Most of the laws establishing the federal government's revenue sources are permanent and continue year after year without any additional legislative action. Congress, however, typically enacts revenue legislation, changing some portion of the existing tax system, every year. Revenue legislation may include changes to individual and corporate income taxes, social insurance taxes, excise taxes, or tariffs and duties. Congressional consideration of revenue legislation is governed by various constitutional provisions and procedural rules.

The Congressional Budget Act (CBA) of 1974 (P.L. 93-344), as amended, establishes the congressional budget process, which coordinates the legislative activities on the budget resolution, appropriations bills, reconciliation legislation, revenue measures, and other budgetary legislation. Section 300 of this act provides a timetable (see Table 1) so that Congress may complete its work on the budget by the start of the fiscal year on October 1.

U.S. policymakers in Congress face a series of often interrelated security, economic, and political issues in relations with South Korea. U.S. policy concern on the Korean peninsula has focused over the past 3 years on the serious security implications of North Korea's nuclear program (see CRS Issue Brief 91141).

This report presents background on the Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Applied Technology Education Act, provides a funding history of the Act, and tracks and analyzes legislation during the 105 Congress to revise and reauthorize the Perkins Act. Specifically the report th examines H.R. 1853 as passed by the House and H.R. 1385 as passed by the Senate. Key issues include whether and how to change state and substate formulas; what percentage of funds to reserve for statewide activities and administration; and how best to ensure services for “special populations,” such as students with disabilities. The report will be updated as legislative action warrants.

This report discusses the worsening political tensions in Indonesia that emerged as a result of discontent with policies enacted by President Suharto and his government, and the effects that these tensions have on US policy. The report cites the shooting of students by riot police, as well as rioting in Jakarta in May 1998 as another factor for the political unrest and uncertainty.

The first weeks of the 104th Congress saw a stream of official visitors from Taiwan urging U.S. lawmakers to support Taiwan's entry into the UN, encourage the Clinton Administratioto allow President Lee to visit the United States in a private capacity, and support greater U.S. arms sales to Taiwan

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.

Document 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 holder of permit to sell alcoholic beverages may posses a firearm for purposes of self defense (RQ-582)

Document 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, John Cornyn, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification; Whether development of an assured-isolation facility for low-level radioactive waste would satisfy the requirements of the Texas Low-Level Radioactive Waste Disposal Compact, and whether a law enacted for the purpose of precluding private disposal facilities from accepting waste generated by the U.S. Departmetn of Energy would be valid (RQ-0033)

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 teacher at Texas State Technical College is prohibited from serving as a Harlingen city commissioner(ID# 16363).

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;Authority of a juvenile court to designate county space as a juvenile processing office ,pursuant to section 52.025 of the Family Code(ID# 19119)

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed efforts by the Customs Service to interdict drugs, allocate inspectional personnel, and develop performance measures, including information on Customs' action plan for resolving management problems."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the issues related to the District of Columbia (DC) Courts' financial operations for fiscal year (FY) 1998, focusing on: (1) identifying DC Courts' total obligations for fiscal years 1996, 1997, and 1998; (2) whether DC Courts had a spending plan for FY 1998, and whether it obligated funds consistent with available resources; (3) why payments to court-appointed attorneys were deferred between July and September 1998; and (4) whether DC Courts processed payments to court-appointed attorneys in accordance with policies and procedures."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on Customs Service's efforts to correct the management and technical weaknesses of its Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) system."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a legislative requirement, GAO provided information on the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) Airport Improvement Program discretionary spending for fiscal years (FY) 1996-1998, focusing on: (1) the selection process that FAA used to establish priorities for allocating the Airport Improvement Program's discretionary grant awards; (2) the extent to which the highest priority projects were funded; (3) identifying the political party (Majority or Minority) of the congressional representative from the congressional district in which the airport is located; and (4) the amount of time required to release Airport Improvement Program grants to airports."

With the increasing complexity and interdisciplinary nature of scientific applications, code reuse is becoming increasingly important in scientific computing. One method for facilitating code reuse is the use of components technologies, which have been used widely in industry. However, components have only recently worked their way into scientific computing. Language interoperability is an important underlying technology for these component architectures. In this paper, we present an approach to language interoperability for a high-performance parallel, component architecture being developed by the Common Component Architecture (CCA) group. Our approach is based on Interface Definition Language (IDL) techniques. We have developed a Scientific Interface Definition Language (SIDL), as well as bindings to C and Fortran. We have also developed a SIDL compiler and run-time library support for reference counting, reflection, object management, and exception handling (Babel). Results from using Babel to call a standard numerical solver library (written in C) from C and Fortran show that the cost of using Babel is minimal, where as the savings in development time and the benefits of object-oriented development support for C and Fortran far outweigh the costs.

Mechanical properties and microstructural characteristics of laser and electron-beam welds of a 500-kg heat of V4Cr4Ti were investigated in as-welded condition and after postwelding heat treatment by impact testing, microhardness measurement, optical microscopy, X-ray diffraction, and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Ductile-brittle transition temperatures of the laser and electron-beam welds were significantly higher than that of the base metal. However, excellent impact properties could be restored in both types of welds by postwelding annealing at 1000 C for 1 h in vacuum. Analysis by TEM revealed that annealed weld zones were characterized by extensive networks of fine V(C,O,N) precipitates, which clean away O, C, and N interstitial from the grain matrices. This process is accompanied by simultaneous annealing-out of the dense dislocations present in the weld zone. This finding could be useful in identifying an optimal welding procedure by controlling and adjusting the cooling rate of the weld zone by an innovative method to maximize the precipitation of V(C,O,N).

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) provides broad-based, integrated scientific and engineering capabilities to address some of the nation's top national security and environmental priorities. National security priorities are to ensure the safety and reliability of the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile and to counter the spread of weapons of mass destruction; environmental priorities are to keep our environment healthy for the long term and to assess the consequences of environmental change. The Earth and Environmental Sciences (E&ES) Directorate at LLNL pursues applied and basic research across many disciplines to advance the technologies needed to address these national concerns. Our current work focuses on: Storage and ultimate disposition of U.S. spent reactor fuel and other nuclear materials; Assessment of the current global climate and simulation of future changes caused by humans or nature; Development of broadly applicable technologies for environmental remediation and risk reduction; Tools to support U.S. goals for verifying the international Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty; subcritical tests for stockpile stewardship; Real-time assessments of the health and environmental consequences of atmospheric releases of radioactive or other hazardous materials; and Basic science research that investigates fundamental physical and chemical properties of interest to these applied research programs. For each of these areas we …

Tensile and impact properties were investigated at <430 C on V-Cr-Ti, V-Ti-Si, and V-Ti alloys after irradiation to {approx}2-46 dpa at 205-430 C in lithium or helium in the Fast Flux Test Facility (FFTF), High Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR), Experimental Breeder Reactor II (EBR-II), and Advanced Test Reactor (ATR). A 500-kg heat of V-4Cr-4Ti exhibited high ductile-brittle transition temperature and minimal uniform elongation as a result of irradiation-induced loss of work-hardening capability. Work-hardening capabilities of 30- and 100-kg heats of V-4Cr-4Ti varied significantly with irradiation conditions, although the 30-kg heat exhibited excellent impact properties after irradiation at {approx}390-430 C. The origin of the significant variations in the work-hardening capability of V-4Cr-4Ti is not understood, although fabrication variables, annealing history, and contamination from the irradiation environment are believed to play important roles. A 15-kg heat of V-3Ti-1Si exhibited good work-hardening capability and excellent impact properties after irradiation at {approx}390-430 C. Helium atoms, either charged dynamically or produced via transmutation of boron in the alloys, promote work-hardening capability in V-4Cr-4Ti and V-3Ti-1Si.

A computational fluid dynamic (CFD) code has been developed for fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) riser flow simulation. Depending on the application of interest, a specific kinetic model is needed for the FCC flow simulation. This paper describes a method to determine a kinetic model based on limited pilot-scale test data. The kinetic model can then be used with the CFD code as a tool to investigate optimum operating condition ranges for a specific FCC unit.

The Intense Pulsed Neutron Source (IPNS) at Argonne National Laboratory is a spallation neutron source dedicated to materials research. Its three cryogenic methane moderators provide twelve neutron beams to fourteen neutron scattering instruments and test facilities. The moderators at IPNS are of cryogenic methane (CH{sub 4}); one of liquid methane at 100 K, and two of solid methane at 30 K. These moderators produce intense beams of both cold and thermal neutrons. The moderators are each of a different physical configuration in order to tailor their performance for the instruments and facilities that operate on the neutron beams. As part of the ongoing operation of IPNS, as well as new enhancements to the target, moderator, and reflector systems, we have performed experiments characterizing the energy and time distribution of neutrons in the various beams. These measurements provide absolutely normalized energy spectra using foil activation techniques joined with time-of-flight measurements, and energy-dependent time distributions using a time-focused crystal analyzer. The IPNS accelerator system delivers 14 {micro}A of 450 MeV protons, in 100 ns pulses at 30 Hz, to a target composed of water-cooled depleted uranium disks. The solid methane ''H'' moderator is 100 by 100 by 45 mm in size, centerline …

This is a multiyear experimental research program focused on improving relevant material properties of high-T{sub c} superconductors and on development of fabrication methods that can be transferred to industry for production of commercial conductors. The development of teaming relationships through agreements with industrial partners is a key element of this program. Recent work on microstructural development and current distribution in Bi-2223 powder-in-tube (PIT) tapes, grain-boundary studies, and a novel application for high-temperature (high-T{sub c}) superconductors are discussed.

Demonstration of Argonne National Laboratory's electrometallurgical treatment of spent nuclear fuel is currently being conducted on irradiated, metallic driver fuel and blanket fuel elements from the Experimental Breeder Reactor-II (EBR-II) in Idaho. The residual metallic material from the electrometallurgical treatment process is consolidated into an ingot, the metal waste form (MWF), by employing an induction furnace in a hot cell. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and chemical analyses have been performed on irradiated cladding hulls from the driver fuel, and on samples from the alloy ingots. This paper presents the microstructures of the radioactive ingots and compares them with observations on simulated waste forms prepared using non-irradiated material. These simulated waste forms have the baseline composition of stainless steel - 15 wt % zirconium (SS-15Zr). Additions of noble metal elements, which serve as surrogates for fission products, and actinides are made to that baseline composition. The partitioning of noble metal and actinide elements into alloy phases and the role of zirconium for incorporating these elements is discussed in this paper.