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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
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

Japan-U.S. Relations: U.S. Officials' Attitudes on the Eve of the Clinton Administration

Description: The U.S. officials interviewed for this study see little chance of an immediate improvement in U.S. relations with Japan over the next year. Trends in the United States and Japan in recent years have led to deepening U.S. frustrations, especially over economic issues. These developments have combined with fundamental changes (notably the collapse of the USSR) affecting U.S.-Japanese political-military ties to lead many U.S. officials to question the allocation of costs and benefits in the U.S.-… more
Date: January 19, 1993
Creator: Sutter, Robert G.
open access

Japanese-U.S. Trade Relations: Cooperation or Confrontation?

Description: With Japan the United States has had one of its most important and most difficult trading relationships. Japan ranks second to Canada as the largest U.S. export market. It is also the second largest single source of imports to the United States. Trade issues are likely to become even more important as the whole U.S.-Japanese relationship changes in the post-Cold War period. How each country views and reacts to the other is changing as economic issues replace foreign policy and national security… more
Date: February 2, 1993
Creator: Cooper, William H.
open access

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

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.
open access

The Endangered Species Act and Private Property

Description: If the 103rd Congress embarks upon an effort to reauthorize the Endangered Species Act (ESA), it will run into an old acquaintance: the property rights issue. As now written, the ESA has at least the potential to curtail property rights (whatever its actual impact as implemented may be). This report explores the legal repercussions of those impacts, especially whether they constitute takings of property under the fifth amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
Date: March 7, 1993
Creator: Meltz, Robert
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. Trade: The Structural Impediments Initiative

Description: On May 25, 1989, President Bush proposed that the United States undertake the Structural Impediments Initiative (SII), a series of discussions with Japan to address certain fundamental Japanese economic policies and business practices that the United States claims impede U.S. exports and investments. The SII was, in part, a Bush Administration response to the stubborn U.S. trade deficit and other problems that have caused friction in the U.S. trading relationship with Japan. It was also … more
Date: March 15, 1993
Creator: Cooper, William H.
open access

Plant Closings, Mass Layoffs, and Worker Dislocations: Data Issues

Description: For at least 15 years Members of Congress have continued to ask: How many U.S. manufacturing plants have closed? For at least 15 years they have continued to ask: How many U.S. manufacturing plants have relocated abroad, and where have they gone? For at least 15 years the answer has been: For the most part, those questions can't be answered, based on Government data. How many plants are moving to Mexico? What industries and what States are the plants from? How many U.S. workers are losing their… more
Date: March 29, 1993
Creator: Bolle, Mary Jane
open access

President Bush's Judicial Nominations During the 101st and 102nd Congresses

Description: There are ten categories of courts (including the local courts of the District of Columbia) to which the President nominates judges. The report provides background and statistics concerning President Bush's judicial nominations in each court category as well as actions taken on those nominations by the United States Senate. Each of the report's ten sections discusses the composition and jurisdiction of the court in question and notes the committee to which nominations to this court were referr… more
Date: March 29, 1993
Creator: Rutkus, Denis Steven
open access

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

Biotechnology, Indigenous Peoples, and Intellectual Property Rights

Description: This report examines intellectual property right in pharmaceuticals in a particular context, namely, medicinal products and processes derived from the biodiversity resources of areas inhabited by indigenous peoples. This report discusses the international law regarding intellectual property rights in traditional knowledge and the American laws regarding traditional knowledge.
Date: April 16, 1993
Creator: Axt, Josephie R.; Corn, M. Lynne; Lee, Margaret Mikyung & Ackerman, David M.
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.
open access

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
open access

Global Climate Change

Description: This report details the information related to Global Climate Change. The contents include the Greenhouse effect and Global warming, Greenhouse gases, international action, and Congressional interest and activities.
Date: May 10, 1993
Creator: Justus, John R. & Morrissey, Wayne A.
open access

U.S.-Japanese Trade: The Semiconductor Arrangement

Description: On June 4, 1991, the United States and Japan agreed to a five-year arrangement to open Japan,s market to U.S.-origin semiconductor devices, replacing a 1986 agreement that was due to expire. Unlike other U.S.-Japanese trade agreement, the U.S.-Japanese Semiconductor Arrangement stipulates a quantifiable objective (20 percent of the Japanese market for foreign-produced semiconductors). It is often identified by those who want the United States to undertake a "results-oriented" trade policy towar… more
Date: May 13, 1993
Creator: Cooper, William H.
open access

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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