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Congressional Research Service (CRS) report entailing information about current programs and legislation in the 108th Congress, in regards to teacher recruitment and retention. Topics include, current federal programs, non-federal programs, legislation in the 108th congress, etc..

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The Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act (MMA) expressly forbids the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) from negotiating the price of prescription drugs on behalf of Medicare beneficiaries. This report outlines the arguments for and against allowing the federal government to negotiate prescription drug prices on behalf of Medicare beneficiaries. This report will be updated, as needed.

This report describes and analyzes (a) the process through which federal funds are allocated to institutions under the campus-based programs, (b) the potential for allocating all campus-based funding according to the existing need-based formulas, and (c) the current distribution of aid to students. It will be updated to track legislative proposals addressing the campus-based allocation procedures.

Congress is considering several legislative strategies that would reduce U.S. emissions of greenhouse gases—primarily carbon dioxide (CO2)—and/or increase uptake and storage of CO2 from the atmosphere. Both approaches are viewed by many observers as critical to forestalling global climate change caused, in part, by the buildup of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere from human activities.

This report discusses laws related to the protection of marine mammals when using mid-frequency active sonar including the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA), the Endangered Species Act (ESA), the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), and the Coastal Zone Management Act (CZMA). The report discusses each of the laws generally, and then reviews the litigation surrounding the Navy's compliance with these laws in the context of using the sonar for training purposes off California's coast.

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the potential environmental effects of aviation emissions, focusing on what: (1) is currently known about aviation's contribution to global warming and how aviation emissions, both domestic and global, compare with emissions from other sources; and (2) options are available for reducing aviation emissions."

A chapter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed other countries' experiences in accrual budgeting, focusing on: (1) countries' reasons for shifting to accrual budgeting; (2) the ways other countries are using accrual-based information in the budget; (3) the implications of accrual budgeting for decision-making; (4) the key implementation challenges (technical and political) associated with the use of accrual budgeting; and (5) issues raised by these countries' experiences that may be informative to the United States."

A chapter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In fiscal year 2003, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) paid about $28 billion to help some 5 million low-income tenants afford decent rental housing. HUD has three major programs: the Housing Choice Voucher (voucher) and public housing programs, administered by public housing agencies; and project-based Section 8, administered by private property owners. As they are in every year, some payments were too high or too low, for several reasons. To assess the magnitude and reasons for these errors, HUD established the Rental Housing Integrity Improvement Project (RHIIP). In response to a congressional request, GAO examined the sources and magnitude of improper rent subsidy payments HUD has identified and the steps HUD is taking to address them, including efforts to simplify the process of determining rent subsidies."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the training of the acquisition workforce in certain federal civilian departments and agencies, focusing on whether: (1) the General Services Administration (GSA) and the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) had assurance that their acquisition workforces met training requirements as defined by the Office of Federal Procurement Policy (OFPP) and whether contracting officers at one GSA and one VA field location met each agency's training requirements; (2) OFPP had taken action to ensure that civilian departments and agencies collected and maintained standardized acquisition workforce information, as required by the 1996 Clinger-Cohen Act; and (3) GSA and VA were taking actions to comply with Clinger-Cohen Act funding requirements."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In April 2002, GAO identified the need to strengthen equal employment opportunity (EEO) oversight at three Department of Energy (DOE) national weapons laboratories and recommended that DOE and the Department of Labor's (DOL) Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) collaborate to ensure the laboratories complied with EEO requirements. GAO was subsequently asked to examine six other DOE laboratories and determine (1) whether differences exist for managerial and professional women and minorities compared with men and Whites in salaries, merit pay increases, separation patterns, and promotion rates; (2) what EEO concerns laboratory women and minorities have raised; and (3) what DOE and OFCCP have done to implement GAO's earlier recommendation."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The economy of the United States is fueled by 8 million private sector businesses that employ 106 million of the nation's 137 million workers. Employers are seeking better ways to meet their workforce needs as they compete in the global economy. This report examines (1) the extent to which employers, including small businesses, are aware of and using the one-stop system; (2) the degree to which employers who use one-stop services report satisfaction and what factors cause employers not to use them; and (3) what Labor has done to support employer awareness and use of the workforce system and how Labor measures its success in meeting the needs of employers."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Based on principles of openness and accountability in government, the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) establishes that federal agencies must provide the public with access to government information, thus enabling them to learn about government operations and decisions. To ensure appropriate implementation of FOIA, Congress requires that agencies report annually to the Attorney General information about agencies' FOIA operations. GAO has recently reported twice on the annual FOIA reports of 25 agencies. In 2001, GAO reported that data-quality issues limited the usefulness of agencies' annual reports. In 2002, GAO reported that fewer agency FOIA reports had data-quality and consistency problems in fiscal year 2001 compared with fiscal year 2000, although some fiscal year 2001 reports did have data anomalies. GAO was asked, among other things, to determine (1) trends of reported FOIA implementation between 2000 and 2002 and (2) progress the 25 agencies have made addressing reporting inconsistencies and data-quality problems in annual FOIA reports."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In February 2004, GAO reported that improvements were needed in the time taken to adjudicate visas for science students and scholars. Specifically, a primary tool used to screen these applicants for visas (the Visas Mantis program) was operating inefficiently. We found that it took an average of 67 days to process Mantis checks, and many cases were pending for 60 days or more. GAO also found that the way in which information was shared among agencies prevented cases from being resolved expeditiously. Finally, consular officers lacked sufficient program guidance. This report discusses the time to process Mantis checks and assesses actions taken and timeframes for improving the Mantis program."

This report provides answers to frequently asked questions about military funeral honors and military cemeteries, including information on the eligibility criteria, required components of the honor detail, and the funeral ceremony. It also cites legislation that mandates that the Department of Defense (DOD) make military funeral honors available to every eligible veteran upon request.

This report discusses the political climate of Somalia, which has undergone extreme unrest for years. The report focuses on events since October 2002. The report also discusses the U.S. relationship with Somalia under the Obama Administration, including U.S. economic assistance given to Somalia and U.S. efforts to contain Somalian terrorist groups.

This report discusses litigation regarding the use of mid-frequency active sonar training exercises and its effects on marine mammals.

A SIP (Societe Genevoise d'Instruments de Physique) Trioptic coordinate measuring machine was modified for calibration of high quality single-axis glass standards to an uncertainty of {+-}0.000020 inch. The modification was accomplished through the addition of a frame grabber board, vision software, a high-resolution camera, stepper motors, a two-axis motor controller, and an HP-IB interface card. An existing temperature system (hygrometer, barometer, laser interferometer system, and optics) was retained as part of the system. An existing Hewlett Packard computer was replaced with a personal computer to accommodate the frame grabber board. Each component was integrated into the existing system using Visual Basic. The system was automated for unattended measurements by creating a machine programming language, which is recognized within the main program.

A Shelton Precision Interferometer Base, which is used for calibration of coordinate standards, was improved through hardware replacement, software geometry error correction, and reduction of vibration effects. Substantial increases in resolution and reliability, as well as reduction in sampling time, were achieved through hardware replacement; vibration effects were reduced substantially through modification of the machine component dampening and software routines; and the majority of the machine's geometry error was corrected through software geometry error correction. Because of these modifications, the uncertainty of coordinate standards calibrated on this device has been reduced dramatically.

This is a summary of the work performed on the Wind-Fuel Cell Hybrid Project: (1) On October 5th, Tim Howell of the Golden Field Office and Tom Anderson of Battelle Labs arrived in Anchorage. They met with David Lockard, Project Manager, and Percy Frisby, Director of the Alaska Rural Energy Programs Group. (2) On October 6th, Tim, Tom and David flew to Nome to inspect the proposed wind turbine site and meet with John Handeland, Director of the Nome Joint Utility System. They visited the proposed site as well as several private, residential-sized wind turbines operating in the Nome area. (3)Tim and Tom flew to Unalaska on October 7th to meet with Mike Golat, City of Unalaska Public Utility Director, and to inspect the proposed wind turbine sites at Pyramid Creek and Pyramid Valley. (4)Tim sent a scoping letter on December 17th to a variety of local, state and federal agencies requesting comments on the proposed wind turbine project. (5) David discussed this project with Marc Schwartz and Gerry Nix at NREL. Marc provided David with a list of wind prospectors and meteorologists. (6) Tom raised the question of FAA permits for structures over 200 feet tall. Gerry provided information …

This is the annual progress report for the Grant DE-FG03-96ER45572. This research is on the entropy of materials, particularly alloy phases. It is an experimental effort utilizing inelastic neutron scattering facilities at two DOE facilities: Oak Ridge National Laboratory (HFIR) and Argonne National Laboratory (IPNS), and the NIST Center for Neutron Research. It includes an overview of completed research in 2000, a list of publications, and personnel supported under this grant.

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This paper presents the characterization of potential feed for processing relatively low radioactive waste tanks. The feed characterization is based on waste characterization data extracted from the waste characterization system. This data is compared to salt cake sample results from Tanks 37, 38, and 41.