Congressional Research Service Reports - 77 Matching Results
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- Housing Assistant To Low-and Moderate-Income Households
- This report discusses the housing assistance for low and moderate income households
- National Security Controls and Scientific Information
- This report is about National Security and Scientific Information
- Federal Real property: Inventory and Disposal Initiatives
- This report is about laws provided for the inventory and disposal of public lands and other Federal Properties.
- Federal Funding For Behavioral and Social Sciences Research
- This report
- Science Policy and Funding in the Reagan Administration
- This report is about Administrastions's Prinicipal Science and Technology Policy
- Technology Transfer And National Security Issues
- No Description Available.
- Soviet Pipeline
- No Description Available.
- Copyright Law: Legalizing Home Taping of Audio and Video Recordings
- Various Members of Congress have proposed amendments to the Copyright Act that would provide a blanket exemption for noncommercial home audio and video off-air recording. The major thrust of the copyright owners' opposing position is if you cannot protect what you own, or at least receive some compensation for its use, you own nothing. This is countered by those who feel the purpose of the copyright law is to promote broad public availability of artistic products and when the copyright owners decide to use the distribution mechanism of the public airwaves, they have to accept the premises of the public airwaves.
- Bankruptcy and Business Failure Data
- The purpose of this report is to provide statistical data on the actual number of businesses that are filing for bankruptcy or ceasing operations. Tabular data of both a historical and current nature concerning business failures and bankruptcies is provided.
- Human Rights and U.S. Foreign Policy
- Following a review of such broad policy issues, this report treats specific human rights issues of current interest. Discussions of controversy over the selection of an Assistant Secretary of State for Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs and of human rights policy at the international financial institutions are followed by reviews of U.S. human rights policy toward Argentina, El Salvador, Nicaragua, South Africa, and the Soviet Union.
- Tuition Tax Credits
- Congressional Research Service (CRS) report entailing information about tuition tax credits. Topics include, current law and legislative options, support for private elementary and secondary education, post secondary student financial assistance.
- A Comparison of Benefits Earned Under Social Security and Civil Service Retirement
- This report provides a brief side-by-side comparison of Civil Service Retirement and Social Security benefits.
- Legal Analysis of President Reagan's Proposed Constitutional Amendment on School Prayer
- Congressional Research Service (CRS) report for Congress entailing a legal analysis of President Reagan's proposed constitutional amendment on school prayers. Topics include, interpretation of the first amendment, prayer activities in schools, supreme court decisions etc..
- Examining the Monetary Causes of the Economic Slowdown
- This issue brief investigates the effects of changes in money supply growth on the current economic conditions. The results presented are based upon a statistical methodology outlined in a CRS report (No.82-43E, March 1982) of the same title. The approach may be distinguished from most previous work along these lines in that it attempts to estimate the statistical significance of the 1979-82 deceleration in monetary growth. The resulting estimates are then employed in analyzing the timing implications of decelerating monetary growth for episodes of high and volatile interest rates, for lower inflation, and for unstable economic growth.
- Solar Energy and the Reagan Administration
- No Description Available.
- The Telecommunications Act of 1982 (H.R. 5158, 97th Congress): Provisions and Controversies
- No Description Available.
- Salaries and Allowances: The Executive Branch
- No Description Available.
- Strategic Arms Reduction Talks (START)
- No Description Available.
- Nuclear Freeze: Arms Control Proposals
- No Description Available.
- The NIH Recombinant DNA Guidelines: Brief History and Current Status
- This Congressional Research Service Report for Congress provides information on the history and timeline of recombinant DNA and its uses.
- Automobile Domestic Content Requirements
- In response to the lowest drop of American produced automobile sales in two decades and other related conditions, legislation has been introduced that would impose domestic (local) content ratios for automotive vehicles. These would require that cars and trucks sold in the United States in large quantities contain a certain percentage of American parts and labor.
- Leasing of Energy and Mineral Resources on Federal Lands
- This report discusses the leasing of energy and mineral resources on federal lands. Leasing of energy minerals has been an issue of varying intensity for most of the past century, as oil, gas, and coal became indispensable commodities in both U.S. and world commerce.
- Reauthorization of the Endangered Species Act
- This report discusses about the Endangered Species Act of 1973. The reauthorization dilemma addresses all the treaty requirements, most importantly in regards to exports of pelts of American bobcats along with international trade in Endangered species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).
- Soviet Gas Pipeline: U.S. Options
- No Description Available.
- Proposals for Revision of the Communications Act of 1934: Telecommunications Issues
- No Description Available.
- Health Maintenance Organizations
- This report discusses the "health maintenance organization", which is an entity that provides specific health services to its members for a prepaid, fixed payment.
- Superfund: What It Is, How It Works
- No Description Available.
- Flat-Rate Tax Proposals
- In recent months there has been a growing congressional interest in the advantages and disadvantages of revamping our current tax system for a flat-rate tax method. Supporters of the new proposal argue that such a plan would promote productivity, simplify present IRS tax forms, save the public billions of dollars that presently go to tax-preparation professionals, and enhance Federal revenue by closing numerous tax loopholes and special deductions that are now enjoyed by relatively few. Opponents believe, however, that the tax burden under a flat-rate plan might fall more heavily upon the middle class and, unless exceptions were made, would hurt educational institutions and charities. Problems with popular tax deductions, such as home mortgage interest, would have to be addressed. This packet provides background materials which discuss the practical and theoretical issues that surround a flat-rate tax, including the probable redistribution of the tax burden under various rates and income bases.
- Grants Work in a Congressional Office
- Congressional offices are often approached by constituents seeking funds for proposals of potential benefit to their State or district. This report discusses the grants process and varying approaches and techniques congressional offices have developed in dealing with grants requests.
- President Reagan's START Proposal: Projected U.S./U.S.S.R. Ballistic Missile Forces
- No Description Available.
- The START Proposal: Verification Issues
- No Description Available.
- Nuclear Weapons Freeze Movement: Issues for National Debate
- No Description Available.
- Enterprise Zones: The Urban Jobs and Enterprise Zone Act of 1981
- "Enterprise zones” as a concept originated in England in the late 1970s. The idea is to free specified urban areas of taxes and Government regulations to encourage private business investment and create new jobs. There is little in the way of direct empirical evidence to indicate whether and how such an approach would work. There is considerable interest in the concept, however, since other Federal urban assistance programs (such as Urban Renewal in the 1950s, Model Cities in the 1960s, and Urban Development Action Grant more recently -- since 1978) have not produced in sufficient amount the desired results in creating jobs for the unemployed in inner cities.
- Japan-U.S. Trade Relations
- This report discusses trade relations between the U.S. and Japan. Commercial aspects of the United States-Japan alliance, in recent years, have begun to dominate the dialogue between the two nations. In particular, friction points have developed over chronic U.S. bilateral trade deficits with Japan, allegations of Japanese protectionism, and rapid incursions into U.S. markets by Japanese export products.
- Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs): Tax Incentives for Retirement Savings
- This report discusses Individual Retirement Arrangements (IRA) and their tax incentives. Many workers covered by employer-sponsored retirement plans do not work long enough with one employer to be entitled to a pension. Others may be covered by a profit-sharing plan to which the employer may have little or no profits to contribute. Since these individuals were "covered" by a retirement plan, they were ineligible to make tax-deductible contributions to a tax-sheltered Individual Retirement Arrangement (IRA). Many observers considered this a tax inequity and felt that all employees should be eligible to establish their own IRAs or make tax-deductible contributions to their employer's plan. Congress responded to this situation by approving retirement savings incentives for all workers as part of the tax cut bill (H.R. 4242). All workers, whether or not covered by an employer pension plan, are now permitted tax deductible contributions to IRAs up to $2,000 a year.
- Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) Lands: Leasing for Oil and Natural Gas Exploration and Development
- No Description Available.
- Foreign Investment in U.S. Industry
- Although the total amount of foreign direct investment (FDI) in the U.S. is small relative to U.S. direct investment abroad, it is growing rapidly and may have a large effect on some industries and geographic areas of the U.S. The two main issues raised by FDI in the U.S. are first, shall Congress require more extensive data collection efforts than are already underway, and second, should laws be enacted to limit foreign direct investment in the U.S. These two issues turn in substantial measure on whether the benefits of additional data collection and/or restrictions on FDI in the U.S. exceed the costs. This report discusses the legislative history of the issue, the magnitude and distribution of FDI in the U.S., the existing data collection efforts, the potential implications for the U.S., the motivations for FDI in the U.S., and U.S. policy regarding FDI.
- Health Insurance: The Pro-Competition Proposals
- For more than a decade, Congress and the Executive Branch have tried to stem spiraling health care costs through various regulatory actions at the Federal and State levels. Planning laws, for example, focus regulatory attention on the capacity of the health care industry to provide health services. Other laws have created programs to monitor and control the use of services provided to individual patients. Direct wage and price controls were applied to the health industry in the early 1970's and in recent years Congress has debated whether to impose controls over hospital spending in the United States. This report discusses the debate surrounding various approaches to lower health care costs.
- Agent Orange: Veterans' Complaints Concerning Exposure to Herbicides in South Vietnam
- From 1962 to 1971, the United States Air Force (USAF) sprayed various herbicide mixtures (chemicals that kill plants) in South Vietnam. The purpose of the spraying was to defoliate jungle growth to deprive the Communist forces of ground cover, and to destroy enemy crops to restrict food supplies. The most extensively used of these herbicide mixtures was known as Agent Orange, a 50:50 mix of two common herbicides called 1,4,5-T and 2,4-D (2,4,5-trichlorophenoxyacetic acid and 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid). The third chemical present in the mixture in small amounts was TCDD, an inevitable by-product of the manufacture of 2,4,5-T. This chemical, called tetrachlorodibenzo-para-dioxin or simply "dioxin," is highly toxic to laboratory animals when administered in its pure form. CRS has been unable to locate any report of a human death from exposure to pure TCDD. This report discusses the human health effects that have occurred from exposure to TCDD, as well as related Congressional concerns.
- United States/Soviet Military Balance
- No Description Available.
- Energy and the 97th Congress: Overview
- During his campaign, President Reagan called for a major shift in this country's energy policy. In particular, the President emphasized the need for more domestic production of energy and reliance on market forces to produce and distribute energy products. Now in office, the new Administration is employing executive, administrative, and legislative methods to implement these changes.
- Civil Defense and the Effects of Nuclear War
- This Info Pack contains material on nuclear weapons and on the anticipated physical, economic, and social consequences of nuclear attacks on the United States, basic information on the civil defense program, and material discussing some of the arguments, pro and con, surrounding the civil defense issues.
- Busing for School Desegregation
- The mandatory transportation of school children to desegregate public elementary and secondary schools is an issue of deep contention throughout our society. The House of Representatives has approved language for the Department of Justice FY82 authorization bill (H.R. 3462) restricting the Department's involvement in actions requiring school busing. On Mar. 2, 1962, t h e Senate approved the version of the Department of Justice F Y 8 2 authorization Bill (S. 951) with language restricting the Justice Department's involvement in busing actions as well as imposing limits on the busing plans Federal courts can impose. S. 551 was then sent to the House for consideration. Hearings on S. 951 before a house Judiciary subcommittee began on June 1'7, 1982.
- School Prayer
- Congressional Research Service (CRS) report entailing information about school prayer. Topics include, proposed amendments, news articles, coverage of the issue of school prayer from 1962 to 1982, etc..
- Electoral Votes by State: Changes Resulting from the 1980 Census
- This report presents a chart and a U.S. map describing the electoral votes by state and the changes resulted from the 1980 census.
- Monetary Policy: Recent Changes and Current Conditions
- This report summarizes the current status of monetary conditions and policy. The report also describes the process though which Congress oversees monetary policy, the recent changes in the financial system which affect monetary policy, and the October 1979 changes in Federal Reserve operating procedures.
- Parental Kidnapping
- No Description Available.
- Gun Control
- This report provides basic firearms-related issues and a summary of legislative action.
- Salaries and Allowances: Congress
- No Description Available.
- Congressional Veto Legislation: 97th Congress
- This report has two purposes: first, to describe briefly the main features of each kind of congressional veto procedure, and second, to list under appropriated categories all such provisions submitted in the current Congress that have been located.