Congressional Research Service Reports - 854 Matching Results

Search Results

Results: 1 - 24 next
open access

Social Security Reform: Economic Issues

Description: This report tackles the issue of Social Security reform from an economic perspective that focuses not merely on reform that achieves programmatic sustainability (sustainability within the trust fund), but reform that achieves sustainability for the government and economy as a whole. The President has indicated that Social Security reform will be a major issue in the 109th Congress. For some time comprehensive reform has been an issue of debate in Congress, but no major action has occurred.
Date: December 3, 2004
Creator: Gravelle, Jane & Labonte, Marc
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Clean Air Act: A Summary of the Act and Its Major Requirements

Description: This report summarizes the Clean Air Act and its major regulatory requirements. It describes the Act's major provisions and provides tables listing all major amendments, with the year of enactment and Public Law number, and crossreferencing sections of the Act with the major U.S. Code sections of the codified statute.
Date: January 3, 2003
Creator: McCarthy, James E.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Military Base Closures: Role and Costs of Environmental Cleanup

Description: This report explains cleanup requirements for the transfer and reuse of properties on closed bases, discusses property transfer status and cleanup costs on bases closed in prior rounds, and examines estimates of costs to clean up bases to be closed in the 2005 round to make these properties safe for civilian reuse.
Date: October 3, 2006
Creator: Bearden, David M.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Exemptions from Environmental Law for the Department of Defense: Background and Issues for Congress

Description: Over time, Congress has included exemptions in several environmental statutes to ensure that requirements of those statutes would not restrict military training needs to the extent that national security would be compromised. This report discusses these exemptions and congressional disagreement over the need for broader exemptions in the absence of data on the overall impact of environmental requirements on training and readiness.
Date: January 3, 2007
Creator: Bearden, David M.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Perchlorate Contamination of Drinking Water: Regulatory Issues and Legislative Actions

Description: This report reviews perchlorate water contamination issues and developments. Concern over the potential health risks of perchlorate exposure has increased, and some states and members of Congress have urged the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to set a drinking water standard for perchlorate.
Date: February 3, 2006
Creator: Tiemann, Mary
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

U.S. National Science Foundation: An Overview

Description: This report provides an overview of developments and considerations regarding wave, tidal, and in-stream energy generation technology. It summarizes federal involvement in the regulation of this new industry and highlights current issues in the field.
Date: July 3, 2008
Creator: Matthews, Christine M.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Environmental Protection Agency: FY2007 Appropriations Highlights

Description: This report presents a table detailing EPA appropriations for FY2006 and FY2007. Among individual activities, both the full House and the Senate Appropriations Committee approved decreases and increases throughout EPA's eight appropriations accounts in their respective versions of H.R. 5386, when compared with the President's FY2007 request and the FY2006 appropriation.
Date: January 3, 2007
Creator: Bearden, David M. & Esworthy, Robert
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Free Trade Agreements: Impact on U.S. Trade and Implications for U.S. Trade Policy

Description: This report provides background on Free Trade Areas (FTAs) including: definitions of Free Trade Areas, why countries form FTAs, FTAs in the context of U.S. trade policy, Bush Administration policies and recent developments, the economic impact of FTAs, whether FTAs create trade or divert it, FTAs the the WTO, debate points related to FTAs, relevant legislation, and final conclusions and implications for Congress.
Date: January 3, 2003
Creator: Cooper, William H.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

National Integrated Ballistics Information Network (NIBIN) for Law Enforcement

Description: This report provides a brief history of how the current National Integrated Ballistics Information Network (NIBIN) system evolved and operates. It includes information about issues that may be of concern to Members and committees of the 107th Congress, such as whether expanding NIBIN to include new gun purchases could be construed as a step toward a national gun registry system. The report also summarizes bills introduced in the 107th Congress related to NIBIN.
Date: July 3, 2001
Creator: Boesman, William C. & Krouse, William J.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Gene Patents: A Brief Overview of Intellectual Property Issues

Description: This report is a brief discussion of the ethical, legal, and economic issues of gene patenting. The courts have upheld gene patents that meet the criteria of patentability defined by the Patent Act. However, the practice of awarding patents on genes has come under intense scrutiny by some scientists, legal scholars, politicians, and other experts.
Date: October 3, 2006
Creator: Schacht, Wendy H.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Amendments in Disagreement

Description: This report briefly summarizes the process of amendments between the House of Representatives and the Senate, which occurs if the House and Senate approve differing versions of a measure. The House and Senate must approve an identical version of a measure before it may be presented for the President's approval or veto. If the House and Senate approve differing versions of a measure, the differences must first be resolved.
Date: November 3, 2004
Creator: Saturno, James V.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Grants Work in a Congressional Office

Description: Report discussing grants requests for federal funds made to members of Congress by their constituents. It provides a general overview, information provided to constituents about grant funding, letters of support for grant seekers, federal assistance opportunities, proposal writing, following up on requests, announcements of grant awards, foundations and corporate grants, and additional grant-related resources.
Date: January 3, 2005
Creator: Gerli, Merete F.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Safe Drinking Water Act: Implementation and Issues

Description: This report discusses key drinking water issues in the 109th Congress, which have included problems caused by specific contaminants, such as methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE) and perchlorate, as well as the related issue of the appropriate federal role in providing financial assistance for water infrastructure projects. Congress last reauthorized the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) in 1996, and although funding authority for most SDWA programs expired in FY2003, broad reauthorization bills have… more
Date: May 3, 2006
Creator: Tiemann, Mary
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Surface Transportation: Reauthorization of TEA-21

Description: This report briefly examines the debate regarding spending levels to reauthorize federal highway, highway safety, and transit programs.
Date: January 3, 2005
Creator: Fischer, John W.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Committee Assignment Process in the U.S. Senate: Democratic and Republican Party Procedures

Description: This report focuses primarily on how Senators are elected to standing committees. It includes information about how standing committee sizes and ratios are set; the classification of committees for assignment purposes, and the chamber limitations on committee service; procedures that each party uses to recommend Senators and how the full chamber approves these recommendations; and the processes used to appoint Senators to non-standing committees.
Date: November 3, 2006
Creator: Schneider, Judy
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

War on Drugs: The National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign

Description: This report discusses the authorization of the National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign, a multi-media federal program to persuade America's youth not to use drugs, which expired at the end of FY2002. H.R. 2829 (passed by the House on March 13, 2006) and S. 2560 (reported by the Senate Judiciary Committee on May 25, 2006) would reauthorize the media campaign, along with the other programs run by the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) during FY2007.
Date: July 3, 2006
Creator: Eddy, Mark
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Medicare: Payments to Physicians

Description: This report discusses payment to physicians through Medicare, a nationwide program that offers health insurance protection for 40 million aged and disabled persons.
Date: March 3, 2003
Creator: O'Sullivan, Jennifer
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Trade Negotiations During the 109th Congress

Description: This report discusses trade issues in the 109th Congress. For over 50 years, U.S. trade officials have negotiated multilateral trade agreements to achieve lower trade barriers and rules to cover international trade. During the 108th Congress, U.S. officials negotiated and Congress approved four bilateral free-trade agreements with Australia, Chile, Morocco, and Singapore.
Date: August 3, 2005
Creator: Fergusson, Ian F. & Sek, Lenore M.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Appropriations for FY2002: U.S. Department of Agriculture and Related Agencies

Description: This report is a guide to one of the 13 regular appropriations bills that Congress passes each year. It is designed to supplement the information provided by the House and Senate Appropriations Subcommittees on Agriculture by summarizing the current legislative status of the bill, its scope, major issues, funding levels, and related legislative activity. The report also lists the key CRS staff relevant to the issues covered and related CRS products.
Date: December 3, 2001
Creator: Chite, Ralph M.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Space Stations

Description: This report looks into Congress' continued debate regarding NASA's International Space Station (ISS) program to build a permanently-occupied space station in Earth orbit where astronauts live and conduct research. NASA expects that research performed in the near-zero gravity environment of the space station will result in new discoveries in life sciences, biomedicine, and materials sciences. Current congressional space station debate focuses on the impact of the space shuttle Columbia tragedy o… more
Date: November 3, 2003
Creator: Smith, Marcia S.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Wildfire Protection Funding

Description: No Description Available.
Date: April 3, 2006
Creator: Gorte, Ross W.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
Back to Top of Screen