Congressional Research Service Reports - 259 Matching Results
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- The President-Elect: Succession and Disability Issues During the Transition Period
- Procedures governing replacement of a President or Vice President-elect during the transition period depend on when the events that might lead to a temporary or permanent replacement occur. This report describes the general election process by which American voters directly choose members of the electoral college and indirectly choose the President and Vice President. This report also describes the so-called "lame duck" period between the election and the incoming President's inauguration, specifically regarding questions of disability or resignation by a President or Vice President-elect during this time.
- Presidential Vetoes, 1789-Present: A Summary Overview
- No Description Available.
- Presidential Vetoes, 1789-Present: A Summary Overview
- No Description Available.
- Speed of Presidential and Senate Actions on Supreme Court Nominations, 1900-2005
- This report provides information on the amount of time taken to act on all Supreme Court nominations occurring between 1900 and the present. It focuses on the actual amounts of time that Presidents and the Senate have taken to act (as opposed to the elapsed time between official points in the process).
- The Pocket Veto: Its Current Status
- No Description Available.
- Recess Appointments: Frequently Asked Questions
- No Description Available.
- The Presidential Inauguration of 2005: Basic Facts and Information on Inaugural Festivities
- No Description Available.
- Presidential and Vice Presidential Succession: Overview and Current Legislation
- No Description Available.
- The President's State of the Union Message: Frequently Asked Questions
- No Description Available.
- Changes to the OMB Regulatory Review Process by Executive Order 13422
- This report comments on Executive Order 12866 for Regulatory Planning and Review, along with describing background information, implications of change, congressional notes, and taking on on unclear areas of the document.
- An Overview of the Impeachment Process
- The Constitution sets forth the general principles which control the procedural aspects of impeachment, vesting the power to impeach in the House of Representatives, while imbuing the Senate with the power to try impeachments. Both the Senate and the House have designed procedures to implement these general principles in dealing with a wide range of impeachment issues. This report provides a brief overview of the impeachment process, reflecting the roles of both the House and the Senate during the course of an impeachment inquiry and trial.
- President of the United States: Compensation
- This report discusses the President’s compensation and the three most recent increases to the salary enacted in 1949 (81st Congress), 1969 (91st Congress), and 1999 (106th Congress).
- 2008-2009 Presidential Transition: National Security Considerations and Options
- This report is concerned with the first presidential transition in a post-9/11 world. The report describes the domestic and foreign policy security challenges that will be left over for the new administration, and the security anxiety of foreign influence on the U.S. election.
- Presidential Transitions: Background and Federal Support
- This report discusses the Presidential Transition Act, which authorizes funding for the General Services Administration (GSA) to provide suitable office space, staff compensation and other services associated with the transition process.
- Presidential Vetoes, 1789-Present: A Summary Overview
- This report discusses the veto power vested in the President by Article I, Section 7 of the Constitution. It provides a general overview and a table of presidential vetoes from 1789-2004, listing the coincident Congresses, regular vetoes, pocket vetoes, total vetoes, and vetoes overridden for each president.
- President Clinton's Vetoes
- This report provides a table outlining the bills vetoed by President William Jefferson Clinton's two terms in office. It includes an overview and the bill number, date, title, and override attempts for each veto.
- President Clinton's Vetoes
- No Description Available.
- A Presidential Item Veto
- During a news conference on November 4, 2004, President George W. Bush stated that he “would like to see the President have a line-item veto again, one that passed constitutional muster. I think it would help the executive branch work with the legislative branch to make sure that we’re able to maintain budget discipline.” The Supreme Court struck down an earlier version of item-veto authority (the Line Item Veto Act of 1996) in Clinton v. City of New York, 524 U.S. 417 (1998), but several statutory alternatives are available. Options to the Line Item Veto Act have been proposed over the years, including an amendment to the Constitution to grant the President item-veto authority. The line-item veto is listed among several budget reform proposals included in the FY2005 budget, but a more specific recommendation is expected to be developed by the Administration and submitted to Congress at the start of the 109th Congress. This report analyzes the statutory and constitutional alternatives that are likely to be considered and will be updated as necessary.
- The Electoral College: Reform Proposals in the 108th Congress
- American voters elect the President and Vice President of the United States under a complex arrangement of constitutional provisions, federal and state laws, and political party practices known as the electoral college system. Despite occasional close elections, this system has delivered uncontested results in 46 of 50 elections since adoption of the 12th Amendment, effective in 1804. Throughout this period, nevertheless, it has been the subject of persistent criticism and many reform proposals. Related measures fall into two basic categories: those that would eliminate the electoral college and substitute direct popular election of the President and Vice President, and those that would retain the existing system in some form and correct perceived defects.
- Presidential Directives: Background and Overview
- This report provides an overview of the different kinds of directives that have been utilized primarily by twentieth century Presidents. It presents background on their historical development, accounting, use, and effect.
- Senate Executive Business and the Executive Calendar
- The Senate has responsibilities under both Article I (outlining legislative prerogatives) and Article II of the Constitution. As a result, the upper body handles legislative and executive business differently. This report discusses the Senate’s lawmaking responsibilities under Article I; executive business, which consists of treaties and nominations.
- Recess Appointments: Frequently Asked Questions
- This report supplies brief answers to some frequently asked questions regarding recess appointments. When the Senate is in recess, the President may make a temporary appointment, called a recess appointment, to any such position without Senate approval (Article II, Section 2, Clause 3).
- The President's State of the Union Address: Tradition, Function, and Policy Implications
- This report discusses the State of the Union address, which is a communication between the President and Congress in which the chief executive reports on the current conditions of the United States and provides policy proposals for the upcoming legislative year.
- The President’s Reorganization Authority: Review and Analysis
- This report addresses three specific issues: (1) the historical basis and use of the President’s reorganization authority; (2) the factors contributing to the lapse of the President’s reorganization authority in 1984,1 and (3) thoughts on the future of reorganization in the executive branch.
- Presidential Directives: Background and Overview
- This report provides an overview of the different kinds of directives that have primarily been utilized by twentieth-century Presidents. It includes background on the historical development, accounting, use, and effect of such directives.
- Agriculture in the U.S.-Dominican RepublicCentral American Free Trade Agreement (DR-CAFTA)
- This report considers the Dominican Republic-Central American Free Trade Agreement (DR-CAFTA). Specifically, the report explores sugar imports, phasing out tariffs and quotas, and how the U.S. can protect the market from an overflow of imported products.
- Agriculture in the U.S.-Dominican RepublicCentral American Free Trade Agreement (DR-CAFTA)
- This report considers the Dominican Republic-Central American Free Trade Agreement (DR-CAFTA). Specifically, the report explores sugar imports, phasing out tariffs and quotas, and how the U.S. can protect the market from an overflow of imported products.
- Agriculture in the U.S.-Dominican RepublicCentral American Free Trade Agreement (DR-CAFTA)
- This report considers the Dominican Republic-Central American Free Trade Agreement (DR-CAFTA). Specifically, the report explores sugar imports, phasing out tariffs and quotas, and how the U.S. can protect the market from an overflow of imported products.
- Agriculture in the U.S.-Dominican RepublicCentral American Free Trade Agreement (DR-CAFTA)
- This report considers the Dominican Republic-Central American Free Trade Agreement (DR-CAFTA). Specifically, the report explores sugar imports, phasing out tariffs and quotas, and how the U.S. can protect the market from an overflow of imported products.
- Presidential Transitions: Issues Involving Outgoing and Incoming Administrations
- This report discusses the issues involving transfer of power from one administration to the other. The smooth and orderly transfer of power can be a notable feature of presidential transitions, and a testament to the legitimacy and durability of the electoral and democratic processes.
- Presidential Claims of Executive Privilege: History, Law, Practice and Recent Developments
- This report discusses the background of claims of executive privilege, a right to preserve the confidentiality of information and documents in the face of legislative demands, ending with a look into how President George W. Bush has used them.
- Social Security: Report of the President's Commission to Strengthen Social Security
- This report describes the Commission’s three reform plans. The first plan would make no other changes to the program. The second plan would slow the growth of Social Security through one major provision that would index initial benefits to prices rather than wages. The third plan would slow future program growth through a variety of measures.
- Cloture Attempts on Nominations
- Cloture is the only means by which the Senate can vote to limit debate on a matter, and thereby overcome a possible filibuster. It would be erroneous, however, to assume that cases in which cloture is sought are the same as those in which a filibuster occurs. Cloture may be sought when no filibuster is taking place, and filibusters may occur without cloture being sought.
- President Bush's 2002 State Visits in Asia: Implications
- No Description Available.
- Presidential Directives: Background and Overview
- No Description Available.
- Votes Other than Favorably on Judicial Nominations, 1939-2003
- Judicial nominations are submitted to the Senate by the President. Once a nomination is submitted, the Senate refers it to the Judiciary Committee. Either the Senate or the Senate Judiciary Committee may choose not to act when considering the nomination. If the Judiciary Committee does act and schedules a vote on a nominee, any of four motions can be made.
- The Peace Corps: USA Freedom Corps Initiative
- Report on the Peace Corps and the proposal to double its size, including funding concerns, safety concerns, aid priorities, and more.
- Former Presidents: Federal Pension and Retirement Benefits
- This report provides information about the Federal Pension and Retirement Benefits on Former Presidents, and explains various benefits, such as salary, Secret Service protection, mailing privileges, and travel expenses.
- Counting Electoral Votes: An Overview of Procedures at the Joint Session, Including Objections by Members of Congress
- This report describes the steps which precede the joint session and the procedures set in the Constitution and statute by which the House and Senate jointly certify the results of the electoral vote. It also discusses the procedures set in law governing challenges to the validity of an electoral vote, and makes reference to the procedures followed during the joint session in 2005 by which the election of George W. Bush was certified.
- Former Presidents: Federal Pension and Retirement Benefits
- This report provides information about the Federal Pension and Retirement Benefits on Former Presidents, and explains various benefits, such as salary, Secret Service protection, mailing privileges, and travel expenses.
- President Clinton’s Vetoes
- This report provides a table outlining the bills vetoed by President William Jefferson Clinton's two terms in office. It includes an overview and the bill number, date, title, and override attempts for each veto.
- Federal Recess Judges
- This report discusses the recess clause and takes a look at the history of recess appointments. Under Article II of the Constitution, the President is empowered "to fill up all Vacancies that may happen during the Recess of the Senate, by granting Commissions which shall expire at the End of their next Session." Presidents have used the recess appointment power on more than 300 occasions to place judges on the district, appellate, and U.S. Supreme Court level. This practice slowed after the 1950s, but recent recess appointments to federal appellate courts (the Fourth, Fifth, and Eleventh Circuits) have revived a number of constitutional issues.
- VH-71 Presidential Helicopter Program
- This report discusses VH-71 presidential helicopter, which has experienced noteworthy cost increases and schedule delays, which have generated controversy and scrutiny. The VH-71 is intended to replace the President's current operational fleet of helicopters, consisting of 11 VH-3D Sea Kings and 8 VH-60N Night Hawks.
- VH-71 Presidential Helicopter Program: Background and Issues for Congress
- This report discusses the VH-71 program, which is intended to provide 23 new presidential helicopters to replace the current fleet of 19 aging presidential helicopters.
- VH-71/VXX Presidential Helicopter Program: Background and Issues for Congress
- This report discusses the VH-71 program, which is intended to provide 23 new presidential helicopters to replace the current fleet of 19 aging presidential helicopters.
- VH-71 Presidential Helicopter Program: Background and Issues for Congress
- This report discusses the VH-71 program, which is intended to provide 23 new presidential helicopters to replace the current fleet of 19 aging presidential helicopters.
- VH-71/VXX Presidential Helicopter Program: Background and Issues for Congress
- This report discusses the VH-71 program, which is intended to provide 23 new presidential helicopters to replace the current fleet of 19 aging presidential helicopters.
- VH-71 Presidential Helicopter Program: Background and Issues for Congress
- This report discusses the VH-71 program which is intended to provide 23 new presidential helicopters to replace the current fleet of 19 aging presidential helicopters.
- VH-71/VXX Presidential Helicopter Program: Background and Issues for Congress
- This report discusses the VH-71 program that is intended to provide 23 new presidential helicopters to replace the current fleet of 19 aging presidential helicopters.
- The Electoral College: How it Works in Contemporary Presidential Elections
- The Constitution assigns each state a number of electors equal to the combined total of the state’s Senate and House of Representatives delegations; at present, the number of electors per state ranges from three to 55, for a total of 538. This report discuses constitutional origins, the electoral college today and explains the allocation of electors and electoral votes.