motor for electric vehicles as part of the "Rare Earth-Free Traction Motor for Electric Vehicle Applications" project.

Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy project sheet summarizing general information about the Rare Earth Alternatives in Critical Technologies (REACT) program including critical needs, innovation and advantages, impacts, and contact information. This sheet discusses a new type of electric motor as part of the "Advanced Electric Vehicle Motors with Low or No Rare Earth Content" project.

Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy project sheet summarizing general information about the Rare Earth Alternatives in Critical Technologies (REACT) program including critical needs, innovation and advantages, impacts, and contact information. This sheet discusses the development of composite materials made of iron and manganese as part of the "Rare-Earth-Free Permanent Magnets for Electric Vehicle Motors and Wind Turbine Generators: Hexagonal Symmetry Based Materials Systems Mn-Bi and M-type Hexaferrite" project.

Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy project sheet summarizing general information about the Rare Earth Alternatives in Critical Technologies (REACT) program including critical needs, innovation and advantages, impacts, and contact information. This sheet discusses the development of specialized magnetic alloys as part of the "Nanocrystalline t-MnAI Permanent Magnets" project.

Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy project sheet summarizing general information about the Rare Earth Alternatives in Critical Technologies (REACT) program including critical needs, innovation and advantages, impacts, and contact information. This sheet discusses a prototype of an iron-nitride magnet material as part of the "Synthesis and Phase Stabilization of Body Center Tetragonal (BCT) Metastable Fe-N Anisotropic Nanocomposite Magnet- A Path to Fabricate Rare Earth Free Magnet" project.

Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy project sheet summarizing general information about the Rare Earth Alternatives in Critical Technologies (REACT) program including critical needs, innovation and advantages, impacts, and contact information. This sheet discusses a new cost-effective exchange-spring magnet as part of the "Nanocomposite Exchange-Spring Magnets for Motor and Generator Applications" project.

Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy project sheet summarizing general information about the Rare Earth Alternatives in Critical Technologies (REACT) program including critical needs, innovation and advantages, impacts, and contact information. This sheet discusses a new superconducting wire as part of the "Superconducting Wires for Direct-Drive Wind Generators" project.

Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy project sheet summarizing general information about the Rare Earth Alternatives in Critical Technologies (REACT) program including critical needs, innovation and advantages, impacts, and contact information. This sheet discusses bulk development of iron-nickel crystal structure magnets as part of the "Multiscale Development of L10 Materials for Rare Earth-Free Permanent Magnets" project.

Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy project sheet summarizing general information about the High Energy Advanced Thermal Storage (HEATS) program including critical needs, innovation and advantages, impacts, and contact information. This sheet discusses new system architecture for a solar-electric conversion tower as part of the "High-Efficiency Solar-Electric Conversion Power Tower" project.

Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy project sheet summarizing general information about the Rare Earth Alternatives in Critical Technologies (REACT) program including critical needs, innovation and advantages, impacts, and contact information. This sheet discusses a new type of magnet for wind turbines as part of the "Manganese-Based Permanent Magnet with 40 MGOe at 200°C" project.

Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy project sheet summarizing general information about the Rare Earth Alternatives in Critical Technologies (REACT) program including critical needs, innovation and advantages, impacts, and contact information. This sheet discusses the development of a magnetic iron-nitride alloy as part of the "Transformation Enabled Nitride Magnets Absent Rare Earths (TEN Mare)" project.