MEENA GHIMIREY DATE:3/15/13 PERIOD: 6TH

MEENA GHIMIREY DATE:3/15/13PERIOD: 6THCLASS: GOVERNMENT House Standing CommitteesAgricultureBudgetRulesEducation and the WorkforceTransportation and Infrastructure General Facts About Agriculture

Twenty two million American workers produce, process, sell and trade the nation's food and fiber.

But only 4.6 million of those people live on the farms-- slightly less than 2 percent of the total U.S. Population.

On average, every hour, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, around $6 million in U.S.

agricultural products--grains, oilseeds, cotton, meats, vegetables, snack foods, etc., will be consigned for shipment for export to foreign markets.

Fact about budget The federal deficit over the past three fiscal years through September 2011 totaled $4 trillion, averaging $1.3 trillion per year.

This fiscal year, which is the third full year of the economic recovery, the deficit is likely to be around $1 trillion again.

Total public debt outstanding, including nonmarketable securities held by federal trust funds, rose to a record $15.6 trillion during March.

It's up $1.3 trillion over the past 12 months and $6.1 trillion over the past four years.

3. Dividing all this debt by the labor force in the U.S. shows that American workers each owe a record $100,720. That's double what they owed during 2004.

4. The Federal Reserve has enabled this fiscal recklessness by pegging the feder

Fact about rules More than 1.5 billion people around the world live in countries affected by violence and insecurity.

Conflict and violence are major symptoms of a breakdown in the rule of law, and more broadly in state-society relations.

Where the rule of law breaks down, tyranny, poverty and instability prevail, violence begets violence, and abusers commit crimes with impunity.

Fact about education and the workforce Under the existing workforce development system, 19 federal mandates governing workforce board representation have diminished the ability of job creators and other key stakeholders to play a leading role in workforce development decisions.

The SKILLS Act eliminates these mandates and establishes a two-thirds majority of employers.

H.R. 803 provides locally elected officials more autonomy over board membership.

Local officials can appoint the people they believe will best represent the workforce, such as community college leaders or union representatives.

By strengthening the role of job creators and state and local leaders, the SKILLS Act will help ensure the workforce training system is better able to adapt to the changing needs of todays economy

Fact about transportation and infrastructureAmericans may hate rush-hour traffic, but not enough to give up their cars.

Latest figures available show more than three-quarters of commuters drive to work alone.

Suburbanites are the most likely solo commuters -- 81.5 percent of them drive alone.

Overall, 86 percent of commuters drive themselves in cars, trucks or vans. Only 5 percent use public transportation. Fewer still walk or ride bicycles.

Hispanics are most likely to carpool. 16.5 percent of them do so compared to 9.5 percent for non-Hispanics.

11.5 percent of African-Americans use public transportation, the most of any ethnic group.

Senate Standing CommitteesBanking, Housing, and Urban AffairsForeign Relations Finance Small BusinessIndian Affairs

Fact about banking, housing, and urban affairs The U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs is one of twenty Senate committees tasked with conducting Senate business related to specialized areas of legislative interest.

Although the Senate has a longstanding history of writing and passing legislation focusing on our nations banks, the Senate Banking Committee was not formally established until 1913, with Senator Robert Owen of Oklahoma, sponsor of the landmark Federal Reserve Act, as its first Chairman; since then, the Committee has undergone various transformations and reorganizations.

Now known as the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs to underscore the diversity of issues under its purview, the Committee plays an integral role in managing legislation that affects the lives of many Americans. Fact about foreign relations For half a century the making of foreign policy has been studied in Western democratic countries as a field of specialization separate from the making of public policy in general.

This intellectual differentiation rests upon implicit and explicit assumptions about the way the foreign policy field differs from other areas of public policy.

The leading assumption is that foreign policy is more important than other policy areas because it concerns national interests, rather than special interests, and more fundamental values.

A second assumption builds upon the first: since foreign policy questions evoke a different political response, it is assumed that political institutions function differently when they confront foreign policy issuesFacts about finance Social responsibility and business ethics In 2000, Grontmij A/S was the first Danish company to sign the UN Global Compact, listing ten general principles for companies to apply when working within the area of social responsibility and business ethics.

Since then we have been focused on the facilitation of a sustainable development locally as globally

we work in accordance with a business-ethical management system meeting the principles laid down by our international business organization, FIDIC, in the codes Guidelines for Business Integrity Management in the Consultancy Industry.

Fact about small business There are almost 21.5 million (90%) small businesses in the United States

Small businesses are responsible for 39 percent of GNP.

Small businesses are responsible for 52 percent of the all U.S. sales and contribute about 21 percent of all manufactured U.S. exports.

Small businesses contribute 44 percent of all sales in the country.

Small businesses employ 54.4 million people, about 57.3 percent of the private workforce.

During 1990, employment in small businesses grew by 1.1 percent, while employment in large businesses fell by 0.6 percent.

From 1982 to 1987, the number of women-owned businesses increased by nearly 58 percent, from 2.6 million to about 4.1 million.

From 1982 to 1987, the number of black-owned businesses increased by 38 percent, from 308,000 to 424,000.

Between December 1992 and December 1993, small-business-dominated industries (those in which at least 60 percent of the work force is employed in firms with fewer than 500 employees) increased employment by 13 million workers (3.2 percent).

Fact about Indian affairs SANTA FE, NM As part of President Obamas commitment to empowering American Indian tribal nations and strengthening their economies, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar and Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Kevin K.

Washburn today joined New Mexico Governor Susanna Martinez and leaders from four Pueblo tribesthe Tesuque, Nambe, Pojoaque and San Ildefonsoat the Santa Fe Indian School to execute settlement documents and celebrate the historic New Mexico vs.

Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar today announced that the American Indian College Fund has been selected to administer the student Scholarship Fund authorized by the Cobell Settlement, with a fifth of the annual scholarships to be awarded by the American Indian Graduate Center.

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