Congressional Research Service Reports - 43,134 Matching Results
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- Federal Funding Gaps: A Brief Overview
- This report briefly discusses federal funding gaps. The routine activities of most federal agencies are funded annually by one or more of the 13 regular appropriations bills. When action on the regular appropriations bills is delayed, a continuing resolution (CR) is used to provide interim funding. During the past 48 years, CRs have been enacted for all but four fiscal years (FY1953, 1989, 1995, and 1997). For some fiscal years, a series of as many as six CRs have been enacted.
- Hague Convention Implementation Legislation: Comparison of H.R. 2909, S. 682, and Administration Draft
- No Description Available.
- The Pacific Salmon Treaty: The 1999 Agreement in Historical Perspective
- On June 30, 1999, after many years of diplomatic struggle to resolve disagreements over resource conservation and harvest arrangements, the United States and Canada signed an agreement for the long-term conservation and equitable sharing of their salmon resources. Most of the new fishery arrangements will be in effect for 10 years, beginning in 1999. The arrangement for Fraser River sockeye will be in effect for 12 years, also beginning in 1999. This report provides background about the Pacific Salmon Treaty, discusses issues that created difficulties in the past, and summarizes the new salmon accord. As the issues evolve, this report will be updated to include and discuss additional concerns that may arise
- Preventing Federal Government Shutdowns: Proposals for an Automatic Continuing Resolution
- No Description Available.
- Highway Fund Sanctions and Conformity Under the Clean Air Act
- This report discusses two Clean Air Act provisions that can result in denial of federal highway funding to local areas: sanctions and the lapse of what is called "conformity." Under the Clean Air Act, the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency is required to impose highway fund or other sanctions on areas that have not submitted or not implemented adequate plans to attain air quality standards. In addition, federal agencies may not provide financial support to transportation improvements in areas that have not attained air quality standards, unless the improvements conform with the State Implementation Plan for achieving air quality. This report provides information concerning the authority to impose sanctions and to make conformity determinations, lists the areas that have been subject to sanctions determinations since 1990, describes their current status, and discusses the role of sanctions and alternatives under the Act. This report will be updated as developments warrant.
- Research and Development Funding: Fiscal Year 2000
- The Administration requested $78.242 billion for research and development (R&D) in FY2000, 1.3% below the FY1999 estimated level of $79.267 billion. As with past proposals, the Administration requested an increase for civilian R&D, 3% to $39.761 billion, while overall defense R&D would decline 5.3% to $38.481 billion.
- Coast Guard: Analysis of the FY2000 Budget
- No Description Available.
- Federal Land Management Agencies’ Permanently Appropriated Accounts
- No Description Available.
- CBI/NAFTA Parity Proposals: A Comparison
- The tariff and quota treatment of U.S. imports from Mexico under the North American Free Trade Agreement has resulted in a distinct and increasing competitive disadvantage for imports from the beneficiary countries of the Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery Act (CBERA). To eliminate this disadvantage, proposals have been made to extend to imports from Caribbean Basin countries preferential treatment equivalent to that accorded imports of identical goods from Mexico. This report compares the provisions of four such proposals: Title I of H.R. 984, Title I of S. 371, H.R. 1834, and S. 1389.
- Turkey: After the Earthquake
- No Description Available.
- Conservation Spending in Agriculture: Trends and Implications
- Conservation spending under various federal agricultural statutes has increased since the early 1980s, and the mix of activities that are funded has changed during this time period. These funds have become an increasingly important source of income to farmers. This report examines conservation program funding since FY1983 in the context of both changing conservation policies and programs, and other farm program sources of income to farmers. This report will be updated if events warrant. Conservation Spending in Agriculture: Trends and Implications
- Older Americans Act: 106th Congress Legislation
- This report provides brief legislative background for Older Americans Act programs expired at the end of FY1995. The report discusses issues with re-authorization and 106th Congress proposals.
- Qatar: Background and U.S. Relations
- No Description Available.
- Off-Budget Status of Federal Entities: Background and Current Proposals
- No Description Available.
- Year 2000 Computer Problem: State Government Issues
- The federal government sends and receives data from the states in support of many social service programs. Examples of such programs are: Medicare, Medicaid, Welfare, Food Stamps, and Unemployment Insurance. The federal government will not be able to deliver critical social services if data exchanges with state governments are not Y2K- compliant, yet there is no complete picture of their readiness.
- Confidentiality of the Taxpayer Identification Number under the Internal Revenue Code
- This report illustrates the wide variety of situations in which individuals are required by the Internal Revenue Code to furnish their taxpayer identification numbers, either to the IRS or to third parties.
- Online Privacy Protection: Issues and Developments
- It is routinely acknowledged that the success of the Internet and electronic commerce depends upon the resolution of issues related to the privacy of online personal information. This paper discusses some potential threats to the privacy of online personal information, and efforts by businesses, governments, and citizens to respond to them. The paper also provides an overview of the legal framework for the protection of personal information. Individuals and businesses increasingly rely upon computers to transact business and to access the Internet. Online users may voluntarily disclose personal information, such information is often collected by Web sites for commercial purposes. The proliferation of online personal information has focused the attention of citizens, businesses, and governments on the issue.
- Small Business Innovation Research Program
- In 1982, the Small Business Innovation Development Act (P.L. 97-219) established small business innovation research (SBIR) programs within the major federal research and development (R&D) agencies. The intent of the effort was to increase government funding of small, high technology companies for the performance of R&D with commercial potential. Each federal department with an R&D budget of $100 million or more is required to set aside part of this amount to finance the SBIR activity. From its inception in FY1983 through FY1998, approximately $8.6 billion in awards have been made for 50,468 projects. The original program has been extended several times and is now scheduled to sunset October 1, 2000. H.R. 2392, as reported from the House Committee on Small Business and discharged from the House Committee on Science, would reauthorize the SBIR activity through September 30, 2007.
- Appropriations for FY2000: Energy and Water Development
- This report discusses the Energy and Water Development FY2000 appropriations bill, which includes funding for civil projects of the Army Corps of Engineers, the Department of the Interior's Bureau of Reclamation (BuRec), most of the Department of Energy (DOE), and a number of independent agencies.
- Capital Gains Taxes: Distributional Effects
- This report presents several different measures of the distribution of the capital gains tax are presented. These measures examine the absolute and relative distribution across income classes, the effects on the distribution of taxes, and the proportion of the population affected by the tax.
- Jerusalem: The U.S. Embassy and P.L. 104-45
- Report discussing the legislation proposal to move the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
- Federal Regulatory Structure for Egg Safety: Fact Sheet
- This report discusses the federal role in regulating egg safety. Although the egg industry is primarily responsible for ensuring the safety of its products, four federal agencies hold statutory responsibilities for egg safety.
- Presidential Claims of Executive Privilege: History, Law, Practice and Recent Developments
- Presidential claims of a right to preserve the confidentiality of information and documents in the face of legislative demands have figured prominently, though intermittently, in executive-congressional relations since at least 1792, when the president Washington discussed with his cabinet how to respond to a congressional inquiry into the military debacle that befell General St. Clair's expedition. Few such interbranch disputes over access to information have reached the courts for substantive resolution, the vast majority achieving resolution through political negotiation and accommodation. In fact, it was not until the Watergate-related lawsuits in the 1970s seeking access to President Nixon's tapes that the existence of a presidential confidentiality privilege was judicially established as a necessary derivative of the President's status in our constitutional scheme of separated powers.
- The Exchange Stabilization Fund of the U.S. Treasury Department: Purpose, History, and Legislative Activity
- No Description Available.
- Department of Energy: Programs and Reorganization Proposals
- This report, a revision of an earlier CRS review of DOE programs, consists of an introductory discussion of the agency and its mission as a whole, and a description of its major programs as independent entities. Many of DOE's original energy-related missions have disappeared or changed radically. In addition, with the end of the Cold War, DOE's nuclear weapons-related programs, almost two-thirds of the total budget, are undergoing modification. However, regardless of the outcome of the debate on DOE's future, many of its present functions will continue in one location or another.
- California's Proposition 187: A Brief Overview
- This report provides a brief overview of California's proposition 187, a 1994 ballot initiative to deny illegal aliens state benefits and to require reporting of illegal alien applicants for benefits to federal immigration officials.
- Immigration Fundamentals
- No Description Available.
- Immigration Fundamentals
- Report explaining the fundamentals of immigration in the United States including key terms, statistics, limits, and more.
- Intellectual Property Protection for Noncreative Databases
- Copyright law protects works of authorship that exhibit original, creative expression, including creativity in the selection, arrangement, or coordination both of traditional printed and electronic databases. Noncreative databases are not subject to copyright protection, although some protection is available through a combination of contract law, trade secrecy law, and misappropriation doctrines of state law.
- Search and Seizure in the Vehicular Context: Fourth Amendment Issues
- No Description Available.
- The War Powers Resolution: After Twenty-Five Years
- No Description Available.
- Intercountry Adoption Convention Implementation Act of 1999: Summary and Analysis of S. 682
- No Description Available.
- The Mining Law Millsite Debate
- No Description Available.
- Missile Defense: Theater High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) Flight Testing
- No Description Available.
- North Korean Drug Trafficking: Allegations and Issues for Congress
- No Description Available.
- NEW ZEALAND: POLITICAL/ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENTS AND RELATIONS WITH THE UNITED STATES
- No Description Available.
- Air Quality and Motor Vehicles: An Analysis of Current and Proposed Emission Standards
- The extent to which emissions from motor vehicles and the amount of sulfur in commercial gasoline should be regulated has become a controversial issue. The EPA is proposing national limits on gasoline sulfur levels which would become effective in 2004. This report provides background information on the regulation of vehicle emissions in the United States, analyzes key elements of the National Low Emission Vehicle (LEV) program and the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Tier 2 proposal, summarizes major views on the proposal that have been expressed by the automobile industry, the oil refining industry, and some environmental organizations, and discusses relevant legislative activity in the 106th Congress.
- Animal Agriculture: Issues for the 106th Congress
- This report discusses a variety of animal agriculture issues that generated debate during the 106th Congress, including low livestock prices, especially for hogs. Economic difficulties have revived questions such as the impacts of consolidation in the livestock industry, and the price effects of animal imports from Canada and Mexico. This report also discusses a number of legislative proposals to assist livestock producers and enforce sanitary and phytosanitary standards, as well as continuing trade disputes and negotiations with China, the European Union, New Zealand, and Australia.
- Kosovo: Refugee Assistance and Temporary Resettlement
- No Description Available.
- The National Institutes of Health: An Overview
- No Description Available.
- Special Provisions for Religion in the Tax Code
- This report lists a number of tax provisions which accommodate religious groups in a special way. There is no attempt to analyze these provisions, other than to briefly note the special treatment.
- Superfund Reauthorization: A Summary of H.R. 1300, as Reported
- The Superfund reauthorization bill, H.R. 1300, was ordered reported by the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee on August 5, 1999, and now goes to the Commerce Committee, which shares jurisdiction. Title I authorizes programs to assess and clean up brownfields, provides funding for state voluntary cleanup programs, and prohibits federal enforcement at sites cleaned up under state law. Community participation in decision-making is promoted by Title II, and the duties of the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry are re-focused.
- Capital Gains Taxes: An Overview
- The capital gains tax has been a tax cut target since the 1986 Tax Reform Act treated capital gains as ordinary income. An argument for lower capital gains taxes is reduction of the lock-in effect. Some also believe that lower capital gains taxes will cost little compared to the benefits they bring and that lower taxes induce additional economic growth, although the magnitude of these potential effects is in some dispute. Others criticize lower capital gains taxes as benefitting higher income individuals and express concerns about the budget effects, particularly in future years. Another criticism of lower rates is the possible role of a larger capital gains tax differential in encouraging tax sheltering activities and adding complexity to the tax law.
- Medicare: The President’s Reform Proposal
- No Description Available.
- Science Behind the Regulation of Food Safety: Risk Assessment and the Precautionary Principle
- Although Congress, the President and agency administrators support the use of science as a basis for food safety regulatory activities, there are controversies about how science can best be used for this purpose. Supporters of science-based regulations regard conclusions from well-designed scientific studies as largely impartial and fair;
- H.R. 853, The Comprehensive Budget Process Reform Act: Summary of Provisions
- This report discusses the Comprehensive Budget Process Reform Act of 1999, was introduced by Representative Jim Nussle on February 25, 1999, and referred to the Committee on the Budget.
- Algeria: A New President and His Policies
- This report details concerns surrounding the election of Abdulaziz Bouteflika to the presidency of Algeria in 1999. Specifically, the opposing party labeled the election as corrupt. After seven years of civil war Bouteflika proposed a civil concord and is restoring Algerian foreign relations to what they once were. Currently, the relationship between the U.S. and Algeria looks positive for the foreseeable future.
- China and the Reversion of Macau: Background and Implications
- This report examines factors which might be relevant for U.S. policy towards Macau after it reverts to Chinese administration on December 20, 1999. It includes a brief background to the reunification, followed by the discussion of economic and social factors which make the case of Macau different for China than the case of Hong Kong, as well as Macau's economic relevance to the United States.
- Economic and Policy Developments in the Apparel and Textiles Sector
- No Description Available.
- Patents and Innovation: Issues in Patent Reform
- No Description Available.