Congressional Research Service Reports - 156 Matching Results

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Norwegian Commercial Whaling: Issues for Congress

Description: On May 16, 1996, 23 Members of Congress sent a letter to President Clinton expressing their concern over Norway's announcement that it intended to permit its whalers to kill as many as 425 minke whales that year. The co-signers urged the President "to take decisive action to prevent Norway from resuming its illicit whale harvesting," including the possible use of economic sanctions. For its 1997 hunt, Norway has increased its quota to 580 animals.
Date: December 31, 1996
Creator: Ek, Carl
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Gun Ban for Persons Convicted of Misdemeanor Crime of Domestic Violence: Ex Post Facto Clause and Other Constitutional Issues

Description: This report examines two new federal firearms offenses created by amendment of 18 U.S.C. 922(d) and (g). Section 922(d)(9) which makes it unlawful for any person knowingly to sell or otherwise dispose of any firearm or ammunition to a person convicted of a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence. The new law gives the domestic violence misdemeanant two new statutory defenses to the validity of the predicate conviction.
Date: December 30, 1996
Creator: Schrader, Dorothy
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Line Item Veto Act of 1996: Lessons from the States

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. When this authority becomes available on January 1, 1997, it will change the dynamics among all three branches of government. In response to presidential decisions to cancel certain provisions, Congress may change the way it drafts bills and committee reports. Lawsuits will bring these presidential and congressional actions before federal c… more
Date: December 26, 1996
Creator: Fisher, Louis
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Government Performance and Results Act, P.L. 103-62: Implementation Through Fall 1996 and Issues for the 105th Congress

Description: The Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA) of 1993, P.L. 103-62, encourages greater accountability, requiring agencies to set goals and use performance measures for management and budgeting. This report examines how agencies will solicit information from stakeholders and consult with Congress to develop strategic goals, to be provided in final form to Congress in September 1997; GAO and OMB are to report in May and June 1997 (but may advance the date to March 1997) to Congress on agency … more
Date: December 24, 1996
Creator: Knezo, Genevieve J.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Energy Efficiency: A New National Outlook?

Description: In 1992, the Nation spent $522 billion for energy ($1996 constant), while energy efficiency and conservation measures were saving the economy about $275 billion per year. Energy is conserved when technical means are employed to improve efficiency or to reduce energy waste. In 1996 constant dollars, conservation research and development (R&D) funding declined from $698 million in FY1979 to $198 million in FY1988 and then climbed to $486 million in FY1994, 31% below the FY1979 peak.
Date: December 12, 1996
Creator: Sissine, Fred
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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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
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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China's Changing Conditions

Description: Congressional interest in the leadership change and economic transformation underway in China has grown substantially over the past few years. Leading congressional concerns focus on how economic conditions in China pose opportunities for U.S. enterprise and how the evolution of conditions in China fosters U.S. security, economic, and political interests. Congressional concern with China grew in 1995 and 1996 as a result of reports of the serious decline in the health of senior Chinese leader D… more
Date: December 11, 1996
Creator: Sutter, Robert G.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Hong Kong's Return to China: Implications for U.S. Interests

Description: In the months approaching China's resumption of sovereignty over Hong Kong on July 1, 1997, policy analysts are trying to assess how the territory will fare under Chinese rule. The answer is important to U.S. interests because of the enormous U.S. economic presence in Hong Kong; because any adverse developments in Hong Kong are likely to affect U.S.-China relations; and because China's promise to give Hong Kong a high degree of autonomy under the "one-China, two-systems" policy has major implic… more
Date: December 11, 1996
Creator: Dumbaugh, Kerry
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Executive Branch Reorganization

Description: This issue brief views reorganization as involving the alteration and relocation of both programs and the administrative structure of the executive branch for reasons of efficiency, economy, and direction. The underlying issue is who reorganizes--Congress or the President--and by what authority and, also, for what purpose? Some other related administrative and management reforms are tracked as well.
Date: December 6, 1996
Creator: Relyea, Harold C.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Pakistan Aid Cutoff: U.S. Nonproliferation and Foreign Policy Considerations

Description: U.S. aid and arms sales to Pakistan generally had been prohibited since October 1990 because the President could not make a required annual certification to Congress under Section 620E(e) of the Foreign Assistance Act, the so-called "Pressler Amendment," that Pakistan did not possess a nuclear explosive device. However, on February 12, 1996, the President signed into law the Foreign Operations Appropriations Act for FY1996, which includes provisions that significantly relax previous restriction… more
Date: December 6, 1996
Creator: Cronin, Richard P.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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DOE Laboratory Restructuring Legislation

Description: Interest in restructuring (including eliminating) the Department of Energy (DOE) and its laboratories has increased since the end of the Cold War, and especially since the beginning of the 104th Congress. A number of non-legislative proposals and activities to this end are reviewed, including DOE's own proposals for "alignment and downsizing" of the Department and its laboratories.
Date: December 4, 1996
Creator: Boesman, William C.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Global Climate Change

Description: This report discusses the effect of human activities on global climate change. Human activities, particularly burning of fossil fuels, have increased atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) and other trace gases, including chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), methane, and nitrous oxide.
Date: December 4, 1996
Creator: Justus, John R. & Morrissey, Wayne A.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Pesticide Policy Issues

Description: On August 3, 1996, President Clinton signed P.L. 104-170, which contains significant amendments to the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) and Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA). Although it does not repeal the Delaney Clause, the new law removes pesticide residues from its purview. It requires EPA to set "safe" tolerances for residues of pesticides on both raw and processed food to provide "a reasonable certainty of no harm" from exposure to the pesticide resi… more
Date: December 4, 1996
Creator: Schierow, Linda-Jo
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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