FBI Director Appointment and Tenure

Given that the firing of FBI Director James Comey is a hot topic in the news right now, condensed background information can be found in a new Congressional Research  Service (CRS) report that "provides an overview of the development of the process for appointing the FBI Director, briefly discusses the history of nominations to this position, and identifies related congressional hearing records and reports."  The May 10, 2017 report, FBI Director: Appointment and Tenure, by Henry B. Hogue, Specialist in American National Government, is available as a pdf.

Sea Level Rise Scenarios for the United States

In January 2017 NOAA published the technical report Global and Regional Sea Level Rise Scenarios for the United States. Key findings include:

• For almost all future GMSL (global mean sea level) rise scenarios, RSL (relative sea level) rise is projected to be greater than the global average along the coasts of the U.S. Northeast and the western Gulf of Mexico.  
• Under the Intermediate and Low GMSL rise scenarios, RSL is projected to be less than the global average along much of the Pacific Northwest and Alaska coasts.  
• Under the Intermediate-High, High and Extreme GMSL rise scenarios, RSL is projected to be higher than the global average along almost all U.S. coasts outside Alaska.

The report also mentions consequences of RSL rise that are already occurring such as increasing tidal-flood frequencies in coastal communities. Using as a definition of flood-frequency the elevation threshold of about 0.8 m (2.6 feet) above the highest tide with a local 20% annual chance of occurring, annual frequencies of damaging flooding with less than 14 inches of local RSL rise "will increase 25-fold by or about (±5 years) 2080, 2060, 2040 and 2030 under the Low, Intermediate-Low, Intermediate, and Intermediate High subset of scenarios, respectively."

See the full report at https://tidesandcurrents.noaa.gov/publications/techrpt83_Global_and_Regional_SLR_Scenarios_for_the_US_final.pdf


NOAA also has a new mapping tool to visualize community-level impacts from coastal flooding or sea level rise (up to 6 feet above average high tides). Try the new beta version.

Energy-Saving Landscapes

Just in time for summer the Energy Department has published Energy Saver 101: Everything You Need to Know About Landscaping.  The web page covers how to shade, create windbreaks, conserve water, and landscape for different climates.

Armed Conflict in Syria: Overview and U.S. Response

On April 7, 2017 the Congressional Research Service (CRS) published Armed Conflict in Syria: Overview and U.S. Response  by Carla E. Humud, Coordinator Analyst in Middle Eastern Affairs; Christopher M. Blanchard, Specialist in Middle Eastern Affairs; and Mary Beth D. Nikitin, Specialist in Nonproliferation, In addition to the overview, the 33 page report includes sections on issues for Congress; conflict synopsis; recent military, political, and humanitarian developments; U.S. policy and assistance; and an outlook.

U.S. Climate Change Regulation and Litigation: Selected Legal Issues,

Given President Trump's March 28, 2017 executive order modifying climate change policies, the Congressional Research Service (CRS) released a climate change report on April 3, 2017 discussing legal challenges to Obama Administration climate change regulations pending before courts. U.S. Climate Change Regulation and Litigation: Selected Legal Issues by Linda Tsang, Legislative Attorney, covers a brief history of U.S. climate change regulation; reviews the types of regulation and legal actions pursued in the national debate over GHG emissions; examines selected legal issues and next steps in related litigation; and addresses what these legal and regulatory developments mean for Congress.

The 2017 Long Term Budget Outlook

The Congressional Budget Office has made available online "The 2017 Long Term Budget Outlook." The report paints a bleak picture noting "If current laws remained generally unchanged, the United States would face steadily increasing federal budget deficits and debt over the next 30 years—reaching the highest level of debt relative to GDP ever experienced in this country." The report includes links to data, supplemental information and related publications and is divided into the following sections:

Why Are Projected Deficits Rising?

What Might the Consequences Be If Current Laws Remained Unchanged?

How Does CBO Make Its Long-Term Budget Projections?

How Uncertain Are Those Projections?

How Large Would Changes in Spending or Revenues Need to Be to Reach Certain Goals for Federal Debt?

How Have CBO’s Projections Changed Over the Past Year?

Budget of the United States Government 2018

The Budget of the United States Government 2018 titled "America First: A Budget Blueprint to Make America Great Again" is now available online from the Government Printing Office. President Trump recommends increasing defense spending by $54 billion while cutting the budgets of the following departments/agencies: State, EPA, Labor, Education, and Agriculture. He proposes to eliminate both the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities and decrease funding to agencies like the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation which provide money for academic research. Public broadcasting and the arts would also face cuts as would popular domestic programs like home-heating subsidies and clean-water projects. The budget does not address mandatory entitlement programs like Social Security.

If you'd like to see a quick visual representation (graphs and charts) of  programs that would lose funding under President Trump's proposed budget, see Bloomberg's March 16, 2017 article "These 80 Programs Would Lose Federal Funding Under Trump’s Proposed Budget."