Congressional Research Service Reports - 25 Matching Results
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- Social Security, Saving, and the Economy
- This report examines the determinants of household saving, how household saving may be affected by Social Security, and the potential effects of possible changes in Social Security.
- Reintroduction of the 30-Year Treasury Bond: An Economic Analysis
- This report discusses the reintroduction of the 30-year bond that could reduce government borrowing costs.
- Credit Card Minimum Payments
- Recently, credit card issuers began adjusting their minimum payment formulas, raising the amount of the required monthly payment. Congress has focused on the need to increase consumer awareness of the financial jeopardy that can result from paying only the required minimum. This report provides an overview of the issues and congressional action. It will be updated as events warrant.
- Industrial Loan Companies/Banks and the Separation of Banking and Commerce: Legislative and Regulatory Perspectives
- Industrial Loan Companies (ILCs), are state-chartered and state-regulated depository institutions whose deposits the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) may insure. This report addresses the controversy over expansion of ILCs by line of business and by branching across the nation as follows, providing: (1) a historical overview of the U.S. separation of banking and commerce; (2) information on ILCs and their regulation; and (3) identifying and analyzing relevant legislation in Congress.
- Inequality in the Distribution of Income: Trends and International Comparisons
- This report examines the distribution of income in the United States, including factors that may help explain it, how it has changed over time, and how it compares with those of other countries.
- Affiliates in Banking, Finance, and Commerce: Development and Regulatory Background
- The proliferation of corporate affiliates in banking, finance, and commerce has figured in discussion of several policy issues, including how to protect against (1) losses incurred by affiliated companies; (2) anticompetitive “tying” of bank and nonbank financial services; and (3) misuse of financial data of consumers. This report outlines the nature and evolution of affiliates, primarily from a regulatory perspective. It provides background for discussing financial issues involving corporate affiliates.
- Campaign Finance
- This report discusses 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.
- Stock Options: The Accounting Issue and Its Consequences
- The Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) has issued a long-anticipated rule that stock options must be recognized as an expense on corporation income statements. The previous accounting rule permitted but did not require recognition; corporations that elected to omit the cost of options, as most did, have been able to report higher earnings. This report examines the debate surrounding the issue and discusses the potential consequences.
- Social Security Reform
- President Bush has highlighted Social Security reform as a top priority during his second term. The President has not presented a detailed plan for reform. Rather, he has put forth guidelines for Congress to consider in the development of legislation to create personal accounts within a program in need of “wise and effective reform.” The President has acknowledged that other changes would be needed to address the system’s projected long-range funding shortfall. In recent years, reform ideas have ranged from relatively minor changes to the current pay-as-you-go social insurance system to a redesigned program based on personal savings and investments modeled after IRAs and 401(k)s.
- Social Security: The Trust Fund
- The Social Security program is financed primarily through taxes, which are deposited in the U.S. Treasury and credited to the Social Security trust fund. Any revenues credited to the trust fund in excess of the costs (benefit payments and administrative costs) are invested in special U.S. obligations (debt instruments of the U.S. government).
- Mutual Fund Reform Bills in the 108th Congress: A Side-by-Side Comparison
- This report compares the provisions of these legislative proposals. It serves as an historical record of legislative activity in the 108th Congress.
- The World Bank: Changing Leadership and Issues for the United States and Congress
- The decision of World Bank President James Wolfensohn to resign in May 2005 has triggered the search for a successor. This report discusses the process for choosing a successor and the implications for U.S. policy.
- Hurricane Katrina: Insurance Losses and National Capacities for Financing Disaster Risk
- This report discusses losses and national disaster caused by Hurricane Katrina that made landfall on the Gulf of Mexico coast with high velocity winds, storm surge, heavy rain, flooding, coastal erosion, hail, and tornadoes.
- Federal Deposit Insurance Reform Legislation (Including Budgetary Implications)
- This report discusses two major deposit insurance reform bills that are currently before Congress, the Federal Deposit Insurance Reform Act of 2005 and the Safe and Fair Deposit Insurance Act of 2005. Both bills, if passed, would effectively raise assessments paid by banks and savings associations to the deposit insurance fund.
- Is the U.S. Trade Deficit Caused by a Global Saving Glut?
- This report discusses the concern about the size of the current U.S. account deficit, popularly known as the trade deficit. Also compares and analyzes the conventional view with the global saving glut view.
- The United States as a Net Debtor Nation: Overview of the International Investment Position
- This report discusses the international investment position of the United States is an annual measure of the assets Americans own abroad and the assets foreigners own in the United States. The net position, or the difference between the two, sometimes is referred to as a measure of U.S. international indebtedness. Although this designation is not strictly correct, the net international investment position does reveal the difference between the total assets Americans own abroad and total amount of assets foreigners own in the United States.
- The Government's Long-Term Fiscal Shortfall: How Much Is Attributable to Social Security?
- This report discusses social security in the context of the federal budget. One rationale given for Social Security reform is the large long-term fiscal shortfall that Social Security is projected to face.
- Foreign Holdings of Federal Debt
- This report presents current data on estimated ownership of United States Treasury securities and major holders of federal debt by country.
- Campus-Based Student Financial Aid Programs Under the Higher Education Act
- This report discusses the issues likely to be considered during reauthorization are whether the campus-based programs provide types of aid to students that are not or cannot be provided via other postsecondary aid programs, and whether the current formulas for allocating funds to institutions for the operation of these programs are optimal. Provisions specific to each program, such as requirements for community service under FWS and terms and conditions of Perkins Loans also may be considered.
- Trade in Services: The Doha Development Agenda Negotiations and U.S. Goals
- This report is designed to assist Congress to understand and monitor progress of the negotiations and the major issues that the negotiators are addressing. The report provides a brief background section on the significance of services to the U.S. economy. It then explains briefly the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) and the structure and agenda of the services negotiations in the DDA round, including U.S. objectives in the negotiations. The report concludes with a status report on the negotiations and an examination of potential results.
- Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit: Estimates of Beneficiaries Who Fall Below Countable Income Thresholds, by State
- This report provides state-by-state estimates of the percentage and number of beneficiaries who fall below various low-income thresholds, using the definition of income specified in the law.
- Trade Adjustment Assistance for Firms: Economic, Program, and Policy Issues
- This report focuses on the trade adjustment assistance program for firms and industries, which provides technical assistance to help them develop strategies to remain competitive in the changing international economy.
- The Hill-Burton Uncompensated Services Program
- This report provides information on the Hospital Survey and Construction Act of 1946, commonly known as the Hill-Burton Act, which was enacted to provide federal financial assistance for the planning, construction, and improvement of health care facilities through grants, loans, and guaranteed loans under Title VI and later Title XVI of the Public Health Service Act. The report also covers the obligations and eligibility requirements for free care, and sources for further information
- Campaign Finance: Constitutional and Legal Issues of Soft Money
- The term "soft money" generally refers to unregulated funds for election related activities that are not subject to the Federal Election Campaign Act's (FECA) source restrictions, contribution limits, and disclosure requirements. The Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002, which amended FECA and became effective on November 6, 2002, restricts the raising and spending of soft money. This report contains information on a summary of campaign financing, recent developments, background and analysis, definitions of Hard and Soft money in federal elections, political party soft money, soft money spent on issue advocacy, corporate and labor union soft money, the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002, and additional related materials.
- Upper Mississippi River System: Proposals to Restore an Inland Waterway’s Ecosystem
- This report explains what is meant by restoration, the Corps' restoration plan, and some of the issues in the debate over federal investment in this restoration.