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open access

Aquaculture and the Federal Role

Description: Aquaculture is broadly defined as the production of fish, shellfish, and aquatic plants in a controlled environment. This report discusses the growth of U.S. aquaculture in the decade preceding 1993, and the subsequent debate about what role, if any, the Federal Government should play in supporting the industry. Relevant legislation and policies are also discussed.
Date: September 9, 1993
Creator: Buck, Eugene H. & Becker, Geoffrey S.
open access

Ethanol and Clean Air: The "Reg-Neg" Controversy and Subsequent Events

Description: The Clean Air Act Amendments (CAAA), enacted in 1990, called for cleaner automotive fuels in order to upgrade air quality. This appeared to provide new market potential for ethanol, which is obtained from corn grown in the midwestern United States, and which is already in large-scale use in a blend of ten percent ethanol to ninety percent gasoline. The CAAA left specific details of the clean fuels program to be worked out by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), in consultation with the in… more
Date: June 22, 1993
Creator: Segal, Migdon
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The Steel Jaw Leghold Trap: Issues and Concerns

Description: Steel jaw leghold traps are used in 47 States in the United States to capture furbearing animals (Florida and Rhode Island have prohibited use except with special permit for nuisance animals, and New Jersey has banned all uses). In addition to use by the fur industry, these traps are employed by State agencies in game management (e.g., to control predators and diseases). The leghold trap issue pits animal welfare groups opposed to the pain and suffering of trapped animals against supporters of … more
Date: March 29, 1993
Creator: Corn, M. Lynne
open access

Mexican Spotted Owls: Federal Protection

Description: Mexican spotted owls (MSOs) have the largest geographic distribution of the three spotted owl subspecies, with most occurring on National Forest lands in Arizona and New Mexico. Habitat loss and modification due to logging and fire prompted the Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) to list MSOs as a threatened species in March 1993. As required in Section 7 of the Endangered Species Act (ESA), the U.S. Forest Service (FS) is consulting with the FWS on 125 timber sales proposed for the region. These c… more
Date: June 30, 1993
Creator: Heck, Jennifer A.
open access

Mexican Wolf: Federal Protection

Description: Mexican wolves were extirpated from the United States by the 1940s as part of the Predatory Animal and Rodent Control program (PARC); wild wolves are believed to exist in secluded areas in Mexico. Listed on the endangered species list in 1967, Mexican wolves exist in the United States only in captivity. The Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) is currently developing plans to reintroduce the wolves into their historic habitat. The plans are controversial, and the species' conservation may be debated… more
Date: October 21, 1993
Creator: Corn, M. Lynne
open access

Excise Tax Financing of Federal Trust Funds

Description: Dedicated excise taxes finance only a small number of the many activities undertaken by the Federal Government. The fourteen trust funds and special funds currently financed by excise taxes can be grouped under four programmatic purposes: nature conservation and recreation, transportation, environmental cleanup, and health damage compensation. In close parallel, the products currently subject to taxation on behalf of trust and special funds can be classified under the categories of hunting and … more
Date: January 5, 1993
Creator: Noto, Nonna A. & Talley, Louis Alan
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U.S. Living Standards Compared to Those of Six Other Industrialized Nations

Description: Sluggish U.S. economic growth over the past few years has raised concern in the United States over the state of U.S. "living standards." The focus of this concern is often centered on the position of U.S. "living standards" compared with those of other industrialized nations. However, there is no clear and precise definition of the standard of living concept, especially one that allows for international comparisons. This report analyzes the standard of living concept within an economic framewor… more
Date: March 2, 1993
Creator: Morrison, Wayne M.
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Instances of Use of United States Forces Abroad, 1798-1993

Description: This report lists 234 instances in which the United States has used its armed forces abroad in situations of conflict or potential conflict or for other than normal peacetime purposes. It brings up to date a 1989 list that was compiled in part from various older lists and is intended primarily to provide a rough sketch survey of past U.S. military ventures abroad. A detailed description and analysis are not undertaken here.
Date: October 7, 1993
Creator: Collier, Ellen C.
open access

Japan's Sea Shipment of Plutonium

Description: Japan's sea shipment of a ton of plutonium from France to Japan on Nov. 7, 1992, faced strong public opposition, as did a previous one in 1984, from various public interest groups, independent analysts, and Members of Congress. The shipment arrived safely in Tokyo Jan. 4, 1993. Several more shipments at intervals of about 3 years are expected. While the plutonium is owned by Japanese utilities, it was produced from uranium enriched in the United States and supplied under a U.S.-Japan agreement … more
Date: January 15, 1993
Creator: Donnelly, Warren H. & Davis, Zachary S.
open access

NAFTA: A Broad Economic Perspective

Description: Most economists believe that the main economic benefit of NAFTA will be that, over time, it will increase productivity and incomes in the United States, Mexico and Canada. In this view, living standards of all three countries will be higher than without a NAFTA. In the near term, some reallocation of resources will occur within each country, generating gains for some producers and costs for others. New industries emerge, some industries expand, some contract, and some die. Since the Mexican and… more
Date: November 9, 1993
Creator: Wilson, Arlene
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A Directory of Some Interest Groups and Governmental Organizations Concerned With National Environmental Policies

Description: This report briefly describes selected associations that have demonstrated strong and continuous interest in environmental protection policies of the United States. It provides background information on some of the active participants in national policy discussions. The set of organizations abstracted for this report is not comprehensive; many groups necessarily have been omitted, often because they failed to respond to our request for information. An attempt was made to balance divergent polit… more
Date: September 21, 1993
Creator: Schierow, Linda-Jo
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The Trade and Development Agency

Description: Congressional interest linking foreign aid more directly with commercial interests has grown in recent years as the U.S. budget becomes increasingly strained, constituent support for foreign aid dwindles, and U.S. industries seek Federal assistance. The Trade and Development Agency is one of several Government agencies involved in "aid for trade"--programs that combine development assistance and export promotion.
Date: August 5, 1993
Creator: Epstein, Susan B.
open access

Foreign Direct Investment in the U.S.: Japan as Number One

Description: Japan emerged as the largest foreign direct investor in the U.S. economy in 1992, despite a sharp drop in the total value and number of U.S. businesses acquired and established by foreign investors. This change in Japan's status was spurred by a slight increase in investment spending by Japanese investors combined with a decrease in the British investment position. The foreign direct investment position in U.S. businesses and real estate - or the accumulated book value of all foreign investment… more
Date: August 2, 1993
Creator: Jackson, James K.
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Mixing Banking and Commerce Using Federal Deposit Insurance: Industrial Banks and Nonbank Banks

Description: Despite explicit Federal legislation forbidding combining commercial banking with commerce, it remains possible through corporate ownership to combine two kinds of banks with nonbanking activities. Federal legislation does permit combinations that have the effect of allowing some commingling, as is shown below. Continuing efforts to encourage these mixtures may be patterned on industrial banks or nonbank banks, whose operations are favorable for owners such as insurance, securities, or industri… more
Date: August 26, 1993
Creator: Jackson, William D.
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The Delaney Dilemma: Regulating Pesticide Residues in Foods -- Seminar Proceedings, March 16, 1993

Description: A provision in the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, the Delaney Clause, appears to lower risks in the setting of tolerances for pesticide residues. It prohibits any substance from being added to processed foods if it induces cancer in man or animals. In reality, the provision created a dilemma because the zero-risk statute makes it difficult to regulate pesticides. Because of the prescription of Delaney, tolerances (legal limits) are established differently for carcinogens and non-carcinog… more
Date: May 19, 1993
Creator: Vogt, Donna U.
open access

Foreign Assistance and Commercial Interests: The Aid for Trade Debate

Description: With the end of the Cold War and of a period during which foreign assistance was motivated frequently by East-West security and political considerations, a debate has emerged over setting a new foreign aid rationale. The debate has included calls advocating a much more direct use of America foreign assistance to support U.S. commercial interests, especially for programs administered by the Agency for International Development (AID). Proponents assert that the active promotion of the U.S. trade … more
Date: May 24, 1993
Creator: Tarnoff, Curt & Nowels, Larry
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Japanese Lobbying and U.S. Automobile Policy

Description: This report surveys U.S. automobile policy in the 1980s in order to clarify the effects of foreign lobbying. The conclusion is that the success of Japanese and other foreign lobbying on automobile policy has been mixed. Some decisions have gone their way; others have not. Their success is partly because they have aligned their efforts with those of powerful domestic interests.
Date: February 19, 1993
Creator: Nanto, Dick K.
open access

Russian-Japanese Impasse and Its Implications

Description: Relations between Russia and Japan are seriously strained. At the heart of the impasse is a territorial dispute over a group of islands seized by the Soviet Union in 1945 and claimed by both countries. The Japanese Government maintains that there can be no normalization of relations between the two countries until Russia agrees to return the islands. Japan may refuse to participate in large-scale economic assistance to Russia until it is satisfied on the territorial question.
Date: March 10, 1993
Creator: Goldman, Stuart D.
open access

Japan-U.S. Relations: Policy Issues for the Clinton Administration and the 103rd Congress

Description: The Clinton Administration and the 103rd Congress are in the early stages of a major review of U.S. trade, international and security relations with Japan, the principal U.S. ally and trading partner in Asia. A number of recent developments have raised tensions in this mutually beneficial relationship, which is still characterized by deepening economic interdependence and close political and security cooperation. These include the end of the Cold War, which has eliminated a common military thre… more
Date: April 29, 1993
Creator: Cronin, Richard P.
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Japan's Foreign Aid

Description: Japan has quickly risen to prominence as a donor of official development assistance (ODA), providing volumes of aid on par with the United States since the late 1980s. Originally a tool to bolster Japan's postwar economic recovery, Japanese aid has gradually assumed importance as a foreign policy tool. Faced with increased pressure from the international community to play a greater role in meeting global challenges and lacking the military and diplomatic resources of other nations, Japan has in… more
Date: May 5, 1993
Creator: Hankes, Nancy J
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Japanese Officials' View of Relations with the Clinton Administration, May-June 1993

Description: Japanese officials interviewed for this project in May-early June 1993 were generally sanguine about relations with the United States at the start of the Clinton Administration, but the Administrations's strong emphasis on U.S.- Japan trade issues in recent months deepened their pessimism over the near term prospects of U.S.-Japan relations. They were uncertain whether U.S.- Japanese talks on trade issues prior to the Clinton-Miyazawa summit of July 1993 would reflect a basic change in U.S. tra… more
Date: June 14, 1993
Creator: Sutter, Robert G.
open access

Asia's Reaction to NAFTA

Description: NAFTA raises potential economic and political issues for U.S. relations with Asian countries for whom the agreement presents uncertainties regarding the future of their market opportunities in North America. As countries not associated with a preferential trading arrangement of their own, Asian countries are concerned that a trend toward regional trade agreements may affect the capacity of multilateral institutions to protect their global trading interests. This report examines Asian perception… more
Date: June 30, 1993
Creator: Hamilton, Nancy J
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