Congressional Research Service discoveries

The Congressional Research Service (CRS) is a research agency of Congress and writes reports at Congress's request. These short reports (usually 10-40 pages long) cover recent topics of concern. This week brings us CRS reports on the pension, crime, China, and much more. While 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 Secrecy News and OpenCRS:

• The Link Between Medicaid and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA): Recent History and Current Issues
• Israeli-Arab Negotiations: Background, Conflicts, and U.S. Policy
• Railroad Retirement Board: Trust Fund Investment Practices
• U.S.-Vietnam Relations: Background and Issues for Congress
• How Crime in the United States Is Measured
• Vulnerable Youth: Federal Mentoring Programs and Issues
• China's "Soft Power" in Southeast Asia
• Emerging Trends in the Security Architecture in Asia: Bilateral and Multilateral Ties Among the United States, Japan, Australia, and India
• The USDA's Authority to Recall Meat and Poultry Products
• The U.S.-Singapore Free Trade Agreement: Effects After Three Years
• Federal Employees: Pay and Pension Increases Since 1969
• SCHIP Coverage for Pregnant Women and Unborn Children
• Dollar Crisis: Prospect and Implications
• China's Holdings of U.S. Securities: Implications for the U.S. Economy
• Pipelines for Carbon Dioxide (CO2) Control: Network Needs and Cost Uncertainties
• Trafficking in Persons: U.S. Policy and Issues for Congress
• Prospects for Democracy in Hong Kong: China's December 2007 Decision
• Regulation of Vehicle Greenhouse Gas Emissions: State and Federal Standards
• Democracy Promotion: Cornerstone of U.S. Foreign Policy?
• Perjury Under Federal Law: A Brief Overview
• Kosovo's Future Status and U.S. Policy

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.

GAO Releases this week

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) is often called the investigative arm of Congress. This week they investigated a variety of issues, such audits of public companies, defense acquisitions, and information security. If you would like to know more about the GAO, check out the library's guide.

Reports

• Audits of Public Companies: Continued Concentration in Audit Market for Large Public Companies Does Not Call for Immediate Action. GAO-08-163, January 9.
  http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-08-163
  Highlights - http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d08163high.pdf
  
• Defense Acquisitions: Departmentwide Direction Is Needed for Implementation of the Anti-tamper Policy. GAO-08-91, January 11.
  http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-08-91
  Highlights - http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d0891high.pdf
• Federal-Aid Highways: Increased Reliance on Contractors Can Pose Oversight Challenges for Federal and State Officials. GAO-08-198, January 8.
  http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-08-198
  Highlights - http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d08198high.pdf
• Freight Transportation: National Policy and Strategies Can Help Improve Freight Mobility. GAO-08-287, January 7.
  http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-08-287
  Highlights - http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d08287high.pdf
  
• Information Security: IRS Needs to Address Pervasive Weaknesses. GAO-08-211, January 8.
  http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-08-211
  Highlights - http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d08211high.pdf
  
• Maritime Security: Federal Efforts Needed to Address Challenges in Preventing and Responding to Terrorist Attacks on Energy Commodity Tankers. GAO-08-141, December 10.
  http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-08-141
  Highlights - http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d08141high.pdf
  
• Nuclear Nonproliferation: DOE's Program to Assist Weapons Scientists in Russia and Other Countries Needs to Be Reassessed. GAO-08-189, December 12.
  http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-08-189
  Highlights - http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d08189high.pdf
• Social Security Disability: Better Planning, Management, and Evaluation Could Help Address Backlogs. GAO-08-40, December 7.
  http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-08-40
  Highlights - http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d0840high.pdf
  

Correspondence

• Posthearing Questions Related to Federal Agencies' Activities regarding the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act. GAO-08-397R, January 9.
  http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-08-397R
  

Special Publication / Related Product

• Audits of Public Companies: Survey of Public Accounting Firms and Public Companies (an E-supplement to GAO-08-163). GAO-08-164SP, January 9. [Internet only] http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-08-164SP

Presentation By The Comptroller General

• "U.S. Financial Condition and Fiscal Future Briefing," by David M. Walker, comptroller general of the United States, before the Rotary Club of Birmingham, Alabama. GAO-08-417CG, January 9, 2008 http://www.gao.gov/cghome/d08417cg.pdf

Primary, Cacaus, oh my

Well, if you read the papers or watch news on TV you can't help but have heard that the race to be the Republican and Democrat nominee for President is on. Unlike the national election, there is no one place that contains all the election results, but you can check 'em out state by state.

How you ask? The Department of Defense (since many of the members serve overseas and don't get the local paper) has developed a web page that lists the Secretary of States for all fifty states and some territories, each of these sites lists the official state results.

For those of you in Colorado registered as a Democrat or Republican you can go to the caucus on February 5. Want more information on that? Check out the Colorado State Publication's blog posting on the Colorado Caucus.

Want more elections and voting information? Check out the library's guide.

A few more CRS reports

Happy New Year everyone! Here are a few new CRS reports. The Congressional Research Service (CRS) is a research agency of Congress and writes reports at Congress's request. These short reports (usually 10-40 pages long) cover recent topics of concern. This week brings us CRS reports on the motor vehicle industry, terrorism, energy, and much more. While 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 Secrecy News and OpenCRS:

• Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007: A Summary of Major Provisions
• Spending by Consumers on Health Care and Health Insurance: A Data Brief
• Resolving House Committee Jurisdictional Disputes: A Survey of Options
• Democracy Promotion: Cornerstone of U.S. Foreign Policy?
• Motor Vehicle Manufacturing Employment: National and State Trends and Issues
• Consolidated Appropriations Act for FY2008: Brief Overview
• U.S. Foreign Assistance to Latin America and the Caribbean: FY2006-FY2008
• Pay-As-You-Go Procedures for Budget Enforcement
• National Aviation Security Policy, Strategy, and Mode-Specific Plans: Background and Considerations for Congress
• The Effect of State-Legalized Same-Sex Marriage on Social Security Benefits and Pensions
• Obstruction of Justice: an Overview of Some of the Federal Statutes that Prohibit Interference with Judicial, Executive, or Legislative Activities
• Obstruction of Congress: a Brief Overview of Federal Law Relating to Interference with Congressional Activities
• Suits Against Terrorist States By Victims of Terrorism
• Proposals to Reform 'Holds' in the Senate
• Federal Tort Claims Act
• Intelligence Issues for Congress

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.

GAO Releases this week

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) is often called the investigative arm of Congress. This week they investigated a variety of issues, such border security and defense trade. If you would like to know more about the GAO, check out the library's guide.

Reports

• Army Corps of Engineers: Known Performance Issues with New Orleans Drainage Canal Pumps Have Been Addressed, but Guidance on Future Contracts Is Needed. GAO-08-288, December 31.
  http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-08-288
  Highlights - http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d08288high.pdf
• Defense Trade: State Department Needs to Conduct Assessments to Identify and Address Inefficiencies and Challenges in the Arms Export Process. GAO-08-89, November 30.
  http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-08-89
  Highlights - http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d0889high.pdf

Testimony

• Border Security: Despite Progress, Weaknesses in Traveler Inspections Exist at Our Nation's Ports of Entry, by Richard M. Stana, director, homeland security and justice issues, before the House Committee on Homeland Security, in El Paso, Texas. GAO-08-329T, January 3.
  http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-08-329T
  Highlights - http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d08329thigh.pdf

Special Publication

• Government Auditing Standards-Implementation Tool: Professional Requirements Tool for Use in Implementing Requirements Identified by "Must" and "Should" in the July 2007 Revision of Government Auditing Standards. GAO-08-210G, December 2007.
  http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-08-210G
  

Presentation By The Comptroller General

• "U.S. Financial Condition and Fiscal Future Briefing," by David M. Walker, comptroller general of the United States, at the 2008 Economic Forecast Forum sponsored by the North Carolina Bankers Association and North Carolina Chamber, in Research Triangle Park, N.C. GAO-08-395CG, January 2, 2008
  http://www.gao.gov/cghome/d08395cg.pdf