Congressional Research Service Reports - 153 Matching Results
Search Results
- The 2003 Tax Cut: Proposals and Issues
- This report provides a brief description of each tax cut proposal, including major proposals offered by the Democrats in both the House and the Senate during 2003. It discusses the distributional affects of the proposals and potential effects on short and long term economic growth.
- Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP): Implementation of the No Child Left Behind Act
- This report is intended to provide an overview of the Adequate Yearly Process (AYP) concept and several related issues, a description of the AYP provisions of the No Child Left Behind Act, and an analysis of the implementation of these provisions by the U.S. Department of Education (ED) and the states. It will be updated when major administrative actions are taken by ED, or substantial new data on state implementation become available.
- The Administration’s FY2005 Request for $25 Billion for Operations in Iraq and Afghanistan: Precedents, Options, and Congressional Action
- This report discusses the military's request for 25 billion dollars as a "contingent reserve emergency fund" for FY2005. The report covers previous decisions made by Congress to lend insight on whether the total amount will be distributed or not. Moreover, the report discusses a variety of options that may be undertaken to acquire the funding such as using the Department of Defense's ability to transfer funds (DOD).
- The Advancing Justice Through DNA Technology Act of 2003 (H.R. 3214): A Section-by-Section Analysis
- This report summarizes the Advancing Justice Through DNA Technology Act (H.R. 3214). Additionally, the report covers each title of the act such as title one expanding the ability to qualify for the DNA Backlog Grant Program.
- Africa: Development Issues and Policy Options
- This report details and analyzes U.S. foreign aid to Africa, particularly in the Sub-Saharan region. Moreover, the report tends to focus on the overall lack of development even though Africa has been getting the aid. The debate hinges on whether or not development is in African control, citing issues such as the HIV/AIDS pandemic and corrupt governments.
- Alternative Fuels and Advanced Technology Vehicles: Issues in Congress
- This report consists of alternative fuels and advanced technology vehicles: Issues in Congress.
- Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Requirements Concerning the Provision of Interpreters by Hospitals and Doctors
- This report briefly discusses the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which prohibits discrimination against individuals with disabilities by places of public accommodation. This report specifically discusses a common question of whether or not the ADA requires medical doctors and hospitals to provide an interpreter when they have a patient with a hearing disability.
- Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Requirements Concerning the Provision of Interpreters by Hospitals and Doctors
- The Americans with Disabilities Act prohibits discrimination against individuals with disabilities by places of public accommodations. A common question concerning the ADA is whether this prohibition requires medical doctors and hospitals to provide an interpreter when they have a patient with a hearing disability. This requirement varies depending upon the situation presented but situations may arise where there is an obligation to provide an interpreter. Updated as appropriate.
- Animal Identification and Meat Traceability
- No Description Available.
- Anti-Corruption Standards of the International Financial Institutions
- This report is on the Anti-Corruption Standards of the International Financial Institutions.
- Appropriations for FY2005: Energy and Water Development
- Appropriations are one part of a complex federal budget process that includes budget resolutions, appropriations (regular, supplemental, and continuing) bills, rescissions, and budget reconciliation bills. This Report is a guide to one of the 13 regular appropriations bills that Congress passes each year. It is designed to supplement the information provided by the House and Senate Appropriations Subcommittees on Energy and Water Development.
- Appropriations for FY2005: U.S. Department of Agriculture and Related Agencies
- Appropriations are one part of a complex federal budget process that includes budget resolutions, appropriations (regular, supplemental, and continuing) bills, rescissions, and budget reconciliation bills. This Report is a guide to one of the 13 regular appropriations bills that Congress passes each year. It is designed to supplement the information provided by the House and Senate Appropriations Subcommittees on Agriculture.
- Appropriations for FY2005: VA, HUD, and Independent Agencies
- This report is a guide to one of the 13 regular appropriations bills that Congress considers each year. It summarizes the status of the bill, its scope, major issues, funding levels, and related congressional activity, and is updated as events warrant. This bill covers the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and the National Science Foundation (NSF).
- Assistance to Firefighters Program: Distribution of Fire Grant Funding
- The report is categorized into eight categories: (I) Background, (II) FY2001 Grants, (III) FY 2002 Grants,(IV) FY 2003 Grants, (V) FY 2004 Grants, (VI) Program Evaluation, (VII) Distribution of Fire Grants and (VIII) Activities in the 108th Congress.
- Athens Olympics 2004: U.S. Government Involvement in Security Preparations
- This report discusses the U.S. government involvement in security preparations for the Athens Olympics 2004, the first Summer Games to be held since the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.
- Below-Cost Timber Sales: An Overview
- This report provides an overview of the below-cost timber sales issue.
- Brownfields and Superfund Issues in the 108th Congress
- This report is the superfund program for cleaning up the nation's worst hazardous waste sites that was created by the comprehensive environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980, or CERLA.
- CALFED Bay-Delta Program: Overview of Institutional and Water Use Issues
- The California Bay-Delta Program (CALFED) was initiated in 1995 to resolve water resources conflicts in the Sacramento/San Joaquin Rivers Delta and San Francisco Bay (Bay-Delta) in California. The program planning effort focused on developing a plan to address three main problem areas in the Bay-Delta: ecosystem health, water quality, and water supply reliability. CALFED was authorized to receive federal funding from FY1998 to FY2000, and is now being considered for reauthorization.
- Campaign Finance: Constitutional and Legal Issues of Soft Money
- Prior to enactment of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 (BCRA), P.L. 107-155, the term “soft money” generally referred to unregulated funds, perceived as resulting from loopholes in the Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA), 2 U.S.C. §§ 431 et seq. Generally, the intent of BCRA, (effective Nov. 6, 2002), which amends FECA, is to restrict the raising and spending of soft money. This Issue Brief discusses constitutional and legal issues surrounding two major types of soft money that BCRA regulates: political party soft money and soft money used for issue advocacy communications. Corporate and labor union soft money, which FECA exempts from regulation and is not addressed by BCRA, is also discussed.
- Campaign Financing
- This is one report in the series of reports that discuss the campaign finance practices and related issues. Concerns over financing federal elections have become a seemingly perennial aspect of our political system, centered on the enduring issues of high campaign costs and reliance on interest groups for needed campaign funds. The report talks about the today’s paramount issues such as perceived loopholes in current law and the longstanding issues: overall costs, funding sources, and competition.
- Child Care Issues in the 108th Congress
- This report discusses the FY2003 Appropriations, FY2004: Comparing President Bush's Budget Proposals to the final Appropriations levels, President Bush's FY2005 Budget Request and Hearings.
- Child Support Enforcement: New Reforms and Potential Issues
- P.L. 104-193 (the 1996 welfare reform law) made major changes to the Child Support Enforcement (CSE) program. Some of the changes include requiring states to increase the percentage of fathers identified, establishing an integrated, automated network linking all states to information about the location and assets of parents, and requiring states to implement more enforcement techniques to obtain collections from debtor parents. Additional legislative changes were made in 1997, 1998, and 1999, but not in 2000, 2001, 2002, or 2003. This report describes several aspects of the revised CSE program and discusses three issues of concern to the 108th Congress — CSE financing, parental access by noncustodial parents, and distribution of child support payments.
- Clean Air Act Issues in the 108th Congress
- This report provides information about the Clean Air Act Issues in the 106th Congress. Congress last enacted major amendments to the clear air act in 1990 and EPA is in the midst of implementing numerous provisions of those amendments.
- Clean Water Act Issues in the 108th Congress
- Prospects for legislative initiatives to comprehensively amend the Clean Water Act have stated for some time over whether and exactly how to change the law, and Congress has recently focused legislative attention on narrow bills to extend or modify selected Clean Water Act programs, rather than taking up comprehensive proposals. This report contains information on the issues and actions regarding the Clean Water Act addressed in the 108th Congress.
- Commemorative Observances: A Chronological List
- This report is a chronological list of these proclamations for 2003 and 2004, indicating the proclamation number and its Federal Register citation.
- Confrontation Clause Reshaped: Crawford v. Washington
- No Description Available.
- Congressional Budget Resolutions: Motions to Instruct Conferees
- This report provides an overview of the motions to instruct conferees on the congressional budget resolutions.
- Criminal Charges in Corporate Scandals
- Since the collapse of Enron Corp. in late 2001, there has been a series of scandals involving major U.S. corporations. Recurring elements in the scandals include improper or fraudulent accounting, self-enrichment by corporate officers, stock trading on inside information, and the destruction or falsification of business records. This report tracks post-Enron criminal charges.
- Critical Infrastructures: Background, Policy, and Implementation
- The nation’s health, wealth, and security rely on the production and distribution of certain goods and services. The array of physical assets, processes and organizations across which these goods and services move are called critical infrastructures (e.g. electricity, the power plants that generate it, and the electric grid upon which it is distributed). Computers and communications, themselves critical infrastructures, are increasingly tying these infrastructures together. This report aims to address the concern that this reliance on computers and computer networks raises the vulnerability of the nation’s critical infrastructures to “cyber” attacks.
- Cruise Ship Pollution: Background, Laws and Regulations, and Current Issues
- This report describes the several types of waste streams that cruise ships may discharge and emit.
- Cuba: Issues for the 108th Congress
- This report gives an overview of Cuba's issues for the 108th Congress. The contents include the most recent developments, political and economic conditions, U.S. policy towards Cuba, issues in the U.S.- Cuban relations, legislations and relations in the 107th congress, and legislative initiatives in the 108th Congress.
- Current Economic Conditions and Selected Forecasts
- No Description Available.
- Cybercrime: The Council of Europe Convention
- No Description Available.
- Dairy Policy Issues
- A temporary pilot program that allows processors to enter into forward price contracts with individual dairy farmers or their cooperatives for certain uses of milk is scheduled to expire December 31, 2004. A forward price contract allows buyers and sellers of a commodity to negotiate a price for the commodity on a future delivery date and insulates both parties from price volatility. Identical bills (H.R. 3308, S. 2565) pending in Congress would convert the pilot program to a permanent one. The bills are supported by dairy processors, but are opposed by the largest organization of dairy cooperatives, which is concerned that the program might undermine federal minimum pricing requirements
- Debt-for-Nature Initiatives and the Tropical Forest Conservation Act: Status and Implementation
- This report provides a description of debt-for-nature transactions and a summary of the Tropical Forest conservation Act and will be updated as developments warrant.
- The Department of the Treasury’s Authority to Regulate GSE Debt: A Legal Analysis
- No Description Available.
- Distance Education and Title IV of the Higher Education Act: Policy, Practice, and Reauthorization
- This report explores the growth of DE into a significant component of the modern post secondary education landscape and then examines a number of issues involved in the debate surrounding HEA reauthorization.
- Dual Eligibles: Medicaid Expenditures for Prescription Drugs and Other Services
- This report contains the dual eligibility of medicaid expenditures for prescription drugs and other services.
- The Effect of State-Legalized Same-Sex Marriage on Social Security Benefits and Pensions
- No Description Available.
- Energy Efficiency: Budget, Oil Conservation, and Electricity Conservation Issues
- This report includes information related to energy efficiency, including history, various bills and budgets, and conservation. Climate change and energy security related to energy efficiency are also discussed in this report.
- Energy Efficiency: Budget, Oil Conservation, and Electricity Conservation Issues
- In the 108th Congress, debate over energy efficiency programs has focused on budget, oil, natural gas, and electricity issues, and provisions in the omnibus energy policy bill, S. 2095, H.R. 6, and S. 14/S. 1149. The Bush Administration’s FY2005 budget request for the Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Energy Efficiency Program sought $875.9 million, including $543.9 for R&D and $332.0 million for grants. In the first session, the omnibus energy bill (H.R. 6) had several significant tax and regulatory measures for energy efficiency. It did not pass the Senate due to concerns about cost and an MTBE “safe harbor” provision.
- Energy Policy: The Continuing Debate and Omnibus Energy Legislation
- This report includes background and analysis of energy policy. Points of discussion include the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, nuclear energy, and renewable energy and fuels.
- Energy Tax Policy
- No Description Available.
- Executive Branch Power to Postpone Elections
- Because of the continuing threat of terrorism, concerns have been raised about the potential for terrorist events to occur close to or during the voting process for the November 2004 elections. For instance, the question has been raised as to whether a sufficiently calamitous event could result in the postponement of the election, and what mechanisms are in place to deal with such an event. This report focuses on who has the constitutional authority to postpone elections, to whom such power could be delegated, and what legal limitations exist to such a postponement.
- Exempting Food and Agriculture Products from U.S. Economic Sanctions: Status and Implementation
- In approving the FY2001 agriculture appropriations act, Congress codified the lifting of unilateral sanctions on commercial sales of food, agricultural commodities, medicine, and medical products to Iran, Libya, North Korea, and Sudan, and extended this policy to Cuba (as enacted in by the Trade Sanctions Reform and Export Enhancement Act of 2000, or TSRA). Congressional opponents of TSRA's prohibitions on private U.S. financing of agricultural sales, public financing of eligible exports, and tourist travel to Cuba have introduced bills since 2000 to repeal these provisions. Though several amendments to repeal or relax TSRA provisions relative to Cuba were adopted by committees or passed during floor debate, all were dropped in conference action. Administration officials continually signal to conferees they will advise the President to veto any bill that would change TSRA's prohibitions against Cuba.
- The Fair Labor Standards Act: Overtime Pay Issues in the 108th Congress
- No Description Available.
- Federal Budget Process Reform: A Brief Overview
- No Description Available.
- The Federal Networking and Information Technology Research and Development Program: Funding Issues and Activities
- This report presents funding issues and activities of the federal networking and information technology research and development program.
- Federal Workforce Flexibility Act of 2003: S. 129 (108th Congress)
- No Description Available.
- Flat Tax Proposals and Fundamental Tax Reform: An Overview
- No Description Available.