The Lacuna Project

lacuna (n.) a gap in a record where something should be

Independent research. Not affiliated with any government, agency, or company.

Agency

Congressional Research Service

Findings that rest on exhibits naming this entity

  • AGR-1.3: The Center for Food Safety and the Environmental Defense Fund challenged FDA's 2016 GRAS rule in the Southern District of New York. According to the Congressional Research Service, the court granted summary judgment to FDA because FDA's reading of the Act was reasonable, and the plaintiffs did not appeal.
  • AGR-1.11: FDA's proposed rule of 11 August 2026 would require GRAS notices for substances purported to be GRAS, with a one-year streamlined submission for substances already on the market. The rule creates no premarket approval, lets companies market a substance before notifying and while FDA reviews the notice, and makes failure to notify "a factor" in FDA's prioritization for post-market review.
  • DEF-1.3: The Congressional Research Service reported that five companies received 30 percent of Department of Defense contract obligations in fiscal year 2024, out of $445 billion: Lockheed Martin, RTX, Boeing, Northrop Grumman and General Dynamics.
  • POL-1.2: The 2004 repatriation provision taxed repatriated foreign dividends at an effective rate of 5.25 percent, and corporations repatriated $312 billion under it.
  • POL-1.6: Firms that repatriated under the 2004 provision did not increase domestic investment, employment or research and development, including the firms that lobbied for it.
  • POL-1.7: CRS reports that studies generally find the repatriated funds went to shareholders through stock repurchases. Dharmapala, Foley and Forbes estimate $0.91 of repurchases per $1 repatriated in their working paper.
  • DEF-2.9: At a Senate hearing on 11 February 2020 senators quoted SIGAR interview records in which Lute, in 2015, said "We were devoid of a fundamental understanding of Afghanistan--we didn't know what we were doing." Senators also quoted Boucher on seeking "the unachievable" and Crowley on the presentation of altered data. At the same hearing the Special Inspector General, Sopko, testified that "every time we find something that looks like it is going negative, it gets classified or it is no longer relevant."
  • AGR-3.7: Crop insurance premium subsidies and indemnities have no payment limit and sit outside the actively engaged in farming test. For the programs that apply the test, GAO reported in 2004, 2013 and 2020 that the management standard is broad and that FSA’s compliance reviews were late or not monitored.
  • AGR-3.12: P.L. 119-21 (4 July 2025) set higher statutory reference prices from crop year 2025, allocated up to 30,000,000 additional base acres, raised the payment limit from $125,000 to $155,000 with inflation indexing, and defined partnerships, S corporations and LLCs as qualified pass-through entities. It also raised the premium subsidy for area-based crop insurance coverage from 65 to 80 percent and raised five other premium support rates by 3 to 5 percentage points.
  • AGR-3.13: CBO estimated that Title I of P.L. 119-21 reduces outlays by $121 billion over fiscal years 2025 to 2034, with nutrition changes reducing outlays by $187 billion and other agriculture subtitles adding a net $66 billion. CRS reports that the nutrition title makes up about 72 percent of farm bill mandatory spending in CBO’s February 2026 baseline.
  • DEF-3.1: The DoD Inspector General issued a disclaimer of opinion on the department-wide financial statements in each of fiscal years 2018 through 2025, eight years in a row. GAO reports that DoD is the only one of the 24 Chief Financial Officers Act agencies that has never obtained a clean opinion.
  • DEF-3.4: In fiscal year 2025 the DoD Inspector General reported opinions on 21 reporting entities: 11 clean, 1 qualified and 9 disclaimers, up from 5 clean opinions among 21 entities in fiscal year 2018. The Congressional Research Service reports that the entities with disclaimers account for 43 percent of DoD assets.
  • AGR-4.1: The 1990 statute requires the Dietary Guidelines every five years, "based on the preponderance of the scientific and medical knowledge," and does not mention advisory committees, their membership or conflicts of interest. The Congressional Research Service records that appropriations language in 1980 and 1987 directed the external review and advisory group that became the standing committee.
  • AGR-4.7: A peer-reviewed analysis found that 19 of the 20 members of the 2020 advisory committee (95 percent) had at least one tie to an industry actor, counting 720 relationship-year instances, most of them research funding and board seats. The Nutrition Coalition funded the study, and Teicholz is a co-author.
  • AGR-4.8: For the 2020 committee the USDA ethics official found no entry on any of the 20 members' OGE Form 450 that would prevent appointment. For the same cycle HHS and USDA declined NASEM's recommendations for an external third-party screener (cost and time) and a public list of provisional appointees (privacy). A coalition letter states that OGE Form 450 is exempt from public disclosure.
  • AGR-4.10: The 2020 advisory committee recommended lowering the added-sugars limit from 10 to 6 percent of calories and the limit for men's alcohol intake from two drinks to one. HHS and USDA did not adopt either.
  • AGR-5.2: USDA's Economic Research Service attributes the rise in beef and pork packing concentration mostly to larger plants and says mergers played a limited role. ERS also reports that the farm-to-wholesale beef price spread doubled between 2015 and 2019. GAO estimated that fed cattle prices in 2013 to 2015 may have been about 9 percent higher in areas with less packer concentration than in areas with more, and stated that this evidence alone does not imply anticompetitive or improper behavior.
  • POL-6.17: Under Section 117 of the Higher Education Act, Qatar was on 23 February 2026 the largest country of attribution for reported foreign gifts and contracts at U.S. colleges and universities, about $8.8 billion in about 1,300 transactions, and China was second at about $4.9 billion in about 8,000. The Education Department opened 19 Section 117 investigations from 2019 to 2021 under the first Trump Administration, none under the Biden Administration and four to date under the second Trump Administration.

Exhibits naming this entity

  • Exhibit 292 28 April 2026. Congressional Research Service: Defense Primer: FY2025 Department of Defense Audit Results (IF12627)
  • Exhibit 338 6 February 2026. Congressional Research Service: Defense Primer: Department of Defense Contractors (IF10600)
  • Exhibit 394 28 January 2020. Congressional Research Service (Clayton Thomas): The Washington Post's 'Afghanistan Papers' and U.S. Policy: Main Points and Possible Questions for Congress, R46197
  • Exhibit 536 28 March 2023. Congressional Research Service: The Dietary Guidelines for Americans: Overview and Considerations for Congress (R47488)
  • Exhibit 572 5 October 2026. Congressional Research Service: Food Additives and GRAS Substances: A Legal Framework (CRS Legal Sidebar LSB11445)
  • Exhibit 611 30 October 2008. Congressional Research Service (Renee Johnson): Recent Acquisitions of U.S. Meat Companies (CRS Report RS22980)
  • Exhibit 662 7 December 2020 (first issued 3 March 2020). Congressional Research Service: U.S. Farm Programs: Eligibility and Payment Limits (CRS R46248)
  • Exhibit 663 1 June 2026. Congressional Research Service: Farm Bill Primer: Budget Dynamics (CRS IF12233)
  • Exhibit 664 15 April 2026. Congressional Research Service: Farm Bill Primer: SNAP and Nutrition Title Programs (CRS IF12255)
  • Exhibit 665 2025. Congressional Research Service: The Farm Bill After FY2025 Budget Reconciliation: Frequently Asked Questions (CRS R48775)
  • Exhibit 675 21 December 2012. Congressional Research Service (Marples and Gravelle): Tax Cuts on Repatriation Earnings as Economic Stimulus: An Economic Analysis (R40178, 21 December 2012 version)
  • Exhibit 847 25 March 2026. Congressional Research Service: Section 117 of the Higher Education Act: Reporting of Foreign Gifts and Contracts, CRS In Focus IF12927 (updated 25 March 2026)