Congressional Research Service Reports - 46 Matching Results
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- Electronic Filing of Senate Campaign Finance Reports
- This report discusses recent changes in campaign finance reporting requirements for Senate candidates.
- Tailoring Bank Regulations: Differences in Bank Size, Activities, and Capital Levels
- This report discusses various types of banks and legislative proposals regarding how to tailor regulations to banks of different sizes.
- Deficits and Debt: Economic Effects and Other Issues
- This report explores distinctions in the concept and composition of deficits and debt and explains how those two measures interact with each other and the general economy.
- The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act: Background and Summary
- This report reviews issues related to financial regulation and provides brief descriptions of major provisions of the Dodd-Frank Act, along with links to CRS products going in to greater depth on specific issues. It does not attempt to track the legislative debate in the 115th Congress.
- A guide to statistics on subsidy programs of the federal government
- This report act as a guide to the sources of the existing statistics of information on the subsidies provided by the federal government.
- Monetary Policy and the Federal Reserve: Current Policy and Conditions
- This report provides an overview of monetary policy and recent developments. It discusses issues for Congress, including transparency and proposals to change the Federal Reserve's (Fed's) mandate, and ends with a brief overview of the Fed's regulatory responsibilities.
- Credit Card Minimum Payments
- Recently, credit card issuers began adjusting their minimum payment formulas, raising the amount of the required monthly payment. Congress has focused on the need to increase consumer awareness of the financial jeopardy that can result from paying only the required minimum. This report provides an overview of the issues and congressional action. It will be updated as events warrant.
- Monetary Policy: Current Policy and Conditions
- This report discusses monetary policy, which can also be defined in terms of the directives, policies, statements, and actions of the Federal Reserve, particularly those from its Board of Governors that have an effect on aggregate demand or national spending.
- The State of Campaign Finance Policy: Recent Developments and Issues for Congress
- The report discusses selected litigation to demonstrate how those events have changed the campaign finance landscape and affected the policy issues that may confront Congress, but it is not a constitutional or legal analysis. Finally, campaign finance data appear throughout the report.
- ANWR Leasing Revenue Estimates
- This report includes Arctic National Wildlife Refuge(ANWR) Leasing Revenue Estimates.
- The Iran-Libya Sanctions Act (ILSA)
- This report outlines the background and original passage of the ILSA (Iran-Libya Sanctions Act), its key provisions which excluded Libya from the act, its implementation and effectiveness and the proposed modifications and extensions to the ILSA.
- Current Social Security Issues
- Social Security is the focus of intense public interest. Projected long-range funding problems, public skepticism about its future, and a growing perception that Social Security will not be as good a value for future retirees as it is today are fueling calls for reform. This report discusses a number of the major Social Security issues currently drawing congressional attention.
- Agricultural Disaster Assistance
- This report has two sections. The first provides an overview of the current USDA disaster assistance programs: federal crop insurance, NAP payments, emergency disaster loans, the new Supplemental Revenue Assistance Payments Program (SURE), and four other smaller disaster programs authorized in the 2008 farm bill. The second section reviews the recent history of emergency supplemental farm disaster assistance.
- Aviation Finance: Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Reauthorization and Related Issues
- This report addresses Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Reauthorization and Related Issues related to Aviation Finance.
- Campaign Financing
- This report discusses concerns over financing federal elections, such as political action committees (PACs) and proposed reforms to campaign finance.
- Financial Privacy Laws Affecting Sharing of Customer Information Among Affiliated Institutions
- This report provides an analysis of the current federal law and a brief description of state laws that appear to provide more consumer protection with respect to the issue of information sharing among affiliates.
- China's Recent Stock Market Volatility: What Are the Implications?
- China's two main stock markets, the Shanghai Stock Exchange (SSE) and the Shenzhen Stock Exchange (SZSE), experienced rapid price increases from about mid-2014 to mid-2015. However, from June 12 to July 7, 2015, the Shanghai and Shenzhen Composite Indices fell by 32% and 40%, respectively. This report briefly examines this volatility and the Chinese government's response.
- Social Security: Calculation and History of Taxing Benefits
- This report discusses the Social Security system that provides monthly benefits to qualified retirees, disabled workers, and their spouses and dependents.
- The Global Financial Crisis: Analysis and Policy Implications
- This report provides a historical account and analysis of the crisis through August 17, 2009. While business contraction appears to have abated, unemployment is shown to be on the rise and many businesses and countries are still facing difficulties.
- Who Regulates Whom? An Overview of U.S. Financial Supervision
- This report provides an overview of current U.S. financial regulation. It discusses which agencies are responsible for which institutions and markets, and what kinds of authority they have.
- The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act: Executive Compensation
- This report discusses the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (H.R. 4173), which was implemented as part of financial regulatory reform initiatives undertaken by Congress in light of the recent global economic crisis. The legislation focuses on executive compensation.
- The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act: Title X, The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
- This report provides a legal overview of the regulatory structure of consumer finance under existing federal law, which is followed by an analysis of how the Consumer Financial Protection Act of 2010 will change this legal structure, with a focus on the Bureau's organization and funding; the entities and activities that fall (and do not fall) under the Bureau's supervisory, enforcement, and rulemaking authority; the Bureau's general and specific rulemaking powers and procedures; and an analysis of the act's preemption standards over state consumer protection laws as they apply to national banks and thrifts.
- Currency Manipulation: The IMF and WTO
- This report describes how the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Trade Organization (WTO) deal with the issue of currency manipulation. It also discusses apparent discrepancies in their charters and ways those differences might be addressed.
- International Monetary Fund: Background and Issues for Congress
- This report evaluates the purpose, membership, financing, and focus of the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) activities. It also discusses the role of Congress in shaping U.S. policy at the IMF and concludes by addressing key issues, both legislative and oversight-related, that Congress may wish to consider.
- Argentina's Defaulted Sovereign Debt: Dealing with the "Holdouts"
- This report reviews Argentina's financial crisis, the bond exchanges of 2005 and 2010, ongoing litigation, prospects for a final solution, related U.S. legislation, and broader policy issues. These include lessons on the effectiveness and cost of Argentina's default strategy, the ability to force sovereigns to meet their debt obligations, and ways to avoid future defaults like Argentina's.
- Unlawfully Present Aliens, Higher Education, In-State Tuition, and Financial Aid: Legal Analysis
- This report surveys key legal issues pertaining to unlawfully present alien students' access to higher education, in-state tuition, and financial aid.
- U.S. Taxation of Overseas Investment and Income: Background and Issues
- This report analyzes how the current U.S. tax system applies to foreign investment undertaken by U.S. firms abroad, and how that application was changed by recent legislation. It also assesses the impact of the tax system and legislation, and concludes by discussing a variety of issues in international taxation that Congress may face in 2008 and beyond. It begins with a brief examination of the data on international investment.
- Financial Stability Oversight Council: A Framework to Mitigate Systemic Risk
- This report describes the mission, membership, and scope of the Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC). It provides an analysis of several major policy issues related to the FSOC that may come before the 113th Congress.
- Social Security: What Would Happen If the Trust Funds Ran Out?
- This report explains what the Social Security trust funds are and how they work. It describes the historical operations of the trust funds and the Social Security trustees' projections of future operations. It explains what could happen if Congress allowed the trust funds to run out. It also analyzes two scenarios that assume Congress waits until the moment of insolvency to act, showing the magnitude of benefit cuts or tax increases needed and how such changes would affect beneficiaries.
- Pakistan's Capital Crisis: Implications for U.S. Policy
- Pakistan - a key U.S. ally in global efforts to combat Islamist militancy - is in urgent need of an estimated $4 billion in capital to avoid defaulting on its sovereign debt. The Pakistani government is seeking short-term financial assistance from a number of sources, including the International Monetary Fund (IMF), China, and an informal group of nations (including the United States) known as the "Friends of Pakistan." The current crisis has placed some strain on U.S.-Pakistan relations.
- China's "Hot Money" Problems
- China has experienced a sharp rise in the inflow of so-called "hot money," foreign capital entering the country supposedly seeking short-term profits, especially in 2008. Chinese estimates of the amount of "hot money" in China vary from $500 billion to $1.75 trillion. The influx of "hot money" is contributing to China's already existing problems with inflation. Efforts to reduce the inflationary effects of "hot money" may accelerate the inflow, while actions to reduce the inflow of "hot money" may threaten China's economic growth, as well as have negative consequences for the U.S. and global economy.
- The Basel Accords: The Implementation of II and the Modification of I
- This report provides the basic information needed to understand the issues surrounding the proposed implementation of Basel II and the pending proposed modifications of Basel I in the United States. First, it gives a basic background on capital standards and how capital assessments were made before these accords. Second, it briefly explains how Basel I works. Third, it addresses the major problem with Basel I and the modifications being considered. Fourth, it describes the Basel II framework the United States may implement and the framework the EU is already implementing. The report concludes with a section on Congress and the Basel Accords.
- Iraq's Debt Relief: Procedure and Potential Implications for International Debt Relief
- This report proceeds in three parts. The first provides a snapshot of the Iraq debt situation following the ouster of the Saddam regime. The second discusses subsequent debt relief negotiations and their resolution. The third presents three possible implications for future debt relief cases that arise from Iraq’s experience. They are: (1) a willingness by the international community to grant a stay on the enforcement of creditor rights, (2) an increased flexibility in Paris Club debt relief decisions, and (3) an unwillingness by successor regimes to claim that their debt is odious and repudiate it.
- Campus-Based Student Financial Aid Programs Under the Higher Education Act
- This report discusses the issues likely to be considered during reauthorization are whether the campus-based programs provide types of aid to students that are not or cannot be provided via other postsecondary aid programs, and whether the current formulas for allocating funds to institutions for the operation of these programs are optimal. Provisions specific to each program, such as requirements for community service under FWS and terms and conditions of Perkins Loans also may be considered.
- The Exon-Florio National Security Test for Foreign Investment
- The proposed acquisition of major operations in six major U.S. ports by Dubai Ports World and of Unocal by the China National Offshore Oil Corporation sparked intense concerns among some Members of Congress and the public and has reignited the debate over what role foreign acquisitions play in U.S. national security. The United States actively promotes internationally the national treatment of foreign firms. Several Members of Congress have introduced various measures during the 2nd Session of the 109th Congress that can be grouped into four major areas: those that deal specifically with the proposed Dubai Ports World acquisition; those that focus more generally on foreign ownership of U.S. ports; those that would amend the CFIUS process; and those that would amend the Exon-Florio process.
- Limiting Fannie Mae's and Freddie Mac's Portfolio Size
- Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan and Treasury Secretary John W. Snow recently have urged the 109th Congress to pass legislation to limit the size of Fannie Mae’s and Freddie Mac’s portfolio to reduce the risk to the federal government and the economy. In 2003, these government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) combined retained portfolio had risen to $1.6 trillion from $136 billion in 1990.
- VA-Home Loan Guaranty Program: An Overview
- No Description Available.
- Highway and Transit Program Reauthorization Legislation in the 2nd Session, 108th Congress
- This report discusses significant legislative provisions in the two provisional bills that are likely to be the subject of congressional discussion to reauthorize federal highway, highway safety, and transit programs.
- Internet Tax Bills in the 105th Congress
- "This report tracks the evolution and content of the Internet tax freedom bills" (p. i).
- Social Security and Medicare "Lock Boxes"
- With the onset of burgeoning federal budget surpluses, Social Security and Medicare's treatment in the budget has become a major policy issue. Congressional views about what to do with the surpluses are diverse -- ranging from "buying down" the federal government's outstanding debt to cutting taxes to increasing spending.
- Social Security Reform
- No Description Available.
- Natural Resources: Assessing Nonmarket Values through Contingent Valuation
- No Description Available.
- Should Banking Powers Expand into Real Estate Brokerage and Management?
- No Description Available.
- The Role of Risk Analysis and Risk Management in Environmental Protection
- No Description Available.
- Farm Disaster Assistance
- This report provides an overview of U.S farm disaster assistance.
- 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.