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Abortion: Legislative Response

Description: The primary focus of this issue brief is legislative action with respect to abortion. However, discussion of those legislative proposals necessarily involves a brief discussion of the leading U.S. Supreme Court decisions concerning a woman’s right to choose whether to terminate her pregnancy. For a more detailed discussion of the relevant case law, see CRS Report 95-724, Abortion Law Development: A Brief Overview.
Date: February 6, 2006
Creator: Shimabukuro, Jon O.; Lewis, Karen J. & Ely, Dana
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Ad Hoc Select Committees: Use in the House of Representatives

Description: This report explains what a select committee is in the House of Representatives, and how it is used. The report explains that the recent usage of the select committee has been for fragmented or largely overlapping areas of jurisdiction for multiple committees.
Date: February 21, 2006
Creator: Schneider, Judy
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Afghanistan: Post-War Governance, Security, and U.S. Policy

Description: The United States and its allies are helping Afghanistan emerging from more than 22 years of warfare, although substantial risk to Afghan stability remains. Before the U.S. military campaign against the orthodox Islamist Taliban movement began on October 7, 2001, Afghanistan had been mired in conflict since the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979. The defeat of the Taliban has enabled the United States and its coalition partners to send forces throughout Afghanistan to search for Taliban and… more
Date: February 21, 2006
Creator: Katzman, Kenneth
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Agriculture-Based Renewable Energy Production

Description: Since the late 1970s, U.S. policy makers at both the federal and state levels have enacted a variety of incentives, regulations, and programs to encourage the production and use of agriculture-based renewable energy. Motivations cited for these legislative initiatives include energy security concerns, reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, and raising domestic demand for U.S.-produced farm products. This report provides background information on farm-based energy production and how this fits in… more
Date: February 28, 2006
Creator: Schnepf, Randy
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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AIDS: The Ryan White CARE Act

Description: This report discusses the Ryan White Comprehensive AIDS Resources Emergency (CARE) Act, which makes federal funds available to metropolitan areas and states to assist in health care costs and support services for individuals and families affected by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) or acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS). This report discusses related legislation and appropriations.
Date: February 22, 2006
Creator: Johnson, Judith A. & Morgan, Paulette C.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Air Quality Issues and Animal Agriculture: A Primer

Description: This report focuses on the environmental quality of water resources as affected by animal agriculture, specifically animal waste, which can harm water quality through surface runoff, direct discharges, spills, and leaching into soil and groundwater. This report also discusses the contribution of emissions from animal feeding operations (AFO), enterprises where animals are raised in confinement, to air pollution.
Date: February 2, 2006
Creator: Copeland, Claudia
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Air Quality Issues and Animal Agriculture: EPA's Air Compliance Agreement

Description: In an effort to collect scientifically credible data regarding the effect of animal agriculture on water resources (specifically animal waste and emissions from animal feeding operations (AFO), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in January 2005 announced the Air Compliance Agreement. The agreement is intended to produce air quality monitoring data on AFO emissions during a two-year study, while at the same time protecting participants through a “safe harbor” from liability under certain … more
Date: February 2, 2006
Creator: Copeland, Claudia
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia: Political Developments and Implications for U.S. Interests

Description: This report is categorized into nine categories: (I) Most Recent Developments, (II) Background and Analysis, (III) Overview of U.S. Policy Concerns, (IV) Obstacles to peace and Independence, (V) The South Caucasus's External Security Context, (VI) U.S. Aid Overview, (VII) U.S. Security Assistance, (VIII) U.S. Trade an Investment, and (IX) Legislation.
Date: February 23, 2006
Creator: Nichol, Jim
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Balancing Scientific Publication and National Security Concerns: Issues for Congress

Description: There is a lack of consensus regarding the best method of balancing scientific publishing and national security. The current federal policy, as described in National Security Decision Directive 189, is that fundamental research should remain unrestricted and that in the rare case where it is necessary to restrict such information, classification is the appropriate vehicle to do so. Other mechanisms restrict international information flow, where Export Administration Regulations (EAR) and Intern… more
Date: February 2, 2006
Creator: Shea, Dana A.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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The Basel Accords: The Implementation of II and the Modification of I

Description: This report provides the basic information needed to understand the issues surrounding the proposed implementation of Basel II and the pending proposed modifications of Basel I in the United States. First, it gives a basic background on capital standards and how capital assessments were made before these accords. Second, it briefly explains how Basel I works. Third, it addresses the major problem with Basel I and the modifications being considered. Fourth, it describes the Basel II framework th… more
Date: February 21, 2006
Creator: Eubanks, Walter W.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Baseline Budget Projections Under Alternative Assumptions

Description: The Congressional Budget Office (SBO) estimates a baseline budget based on simple rules prescribed by law. Statute requires CBO to project a baseline of revenues and outlays under current law over the next 10 years. This report estimates the baseline budget based on current policy alternatives including changes in discretionary spending, extending expiring tax provisions, and altering the minimum tax as well as discussing effects of alternative assumptions on the baseline.
Date: February 24, 2006
Creator: Esenwein, Gregg A. & Labonte, Marc
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Brazilian Trade Policy and the United States

Description: As the largest and one of the most influential countries in Latin America, Brazil has emerged as a leading voice for developing countries in setting regional and multilateral trade agendas. Brazil is critical of U.S. trade policies such as the Byrd Amendment (repealed, but program in effect until October 1, 2007), which directs duties from trade remedy cases to affected industries, the administration of trade remedy rules, and what it considers to be discriminatory treatment in the U.S. expansi… more
Date: February 3, 2006
Creator: Hornbeck, J. F.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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The Budget for Fiscal Year 2007

Description: The President’s fiscal year (FY) 2007 budget released in early February 2006 included proposals to make the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts permanent; slow the growth of Medicare spending; hold funding for non-defense, non-homeland security funding to little if any increase; and introduce, in FY2010, private accounts for Social Security. The Congressional Budget Office’s (CBO’s) January 2006 budget report provided baseline estimates and projections through FY2016. CBO also estimated the cost of alternat… more
Date: February 21, 2006
Creator: Winters, Philip D.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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"Bunker Busters": Robust Nuclear Earth Penetrator Issues, FY2005-FY2007

Description: The Robust Nuclear Earth Penetrator (RNEP) program has been the most controversial nuclear weapon program in Congress for the last several years. Supporters argue that it is needed to attack hard and deeply buried targets (such as leadership bunkers) in countries of concern, thereby deterring or defeating challenges from such nations; critics assert that RNEP would lower the threshold for use of nuclear weapons and prompt other nations to develop nuclear weapons to deter U.S. attack. This repor… more
Date: February 21, 2006
Creator: Medalia, Jonathan
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Campaign Finance

Description: Concerns over financing federal elections have become a seemingly perennial aspect of our political system, long centered on the enduring issues of high campaign costs and reliance on interest groups for needed campaign funds. This report discusses campaign finance practices, enduring issues and today’s paramount issues. In addition it presents the Legislative Action in the 108th and 109th Congress, as well as the Congressional efforts to close perceived loopholes in Federal Election Law.
Date: February 8, 2006
Creator: Cantor, Joseph E.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Central Asia: Regional Developments and Implications for U.S. Interests

Description: This report provides an overview of U.S. policy concerns and relations with countries in central Asia. The report discusses issues such as Fostering Pro-Western Orientations, Obstacles to Peace and Independence, Democratization and Human Rights, Security and Arms Control, Trade and Investment, and provides an Aid Overview.
Date: February 24, 2006
Creator: Nichol, Jim
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Central Asia’s Security: Issues and Implications for U.S. Interests

Description: The Central Asian states (Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan) face common security challenges from crime, corruption, terrorism, and faltering commitments to economic and democratic reforms. This report contains information on Central Asia's external security context, security problems and progress, border tensions, crime and corruption, economic and defense security, implications for U.S. interests, U.S. security assistance, and related issues and figures.
Date: February 7, 2006
Creator: Nichol, Jim
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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