Congressional Research Service Reports - 9 Matching Results
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- Afghanistan: Elections, Constitution, and Government
- This report discusses the political situation in Afghanistan, more specifically it discusses the recent elections, newly formed constitution and the elected government.
- A Balanced Budget Constitutional Amendment: Background and Congressional Options
- One of the most persistent political issues facing Congress in recent decades is whether to require that the budget of the United States be in balance. Although a balanced federal budget has long been held as a political ideal, the accumulation of large deficits in recent years has heightened concern that some action to require a balance between revenues and expenditures may be necessary. This report provides an overview of the issues and options that have been raised during prior consideration of proposals for a balanced budget constitutional amendment.
- Amendment Process in the Committee of the Whole
- This report describes the amendment process in the Committee of the Whole, including reading, debating, amendment trees, and voting.
- Constitutional Constraints on Congress' Ability to Protect the Environment
- Federal protection of the environment must hew to the same constitutional strictures as any other federal actions. In the past decade, however, the Supreme Court has invigorated several of these strictures in ways that present new challenges to congressional drafters of environmental statutes. This report reviews six of these newly emergent constitutional areas, with special attention to their significance for current and future environmental legislation.
- Amendment Process in the Committee of the Whole
- This report describes the amendment process in the Committee of the Whole, including reading for an amendment, debating, amendment trees, and voting.
- Freedom of Speech and Press: Exceptions to the First Amendment
- This report provides an overview of the major exceptions to the First Amendment--of the ways that the Supreme Court has interpreted the guarantee of freedom of speech and press to provide no protection or only limited protection for some types of speech.
- The European Union's Reform Process: The Lisbon Treaty
- This report provides information on the Lisbon Treaty and possible U.S.-EU implications that may be of interest to the 112th Congress.
- Constitutional Conventions: Political and Legal Questions
- This report discusses the applications that have been passed by 32 of the necessary 34 State legislatures to convene a convention to propose an amendment prohibiting abortion. Because this process for amending the Constitution has never been used, several unresolved legal and policy questions arise governing the convening and the authority of such a convention.
- Presidential Inaugurations: The Case of Inaugural Dates Falling on Sunday
- This report's purpose is to present the constitutional and historical background of the "interregnum" question and to describe the precedents established on these occasions. It discusses when the date set for the inauguration of the president has fallen on a Sunday.