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- Legal Analysis of President Reagan's Proposed Constitutional Amendment on School Prayer
- Congressional Research Service (CRS) report for Congress entailing a legal analysis of President Reagan's proposed constitutional amendment on school prayers. Topics include, interpretation of the first amendment, prayer activities in schools, supreme court decisions etc..
- Prayer and Religion in the Public Schools: What Is, and Is Not, Permitted
- Few areas of constitutional law have proven to be as controversial and as subject to misinterpretation as that concerning the constitutionality of government-sponsored religious activities in public schools. In the last three decades the Supreme Court in five decisions and the State arid lower Federal courts in dozens of related decisions have attempted to articulate the 1 / meaning of the religion clauses of the First ~mendment- for a variety of such activities, including State-sponsored prayer, Bible reading, and religious teaching. Notwithstanding continuing political controversy over many of these decisions, they provide a fairly consistent interpretation and application of the First Amendment.
- Supreme Court: Church-State Cases, October 1983 Term
- This report provides an assessment of Supreme Court cases from the 1983-85 Term that involve issues involving the free exercise of religion. It provides a detailed review of the case Lynch v. Donnelly, and brief descriptions of twelve other cases that have not been reviewed.
- Japan: Prospects for Greater Market Openness
- Japan has made considerable progress in opening its economy to imports, but significant obstacles remain. This report analyzes the underlying causes of Japan's market protection and assesses the prospects for Japan moving in the direction of greater market openness.
- Conrail Sale: Labor Aspects
- This report presents the issues discussed by Congress in regard to Conrail’s sale. In examining the issues in Conrail's sale, Congress most likely will consider the welfare of Conrail employees as affected by the terms and conditions of the sale. Should negotiations on labor conditions with the final bidder fail, Congress might be asked to include labor conditions as part of any legislation related to the sale of Conrail.
- Pay Equity - The Comparable Worth Issue: Equal Pay for Work of Equal Value; By What Standards and By What Means?
- This report discusses the term comparable worth issue, a "theory that jobs dominated by women may be valued less not because of skills required or job content, but because they are "women's jobs (page 1)." The report analyzes historical events and lawsuits that relate to the issue of comparable worth in the workforce.
- Ethylene Dibromide: Regulatory Background
- Much attention has recently been focused on the chemical ethylene dibromide (EDB). This chemical has been widely used in leaded gasoline, and has also been used to treat grains, citrus and other crops. It has been found in foods and in groundwater. This paper examines the possible health effects of exposure to EDB, as well as its regulation. The possible health effects and regulation of various chemical and physical alternatives to EDB are also examined. This paper concludes with some policy considerations pertinent to EDB.
- Pesticides Regulation: Current Issues
- No Description Available.
- Predator Control and Compound 1080
- This reports explains how Compound 1080 was used before 1972, to kill coyotes which hunt on sheep. But this also killed many other non-targeted wildlife. So, the Environmental Protection Agency ( EPA) cancelled the registration predator toxicants which led to even more sheep deaths. During 97th Congress, EPA decided to reevaluate the sue of Compound 1080 with a possibility of re-registering it for the usage. A judge suggested them for the suspension of this poison, and it's finally approved by the EPA on October 31, 1983.
- The Changing World of Financial Intermediaries and Related Institutions: Survey of Major Developments and Their Implications for Public Policy
- Inflation, high and variable interest rates, and new electronic technology have had a profound impact on financial institutions throughout the world. This report surveys how the various kinds of financial institutions in the United States have been affected by these developments, how they have reacted, what major legislative action has been taken, and what policy issues remain.
- Congressional Ethics in the 98th Congress
- This report describes Congressional Ethics in the 98th Congress.
- Women in the United States Congress
- This report identifies women who have served as U.S. Senators or Representatives. It notes their party affiliation, the States they have represented, the dates of their appointment or election, the length of their service, their committee assignments, and their service in committee chairmanships.
- An Economic Analysis and Brief Legislative Overview of Usury Ceilings
- This report gives an economic analysis of usury ceilings, laws which set the maximum legal rate of interest to be charged on particular types of loans. It provides a brief overview of recent Federal l e g i s l a t i o n dealing with usury, with special emphasis on the Federal authorities mandated by P.L. 96-221, and the effectiveness of Federal preemption of State usury laws.
- Acid Rain: Does it Contribute to Forest Decline?
- This minibrief describes the major hypothesis explaining why acid rain may be contributing to forest decline, along with the major arguments against this hypothesis. For additional information on acid rain and current legislation for pollutant emissions controls, see IB83016 -- Acid Rain: Current Issues, and IB83005 -- Clean Air Act: An Overview.
- Sport Hunting in Alaska
- This report describes the legislated that's been suggested during the 98th Congress to move considerable Alaskan acreage from National park and Monument appointment to National Preserve status, through which hunting and trapping rules on these lands would be eased.
- Black and Hispanic Federal Judges: 1900 to Present
- This report shows that in recent years, attention has increasingly focused upon the minority composition of the Federal judiciary, in apparent response to concerns that judges appointed to the Federal bench should more compositely reflect the U.S. population they serve. Two of the larger U.S. subpopulations served by the Federal judiciary are blacks and Hispanics. Accordingly, this mini brief lists chronologically and cumulatively the appointments of blacks and Hispanics to the Federal bench, which includes the U.S.Supreme Court, Circuit Courts of Appeals, and District courts.
- Parental Notification for Family Planning Services: Title X Regulations
- No Description Available.
- Energy and The 98th Congress: Overview
- This report is about perceptions of national energy problem
- Ethiopian Food Situation: International Response
- The United States has donated the largest share of the world-wide relief effort. Members of Congress nave passed legislation, the African Famine Relief and Recovery Act of 1985 (2.L. 99-8), authorizing emergency relief assistance to Ethiopia and other famine-stricken countries. Some observers favor trying to remove restrictions that prohibit long-term agricultural development assistance and other forms of economic aid to Ethiopia, but many continue to believe that aid to this Marxist-oriented nation should be limited to humanitarian relief. The Ethiopian food situation will probably remain a central issue among U.S. lawmakers and relief officials during the 99th Congress.
- Basic Reference Sources For Use by Congressional Offices: An Annotated Selection of Publications and Services
- This is an annotated guide to publications and other sources of information useful to Members of Congress and their staffs, covering congressional office management, the organization and operation of Congress, legislative responsibilities, services to constituents, and other duties of Congress.
- The General Motors-Toyota Joint Venture and Its Competitive Implications
- This report reviews the economics of joint ventures by focusing on their implication for market competition. It also reviews the legislative history of mergers and joint ventures with special emphasis on aspects of the law that are directed at reducing market concentration.
- Compendium of Precedents Involving Evidentiary Rulings and Applications of Evidentiary Principles from Selected Impeachment Trials
- At the present time, there are no binding rules of evidence or set of evidentiary principles to be applied in Senate impeachment trials. Rather, recourse is taken to the evidentiary rules and principles applicable in contemporaneous court proceedings and to precedents from past impeachment trial to provide guidance for Senate Impeachment Trial Committees or for the full Senate on evidentiary questions which arise in the impeachment context. This report compiles evidentiary precedents from the Senate impeachment trials of Judges Harry E. Claiborne, Halsted Ritter, Harold Louderback, and Charles Swayne. The evidentiary rulings and principles gleaned from this examination are arranged in subject matter categories, and within those categories, in reverse chronological order by trial.
- Urban Development Action Grants For Pockets Of Poverty Issue Brief Number IB79083
- This report discusses the urban development report on the issue of extending the urban development actions grant program to "pockets of poverty"--distressed neighborhoods in generally healthy cities.
- Federal Information Management Policy: Critical Directions. 1980
- This report is designed to provide an overview of a wide range of problems associated with Federal information management policy.
- Genocide Convention
- The Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide has been a matter of pending business before the Senate since its transmittal to that body in 1949. On May 21, 1985, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee recommended that the Senate give its advice and consent to ratification of the Convention subject to eight conditions: two reservations, five understandings, and one declaration. This report examines the differing opinions on whether and under what conditions the Senate should approve ratification of the Genocide Convention.
- Human Rights and U.S. Foreign Policy
- Following a review of such broad policy issues, this report treats specific human rights issues of current interest. Discussions of controversy over the selection of an Assistant Secretary of State for Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs and of human rights policy at the international financial institutions are followed by reviews of U.S. human rights policy toward Argentina, El Salvador, Nicaragua, South Africa, and the Soviet Union.
- Human Rights in U.S. Foreign Relations: Six Key Questions in the Continuing Policy Debate
- This report provides background information and a general overview of the role of human rights in U.S. foreign policy. It includes a discussion of some traditional arguments about how international human rights concerns might be integrated with other foreign policy factors. It also includes a discussion of the definition of human rights, of U.S. international obligations to promote human rights, and the apparatus and procedures available to the U.S. Government for implementing human rights policy. Particular attention is paid to congressional actions, not only in debating and holding hearings on human rights issues, but especially in enacting laws to assure that U.S. foreign policy formulation and practice include consideration of the status of human rights in other countries.
- Environmental Protection Agency Programs: Congressional Actions
- This report details the environmental protection activities of the 96th Congress. Specifically, it reviews the three major issues which that Congress faced in regard to environmental protections: reauthorizations, oversight of regulations and their impacts on energy and the economy, and hazardous substances.
- Clean Air Act Amendments And The 97th Congress
- This report concerns the 97th Congress reviewing proposals for substantive amendments to the Clean Air Act (CAA) and the re-authorization of the CAA.
- Superconducting Super Collider
- No Description Available.
- A Glossary of Selected Telecommunications Terms
- The following glossary provides short definitions and descriptions of selected telecommunications terminology, agencies, and organizations, as well as a listing of key laws and Federal Communications Commission regulations and decisions.
- Yellow Rain and Related Issues: Implications for the United States
- The United States has charged that the Soviet Union is implicated in the use of chemical weapons in Afghanistan and of chemical and toxin weapons, including the toxin known as "Yellow Rain," in Laos and Kampuchea (Cambodia). These charges raise two significant sets of issues: First, issues surrounding the evidence that has been presented to show: (a) that such weapons have been used and (b) that the Soviet Union is implicated in this use. Second, issues connected with the implications of Soviet involvement, if proven, in chemical and toxin warfare.
- Sanctions against South Africa: Activities of the 99th Congress
- No Description Available.
- Sanctions Against South Africa: Activities of the 99th Congress
- "This paper discusses legislation proposed in the 99th Congress which imposed sanctions against South Africa and provided assistance to the victims of apartheid" (p. iii).
- South Africa: A Chronology
- No Description Available.
- South Africa: U.S. Policy After Sanctions
- No Description Available.
- South Africa: U.S. Policy After Sanctions
- No Description Available.
- Merger Tactics and Public Policy
- No Description Available.
- Enterprise Zones
- The enclosed material discusses the concept of urban enterprise zones, outlines the administration's proposals for the zones, and includes the major arguments for and against their creation. Because of considerable congressional interest in the enterprise zone concept, we have included a comparison of the major bills relating to enterprise zones introduced in the 97th Congress along with a bibliography for those who desire to research the subject in greater detail.
- Enterprise Zones as a Concept
- "Enterprise zones" as a concept originated in England in the late 1970s. The idea is to free certain specified urban areas of taxes and government regulations to encourage private business investment and create new jobs. Empirical evidence to support the concept is lacking. This paper contains a discussion of the concept of enterprise zones, without reference to any legislative proposals in the United States. Analyses of legislation will appear as prime sponsors introduce new bills.
- Enterprise Zones: The Urban Jobs and Enterprise Zone Act of 1981
- "Enterprise zones” as a concept originated in England in the late 1970s. The idea is to free specified urban areas of taxes and Government regulations to encourage private business investment and create new jobs. There is little in the way of direct empirical evidence to indicate whether and how such an approach would work. There is considerable interest in the concept, however, since other Federal urban assistance programs (such as Urban Renewal in the 1950s, Model Cities in the 1960s, and Urban Development Action Grant more recently -- since 1978) have not produced in sufficient amount the desired results in creating jobs for the unemployed in inner cities.
- The Corporate Minimum Tax: Rationale, Effects, and Issues
- This report discusses rationale, effects, and issues related to the corporate Minimum Tax.
- Cash and Non-Cash Benefits for Persons with Limited Income: Eligibility Rules, Recipient and Expenditure Data, FY1981-83
- This report summarizes basic eligibility rules, as of May 1984, for more than 70 cash and non-cash programs that benefit primarily persons of limited income. It also gives funding formulas, benefit levels, and, for fiscal years 1981-1983, recipient numbers and expenditure data for each program.
- Effects of Increases in Social Security Benefits on some other income benefits. 1980
- This report discusses the general impact of cost-of-living increases in social security benefits upon incomes of persons with earnings, cash or non-cash welfare benefits, or other retirement or social insurance payments.
- Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome and Military Manpower Policy
- This issue brief will discuss issues dealing with military manpower policy and the AIDS virus, including the level of the AIDS infection or HIV infection rates in the military; efforts to control the spread of AIDS to and among military personnel; and AIDS in the context of military personnel stationed overseas.
- Campaign Finance Reform: A Summary and Analysis of Legislative Proposals In the 98th and 99th Congresses
- This report summarizes and analyzes on a conceptual basis the 108 bills and major amendments offered in the 98th and 99th Congresses which proposed changes in the campaign finance laws governing Federal elections.
- Campaign Financing in Federal Elections: A Guide to the Law and Its Operation
- This report provides an introduction to the laws governing the financing of Federal election campaigns and presents data on campaign finance activity in the 1980’s.
- Political Action Committees: Their Evolution, Growth and Implications for the Political System
- No Description Available.
- 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.
- Casework in a Congressional Office
- This paper presents a general overview of congressional office procedures associated with handling casework, and the assistance provided by a Member of Congress to help constituents in their dealings with Federal agencies. It discusses options for assisting Member's constituents, and the role of staff and Members in providing casework services.