Federal Government Resources: A to Z

Federal Government Resources on the Internet:
An A to Z Sampler

Posted April 4, 2001.

A	American Indian Tribes that are officially recognized by the federal government. A list is found at the Interior Department's Bureau of Indian Affairs website, http://www.doi.gov/bia/tribes/entry.html. The Bureau's Puget Sound Agency maintains a website, http://www.doi.gov/bia/pugetsnd/Index-3.htm, that includes brief descriptions of the tribes in this area.
B	Bonds, T-bills, and government securities information is provided by the Bureau of Public Debt, http://www.publicdebt.treas.gov/bpd/bpdhome.htm. Learn how much your old U.S. Savings Bonds are now worth, discover the size of the public debt today or at any date in the past, and read interpretations of the Government Securities Act regulations.
C	Criminal Justice Statistics are collected and processed by the Justice Department's Bureau of Justice Statistics. The Bureau's website, http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/, contains many full-text statistical reports on capital punishment, crime victims, drugs, juvenile offenders, law enforcement, prisoners, prosecutors, sentencing, sex offenders, and related issues. This site also links to the Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics, http://www.albany.edu/sourcebook/, maintained by the University of Albany.
D	Death Penalty resources include Bureau of Justice Statistics, Capital Punishment Statistics, http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/cp.htm the Ninth Circuit Capital Punishment Handbook, http://www.ce9.uscourts.gov/web/sdocuments.nsf/3779242195bb2339882568480080d277/472d0b36cebf2c498825684900625c57?OpenDocument Judicial Conference of the United States, Federal Death Penalty Cases: Recommendations Concerning the Cost and Quality of Defense Representation, http://www.uscourts.gov/dpenalty/1COVER.htm.
E	Environmental Enforcement Compliance Docket and Information Center (ECDIC), http://es.epa.gov/oeca/polguid/enfdock.html contains "rulemaking dockets, special (non-rulemaking) dockets, policy and guidance documents, and enforcement and compliance assistance publications." Enforcement policies and guidance documents are also available under specific topics, including Chemical Accident Prevention and Risk Management Program, Guidance Documents, http://www.epa.gov/swercepp/ap-tegu.htm Cleanup Enforcement Documents, http://es.epa.gov/oeca/osre/osredoc.html (CERCLA, RCRA, OPA, UST) Recent RCRA Enforcement Policy and Guidance, http://es.epa.gov/oeca/ore/rcra/main/plcygdnc.html (Resource Conservation and Recovery Act)
F	Foreign Countries, governments, and law are well-described at several federal government websites, including: the CIA's The World Factbook, http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/, with information on communications, economy, geography, government, military, people, statistics, transnational issues, and transportation. the State Department's Countries and Regions website, http://www.state.gov/countries.cfm, with a comprehensive list of independent countries, Background Notes, the Diplomatic List, chiefs of state and cabinet ministers, and U.S. embassies and consulates. the State Department also prepares the annual Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, http://www.state.gov/g/drl/hr/index.cfm?id=1470, with country-by-country summaries. The site contains the text of reports from 1993 to date. the Country Commercial Guides, http://www.tradenet.gov/bin/counter.pl?url_id=395, also prepared by the State Department with assistance from U.S. embassies abroad, provide detailed analysis of foreign countries' commercial, economic, and political environments. trade agreements between the U.S. and foreign countries concerning manufactured goods and services can be found at the Commerce Department's Trade Compliance Center, http://www.mac.doc.gov/tcc/data/index.html.
G	GPO Access (Government Printing Office), http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/, is a major resource for federal government legal resources, including material from all three branches of government: Legislative, http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/legislative.html, including bills; calendars; committee documents, hearings, prints, and reports; the Congressional Record; General Accounting Office reports; and other material. Executive, http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/executive.html, including the budget, the Code of Federal Regulations, Davis-Bacon wage determinations, Economic Report of the President, the Federal Register, Office of Management and Budget reports, the U.S. Government Manual, the Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents, and related material. Judicial, http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/judicial.html, including U.S. Supreme Court decisions (1937-75 and from 1992 to date). Core documents of U.S. democracy, http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/locators/coredocs/index.html, including the Articles of Confederation, the Bill of Rights, the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, the Emancipation Proclamation, Federalist Papers, the Gettysburg Address, and similar items.
H	Hoaxbusters, http://hoaxbusters.ciac.org/, is a public service of the Energy Department's Computer Incident Advisory Capability. This website debunks Internet hoaxes and bogus virus reports, urban myths, sympathy letters, chain letters, threats, scams, and other email oddities.
I	Immigration and Naturalization Service of the Justice Department, http://www.ins.gov/graphics/index.htm, posts administrative decisions and interpretations, directories, forms, a glossary, handbooks and manuals, laws and regulations, news releases, and information on asylum and refugees, border management, inter-country adoption, policies and procedures, and working for the INS.
J	Judicial Biographies are posted at the Federal Judicial Center's History of the Federal Judiciary website, http://air.fjc.gov/history/index_frm.html. The Federal Judges Biographical Database contains basic biographical and judicial service information for judges serving on Circuit, District, and Supreme Courts since 1789, arranged by judge's name.
K	Kids will enjoy Ben's Guide to U.S. Government for Kids, http://bensguide.gpo.gov. Grade-specific collections of links cover history, government, elections, citizenship, symbols, and other topics, along with games, activities, glossaries, and links to other kid-related federal websites.
L	Lots of Legal Materials are linked to from the Law Library's Internet Legal Resources page.
M	Military Justice, http://jaglink.jag.af.mil/, from the Air Force Judge Advocate General, includes the text of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, the Manual for Courts Martial (containing the Rules for Courts-Martial), a glossary of terms, and links to other armed forces websites.
N	Nuclear Powerplants and related information is available from several federal agencies, including the Energy Information Administration, which provides a a state-by-state list of nuclear reactors, http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/nuclear/page/at_a_glance/reactors/states.html. the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, http://www.nrc.gov/. the Hanford Site, http://www.hanford.gov/.
O	Occupational Safety and Health Administration directives, interpretation letters, inspection data, statistics, and manuals are available at http://www.osha.gov/readingroom.html.
P	Prospective Legal Employers in the federal government include the Judiciary. See the Federal Law Clerk Information System, https://lawclerks.ao.uscourts.gov/. America's Job Bank, with a Legal and Compliance job category, http://www.ajb.org/seeker/search/. the Office of Personnel Management, Attorneys in the Federal Service, http://www.usajobs.opm.gov/b1d.htm and Administrative Law Judges, http://www.usajobs.opm.gov/b1e.htm. the Legal Services Corporation, Employment Opportunities, http://www.lsc.gov/employ.htm. the Justice Department, Office of Attorney Recruitment and Management, http://www.usdoj.gov/oarm/.
Q	Quake, flood, hurricane, tornado, and other natural disaster victims and potential victims will find useful information on emergency mitigation and disaster preparedness at the Federal Emergency Management Administration's website, http://www.fema.gov/.
R	Rollover Resistance Ratings and crash test results for model year 2001 cars, trucks, SUVs, and vans is posted by the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration, http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/cars/testing/ncap/.
S	Sentencing Guidelines, manuals, and amendments, http://www.ussc.gov/guidelin.htm, are made available by the U.S. Sentencing Commission. The website also includes interesting federal sentencing statistics, comparing sentencing in individual circuits, states, or districts against national averages, http://www.ussc.gov/linktojp.htm.
T	Tax Forms, http://www.irs.treas.gov/forms_pubs/fillin.html, of the interactive variety are growing in number. For several years the IRS website has included copies of tax forms, instructions, and publications. The site has recently expanded the number and variety of fill-in-the-blank forms, using the interactive Portable Document Format.
U	Unemployment Compensation and insurance information is provided by the Labor Department's Employment and Training Administration, http://workforcesecurity.doleta.gov/ui.asp. The site offers federal and state legal and statistical information, including a Comparison of State UI Laws and Significant Provisions of State UI Laws, research publications and bibliographies, and links to related federal sites.
V	Veterans Affairs Department, http://www.va.gov/ provides a wealth of resources, including online benefit applications, special program information, demographic and other statistics, home loan programs, military funerals and burial benefits, and more.
W	Women and Work are topics addressed by several federal websites, including Small Business Administration, Office of Women's Business Ownership, http://www.sba.gov/womeninbusiness/, with information on services, procurement opportunities, lending programs, and venture capital. Labor Department, Women's Bureau, http://www.dol.gov/dol/wb/welcome.html, provides fact sheets and statistical reports, equal pay information, child and elder care tips, regional information, and links to other federal agencies and programs. National Child Care Information Center, http://nccic.org/, is a project of the Health and Human Services Department, Administration for Children and Families, Child Care Bureau. The website offers several directories, a searchable database of facilities and services by state or region, and numerous publications.
X	X-Presidents and First Ladies information and portraits are available at several websites, including the National Portrait Gallery's Hall of Presidents, http://www.npg.si.edu/col/pres/ the Library of Congress's American Memory Project, By Popular Demand: Portraits of the Presidents and First Ladies, 1789-Present, http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/odmdhtml/preshome.html. Also available are pathfinders to documents and photographs on each of the Presidents, http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/ndlpedu/orientation/preslist.html Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States, http://www.gpo.gov/nara/pubpaps/srchpaps.html, from 1993 to 1999, which includes photographs as well as documents. the State Department Historian's Office provides information on the President's foreign travels, dating from Theodore Roosevelt, http://www.state.gov/www/about_state/history/prestravels.html. the National Archives and Records Administration has posted "Tokens and Treasures," an online exhibit of selected gifts to twelve former Presidents, http://www.nara.gov/exhall/treasures/giftmain.html. NARA also maintains a list of Presidential libraries and links to their websites, http://www.nara.gov/nara/president/address.html. the Social Security Administration maintains a page of selected "Presidential Quotations." http://www.ssa.gov/history/pres.html.
Y	Yellowstone National Park information and information on other national parks and recreational opportunities on federal land can be found at Recreation.gov, http://www.recreation.gov/index.htm.
Z	Zip Codes, including the Zip +4 are provided by the U. S. Postal Service, http://www.usps.com/ncsc/lookups/lookup_zip+4.html.