UNT Libraries Government Documents Department - 2,030 Matching Results

Search Results

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.
open access

Indirect Costs at Academic Institutions: Background and Controversy

Description: Federal R&D funding at academic institutions totals over $10 billion annually. About one-third pays for indirect costs or overhead; the rest supports the direct costs of conducting R&D. On May 8, 1996, OMB revised Circular A-21, governing indirect costs policies, to change the designation "indirect costs" to "facilities and administrative costs" (F&A). The Departments of Defense and of Health and Human Services negotiate to determine indirect cost rates with about 96% of U.S. and audit complian… more
Date: January 3, 1997
Creator: Knezo, Genevieve J.
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

Economic Sanctions to Achieve U.S. Foreign Policy Goals: Discussion and Guide to Current Law

Description: This report provides background on the range of actions that might be termed foreign policy sanctions and the events that might necessitate their use. Criteria are offered that legislators might consider to judge when sanctions might be appropriate, approaches that might be effective, aspects of the use of sanctions that are sometimes overlooked or not considered fully. The report provides an uncomplicated "map" of where sanctions policies and options currently lay in U. S. law.
Date: October 20, 1997
Creator: Rennack, Dianne E. & Shuey, Robert
open access

Softwood Lumber Imports: The 1996 U.S.-Canada Agreement

Description: Many U.S. lumber producers have complained that subsidies to Canadian lumber producers give them an unfair advantage in supplying the U.S. market. The dispute has evolved through various forums over the past 15 years. Recent negotiations led to an agreement on May 28 to reduce Canadian lumber exports with a tariff rate quota (i.e., a tariff on imports above the quota) probably by about 9% from record 1995 levels, leading to expectations of trade harmony (at least on this issue) for the next 5 y… more
Date: June 13, 1996
Creator: Gorte, Ross W.
open access

Cuba: Issues for Congress

Description: This report examines the economic and political situation in Cuba, including the human rights situation, and U.S. policy toward Cuba. The report also analyzes a number of issues facing Congress in U.S. policy toward Cuba, including: the overall direction of U.S. policy; challenges to U.S. policy in the World Trade Organization; restrictions on commercial food and medical exports; restrictions on travel; bilateral drug trafficking cooperation; Cuba and terrorism; funding for U.S.-government spon… more
Date: December 2, 1996
Creator: Sullivan, Mark P.
open access

China's Changing Conditions

Description: Congressional interest in the leadership change and economic transformation underway in China has grown substantially over the past few years. Leading congressional concerns focus on how economic conditions in China pose opportunities for U.S. enterprise and how the evolution of conditions in China fosters U.S. security, economic, and political interests. Congressional concern with China grew in 1995 and 1996 as a result of reports of the serious decline in the health of senior Chinese leader D… more
Date: December 11, 1996
Creator: Sutter, Robert G.
open access

Agricultural Wetlands: Current Programs and Legislative Proposals

Description: Amending Federal laws to protect wetlands, especially agricultural wetlands, is a contentious issue for the 104th Congress. Critics contend that current programs are excessive in their reach and unfairly restrict private landowners. Supporters counter that these programs are critical if the Nation is to achieve the stated goal of no-net-loss of wetlands. The two major statutes under which agricultural wetlands are protected are swampbuster, enacted in the Agriculture, Food, Trade, and Conservat… more
Date: January 4, 1996
Creator: Zinn, Jeffrey A. & Copeland, Claudia
open access

China's Most-Favored-Nation Status: U.S. Wheat, Corn, and Soybean Exports

Description: On May 31, the President formally recommended a one-year extension of most-favored-nation (MFN) treatment for China. [l] MFN treatment allows China's products to enter the United States at the same low tariff rates that apply to virtually all trading partners. Supporters of MFN status for China argue, among other things, that denial of MFN status could bring retaliatory actions that would hurt U.S. agricultural exports. China has threatened to retaliate if the United States denies it MFN treatm… more
Date: June 4, 1996
Creator: Sek, Lenore
open access

Farm Disaster Assistance: USDA Programs and Recent Legislative Action

Description: Several regions of the country have experienced natural disasters this year that have significantly reduced farm income for affected producers. The U.S. Department of Agriculture administers three major, permanently authorized programs to help mitigate the financial effects of natural disasters -- federal crop insurance, emergency disaster loans, and a noninsured assistance program. Some disaster programs are also available to help livestock producers rebuild herds or purchase feed when a disas… more
Date: November 4, 1998
Creator: Chite, Ralph M.
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

Electricity Restructuring: Comparison of S.1401, H.R. 655, H.R. 1230, S. 722, H.R. 1960, and S. 2287

Description: Once considered the nation's most regulated industry, the electric utility industry is evolving into a more competitive environment. At the current time, the focus of this development is the generating sector, where the advent of new generating technologies, such as gas-fired combined cycle, has lowered both entry barriers to competitors of traditional utilities and lowered the marginal costs of those competitors below those of some traditional utilities. This technological advance has been com… more
Date: July 16, 1998
Creator: Parker, Larry
open access

Transportation Fuel Taxes, Legislative Issues, and the Transportation Equity Act

Description: In reauthorizing federal surface transportation programs this year (P .L 105-178), Congress has modified the attributes of some of the transportation fuel excise taxes that fluid. those programs and others. Since the federal government first started taxing transportation fuels, the issue of how the revenues should be used has played a major role in determining whether and which transportation fuels should be taxed; and by how much. Congress changed several aspects of transportation fuel taxatio… more
Date: June 17, 1998
Creator: Gelb, Bernard A.
open access

Energy Efficiency: Key to Sustainable Energy Use

Description: This report includes the debate in the 105th Congress over the funding and direction of energy efficiency programs involves the FY1999 spending request, the Administration's Climate Change Technology Initiative (CCTI), and proposals for restructuring the electricity industry.
Date: November 27, 1998
Creator: Sissine, Fred
open access

The Property Rights Implementation Act of 1998

Description: On July 7, 1998, Senator Hatch introduced S. 2271, the "Property Rights Implementation Act of 1998." The bill appears to be the likely replacement on the Senate floor for H.R. 1534 as reported by the Senate Committee on the Judiciary. S. 2271 retains the basic "process" approach of its predecessor, but makes numerous changes. Among these are a restriction of H.R. 1534's takings-ripeness provisions to real property rather than all types of property, a new definition of "futility," different rest… more
Date: July 10, 1998
Creator: Meltz, Robert
open access

Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument

Description: This report discusses controversial issues regarding the creation of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in Utah. Issues include the President's use of the Antiquities Act of 1906 to create the Monument; the Monument's general effect on land uses; the implications for development of minerals and school trust lands; and the bearing on the designation of wilderness.
Date: December 21, 1998
Creator: Hardy-Vincent, Carol
open access

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.
open access

Fast-Track Trade Negotiating Authority: A Comparison of 105th Congress Legislative Proposals

Description: This report provides a side-by-side comparison of H.R. 2621 and S. 2400, as reported, 105th Congress bills that would provide the President with trade negotiating authority and accord certain resulting agreements and implementing bills expedited -- or "fast-track" -- legislative consideration.
Date: September 15, 1998
Creator: Grimmett, Jeanne J.
open access

Privileged Business on the House Floor

Description: Privileged business is the legislative business of the House that Members have a right to call up for consideration on the floor when the House is not engaged in considering some other matter. Privileged business consists of various kinds of bills, resolutions, and other matters
Date: March 30, 1998
Creator: Bach, Stanley
open access

The Tobacco Settlement: Issues

Description: Since 1994, 41 states and Puerto Rico have sued the tobacco industry to recover the medical costs of treating smokers. On June 20, 1997, a group of state attorneys general and industry lawyers announced that they had reached a settlement that would protect the tobacco companies from civil liability in return for annual industry payments of $365.5 billion over 25 years to reimburse states for their tobacco-related medical costs, and pay for tobacco control programs to reduce tobacco use among te… more
Date: October 16, 1998
Creator: Redhead, C. Stephen
Back to Top of Screen