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The Overseas Private Investment Corporation: Background and Legislative Issues

Description: This report provides: (1) a background on Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) origins and program operations; (2) discussion of the international development finance context; and (3) analysis of key issues for Congress related to OPIC.
Date: September 25, 2013
Creator: Akhtar, Shayerah I.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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The European Union: Questions and Answers

Description: This report provides a brief overview of the European Union (EU), an economic and political partnership between 27 sovereign member states. The report describes the formation of the EU, the three main institutions of the EU, and the EU's relationship with the United States.
Date: September 25, 2009
Creator: Archick, Kristin & Mix, Derek E.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Puerto Rico's Current Fiscal Challenges

Description: This report discusses multiple challenges the government of Puerto Rico faces in the fall of 2015. Concerns regarding the sustainability of Puerto Rico's public finances have intensified over the past year, despite several measures taken by the island's government to reduce spending, increase revenues, and restructure its obligations. The Puerto Rican government outlined a medium-term strategy to address those challenges in a fiscal plan put forth in mid-September 2015.
Date: September 25, 2015
Creator: Austin, D. A.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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The Debt Limit: History and Recent Increases

Description: This report discusses how the total debt of the federal government can increase, an historical overview of debt limits, and how the current economic slowdown has led to higher deficits and thereby a series of debt limit increases, as well as legislation related to these increases.
Date: September 25, 2013
Creator: Austin, D. Andrew & Levit, Mindy R.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Automobile and Light Truck Fuel Economy: The CAFE Standards

Description: One of the least controversial provisions of the Energy Policy and Conservation Act of 1975 (P.L. 94-163) established corporate average fuel economy (CAFE) standards for new passenger cars. This report presents a brief background and analysis regarding the price of crude oil that brought into sharp focus the fuel inefficiency of U.S. automobiles. The report also discusses the previous issues and the most recent developments regarding CAFE.
Date: September 25, 2002
Creator: Bamberger, Robert L.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Gasoline Prices: New Legislation and Proposals

Description: This report reviews the major legislative initiatives to deal with the gasoline price issue. To put these proposals in perspective, it first describes some of the factors that have led to the high prices of both crude oil and gasoline.
Date: September 25, 2006
Creator: Behrens, Carl E. & Glover, Carol
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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The Islamic State and U.S. Policy

Description: This report provides background on the Islamic State organization, discusses its goals, operations, and affiliates, reviews U.S. legislative and policy debates, and reviews relevant legislation from the 114th and 115th Congresses.
Date: September 25, 2018
Creator: Blanchard, Christopher M. & Humud, Carla E.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Shutdown of the Federal Government: Causes, Processes, and Effects

Description: This report discusses the causes of funding gaps and shutdowns of the federal government, processes that are associated with shutdowns, and how agency operations may be affected by shutdowns. The report concludes with a discussion of potential issues for Congress.
Date: September 25, 2013
Creator: Brass, Clinton T.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Export Tax Benefits and the WTO: Foreign Sales Corporations and the Extraterritorial Replacement Provisions

Description: The U.S. tax code’s Foreign Sales Corporation (FSC) provisions provided a tax benefit for U.S. exporters. However, the European Union (EU) in 1997 charged that the provision was an export subsidy and thus contravened the World Trade Organization (WTO) agreements. A WTO ruling upheld the EU complaint, and to avoid WTO sanctioned retaliatory tariffs, U.S. legislation in November 2000 replaced FSC with the “extraterritorial income” (ETI) provisions, consisting of a redesigned export tax benefit of… more
Date: September 25, 2003
Creator: Brumbaugh, David L.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Individual Transferable Quotas in Fishery Management

Description: An individual transferable quota (ITQ) is an allocated privilege of landing a specified portion of the total annual fish catch in the form of quota shares. This differs from the traditional open-access approach to commercial fisheries. ITQs divide the total annual catch quota into smaller individual portions. ITQs are generally transferable, which means fishing vessel owners can sell their ITQ certificates or buy others' certificates or, in some cases, lease their quota shares depending on how … more
Date: September 25, 1995
Creator: Buck, Eugene H.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Welfare Reform: An Issue Overview

Description: The House passed a bill (H.R. 3146) on September 24 to extend TAIF, mandatory child care, abstinence education, and transitional Medicaid, on current terms, through March 31, 2004. In the absence of legislation these programs would expire on September 30. The Senate Finance Committee approved a comprehensive TAIF preauthorization proposal of Chairman Chuck Grassley on September 10. Entitled Personal Responsibility and Individual Development for Everyone (PRIDE), the legislation would extend TAN… more
Date: September 25, 2003
Creator: Burke, Vee
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Appropriations for FY2004: Commerce, Justice, State, the Judiciary, and Related Agencies

Description: Appropriations are one part of a complex federal budget process that includes budget resolutions, appropriations (regular, supplemental, and continuing) bills, rescissions, and budget reconciliation bills. 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 Commerce, Justice, State Appropriations Subcommittees.
Date: September 25, 2003
Creator: Canada, Ben
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Army Corps of Engineers: Water Resource Authorization and Project Delivery Processes

Description: This report summarizes congressional authorization legislation for U.S. Army Corps of Engineer (USACE) water resource development projects, the standard project delivery process, authorities for alternative water resource project delivery, and other USACE authorities.
Date: September 25, 2018
Creator: Carter, Nicole T.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Elections Reform: Overview and Issues

Description: This report discusses several issues as the Congress considers legislation to reform the voting process, a number of issues have emerged as part of the debate: the reliability of different types of voting technologies; voting problems and irregularities in the 2000 election; problems for militaryand overseas voters; the electoral college; and early media projections of election results. Both sessions of the 107th Congress considered and debated federal election reform legislation, and the Help … more
Date: September 25, 2003
Creator: Coleman, Kevin J. & Fischer, Eric A.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Legislative Research for Congressional Staff: How to Find Documents and Other Resources

Description: This report is one of a series of reports on legislative process and research; it is intended to serve as a finding aid to sources of information, such as documents, news articles, analysis, contacts and services, used in legislative research.
Date: September 25, 2014
Creator: Cornell, Ada S.; Greene, Michael & Hanson, Laura A.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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