Congressional Research Service Reports - 133 Matching Results

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Accounting Problems at Fannie Mae

Description: On September 22, 2004, the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Supervision (OFHEO) made public a report that was highly critical of accounting methods at Fannie Mae, the government-sponsored enterprise that plays a leading role in the secondary mortgage market. OFHEO charged Fannie Mae with not following generally accepted accounting practices in two critical areas: (1) amortization of discounts, premiums, and fees involved in the purchase of home mortgages and (2) accounting for financial der… more
Date: November 15, 2005
Creator: Jickling, Mark
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Stock Options: The Accounting Issue and Its Consequences

Description: The Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) has issued a long-anticipated rule that stock options must be recognized as an expense on corporation income statements. The previous accounting rule permitted but did not require recognition; corporations that elected to omit the cost of options, as most did, have been able to report higher earnings. This report examines the debate surrounding the issue and discusses the potential consequences.
Date: November 15, 2005
Creator: Lyke, Bob & Shorter, Gary
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Federal Deposit Insurance Reform Legislation (Including Budgetary Implications)

Description: This report discusses two major deposit insurance reform bills that are currently before Congress, the Federal Deposit Insurance Reform Act of 2005 and the Safe and Fair Deposit Insurance Act of 2005. Both bills, if passed, would effectively raise assessments paid by banks and savings associations to the deposit insurance fund.
Date: November 9, 2005
Creator: Miles, Barbara L. & Jackson, William D.
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The Berne Union: An Overview

Description: The Berne Union, or the International Union of Credit and Investment Insurers, is an international organization comprised of 54 public and private sector members that represent various segments of the export credit and investment insurance industry. Within the Berne Union, the United States is represented by the U.S. Export-Import Bank (Eximbank) and the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) and four private-sector firms and by one observer. Congress, through its oversight of Eximbank … more
Date: November 8, 2005
Creator: Jackson, James K.
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Employment-Related Issues in Bankruptcy

Description: This report provides an overview of the status of employee wages and benefits, including retiree benefits, when an employer files in bankruptcy, and the amendments made to the U.S. Bankruptcy Code by the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act. This report examines those provisions in the U.S. Bankruptcy Code which govern the priority of employee wage and benefit claims, including severance payments; procedures for a chapter 1 1 debtor to modify benefits under a collective barga… more
Date: November 1, 2005
Creator: Jeweler, Robin
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Budget Reconciliation: Projections of Funding in the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP)

Description: In FY2005, six states faced the prospect of running out of federal funds in the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). This was the first time since the program’s creation in 1997 that multiple states faced such a shortfall. The shortfalls were avoided by the redistribution of funds from other states’ original SCHIP allotments that had not been spent by the end of the three-year period of availability. To address this, the reconciliation proposal approved by the Senate Finance Commi… more
Date: October 28, 2005
Creator: Peterson, Chris L.
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Limiting Fannie Mae's and Freddie Mac's Portfolio Size

Description: Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan and Treasury Secretary John W. Snow recently have urged the 109th Congress to pass legislation to limit the size of Fannie Mae’s and Freddie Mac’s portfolio to reduce the risk to the federal government and the economy. In 2003, these government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) combined retained portfolio had risen to $1.6 trillion from $136 billion in 1990.
Date: October 21, 2005
Creator: Weiss, Eric
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Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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War Bonds in the Second World War: A Model for Hurricane Recovery Bonds?

Description: Severe damage and dislocations resulting from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita have rekindled congressional interest in the concept of the sale of a Treasury security to finance recovery and relief operations. The question has been raised whether or not the issuance of war bonds during the Second World War serves as a good model for new “hurricane recovery bonds.” Two bills have been introduced that would permit the issuance of some form of hurricane relief bond: H.R. 3892 and H.R. 3935.
Date: October 20, 2005
Creator: Bickley, James M.
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Federal Advertising Law: An Overview

Description: This report provides a brief overview of federal law with respect to six selected advertising issues: alcohol advertising, tobacco advertising, the federal trade commission act, advertising by mail, advertising by telephone, and commercial e-mail.
Date: October 5, 2005
Creator: Cohen, Henry
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Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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The Economic Effects of Raising National Saving

Description: Raising the share of income we save is a frequent aim of public policy. That may be particularly apparent in debates about the size of the federal budget deficit, but concerns about the low household saving rate have also prompted policymakers to consider ways to encourage individuals to save more. How much individuals save will directly affect their future economic well-being, but from a macroeconomic perspective, the source of saving — be it households, business, or government — makes no diff… more
Date: October 4, 2005
Creator: Cashell, Brian W.
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Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Campaign Finance Reform: Regulating Political Communications on the Internet

Description: In October 2002, the Federal Election Commission (FEC) promulgated regulations exempting from the definition of “public communication” those communications that are made over the Internet. In response to the FEC’s final rules, the two primary House sponsors of BCRA filed suit in U.S. district court against the FEC seeking to invalidate the regulations as opening a new avenue for circumvention of federal campaign finance law. In September 2004, in Shays v. FEC, the U.S. District Court for the Di… more
Date: September 20, 2005
Creator: Whitaker, L. Paige & Cantor, Joseph E.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Social Security Reform

Description: President Bush has highlighted Social Security reform as a top priority during his second term. The President has not presented a detailed plan for reform. Rather, he has put forth guidelines for Congress to consider in the development of legislation to create personal accounts within a program in need of “wise and effective reform.” The President has acknowledged that other changes would be needed to address the system’s projected long-range funding shortfall. In recent years, reform ideas hav… more
Date: September 20, 2005
Creator: Nuschler, Dawn
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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China and the CNOOC Bid for Unocal: Issues for Congress

Description: The bid by the China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) to acquire the U.S. energy company Unocal for $18.5 billion raised many issues with U.S. policymakers. This report provides an overview and analysis of the CNOOC bid, U.S. interests, implications for U.S. energy security, U.S. investment in the PRC’s (People’s Republic of China’s) oil industry, the process for reviewing the security and other implications of foreign investment in the United States, Congressional activity, and a list… more
Date: September 15, 2005
Creator: Nanto, Dick K.; Jackson, James K.; Morrison, Wayne M. & Kumins, Lawrence C.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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