In its most elemental form, the federal budget is a comprehensive accounting of the government’s spending, revenues, and borrowing. This fact sheet provides a brief overview of the basic terminology and concepts used in the federal budget process.

At the 0.08 BAC level of alcohol, braking, steering, lane changing, and judgment are degraded and the driving performance of virtually all drivers is substantially impaired. During the debate on reauthorization of the federal surface transportation programs, an amendment that would require each state either to enact a 0.08 BAC law or face the loss of a portion of its Federal Highway Trust Fund monies passed the Senate and will likely be considered in the House. This proposal raises questions about the effectiveness and impacts of a 0.08 BAC law, the rights of states versus the federal government, and alternative ways to encourage the states to adopt stronger impaired driving countermeasures.

This report includes the debate in the 105th Congress over the funding and direction of energy efficiency programs involves the FY1999 spending request, the Administration's Climate Change Technology Initiative (CCTI), and proposals for restructuring the electricity industry.

Appropriations are one part of a complex federal budget process that includes budget resolutions, appropriations (regular, supplemental, and continuing) bills, rescissions, and budget reconciliation bills. This report is a guide to one of the 13 regular appropriations bills that Congress passes each year. It is designed to supplement the information provided by the House and Senate Appropriations Subcommittees on Energy and Water Development Appropriations.

congressional appropriations decisions for an agency or program are based generally on the following three factors: the amount of funding provided previously, the President's request, and the policy preferences of Congress. The Government Performance and Results Act of 1993 (GPRA, or the Results Act)

Plans by the Bureau of the Census to incorporate data from two new sample surveys into the 2000 decennial census count have had a mixed congressional reception. Three sampling bills in the 105th Congress (H.R. 1220, H.R. 1178, and H.R. 776) have been referred to committee, without further action. Sampling has been debated chiefly in the appropriations process (H.R. 1469, H.R. 1871 [P.L. 105-18; 111 Stat. 158], and H.R. 2267/S. 1022 [P.L. 105-119; 111 Stat. 2440]). The bureau now is a defendant in two anti-sampling suits brought under P.L. 105-119. The law also established a Census Monitoring Board and directed the bureau to prepare for a traditional headcount in 2000, not just to continue with its sampling plans.

In recent years, the U.S. Congress and the President have been reevaluating, and proposing changes to, existing affirmative action policies. Multiple bills to restrict affirmative action were introduced in the 104th Congress, but only one limited measure was enacted. Some anti-preference legislation is currently before the 105th Congress. The Clinton Administration has generally opposed efforts to terminate affirmative action programs and, instead, has proposed various reforms.

This report gives an overview of forest health.

The President’s veto is effective not only in preventing the passage of legislation undesirable to the President, but also as a threat, sometimes forcing Congress to modify legislation before it is presented to the President. However, as a veto threat is carried out, Congress is faced with choices: letting the veto stand, the difficult task of overriding the veto, meeting the President’s objections and sending a new bill forward, or resubmitting the same provisions under a new bill number.

The Department of Energy (DOE) is studying a site at Yucca Mountain, Nevada, for a permanent underground repository for highly radioactive spent fuel from nuclear reactors, but delays have pushed back the facility’s opening date to 2010 at the earliest. In the meantime, spent fuel is accumulating at U.S. nuclear plant sites at the rate of about 2,000 metric tons per year. Major options for managing those growing quantities of nuclear spent fuel include continued storage at reactors, construction of a DOE interim storage site near Yucca Mountain, and licensing of private storage facilities. Arguments for development of a federal interim storage facility include DOE legal obligations, long-term costs, and public controversy over new on-site storage facilities. Opposition to centralized storage centers on the potential risks of a large-scale nuclear waste transportation campaign.

Debate continues over the benefits of U.S. trade with Mexico, the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), and particularly maquiladoras, or cross-border production sharing plants. Maquiladoras generate a large portion of U.S.-Mexico trade, yet the economic effects are not widely understood. Many believe there is no benefit to such trade because it leads to the loss of U.S. jobs, production, and wages. Maquiladora products, however, have a high U.S. content that in addition to fostering productivity gains in both countries, may actually minimize the loss of U.S. jobs by allowing the higher paying jobs to stay at home rather than be shipped entirely abroad, for example, to Asia. Still, adjustment to globalized production creates challenges, particularly in addressing the plight of low-skilled workers who become unemployed. Research, however, continues to point to domestic rather than trade policy for the likely solutions, particularly the emphasis on education and training programs.

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 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 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.

Letter opinion issued by the Office of the Attorney General of Texas in Austin, Texas, providing an interpretation of Texas law. It provides the opinion of the Texas Attorney General, Dan Morales, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification;Whether member of upper Colorado River Authority Board who moves to another area of the state may continue to serve on the board(RQ 989).

Letter opinion issued by the Office of the Attorney General of Texas in Austin, Texas, providing an interpretation of Texas law. It provides the opinion of the Texas Attorney General, Dan Morales, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification;Whether a county judge may delegate authority to hear applications for liquor licenses to a district clerk or a county commissioner(RQ-961).

Letter opinion issued by the Office of the Attorney General of Texas in Austin, Texas, providing an interpretation of Texas law. It provides the opinion of the Texas Attorney General, Dan Morales, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification;Whether a public hearing is required to replace an assistant county auditor.(ID# 39596).

Letter opinion issued by the Office of the Attorney General of Texas in Austin, Texas, providing an interpretation of Texas law. It provides the opinion of the Texas Attorney General, Dan Morales, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification;Whether a district judge may simultaneously serve as a trustee of an independent school district(RQ-1130).

Letter opinion issued by the Office of the Attorney General of Texas in Austin, Texas, providing an interpretation of Texas law. It provides the opinion of the Texas Attorney General, Dan Morales, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification; Whether chapter 143 of the Local Government Code authorizes a municipal civil service commission to hold a police department entrance examination for the same eligibility list at different locations or on different dates (RQ-1128)

Letter opinion issued by the Office of the Attorney General of Texas in Austin, Texas, providing an interpretation of Texas law. It provides the opinion of the Texas Attorney General, Dan Morales, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification; Whether the Jackson County County-Wide Drainage District has stole authority to provide for the control, storage, preservation, and distribution of storm and flood waters and to reclaim and drain district lands within the City of Edna's corporate limits (RQ-1116)

Interest in the {gamma}-bronze, Li{sub 1+x}V{sub 3}O{sub g}, as a possible electrode material in rechargeable Li batteries has stimulated several experimental studies on this system. Detailed interpretation of the electrochemical and physical-property measurements is complicated by uncertainties regarding the structural arrangement of Li atoms as a function of x and by a phase transition between two monoclinic structures ({gamma}{sub a}, {gamma}{sub b}) during intercalation. To elucidate the atomic structures and the phase transition, first-principles calculations are performed with the local-density-functional-theory (LDFT) planewave pseudopotential method for both {gamma}{sub a} and {gamma}{sub b}, as a function of lithiation. Calculations for the compositions 1 + x = 1.5 and 1 + x = 4 confirm that the Li configuration determined in the existing x-ray diffraction structure refinements (at 1 + x = 1.2 and 1 + x = 4 respectively), coincide with the predicted low-energy configurations. Structure predictions were made at intermediate compositions, for which no experimental structure measurement is available. The order in which the tetrahedrally coordinated Li sites are filled at equilibrium as a function of x in {gamma}{sub a}, was predicted. Calculated electrochemical potentials as a function of composition agree well with experimental data.

A waveguide harmonic damper was designed for removing the harmonic frequency power from the klystron amplifiers of the APS linac. Straight coaxial probe antennas are used in a rectangular waveguide to form a damper. A linear array of the probe antennas is used on a narrow wall of the rectangular waveguide for damping klystron harmonics while decoupling the fundamental frequency in dominent TE{sub 01} mode. The klystron harmonics can exist in the waveguide as waveguide higher-order modes above cutoff. Computer simulations are made to investigate the waveguide harmonic damping characteristics of the damper.

An electrostatic kicker has been constructed for use in the Low-Energy Undulator Test Line (LEUTL) at the Advanced Photon Source (APS). The function of the kicker is to limit the amount of beam current to be accelerated by the APS linac. Two electrodes within the kicker create an electric field that adjusts the trajectory of the beam. This paper will explore the static fields that are set up between the offset electrode plates and determine the reaction of the beam to this field. The kicker was numerically simulated using the electromagnetic solver package MAFIA [1].

Effects of Ag particle dispersions on microstructural development and some properties were investigated for ZnO/Ag nanocomposites. They were fabricated by Pulse Electric Current Sintering (PECS) Process to achieve finer and densified microstructure. ZnO/Ag nanocomposites with novel microstructure which were prepared by a reduction process using Ag{sub 2}O fine powders were compared with microcomposites prepared by mixing of Ag and ZnO powders. SEM observation indicated that fine Ag particles were homogeneously dispersed within the ZnO matrix grains and at the grain boundaries for ZnO/Ag nanocomposites prepared by the reduction process using Ag{sub 2}O fine powder. Hardness and fracture toughness increased with increasing the Ag volume fraction. Linear resistivity was decreased with increasing Ag volume fraction. However, the mechanical and electrical properties appeared to the significantly different for composites prepared by two different powder processes.