Congressional Research Service

The U. S. Small Business Administration (SBA) administers several programs to support small businesses, including loan guaranty and venture capital programs to enhance small business access to capital; contracting programs to increase small business opportunities in federal contracting; direct loan programs for businesses, homeowners, and renters to assist their recovery from natural disasters; and small business management and technical assistance training programs to assist business formation and expansion. Congressional interest in these programs has increased in recent years, primarily because assisting small business is viewed as a means to enhance economic growth. Some, including President Obama, have argued that the SBA should be provided additional resources to assist small businesses in acquiring capital necessary to start, continue, or expand operations and create jobs. Others worry about the long-term adverse economic effects of spending programs that increase the federal deficit. They advocate business tax reduction, reform of financial credit market regulation, and federal fiscal restraint as the best means to assist small business economic growth and job creation. During the 111th Congress, P. L. 111-5, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA), provided the SBA an additional $730 million, including $375 million to temporarily subsidize SBA fees and increase the 7(a) loan guaranty program's maximum loan guaranty percentage to 90%. P. L. 111-240, the Small Business Jobs Act of 2010, authorized a $30 billion Small Business Lending Fund to encourage community banks to provide small business loans ($4 billion was issued); $1.5 billion State Small Business Credit Initiative to provide funding to participating states with small business capital access programs, numerous changes to the SBA's loan guaranty and contracting programs, and $510 million to continue the SBA's fee subsidies and 90% maximum loan guaranty percentage through December 31, 2010; and about $12 billion in tax relief for small businesses. The SBA subsequently was provided authority to continue the fee subsidies and the 90% maximum loan guaranty percentage through March 4, 2011, or until available funding was exhausted, which occurred on January 3, 2011. During the 112th Congress, several bills were introduced to enhance small business access to capital, including bills to extend the SBA's temporary fee subsidies and the 90% maximum loan guaranty percentage. Congress did not adopt these legislative efforts. Instead, Congress passed legislation to enhance small business contracting opportunities, expand access to the SBA's surety bond guarantee program, amend the SBA's size standard practices, require a review and reassessment of the federal procurement small business goaling program, and expand small business mentor-prot g programs. During the 113th Congress, P. L. 113-76, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2014, increased the annual authorization amount for the SBA's Small Business Investment Company venture capital program to $4 billion from $3 billion. The increased authorization amount is designed to provide small businesses additional access to venture capital.

Industrial hemp is an agricultural commodity that is cultivated for use in the production of a wide range of products, including foods and beverages, cosmetics and personal care products, and nutritional supplements, as well as fabrics and textiles, yarns and spun fibers, paper, construction and insulation materials, and other manufactured goods. Hemp can be grown as a fiber, seed, or other dual-purpose crop. Some estimate that the global market for hemp consists of more than 25,000 products. Precise data are not available on the size of the U. S. market for hemp-based products, but current industry estimates report annual sales at more than $580 million annually. Hemp is a variety of Cannabis sativa and is of the same plant species as marijuana. Although industrial hemp is genetically different and distinguished by its use and chemical makeup, and has long been cultivated for non-drug use in the production of industrial and other goods, in the United States, hemp is subject to U. S. drug laws and growing industrial hemp is restricted. Under current U. S. drug policy all cannabis varieties, including industrial hemp, are considered Schedule I controlled substances under the Controlled Substances Act (CSA, 21 U. S. C. 801 et seq.; Title 21 C. F. R. Part 1308.11). Despite these legitimate industrial uses, hemp production and usage are controlled and regulated by the U. S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). Strictly speaking, the CSA does not make growing hemp illegal; rather, it places strict controls on its production and enforces standards governing the security conditions under which the crop must be grown, making it illegal to grow without a DEA permit. In other words, a grower needs to get permission from the DEA to grow hemp or faces the possibility of federal charges or property confiscation, regardless of whether the grower has a state-issued permit. Currently, cannabis varieties may be legitimately grown for research purposes only. No known active federal licenses allow for hemp cultivation at this time. There is no large-scale commercial hemp production in the United States, and the U. S. market is largely dependent on imports, both as finished hemp-containing products and as ingredients for use in further processing. More than 30 nations grow industrial hemp as an agricultural commodity, which is sold on the world market. In the early 1990s a sustained resurgence of interest in allowing commercial cultivation of industrial hemp began in the United States. Several states have conducted economic or market studies, and have initiated or passed legislation to expand state-level resources and production. The 113th Congress made significant changes to U. S. policies regarding industrial hemp during the omnibus farm bill debate. The Agricultural Act of 2014 ("farm bill," P. L. 113-79) provided that certain research institutions and state departments of agriculture may grow industrial hemp, as part of an agricultural pilot program, if allowed under state laws where the institution or state department of agriculture is located. The farm bill also established a statutory definition of "industrial hemp" as the plant Cannabis sativa L. and any part of such plant with a delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) concentration of not more than 0.3% on a dry weight basis. The enacted FY2015 appropriations (P. L. 113-235) further blocked federal law enforcement authorities from interfering with state agencies, hemp growers, and agricultural research. The Industrial Hemp Farming Act of 2015 (H. R. 525; S. 134) would amend the CSA to specify that the term "marijuana" does not include industrial hemp, thus excluding hemp from the CSA as a controlled substance subject to DEA regulation. This bill was reintroduced from bills introduced in previous Congresses dating back to the 109th Congress.

This report provides references to analytical reports on cybersecurity from CRS, other government agencies, trade associations, and interest groups. The reports and related websites are grouped under the following cybersecurity topics: Policy overviewNational Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace (NSTIC)Cloud computing and the Federal Risk and Authorization Management ProgramCritical infrastructureCybercrime, data breaches, and data securityNational security, cyber espionage, and cyberwar (including Stuxnet)International effortsEducation/training/workforceResearch and development (R&D)In addition, the report lists selected cybersecurity-related websites for congressional and government agencies; news; international organizations; and other organizations, associations, and institutions.

The President makes appointments to positions within the federal government, either using authorities granted to the President alone or with the advice and consent of the Senate. There are some 149 full-time leadership positions on 34 federal regulatory and other collegial boards and commissions for which the Senate provides advice and consent. This report identifies all nominations submitted to the Senate for full-time positions on these 34 boards and commissions during the 112th Congress. Information for each board and commission is presented in profiles and tables. The profiles provide information on leadership structures and statutory requirements (such as term limits and party balance requirements). The tables include full-time positions confirmed by the Senate, pay levels for these positions, incumbents as of the end of the 112th Congress, incumbents' parties (where balance is required), and appointment action within each executive department. Additional summary information across all 34 boards and commissions appears in the appendix. During the 112th Congress, the President submitted 76 nominations to the Senate for full-time positions on regulatory boards and commissions (most of the remaining positions on these boards and commissions were not vacant during that time). Of these 76 nominations, 45 were confirmed, 8 were withdrawn, and 23 were returned to the President. The President also made three recess appointments to full-time positions on a regulatory board. At the end of the 112th Congress, 26 incumbents were serving past the expiration of their terms. In addition, there were 20 vacancies among the 149 positions. Information for this report was compiled using the Senate nominations database of the Legislative Information System (LIS) at http: //www.lis.gov/nomis/, the Congressional Record (daily edition), the Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents, telephone discussions with agency officials, agency websites, the United States Code, and the 2012 Plum Book (United States Government Policy and Supporting Positions)