Congressional Research Service Reports - 47 Matching Results
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- African Debt to the United States and Multilateral Agencies
- This report provides statistical information and possible solutions to the multilateral and bilateral debt of Africa. Possible solutions include debt forgiveness options, yet this comes with the consequence of limited future aid from multilateral agencies.
- Banking and Financial Infrastructure Continuity: Pandemic Flu, Terrorism, and Other Challenges
- This report outlines the financial sector's recovery plans for two kinds of disasters: the inability to conduct transactions and large losses of asset value. The basic function of the payment system is carried out by banks, and monetary policy affects banks immediately. Because brokers, exchanges, secondary market facilities, and insurance companies carry out crucial financial functions, their regulators and trade associations are involved in continuity of operations planning for contingencies.
- Budget Enforcement Procedures: The Senate Pay-As-You-Go (PAYGO) Rule
- This report explains the current features of the Senate Pay-As-You-Go (PAYGO) rule,describes its legislative history, inlcuding key changes to the rule since it was established in 1993, and reviews Senate procedural actions under the rule.
- Campaign Finance
- This report details the information related to concerns over financing federal elections campaigning, It also discusses Campaign finance practices, proposals on enduring issues, and closing efforts to close perceived loopholes.
- Campaign Finance: An Overview
- This report gives an overview of the concerns related to financing Federal election campaigning. The contents include Campaign finance practices and policy options to address campaign issues
- Campaign Finance: Constitutionality of Limits on Contributions and Expenditures
- The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution provides that "Congress shall make no law.... abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press." This provision limits the government's power to restrict speech. In 1976, the Supreme Court issued its landmark campaign finance ruling in Buckley v. Valeo. In Buckley, the Court determined that limits on campaign contributions, which involve giving money to an entity, and expenditures, which involve spending money directly for electoral advocacy, implicate rights of political expression and association under the First Amendment. In view of the fact that contributions and expenditures facilitate speech, the Court concluded, they cannot be regulated as mere conduct. This report contains information on allowed contributions and expenditures.
- Campaign Finance: Potential Legislative and Policy Issues for the 111th Congress
- This report discusses selected campaign finance policy issues that may receive attention during the 111th congress. Questions about the health of the presidential public financing system were especially prominent during the 2008 election cycle.
- Campaign Financing
- This is one report in the series of reports that discuss the campaign finance practices and related issues. Concerns over financing federal elections have become a seemingly perennial aspect of our political system, centered on the enduring issues of high campaign costs and reliance on interest groups for needed campaign funds. The report talks about the today’s paramount issues such as perceived loopholes in current law and the longstanding issues: overall costs, funding sources, and competition.
- The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS)
- This report covers the background and recent history on the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS). This committee has recently emerged from obscurity due to concerns involving foreign investments in U.S. companies and national security.
- Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill: Highlighted Actions and Issues
- This report highlights actions taken and issues raised as a result of the April 20, 2010, explosion on the Deepwater Horizon offshore drilling rig, and the resulting oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
- The Economic Effects of Raising National Saving
- 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 difference. This report presents standard economic analysis of the macroeconomic effects of raising saving.
- The Economic Implications of the Long-Term Federal Budget Outlook
- This report analyzes the long-run path of the federal budget. The United States is projected to undergo a demographic shift as the aging of the baby boomers causes an unprecedented increase in the fraction of the population that is retired. Coupled with rising life expectancy, this means, under current policy, a steady increase in the portion of the population that is both out of the workforce and receiving social insurance benefits from the government.
- Ending Cash Flow Financing to Egypt: Issues for Congress
- This report analyzes this proposed change in U.S. foreign assistance to Egypt; it provides background on the history of cash flow financing (CFF) and reviews various issues for Congress.
- The Enron Collapse: An Overview of Financial Issues
- This report briefly examines the accounting system that failed to provide a clear picture of the firm’s true condition, the independent auditors and board members who were unwilling to challenge Enron’s management, the Wall Street stock analysts and bond raters who missed the trouble ahead, the rules governing employer stock in company pension plans, and the unregulated energy derivatives trading that was the core of Enron’s business. The report also describes related legislation that has received floor or committee action and will be updated regularly.
- The Exon-Florio National Security Test for Foreign Investment
- This report covers the recent background of the Exon-Florio provision with special regards to issues faced in the 112th Congress. The Exon-Florio provision grants the President the authority to block proposed or pending foreign acquisitions of "persons engaged in interstate commerce in the United States" that threaten to impair the national security.
- Fannie Mae’s and Freddie Mac’s Financial Problems: Frequently Asked Questions
- No Description Available.
- FDIC's Deposit Insurance Assessments and Reserve Ratio
- This report discusses the FDIC's deposit insurance assessments and reserve ratio used to guarantee the repayment of deposits at a bank up to the insured level.
- Federal Reserve: Oversight and Disclosure Issues
- This report provides an overview of existing Fed oversight and disclosure practices. It also considers the potential impact of greater oversight and disclosure on the Fed's independence and its ability to achieve its macroeconomic and financial stability goals.
- Federal Role in U.S. Campaigns and Elections: An Overview
- This report provides a resource for understanding the current campaigns and elections regulatory structure. It addresses those areas of law and public policy that most directly and routinely affect American campaigns and elections: campaign finance; election administration; election security; redistricting; qualifications and contested elections; and voting rights.
- Financial Deregulation: Current Status and Legislative Issues
- This report reviews deregulation to date and its effects on financial markets. Current policy issues are also identified.
- Financial Market Supervision: Canada's Perspective
- This report presents an overview of Canada's financial system and its supervisory framework and draws some distinctions between that system and the current U.S. framework.
- Financial Market Supervision: European Perspectives
- This report addresses the European perspectives on a number of proposals that are being advanced for financial oversight and regulation in Europe. The European experience may be instructive because financial markets in Europe are well developed, European firms often are competitors of U.S. firms, and European governments have faced severe problems of integration and consistency across the various financial structures that exist in Europe.
- Fiscal Year 2005 Homeland Security Grant Program: State Allocations and Issues for Congressional Oversight
- No Description Available.
- Foreign Direct Investment in the U.S.: Staging a Comeback?
- After four years of decline, foreign direct investment in the United States showed sharp gains in 1993 and 1994. Japan remained the largest foreign direct investor in the U.S. economy in 1993, despite a sharp slow down in investments by Japanese firms compared with British firms, the second largest direct investors. The overall foreign direct investment position in U.S. businessesand real estate - or the accumulated book value of all foreign investments - increased by $20 billion in 1993, nearly three times faster than the amount recorded in 1992. Preliminary data indicate that foreigners' investments could surpass $30 billion in 1994. Economists generally believe that foreign direct investment yields positive net benefits to both the recipient and the investing countries. For some American firms, foreign investments have been especially beneficial, because they supplied the firms with funds during times when many U.S. commercial banks were unwilling to finance them.
- Foreign Investment, CFIUS, and Homeland Security: An Overview
- This report gives a brief overview of P.L. 110-49, the Foreign Investment and National Security Act of 2007. Although both the President and Congress are directly involved in formulating the scope and direction of U.S. foreign investment policy, this law broadens Congress's oversight role; it also explicitly includes the areas of homeland security and critical infrastructure as separately-identifiable components of national security that the President must consider when evaluating the national security implications of a foreign investment transaction.
- Foreign Ownership of U.S. Financial Assets: Implications of a Withdrawal
- This report provides an overview of the role foreign investment plays in the U.S. economy. It also includes an assessment of possible actions a foreign investor or a group of foreign investors might choose to take to liquidate their investments in the United States.
- Frequently Asked Questions about IMF Involvement in the Eurozone Debt Crisis
- On May 2, 2010, the Eurozone member states and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) announced an unprecedented €110 billion (about $145 billion) financial assistance package for Greece. The following week, on May 9, 2010, EU leaders announced that they would make an additional €500 billion (about $636 billion) in financial assistance available to vulnerable European countries, and suggested that the IMF could contribute up to an additional €220 billion to €250 billion (about $280 billion to $318 billion). This report answers frequently asked questions about IMF involvement in the Eurozone debt crisis.
- The Global Financial Crisis: Analysis and Policy Implications
- This report provides a historical account and analysis of the crisis through January 2010. While business contraction appears to have abated, unemployment is shown to be on the rise and many businesses and countries are still facing difficulties.
- The Global Financial Crisis: Lessons from Japan's Lost Decade of the 1990s
- This report reviews the major actions by the Japanese government in dealing with its financial crisis and highlights some of the lessons learned from their experience in the 1990s.
- Is the U.S. Trade Deficit Caused by a Global Saving Glut?
- This report discusses the concern about the size of the current U.S. account deficit, popularly known as the trade deficit. Also compares and analyzes the conventional view with the global saving glut view.
- "Living Wills": The Legal Regime for Constructing Resolution Plans for Certain Financial Institutions
- One of the chief objectives of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (DFA) is to promote financial stability within the United States, without the need for emergency governmental assistance to troubled firms. To achieve this goal, the DFA establishes a heightened regulatory regime for certain, generally large "covered financial institutions." A pillar of this heightened regulatory regime is that each covered financial institution must submit "credible" plans to the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (FRB) and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) detailing how the firm could be quickly resolved in an orderly fashion under the U.S. Bankruptcy Code or other applicable insolvency regime "in the event of a material financial distress or failure." These resolution plans are commonly referred to as "living wills." This report reviews the legal structure of the DFA's living will requirements, pursuant to both DFA Section 165(d) and the regulations and guidance issued jointly by the FRB and FDIC, and explains the August 2014 joint announcement of the FRB and FDIC regarding the inadequacies of the 2013 living wills filed by the 11 largest, most complex financial institutions in the country. This report also examines some of the steps that these institutions might voluntarily take.
- Multilateral Development Banks: General Capital Increases
- This report shows in tabular form how much the Administration has requested and how much Congress has appropriated for U.S. payments to the multilateral development banks (MDBs) since 2000. It also provides a brief description of the MDBs and the ways they fund their operations.
- Reforming the Regulation of Government-Sponsored Enterprises in the 110th Congress
- This report provides background on the government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs), discusses reform issues, and summarizes the provisions of House- and Senate-passed versions of H.R. 3221.
- The Role of Risk Analysis and Risk Management in Environmental Protection
- No Description Available.
- Securities Fees and SEC Pay Parity
- No Description Available.
- Selected Economic Topics of Interest to Congress
- This report contains brief surveys on a number of economic topics of interest to Congress.
- Social Security: Calculation and History of Taxing Benefits
- This report discusses the calculations that go into taxing Social Security benefits, which prior to 1984 were exempt from taxation but have since been taxed at gradually increasing levels.
- Social Security Reform
- No Description Available.
- Social Security Reform
- No Description Available.
- Social Security: Taxation of Benefits
- No Description Available.
- The State of Campaign Finance Policy: Recent Developments and Issues for Congress
- This report discusses selected litigation to demonstrate how those events have changed the campaign finance landscape and affected the policy issues that may confront Congress, but it is not a constitutional or legal analysis. Campaign finance data appears throughout the report.
- Structure and Functions of the Federal Reserve System
- This report examines the structure and operations of the major components of the Federal Reserve System and provides an overview of congressional oversight activities. In addition, the report discusses the provisions of one of the pending pieces of legislation (S. 3217, the Restoring American Financial Stability Act of 2010) that would affect the structure and operations of the System.
- The Target and Other Financial Data Breaches: Frequently Asked Questions
- This report answers some frequently asked questions about the Target and selected other data breaches, including what is known to have happened in the breach, and what costs may result. It also examines some of the broader issues common to data breaches, including how the payment system works, how cybersecurity costs are shared and allocated within the payment system, who bears the losses in such breaches more generally, what emerging cybersecurity technologies may help prevent them, and what role the government could play in encouraging their adoption. The report addresses policy issues that were discussed in the 113th Congress to deal with these issues.
- Terrorism Risk Insurance: Issue Analysis and Overview of Current Program
- This report looks at the background and current Congressional status of the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act of 2002.
- Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP): Implementation and Status
- The Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) was created by the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act1 (EESA) enacted on October 3, 2008, to address the ongoing financial crisis. This report provides a brief outline of the programs created under TARP, recent changes made by Congress, and a summary of the current status and estimated costs of the program. It also provides an Appendix that contains detailed discussions of the individual TARP programs. This report will be updated as warranted by market and legislative events.
- The United States as a Net Debtor Nation: Overview of the International Investment Position
- This report looks at international investing patterns and impacts, and ends with considerations on this topic for Congress.
- Veterans' Benefits: Current Life Insurance Programs
- Report providing information on the current Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) life insurance programs available for servicemembers and veterans, management and administration issues, and associated policy issues and legislation.