Congressional Research Service Reports - 78 Matching Results

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State Techniques to Blunt the Governor's Item-Veto Power

Description: The Line Item Veto Act of 1996 (P.L. 104-130) authorizes the President to cancel discretionary budget authority, new entitlements, and limited tax benefits. This authority became available on January 1, 1997; will Congress now resort to a variety of techniques and strategies to circumscribe the President's power? Legislators and legislative committees at the state level have used various tactics to counteract, blunt, or neutralize the governor's item-veto power.
Date: December 12, 1996
Creator: Fisher, Louis
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Electricity Restructuring Background: Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935 (PUHCA)

Description: This report provides background information on PUHCA, including its history and impact. It also discusses how PUHCA reform fits into the current electric utility industry restructuring debate. This report will be updated as events warrant. For related information on electricity restructuring, see the CRS Electronic Briefing Book.
Date: January 7, 1999
Creator: Abel, Amy
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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English as the Official Language of the United States: An Overview

Description: This report provides background on contemporary efforts to declare English the official language, a review of selected issues raised by official English proposals in Congress, and a summary of arguments that have been advanced in favor of and in opposition to such proposals.
Date: April 1, 1997
Creator: Aleman, Steven R.; Bruno, Andorra & Dale, Charles V.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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NATO Enlargement and Russia

Description: No Description Available.
Date: April 14, 1998
Creator: Woehrel, Steven
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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July 1992 Japanese Elections

Description: Elections for half of the 252 seats of the upper house of Japan's Diet (parliament) will be held in late July 1992. The ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) appears unlikely to regain the majority it lost in the previous upper house election in July 1989. It appears that continued, but sometimes difficult, cooperation between the LDP and some of the smaller opposition parties is one likely result of the 1992 election. On the other hand, there is a possibility that significant political … more
Date: June 5, 1992
Creator: Young, Jeffrey D
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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A Directory of Some Interest Groups and Governmental Organizations Concerned With National Environmental Policies

Description: This report briefly describes selected associations that have demonstrated strong and continuous interest in environmental protection policies of the United States. It provides background information on some of the active participants in national policy discussions. The set of organizations abstracted for this report is not comprehensive; many groups necessarily have been omitted, often because they failed to respond to our request for information. An attempt was made to balance divergent polit… more
Date: September 21, 1993
Creator: Schierow, Linda-Jo
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Environmental Reauthorizations and Regulatory Reform: From the 104th Congress to the 105th

Description: The 104th Congress pursued efforts to reform environmental regulations on several fronts: (1) revising regulatory decision making processes; (2) attaching specific reforms to funding bills; (3) establishing a House corrections day calendar of bills addressing specific regulatory problems; and (4) incorporating regulatory reforms into individual program reauthorization bills. The 105th Congress has pursued regulatory reform in four primary directions: (1) proposals to establish a comprehensive c… more
Date: February 10, 1998
Creator: Blodgett, John E.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Banking Acquisition and Merger Procedures

Description: This report discusses in general terms the basic process and time line for banking industry acquisitions and mergers and briefly discusses the May 4, 1998 application by Travelers Group to merge with Citicorp. Among the issues discussed are: potential impact on consumers; whether the new entities would be too big to fail; and, whether competitive equity calls for financial modernization legislation with functional regulation of the securities, banking, and insurance sectors of companies offerin… more
Date: May 19, 1998
Creator: Murphy, M. Maureen
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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The Russian Financial Crisis: An Analysis of Trends, Causes, and Implications

Description: Since May of 1998, Russia has been caught in the latest, and likely the most serious, in a series of economic crises. The crisis came to a head on August 17, 1998, when the government of then-Premier Sergei Kiriyenko abandoned its defense of a strong ruble exchange rate against the dollar, defaulted on government domestic debt forcing its restructuring, and placed a 90-day moratorium on commercial external debt payments. Those actions led to Yeltsin's dismissal of Kiriyenko on August 23, replac… more
Date: February 18, 1999
Creator: Cooper, William H.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Japanese Lobbying and U.S. Automobile Policy

Description: This report surveys U.S. automobile policy in the 1980s in order to clarify the effects of foreign lobbying. The conclusion is that the success of Japanese and other foreign lobbying on automobile policy has been mixed. Some decisions have gone their way; others have not. Their success is partly because they have aligned their efforts with those of powerful domestic interests.
Date: February 19, 1993
Creator: Nanto, Dick K.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Lobbying by Foreign Interests: Japan

Description: This report is one of a series of CRS reports that examines lobbying and pressure group influence by foreign interests on US public policy.
Date: April 5, 1991
Creator: Sachs, Richard C.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Iraq: International Support for U.S. Policy

Description: Although there is a worldwide consensus that Iraq must comply with all applicable U.N. resolutions, international attitudes differ sharply on how to compel Iraq to comply with the U.N. program of eliminating Iraq's weapons of mass destruction programs. Some countries support U.S. threats to use force against Iraq as a necessary step to ensure that Iraq does not reconstitute banned weapons programs. Other countries believe that force would kill Iraqi civilians already chafing under seven years o… more
Date: February 19, 1998
Creator: Katzman, Kenneth
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Business and Labor Spending in U.S. Elections

Description: Federal election law has long prohibited corporate and union spending in federal elections, but distinctions in statutes and judicial rulings have opened avenues by which these groups have been able to spend money in the electoral process. Business groups make particular use of political action committee (PAC) donations to candidates and soft money donations to parties. Unions made prominent use of issue advocacy in 1996, but labor’s political strength lies in exempt activity communications wit… more
Date: October 28, 1997
Creator: Cantor, Joseph E.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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China's Prospects After Tiananmen Square: Current Conditions, Future Scenarios, and a Survey of Expert Opinion

Description: Since the violent military crackdown around Tiananmen Square, most Western observers have struggled to understand and explain three major questions concerning the Chinese situation: first, why a forward-looking and reform-minded Chinese leadership chose such violent force over a more accommodating approach toward the peaceful public protests of June 1989; second, how to assess current political and economic conditions in China in light of Tiananmen Square; and third, what the events of the last… more
Date: January 15, 1991
Creator: Dumbaugh, Kerry; Kan, Shirley A. & Sutter, Robert G.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Japan's Prime Minister: Selection Process, 1991 Candidates, and Implications for the United States

Description: Prime Minister Toshiki Kaifu's concurrent two-year term as president of the Liberal Democratic party (LDP) and Prime Minister of Japan expires at the end of October 1991. The May 1991 death of Shintaro Abe, the front runner to replace him, opened the field to nearly a dozen candidates. These include Kaifu for another term, senior LDP faction leaders Kiichi Miyazawa, Michio Watanabe, and Hiroshi Mitsuzuka, former Prime Minister Noboru Takeshita, and several others. A clear favorite from this gro… more
Date: September 24, 1991
Creator: Young, Jeffrey D
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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China in Transition: Changing Conditions and Implications for U.S. Interests

Description: Congressional interest in China's transformation has grown. Congressional concerns focus on economic opportunities in China and how conditions there affect U.S. security, economic and political interests.
Date: December 20, 1993
Creator: Sutter, Robert G.; Kan, Shirley A. & Dumbaugh, Kerry
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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North Korea: Policy Determinants, Alternative Outcomes, U.S. Policy Approaches

Description: North Korea is undergoing a wrenching phase of adjustment to an uncertain post-Soviet world. Its government is reined in by two major constraints: fear that any political or economic reform would have the same fatal consequence for itself as it had for the former Soviet Union and other erstwhile allies; and fear that the United States, South Korea, and other "enemies" would stop at nothing to overthrow the communist regime of the North. The United States has a major stake in the outcome of Nort… more
Date: June 24, 1993
Creator: Shinn, Rinn-Sup
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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China in Transition: Changing Conditions and Implications for U.S. Interests

Description: Americans disagree as to whether or not China poses a serious security concern for U.S. interests in peace and security in Asia and the Pacific. Many point to rising Chinese defense capabilities and assertive rhetoric to warn of Chinese military- backed expansion. Others judge that the main danger comes from China's weakness. They argue that the possibility of an emerging breakdown in government authority in China could prompt regional disorder and refugee flows seriously undermining Asian stab… more
Date: January 5, 1994
Creator: Sutter, Robert G. & Kan, Shirley A.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Japan's Ongoing Political Instability: Implications for U.S. Interests

Description: The surprise election of Socialist Party leader Tomiichi Murayama as Prime Minister on June 29, 1994, reflects an ongoing process of change and realignment in Japanese politics that, in the short term, has made the management of U.S.-Japan relations significantly more difficult and impeded the resolution of important issues. Although Murayama has pledged continuity in U.S.-Japan relations, and key cabinet posts have been given to senior LDP leaders with experience in dealing with Washington, hi… more
Date: July 8, 1994
Creator: Cronin, Richard P.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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North Korea After Kim Il Sung

Description: Kim Il Sung died on July 8, 1994, the only leader North Korea had since its founding in 1948. His death raises several questions about future stability and the strong U.S. interests on the Korean Peninsula.
Date: July 20, 1994
Creator: Shinn, Rinn-Sup & Sutter, Robert G.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Deregulation as Market Opening in Japan

Description: Deregulation of Japan's economy is of interest to the United States because regulations may work as nontariff barriers to U.S. exports and contribute to the $60 billion U.S. bilateral merchandise trade deficit. Excessive regulations also may hamper the ability of the Japanese economy to recover from recession and to augment world wide economic growth. The United States has submitted a request of about 200 items that it would like Japan to deregulate. Negotiations are continuing under the Framew… more
Date: February 1, 1995
Creator: Nanto, Dick K.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Japan's New Era of Coalition Governance: Implications for U.S. Interests and Policy

Description: Recent Japanese political instability has complicated U.S.-Japan relations and posed new challenges to the achievement of important American economic, foreign policy and security objectives. Since July 1993 Japan has been governed by coalitions under three different prime ministers. The first coalition, under Prime Minister Morihiro Hosokawa, pushed through electoral and campaign finance reform legislation of potentially long-term significance, but failed to overcome political, bureaucratic a… more
Date: March 15, 1995
Creator: Cronin, Richard P.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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