The U.S. Government reached the statutory debt limit today, exhausting its normal ability to borrow money. In order to meet the government’s financial obligations, the Secretary of the Treasury must now take certain extraordinary measures. A newly updated report from the Congressional Research Service provides background on federal debt policy and explains the current state of affairs. See The Debt Limit Since 2011, March 9, 2015.
Other new or newly updated CRS reports that Congress has withheld from public distribution include the following.
Internet Domain Names: Background and Policy Issues, March 6, 2015
Internet Governance and the Domain Name System: Issues for Congress, March 6, 2015
Access to Broadband Networks: The Net Neutrality Debate, March 9, 2015
The Federal Budget: Overview and Issues for FY2016 and Beyond, March 6, 2015
OSC Rule Seemingly Expands Federal Contractor Whistleblower Rights, CRS Legal Sidebar, March 11, 2015
Scientific Basis of Environmental Protection Agency Actions: H.R. 1029 and H.R. 1030, CRS Insights, March 11, 2015
Prevalence of Mental Illness in the United States: Data Sources and Estimates, March 9, 2015
Health Care for Veterans: Traumatic Brain Injury, March 9, 2015
Federal Grants to State and Local Governments: A Historical Perspective on Contemporary Issues, March 5, 2015
The European Capital Markets Union, CRS Insights, March 11, 2015
Cyprus: Reunification Proving Elusive, March 6, 2015
Northern Ireland: The Peace Process, March 11, 2015
China-U.S. Trade Issues, March 9, 2015
Navy Irregular Warfare and Counterterrorism Operations: Background and Issues for Congress, March 4, 2015
Iran Sanctions, March 9, 2015
With targeted policy interventions, we can efficiently and effectively support the U.S. innovation economy through the translation of breakthrough scientific research from the lab to the market.
Crowd forecasting methods offer a systematic approach to quantifying the U.S. intelligence community’s uncertainty about the future and predicting the impact of interventions, allowing decision-makers to strategize effectively and allocate resources by outlining risks and tradeoffs in a legible format.
The energy transition underway in the United States continues to present a unique set of opportunities to put Americans back to work through the deployment of new technologies, infrastructure, energy efficiency, and expansion of the electricity system to meet our carbon goals.
The United States has the only proven and scalable tritium production supply chain, but it is largely reserved for nuclear weapons. Excess tritium production capacity should be leveraged to ensure the success of and U.S. leadership in fusion energy.