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Latin America and the Caribbean: Fact Sheet on Leaders and Elections

Description: This report provides the results of recent elections in Latin America and the Caribbean. Below are three tables organized by region, including the date of each country's independence, the name of the newly elected president or prime minister, and the projected date of the next election. Information in this report was gathered from numerous sources, including the U.S. State Department, the CIA's Open Source, the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), and other news sources.
Date: December 3, 2013
Creator: Torreon, Barbara Salazar
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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China's Economic Rise: History, Trends, Challenges, and Implications for the United States

Description: Report that provides background on China's economic rise; describes its current economic structure; identifies the challenges China faces to maintain economic growth; and discusses the challenges, opportunities, and implications of China's economic rise for the United States.
Date: July 3, 2013
Creator: Morrison, Wayne M.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Navy Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) Program: Background and Issues for Congress

Description: This report provides background information and potential issues for Congress on the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS), a relatively inexpensive Navy surface combatant equipped with modular "plug-and-fight" mission packages for countering mines, small boats, and diesel-electric submarines, particularly in littoral (i.e., near-shore) waters.
Date: September 3, 2013
Creator: O'Rourke, Ronald
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Offender Reentry: Correctional Statistics, Reintegration into the Community, and Recidivism

Description: Report that provides background information regarding the prison population in the United States that has been growing steadily for more than 30 years. The report presents correctional system statistics and discusses the federal government's involvement in offender reentry programs and the Second Chance Act (P.L. 110-199) that was enacted on April 9, 2008.
Date: June 3, 2013
Creator: James, Nathan
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Agricultural Disaster Assistance

Description: Report containing a description of recent developments in weather and U. S. policy. as well as an overview of current and expired USDA disaster assistance programs. An appendix reviews the recent history of emergency supplemental farm disaster assistance and administrative actions by USDA.
Date: July 3, 2013
Creator: Shields, Dennis A.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Legislative Options for Financing Water Infrastructure

Description: Report that addresses several options considered by Congress to address the financing needs of local communities for wastewater and drinking water infrastructure projects and to decrease or close the gap between available funds and projected needs.
Date: June 3, 2013
Creator: Copeland, Claudia; Mallett, William J. & Maguire, Steven
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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The Bureau of Prisons (BOP): Operations and Budget

Description: Report that provides an overview of how the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) manages the growing federal prison population and examines the BOP's appropriations since FY1980.
Date: July 3, 2013
Creator: James, Nathan
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Coast Guard Cutter Procurement: Background and Issues for Congress

Description: Report that provides background information and potential oversight issues for Congress on the Coast Guard's programs for procuring 8 National Security Cutters (NSCs), 25 Offshore Patrol Cutters (OPCs), and 58 Fast Response Cutters (FRCs).
Date: July 3, 2013
Creator: O'Rourke, Ronald
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Possible U.S. Intervention in Syria: Issues for Congress

Description: This report discusses the reports of a mass casualty chemical weapons attack in the suburbs of Damascus and the possible punitive U.S. military action against the Asad regime.
Date: September 3, 2013
Creator: Sharp, Jeremy M. & Blanchard, Christopher M.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Banning the Use of Racial Preferences in Higher Education: A Legal Analysis of Schuette v. Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action

Description: This report discusses the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Laws based on suspect classifications such as race or gender, however, typically receive heightened scrutiny and require a stronger, if not compelling, state interest to justify the classification.
Date: September 3, 2013
Creator: Feder, Jody
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Flood Insurance: More Information Needed on Subsidized Properties

Description: A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Biggert-Waters Flood Insurance Reform Act of 2012 (Biggert-Waters Act) immediately eliminated subsidies for about 438,000 National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) policies, but subsidies on an estimated 715,000 policies across the nation remain. Depending on factors such as policyholder behavior, the number of subsidized policies will continue to decline over time. For example, as properties are sold… more
Date: July 3, 2013
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Federal Employees' Compensation Act: Case Examples Illustrate Vulnerabilities That Could Result in Improper Payments or Overlapping Benefits

Description: A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "GAO found examples of improper payments and indicators of potential fraud in the Federal Employees' Compensation Act (FECA) program, which could be attributed, in part, to oversight and data-access issues. GAO found examples of claimants' receiving overlapping FECA and unemployment insurance (UI) benefits, which may be allowable under certain circumstances, but could also be erroneous. GAO also found th… more
Date: April 3, 2013
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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National Mediation Board: Strengthening Planning and Controls Could Better Facilitate Rail and Air Labor Relations

Description: A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The National Mediation Board (NMB) recently updated its strategic plan but is not meeting some federal strategic planning and performance measurement requirements. NMB missed deadlines for updating its strategic plan and lacks performance measures to assess its progress in meeting its goals, even though an agency's strategic plan should form the basis for everything an agency does."
Date: December 3, 2013
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Health Resources and Services Administration: Review of Internal Communication Mechanisms, Staffing, and Use of Contracts

Description: A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Health and Human Services' (HHS) Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) has mechanisms in place to share information important for supporting the agency's mission across its various organizational components and levels of staff--a practice that is consistent with internal control standards for the federal government. These communication methods include an annual operationa… more
Date: December 3, 2013
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Financial Institutions: Causes and Consequences of Recent Bank Failures

Description: A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Ten states concentrated in the western, midwestern, and southeastern United States—all areas where the housing market had experienced strong growth in the prior decade—experienced 10 or more commercial bank or thrift (bank) failures between 2008 and 2011. The failures of the smaller banks (those with less than $1 billion in assets) in these states were largely driven by credit losses on commercial real … more
Date: January 3, 2013
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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VA Health Care: Improvements Needed in Processes Used to Address Providers' Actions That Contribute to Adverse Events

Description: A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) medical centers GAO visited did not adhere to certain policy elements of the protected peer review process, and monitoring by VA's Veterans Health Administration (VHA) is limited. According to policy issued by VHA, protected peer review may be used by VA medical centers (VAMC) when there is a need to determine whether a provider's actions associated with an advers… more
Date: December 3, 2013
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Communications Networks: Outcome-Based Measures Would Assist DHS in Assessing Effectiveness of Cybersecurity Efforts

Description: A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "While the primary responsibility for protecting the nation's communications networks belongs to private-sector owners and operators, federal agencies also play a role in support of their security, as well as that of critical components supporting the Internet. Specifically, private-sector entities are responsible for the operational security of the networks they own, but the Federal Communications Commi… more
Date: April 3, 2013
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Internal Controls: SEC Should Consider Requiring Companies to Disclose Whether They Obtained an Auditor Attestation

Description: A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Since the implementation of the auditor attestation requirement of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (Sarbanes-Oxley Act), companies exempt from the requirement have had more financial restatements (a company's revision of publicly reported financial information) than nonexempt companies, and the percentage of exempt companies restating generally has exceeded that of nonexempt companies. Exempt and nonexem… more
Date: July 3, 2013
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Internet Domain Names: Background and Policy Issues

Description: This report discusses the Domain Name System (DNS), which is the distributed set of databases that contain address numbers mapped to corresponding domain names, making it possible to send and receive messages and to access information on the Internet. The report includes background on the DNS and the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) that manages the servies, as well as related issues for the 113th Congress.
Date: January 3, 2013
Creator: Kruger, Lennard G.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Taiwan: Major U.S. Arms Sales Since 1990

Description: Report that discusses U.S. security assistance for Taiwan, formally called the Republic of China (ROC), particularly policy issues for Congress. It also lists sales of major defense articles and services to Taiwan, as approved by the President and notified to Congress since 1990.
Date: July 3, 2013
Creator: Kan, Shirley A.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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The Unified Command Plan and Combatant Commands: Background and Issues for Congress

Description: This report provides information on the history, mission, and operational considerations for each of these organizations as well as a brief discussion of current issues associated with the Unified Command Plan (UCP) and these commands.
Date: January 3, 2013
Creator: Feickert, Andrew
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Compounded Drugs

Description: This report provides background information on Compounded drugs and non-traditional compounding pharmacies relevant to policy discussions.
Date: June 3, 2013
Creator: Glassgold, Judith M.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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