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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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Ex-Im Bank: No Quorum, No Problem?

Description: This report discusses the operation on a limited basis of the Export-Import Bank (Ex-Im Bank) despite a renewal of its general statutory charter through FY2019 (P.L. 114-94,
Date: September 15, 2016
Creator: Akhtar, Shayerah Ilias
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Financial Regulatory Reform: Analysis of the Consumer Financial Protection Agency (CFPA) as Proposed by the Obama Administration and H.R. 3126

Description: This report provides a brief summary of the President's Consumer Financial Protection Agency Act of 2009 and delineates some of the substantive differences between it and H.R. 3126, as introduced. It then analyzes some of the policy implications of the proposal, focusing on the separation of safety and soundness regulation from consumer protection, financial innovation, and the scope of regulation.
Date: September 9, 2009
Creator: Carpenter, David H. & Jickling, Mark
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Financial Institution Insolvency: Federal Authority over Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and Depository Institutions

Description: This report provides an overview of the U.S. credit crunch and its effect on Fannie, Freddie, Banks, and Thrifts. The report discusses the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and insolvent banks and thrifts.
Date: September 10, 2008
Creator: Carpenter, David H. & Murphy, M. M.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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The Fall and Rise of Household Saving

Description: This report begins by showing how the household saving rate has varied in recent years. Next, it explains how household saving is measured, and it provides some detail on how saving varies across the income distribution. Finally, it discusses factors that may account for the long decline in household saving, as well as prospects for its recovery.
Date: September 1, 2009
Creator: Cashell, Brian W.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Trade in Services: The Doha Development Agenda Negotiations and U.S. Goals

Description: This report is designed to assist Congress to understand and monitor progress of the negotiations and the major issues that the negotiators are addressing. The report provides a brief background section on the significance of services to the U.S. economy. It then explains briefly the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) and the structure and agenda of the services negotiations in the DDA round, including U.S. objectives in the negotiations. The report concludes with a status report on ā€¦ more
Date: September 12, 2005
Creator: Cooper, William H.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Small Business: Access to Capital and Job Creation

Description: The Small Business Administrationā€™s (SBA) authorization is due to expire on September 30, 2010. The SBA administers several programs to support small businesses, including loan guarantees to help small businesses gain access to capital. This report addresses a core issue facing Congress during the SBAā€™s reauthorization process: what, if any, additional action should the federal government take to enhance small business access to capital?
Date: September 1, 2010
Creator: Dilger, Robert J. & Gonzales, Oscar R.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Saving Rates in the United States: Calculation and Comparison

Description: The amount of money saved has important economic consequences. Nationally, the amount of saving affects how much can be invested and ultimately the size of the capital stock. This report explains how national saving is measured, presents recent estimates of saving rates in the United States, and, for comparison, provides those of other major industrial countries.
Date: September 14, 2010
Creator: Elwell, Craig K.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Payment Card Interchange Fees: An Economic Assessment

Description: This report focuses on the Visa and MasterCard card associations, which account for three-fourths of the payment card market in the United States in 2008. The report begins with a discussion of the nontraditional structure of the payment card market. The next section is an analysis of the problem of the optimum level of payment cards to achieve the highest social welfare benefit for cardholders and merchants. The third section discusses the provisions of the Credit Card Fair Free Act of 2008. Tā€¦ more
Date: September 3, 2008
Creator: Eubanks, Walter W.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Campaign Finance: Developments in the 110th Congress

Description: Recent events suggest continued congressional interest in campaign finance policy. This report provides an overview and analysis of 110th Congress legislation addressed in hearings or that has passed at least one chamber. The report also discusses two policy developments: Federal Election Commission nominations and a recent Supreme Court ruling that could affect future political advertising. As of the writing of this report, approximately 50 bills devoted largely to campaign finance have been iā€¦ more
Date: September 28, 2007
Creator: Garrett, R. Sam
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Federal Role in U.S. Campaigns and Elections: An Overview

Description: This report provides a resource for understanding the current campaigns and elections regulatory structure. It addresses those areas of law and public policy that most directly and routinely affect American campaigns and elections: campaign finance; election administration; election security; redistricting; qualifications and contested elections; and voting rights.
Date: September 4, 2018
Creator: Garrett, R. Sam
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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The National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), Reinsurance, and Catastrophe Bonds

Description: This report discusses the use of reinsurance to transfer some of the risk of an insurance policy from the primary insurer to a secondary insurer, and the National Flood Insurance Program's (NFIP) decision to use reinsurance through the issuance of catastrophe bonds (which pay out when a particular type of disaster set out in the bond agreement occurs) by the secondary private insurers.
Date: September 11, 2018
Creator: Horn, Diane P. & Webel, Baird
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS)

Description: This report gives a brief overview of P.L. 110-49, the Foreign Investment and National Security Act of 2007. Although both the President and Congress are directly involved in formulating the scope and direction of U.S. foreign investment policy, this law broadens Congress' oversight role; it also explicitly includes the areas of homeland security and critical infrastructure as separately-identifiable components of national security that the President must consider when evaluating the national sā€¦ more
Date: September 26, 2012
Creator: Jackson, James K.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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U.S. Trade Deficit and the Impact of Rising Oil Prices

Description: This report provides an estimate of the initial impact of the rising oil prices on the nation's merchandise trade deficit. Petroleum prices continued to rise sharply in 2008, at one time reaching more than $140 per barrel of crude oil. At the same time the average monthly volume of imports of energy-related petroleum products fell slightly.
Date: September 12, 2008
Creator: Jackson, James K.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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The U.S. Newspaper Industry in Transition

Description: This report analyzes the current crises that the U.S. newspaper industry is facing in light of the recent economic downturn and the increasing number of readers who turn to the Internet for their news instead of to traditional media. Congress has begun debating whether the financial problems in the newspaper industry pose a public policy issue that warrants federal action.
Date: September 9, 2010
Creator: Kirchoff, Suzanne M.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Funding and Financing Highways and Public Transportation

Description: This report begins with a discussion of the problems associated with the trust fund financing system (which supports both federal highway and public transportation programs) and then explores possible options for financing surface transportation infrastructure.
Date: September 23, 2013
Creator: Kirk, Robert S. & Mallett, William J.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Federal Reserve: Emergency Lending

Description: This report provides a review of the history of Section 13(3) of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (the Dodd-Frank Act; P.L. 111-203), including its use in 2008. It discusses the Federal Reserve's (Fed's) authority under Section 13(3) before and after the Dodd-Frank Act. It then discusses policy issues and legislation to amend Section 13(3).
Date: September 8, 2015
Creator: Labonte, Marc
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Supervision of U.S. Payment, Clearing, and Settlement Systems: Designation of Financial Market Utilities (FMUs)

Description: This report outlines the changes to the supervision of key market infrastructure that are embodied in the Dodd-Frank Act. It is intended to be used as a reference for those interested in the financial system's "plumbing," and how the associated systems are currently overseen and regulated.
Date: September 10, 2012
Creator: Labonte, Marc
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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