Carbon Cycle

Carbon is stored in the atmosphere, oceans, vegetation, and the soil. The exchange, or flux, of carbon between the atmosphere, oceans, and land surface is called the carbon cycle. Congress may opt to consider how land management practices, such as afforestation, conservation tillage, and other techniques, might increase the net flux of carbon from the atmosphere to the land surface. Congress may consider incorporating what is known about the carbon cycle into its legislative strategies, and may also evaluate whether the global carbon cycle is sufficiently well understood so that the consequences of long-term policies aimed at mitigating global climate change are fully appreciated.

Climate Change/Energy Legislation in the 111th Congress

An overview of energy and climate change legislation making its way through Congress in 2009.

Recommended Reports on Climate Change

Get more detailed information about climate change compiled by SEA.

Voluntary Carbon Offsets

Businesses and individuals are buying carbon offsets to reduce their “carbon footprint” or to categorize an activity as “carbon neutral.” A carbon offset is a measurable avoidance, reduction, or sequestration of carbon dioxide (CO2) or other greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

STEM Education Issues

There is growing concern that the United States is not preparing a sufficient number of students, teachers, and practitioners in the areas of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). A large majority of secondary school students fail to reach proficiency in math and science, and many are taught by teachers lacking adequate subject matter knowledge.

Alternative Fuels and Advanced Technology Vehicles

Alternative fuels and advanced technology vehicles are seen by proponents as integral to improving urban air quality, decreasing dependence on foreign oil, and reducing emissions of greenhouse gases.

Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) Standards

The Arab oil embargo of 1973-1974 and the subsequent tripling in the price of crude oil brought into sharp focus the fuel inefficiency of U.S. automobiles. New car fleet fuel economy had declined from 14.8 miles per gallon (mpg) in model year (MY) 1967 to 12.9 mpg in 1974. In the search for ways to reduce dependence on imported oil, automobiles were an obvious target. The rise in crude oil and gasoline prices since the winter of 2006 has renewed the focus on U.S. fuel consumption in the transportation sector. Wider concerns over greenhouse gas emissions and climate change have contributed to interest in reducing fossil fuel consumption and improving the efficiency of the U.S. transportation sector.

Energy Policy

Energy policy continues to be a major legislative issue, world and domestic demand for oil remained strong, and other factors have placed pressure on gasoline prices and deliverability in the United States. Energy policy issues of continuing interest include Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) Standards for passenger vehicles; improving U.S. energy infrastructure, including pipelines and refineries; seeking effective means to promote energy conservation using currently available technologies; and developing new technologies and alternative fuels.

Feed-In Tariffs

Efforts to increase the use of renewable energy in the United States have usually pursued the renewable energy portfolio standard (RPS) approach, but European countries have achieved great success with feed-in tariffs (FIT). Feed-in tariffs require utilities to purchase a certain amount of renewable energy at fixed rates. As with RPS, this creates a profitable market for renewable energy, normally too expensive to compete with electricity generated from fossil fuels. The distinction between RPS and FIT is the idea of a fixed-price for energy over an established period of time, which allows renewable energy producers to predict profits in the medium- to long-term and avoid some of the perilous fluctuations in energy markets that can easily cripple new producers under an RPS system. Stable profits also encourage investors and make it easier for green entrepreneurs to secure capital.

Fuel Ethanol: Background and Policy Public Issues

Ethanol plays a key role in policy discussions about energy, agriculture, taxes, and the environment. In the United States it is mostly made from corn; in other countries it is often made from cane sugar. Fuel ethanol is generally blended in gasoline to reduce emissions, increase octane, and extend gasoline stocks. Recent high oil and gasoline prices have led to increased interest in alternatives to petroleum fuels for transportation.

Nuclear Energy Policy

Nuclear energy policy issues facing Congress include the implementation of federal incentives for new commercial reactors, radioactive waste management policy, research and development priorities, power plant safety and regulation, and security against terrorist attacks.

Power Grids

The electric power grid system in America is not composed of a single national system, but rather three large sectional power grids. They are named the Eastern, Western, and Texas Interconnected Systems.

Recommended Reports on Energy

Get more detailed information about climate change compiled by SEA.

Renewable Energy Portfolio Standard

Renewable energy portfolio standards (RPS) require retail energy suppliers to provide a minimum amount of electricity from renewable sources or purchase credits that represent an equivalent amount of renewable energy production. RPS proponents contend that a national system of tradable credits would enable retail suppliers in states with fewer resources to comply at the least cost by purchasing credits from organizations in states with a surplus of low-cost production. Opponents counter that regional differences in availability, amount, and types of renewable energy resources would make a federal RPS unfair and costly.

Solar Power and Public Policy

Solar power is a technology that has been around for many years and is valuable because of its ability to take advantage of a readily available source of energy, the sun.

State Renewable Energy Standards

Currently the federal government has no mandatory renewable fuel programs. Such programs, however, do exist to varying degrees on the state level.

Wind Power

Wind power is a time-tested form of energy, once used for grinding grain, irrigating crops, and sailing ships. Wind turbines have been developed to rejuvenate wind as an alternative energy source that can provide plentiful, clean, emission-less electricity.

Endangered Species Act and Sound Science

The adequacy of the science supporting implementation of the Endangered Species Act (ESA) is receiving increased congressional attention. While some critics accuse agencies responsible for implementing the ESA of using “junk science,” others counter that decisions that should rest on science are instead being dictated by political concerns.

Massachusetts v. EPA

On April 2, 2007, the Supreme Court handed down Massachusetts v. EPA, its first pronouncement on climate change. By a narrow 5-4 margin, the Court held three things: that (1) Massachusetts had standing to sue, (2) the Clean Air Act (CAA) authorizes EPA to regulate emissions from new motor vehicles on the basis of their climate change impacts, and (3) the act does not authorize EPA to inject policy considerations into its decision whether to so regulate.

Genetic Discrimination

Collectively, genetic diseases and common diseases with a genetic component pose a significant public health burden. Genetic testing may both facilitate and be inhibited by the potential for genetic discrimination.

Genetic Testing: Scientific Background for Policy Makers

Science is only beginning to unlock the complex nature of the interaction between genes and the environment in common disease, and their respective contributions to the disease process. The information gleaned from the Human Genome Project will help, and is currently helping, scientists and clinicians to identify common genetic variation that contributes to disease.

Health Care Legislation in the 111th Congress

An overview of health care legislation in the 111th congress.

Medicaid Managed Care: An Overview and Key Issues for Congress

Medicaid is one of the largest major domestic entitlement programs in the United States today. This report provides an overview of Medicaid managed care. It includes a discussion of the major features of both the managed care and the traditional fee-for-service delivery systems in Medicaid.

Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA)

The Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA), first enacted in 1992 and reauthorized twice, gives the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) a revenue source — fees paid by the pharmaceutical manufacturers — to supplement, not replace, direct appropriations.

State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP)

The Balanced Budget Act of 1997 (BBA 97; P.L. 105-33) established the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) under a new Title XXI of the Social Security Act. The program offers federal matching funds to states and territories to provide health insurance to certain low-income children. Although specific requirements apply to eligibility, benefits, and beneficiary cost-sharing, as described below, these rules can be modified via waiver authority provided in Section 1115 of the Social Security Act.

Stem Cell Research and Public Policy

In 2001, President Bush issued an executive order allowing the use of federal funds for stem cell research to 64 stem cell lines that had already been created using private money. Researchers were prohibited from using federal funds to create new stem cell lines if it meant the destruction of an embryo. Instead, Bush promised to spend $250 million for research into the creation of umbilical cord placenta, adult and animal stem cells.

Building Efficiency and Public Policy

Building efficiency has been a key strategy in energy conservation in new and old buildings. In order for many buildings to be officially considered efficient or “green,” they need to be Leadership in Environmental and Energy Design (LEED) certified.

Industrial Competitiveness and Technological Advancement: Debate Over Government Policy

There is ongoing interest in the pace of U.S. technological advancement due to its influence on U.S. economic growth, productivity, and international competitiveness. Congressional action has mandated specific technology development programs and obligations in federal agencies that did not initially support such efforts. Many programs were created based upon what individual committees judged appropriate within the agencies over which they had authorization or appropriation responsibilities.

Net Neutrality: Background and Issues

The move to place restrictions on the owners of the networks that compose and provide access to the Internet to ensure equal access and non-discriminatory treatment, is referred to as “net neutrality. ”Concern over whether it is necessary to take steps to ensure access to the Internet for content, services, and applications providers, as well as consumers, and if so, what these should be, is a major focus in the debate over telecommunications reform.

Patent Reform: Issues in Biomedical and Software Industries

Patent ownership is perceived as an incentive to the technological advancement that leads to economic growth. As such, the number of patent applications and grants has grown significantly, as have the type and breadth of inventions that can be patented. Innovators in biomedical industries tend to see patent protection as critically important as a way to prohibit competitors from appropriating the results of a company’s research and development efforts. In contrast, the nature of software development is such that inventions often are cumulative and new products generally embody numerous patentable inventions. As a result, it may be expected that distinct industries might react differently to the various patent reform proposals currently under consideration by Congress.

Technology Transfer: Use of Federally Funded Research and Development

The federal government spends approximately one third of its annual research and development budget for intramural R&D. Congress has established a system to facilitate the transfer of technology to the private sector and to state and local governments. Despite this, use of federal R&D results has remained restrained, although there has been a significant increase in private sector interest and activities over the past several years.

Proliferation Control Regimes: Background and Status

Weapons of mass destruction (WMD), especially in the hands of radical states and terrorists, represent a major threat to U.S. national security interests. Multilateral regimes were established to restrict trade in nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons and missile technologies, and to monitor their civil applications.

Federal Research and Development Funding: FY2008

The Bush Administration requested $142.7 billion in federal research and development (R&D) funding for FY2008. As in the recent past, the FY2008 proposed increase over the FY2007 funding level is due to significant funding increases in the Department of Defense (DOD); the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA’s) space vehicles development program; and the continuation of the American Competitiveness Initiative (ACI).

National Institutes of Health (NIH): Organization, Funding, and Congressional Issues

The National Institutes of Health is the focal point for federal health research. It uses its $28.5 billion budget to support more than 200,000 scientists and research personnel working at over 3,100 institutions across the United States and abroad as well as to conduct biomedical and behavioral research and research training at its own facilities.

National Science Foundation: An Overview

The National Science Foundation (NSF) was created by the National Science Foundation Act of 1950. The NSF has the broad mission of supporting science and engineering in general and funding basic research across many disciplines. The agency provides support for investigator-initiated, merit-reviewed, competitively selected awards, state-of-the-art tools, and instrumentation and facilities.

111th Congress Degrees (by State)

Positions that require Senate Confirmation

Presidential Transitions

Since outgoing President George Washington first relinquished his office to incoming President John Adams in 1797, this peaceful transition, symbolizing both continuity and change, has demonstrated the “best of American democracy to the world.” The activities surrounding a presidential transition today begin shortly after the election, as the President-elect has fewer than 11 weeks to formulate the new Administration before taking the oath of office on January 20.

Senate Confirmation Hearings

Executive Order Lifting Restrictions on Embryonic Stem Cell Research

Read President Obama's executive order lifting restrictions on federal funding for embryonic stem cell research.

Presidential Memorandum on Scientific Integrity, March 9, 2009

Remarks by the President at the National Academy of Science Annual Meeting

Scientists and Engineers in the 111th Congress

Scientists In Congress: An Overview