Congressional Research Service (CRS) Reports

Congressional Research Service (CRS) is a research agency of Congress and writes reports at Congress' request. These short reports (usually 10-40 pages long) cover recent topics of concern. This week brings us reports on foreign relations, CO2 capture, nuclear weapons, and much more. Although these reports are in the public domain, there is no central database available to the public. To get a copy of a CRS report you can request it from your Senator or Representative. This list is compiled from CRS reports discovered by OpenCRS and Secrecy News:

• Authoritative Resources on the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA)
• Bahrain: Key Issues for U.S. Policy
• Capturing CO2 from Coal-Fired Power Plants: Challenges for a Comprehensive Strategy
• China's Foreign Aid Activities in Africa, Latin America, and Southeast Asia
• China's Holdings of U.S. Securities: Implications for the U.S. Economy
• Nuclear Weapons R&D Organizations in Nine Nations
• Cuba: Issues for the 111th Congress
• The Constitutionality of Federal Contracting Programs for Minority-Owned and Other Small Businesses
• Ongoing Government Assistance for American International Group (AIG)
• China-U.S. Relations: Current Issues and Implications for U.S. Policy
• Climate Change: Current Issues and Policy Tools
• Covert Action: Legislative Background and Possible Policy Questions
• Defense Contracting in Iraq: Issues and Options for Congress
• Department of Defense Facilities Energy Conservation Policies and Spending
• Whales and Sonar: Environmental Exemptions for the Navy's Mid-Frequency Active Sonar Training Program
• Foreign Investor Visas: Policies and Issues
• Honduran-U.S. Relations
• Instability in Chad
• International Drug Control Policy
• Iraq: Politics, Elections and Benchmarks
• Iraq: Summary of U.S. Casualties
• Iraqi Refugees and Internally Displaced Persons: A Deepening Humanitarian Crisis?
• Israel and Hamas: Conflict in Gaza (2008-2009)
• Israeli-Arab Negotiations: Background, Conflicts, and U.S. Policy
• Liberia's Post-War Recovery: Key Issues and Developments
• Nanotechnology: A Policy Primer
• Nigeria: Current Issues
• Nonproliferation and Threat Reduction Assistance: U.S. Programs in the Former Soviet Union
• North Korea: Terrorism List Removal?
• Operation Iraqi Freedom: Strategies, Approaches, Results, and Issues for Congress
• Oversight of High-Containment Biological Laboratories: Issues for Congress
• Overview of Filipino Veterans' Benefits
• Proposed Termination of Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) F136 Alternate Engine
• Reserve Component Personnel Issues: Questions and Answers
• Saudi Arabia: Background and U.S. Relations
• Somalia: Current Conditions and Prospects for a Lasting Peace
• Sudan: Humanitarian Crisis, Peace Talks, Terrorism, and U.S. Policy
• Taiwan: Major U.S. Arms Sales Since 1990
• The Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA): Summary and Proposed Amendments
• The Social Security Number: Legal Developments Affecting Its Collection, Disclosure, and Confidentiality
• Trade Adjustment Assistance for Firms: Economic, Program, and Policy Issues
• U.S. Foreign Aid to the Palestinians
• Venezuela: Political Conditions and U.S. Policy
• Veterans Affairs: The Appeal Process for Veterans' Claims

Interested in historical CRS reports? If you are here at the Boulder campus, check out the LexisNexis Congressional database, which has reports back to 1916.

Not on campus, but still want access to additional reports? The library has a guide linking to various additional sources of CRS reports.