Congressional Research Service Reports - 41 Matching Results
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- Science, State, Justice, Commerce and Related Agencies (House)/ Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies (Senate): FY2006 Appropriations
- This report monitors actions taken by the 109th Congress for the House’s Science, State, Justice, Commerce, and Related Agencies (SSJC) and the Senate’s Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies (CJS) FY2006 appropriations legislation.
- Trafficking in Persons in Latin America and the Caribbean
- This report describes the nature and scope of the problem of trafficking in persons in Latin America and the Caribbean. The report then describes U.S. efforts to deal with trafficking in persons in the region, as well as discusses the successes and failures of some recent country and regional anti-trafficking efforts. The report concludes by raising several issues for policy consideration that may be helpful as the 109th Congress continues to address human trafficking as part of its authorization, appropriations, and oversight activities.
- The Death Penalty: Capital Punishment Legislation in the 109th Congress
- This report discusses legislation regarding the death penalty in the 109th Congress. The USA PATRIOT Improvement and Reauthorization Act (Reauthorization Act) contains a number of death penalty related provisions. Some create new federal capital offenses; some add the death penalty as a sentencing option in the case of preexisting federal crimes; some alter the procedural attributes of federal capital cases. Other proposals offered during the 109th Congress would have followed the same pattern: some new crimes; some new penalties for old crimes; and some procedural adjustments. Only one of the other proposals, the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act, passed, although at least one House approved several others. Three proposals do not fit the pattern; they either would have abolished the death penalty as a federal sentencing alternative or would have imposed a moratorium upon executions.
- Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP): Might Growth Models Be Allowed Under the No Child Left Behind Act?
- The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is currently engaged in a series of regulatory actions to address the transport of ozone pollution in the eastern United States. This report reviews this situation with respect to an EPA-proposed Ozone Transport Rule and other activities.
- Department of Homeland Security Assistance to States and Localities: A Summary and Issues for the 111th Congress
- This report summarizes several emergency management and homeland security programs, and identifies and analyzes potential issues for the 111th Congress. These issues include the purpose and number of assistance programs; the evaluation of the use of grant funding; the determination of eligible grant recipients; the programs' funding amounts; and the programs; funding distribution methodologies.
- Gangs in Central America
- This report describes the gang problem in Central America, discusses country and regional approaches to deal with the gangs, and analyzes U.S. policy with respect to gangs in Central America.
- Terrorist Watchlist Checks and Air Passenger Prescreening
- This report discusses the controversy continues to surround U.S. air passenger prescreening and terrorist watchlist checks. In the past, such controversy centered around diverted international flights and misidentified passengers. Recent incidents raise new policy issues regarding the interaction between these broader terrorist databases and systems and the "No-Fly" and selectee lists, as well as the relationship between passenger prescreening processes.
- Guantanamo Detention Center: Legislative Activity in the 111th Congress
- This report analyzes relevant provisions in enacted legislation and selected pending bills relating to the U.S. Naval Station in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, a facility in which alleged enemy combatants are detained.
- Privacy: An Overview of Federal Statues Governing Wiretapping and Electronic Eavesdropping
- This report provides an overview of federal law governing wiretapping and electronic eavesdropping. It also appends citations to state law in the area and contains a bibliography of legal commentary as well as the text of the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). This report also includes a brief summary of the recently expired Protect America Act, P.L. 110-55 and of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 Amendments Act of 2008, P.L. 110-261 (H.R. 6304).
- Water Quality: Implementing the Clean Water Act
- No Description Available.
- Social Security Administration: Suspension of Benefits for Fugitive Felons
- No Description Available.
- Guantanamo Detainees: Habeas Corpus Challenges in Federal Court
- This report provides an overview of the Combatant Status Review Tribunal procedures, summarizes court cases related to the detentions and the use of military commissions, and summarizes the Graham Amendment and analyzes how it might affect detainee-related litigation in federal court.
- Andean Counterdrug Initiative (ACI) and Related Funding Programs: FY2005 Assistance
- This report discusses the funds and material support the U.S. has contributed to help Colombia and the Andean region fight drug trafficking since the development of Plan Colombia in 1999.
- USA PATRIOT Improvement and Reauthorization Act of 2005 (H.R. 3199): A Side-by-Side Comparison of Existing Law, H.R. 3199 (Conference) and H.R. 3199 (Senate Passed)
- The Uruguay Round Agreements Act, which legislatively approved the United States' membership in the World Trade Organization (WTO), also contains provisions setting out the legislative procedure for revoking such approval, potentially leading to the withdrawal of the United States from the WTO. This report sets out the functional timetable and requirements for taking legislative action for United States withdrawal from the WTO.
- Defense Cleanup and Environmental Programs: Authorization and Appropriations for FY2005
- This report provides background information on each defense-related environmental program, discusses key funding issues, and examines relevant provisions in authorization legislation and appropriations for FY2005.
- Immigration Consequences of Criminal Activity
- Congress has broad plenary authority to determine classes of aliens who maybe admitted into the United States and the grounds for which they may be removed. Pursuant to the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), as amended, certain conduct may either disqualify an alien from entering the United States (“inadmissibility”) or provide grounds for his or her removal/deportation. Prominently included among this conduct is criminal activity. “Criminal activity” comprises acts violative of federal, state, or, in many cases, foreign criminal law. It does not cover violations of the INA that are not crimes, most notably, being in the U.S. without legal permission. Thus, the term “illegal alien” – an alien without legal status – is not synonymous with “criminal alien.”
- Homeland Security: 9/11 Victim Relief Funds
- In the first days following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, an unprecedented number of Americans contributed over $2.7 billion in donations to assist in the relief of victims. According to a 2004 Rand Corporation study, that money amounted to only a modest share (7%) of the $38.1 billion “quantified benefits” provided to victims of the terrorist attacks. The Rand Study reported that payments worth $19.6 billion (51%) were disbursed by insurers and $15.8 billion (42%) were disbursed by government programs.
- CONTOMS (Counter Narcotics and Terrorism Operational Medical Support Program)
- Since the September 11th terrorist attack, greater attention has focused on federal, state, and local readiness to respond to situations involving terrorism or weapons of mass destruction (WMD). One such federal program that provided federal support to local law enforcement and first responders is CONTOMS (Counter Narcotics and Terrorism Operational Medical Support).
- Terrorism in South Asia
- No Description Available.
- Terrorism and National Security: Issues and Trends
- No Description Available.
- Intelligence and Law Enforcement: Countering Transnational Threats to the U.S.
- This report discusses the different roles of intelligence and law enforcement agencies in countering transnational threats and the difficulties in coordinating their efforts. This report also discusses the desire of some observers to base the intelligence and law enforcement agencies' relationship in statutory law. Updated December 3, 2001.
- Port and Maritime Security: Potential for Terrorist Nuclear Attack Using Oil Tankers
- No Description Available.
- Homeland Security - Reducing the Vulnerability of Public and Private Information Infrastructures to Terrorism: An Overview
- This report assesses the impact of September 11, 2001 attack on public and private information infrastructures in the context of critical infrastructure protection,continuity of operation (COP) and homeland security.
- Terrorism Risk Insurance: A Summary of Legislative Proposals
- No Description Available.
- Terrorism Preparedness: A Catalog of Federal Assistance Programs
- No Description Available.
- Terrorism: Section by Section Analysis of the USA PATRIOT Act
- No Description Available.
- Defense Cleanup and Environmental Programs: Authorization and Appropriations for FY2003
- The Department of Defense (DOD) administers five environmental programs in response to various requirements under federal environmental laws. These programs include environmental cleanup, environmental compliance, pollution prevention, environmental technology, and conservation. Additionally, the Department of Energy (DOE) is responsible for managing defense nuclear waste and cleaning up contaminated nuclear weapons sites. The Administration requested a total of $11.17 billion for these programs in FY2003, about $390 million more than the FY2002 funding level of $10.78 billion. Some of the ongoing issues associated with these programs are the adequacy, cost, and pace of cleanup, whether DOD and DOE adequately comply with environmental laws and regulations, and the extent to which environmental requirements encroach upon military readiness.
- Clean Air Standards: The Supreme Court Agrees to Review
- In May, 2000, the Supreme Court agreed to review this decision, raising the prospect of a major pronouncement on the non-delegation doctrine, the enforceability of the revised ozone standard, and the role of compliance costs in setting nationwide air quality standards.
- State and Local Preparedness for Terrorism: Selected Policy Issues
- No Description Available.
- Terrorism, the Future, and U.S. Foreign Policy
- No Description Available.
- Terrorism, the Future, and U.S. Foreign Policy
- No Description Available.
- Terrorism, the Future, and U.S. Foreign Policy
- No Description Available.
- Terrorism, the Future, and U.S. Foreign Policy
- No Description Available.
- Water Quality: Implementing the Clean Water Act
- No Description Available.
- Drug Control: International Policy and Options
- Over the past decade, worldwide production of illicit drugs has risen dramatically: opium and marijuana production has roughly doubled and coca production tripled. Street prices of cocaine and heroin have fallen significantly in the past 20 years, reflecting increased availability. Despite apparent national political resolve to deal with the drug problem, inherent contradictions regularly appear between U.S. anti-drug policy and other national policy goals and concerns. The mix of competing domestic and international pressures and priorities has produced an ongoing series of disputes within and between the legislative and executive branches concerning U.S. international drug policy. One contentious issue has been the Congressionally-mandated certification process, an instrument designed to induce specified drug-exporting countries to prioritize or pay more attention to the fight against narcotics businesses.
- Drug Control: International Policy and Options
- Over the past decade, worldwide production of illicit drugs has risen dramatically: opium and marijuana production has roughly doubled and coca production tripled. Street prices of cocaine and heroin have fallen significantly in the past 20 years, reflecting increased availability. Despite apparent national political resolve to deal with the drug problem, inherent contradictions regularly appear between U.S. anti-drug policy and other national policy goals and concerns. The mix of competing domestic and international pressures and priorities has produced an ongoing series of disputes within and between the legislative and executive branches concerning U.S. international drug policy. One contentious issue has been the Congressionally-mandated certification process, an instrument designed to induce specified drug-exporting countries to prioritize or pay more attention to the fight against narcotics businesses.
- Terrorism and National Security: Issues and Trends
- No Description Available.
- Enron: A Select Chronology of Congressional, Corporate, and Government Activities
- This report presents basic background information on the collapse of the Enron Corporation, identifying public policy issues in financial market oversight. This report briefly summarizes some federal laws carrying criminal penalties which may be implicated in the events surrounding the collapse of the Enron Corp. This report compares the auditing and accounting reform measures passed by the House (H.R. 3763) and reported by the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs. This report compares the major provisions of three auditor and accounting reform proposals: H.R. 3763, S. 2673, and a rule proposed on June 20, 2002, by the SEC that would create a new auditor oversight board by using the SEC’s existing authority to regulate corporate accounting.
- China's Relations with Central Asian States and Problems with Terrorism
- This report provides an overview of the Muslim separatist movement in China’s northwestern Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, China’s attempts to stifle activities which it considers terrorism, and implications for U.S. policy. Some analysts suggest that the U.S.-led campaign against terrorism may make it difficult to pressure the Chinese government on human rights and religious freedoms, particularly as they relate to Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang.
- First Responder Initiative: Policy Issues and Options
- This report discusses the “First Responder Initiative,” a proposed block grant program to help state and local first responders prepare for possible terrorist attacks. Under the Administration proposal, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) would administer the program, which, if approved, would provide $3.5 billion to states and localities.
- Agroterrorism: Options in Congress
- Although U.S. intelligence agencies have not identified any terrorist acts targeting agricultural production (i.e., agroterrorism) in the United States to date, the events of September 11, 2001 have awakened the nation to their possibility. Some experts estimate that a single agroterrorist attack using a highly contagious livestock disease could cost between $10 billion and $30 billion to the U.S. economy. This report examines the potential threats to America’s agriculture from a deliberate biological attack, describes the current defense structure and capabilities available to respond to agroterrorism, and analyzes current congressional proposals to address the threat of biological weapons to U.S. agriculture.