Congressional Research Service Reports - 198 Matching Results
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- The Supreme Court Opinion on Reading the Bible and Reciting the Lord's Prayer in the Public Schools
- This report is on Opinion of Supreme Court on Reading Bible.
- The Second Amendment "...the right of the people to keep and bear arms..." Selected Materials
- This report, published two days after President Lyndon B. Johnson issued a statement calling for the federal registration of all firearms as well as federal licensing of all firearm owners, contains selected information published by the Justice Department, the Harvard, Northwestern University, and Albany Law Reviews, and the National Rifle Association, discussing the second amendment and its implications for the American people.
- Chemical and Biological Warfare: Some Questions and Answers
- This report provides some Questions and Answers regarding Chemical and Biological Warfare.
- Hunger and Malnutrition in the United States
- This report discusses some readily available sources and also shows congressional action and interest in the area of hunger and malnutrition.
- Taiwan: A Bibliography 1970
- This report is a bibliography on Taiwan.
- United States Policy Toward Cambodia since March 1970: Statements by President Nixon, Secretary of State Rogers, Secretary of Defense Laird.
- This report includes Statements by President Nixon, Secretary of State Rogers, Secretary of Defense Laird of United States Policy Toward Cambodia since March 1970.
- United States Policy toward Communist China in the 1970's: A Brief Review of Background and Current Problems.
- This report is a brief review of background and problems of United States Policy toward Communist China in the 1970's.
- Congressional Information processes for coordinating national policies
- This report presents developments related to four types of Information systems available to the members of congress.
- Legislative History of the Child Feeding Programs
- This report discusses the programs related to child feeding programs such as School Lunch Program, Breakfast program, Milk program, etc and discusses the various amendments made to those acts.
- Political Activities by Congressional Employes
- This report is about Political Activities by Congressional Employes
- Survey of State Statutes and Annotations Involving In-Write Voting
- This report contains a survey of all United States states in regard to write-in voting.
- Legislation in the 94th Congress Affecting the Handicapped
- This report is a brief summary of legislation in the 94th Congress affecting the handicapped.
- Soviet American Relations in 1976: A Cronological Summary and Brief Analysis.
- This report of brief summary of Soviet American Relations in 1976.
- The Use of Computers by House Members and Their Staff for Official and Campaign Purposes: Legal and Ethical Issues
- This report supplements Multilith 77-242 (658/62), The Use of Computers by House Members, and Their Staff for Official and Campaign Purposes: Legal and Ethical Issues.
- Salt II : Unresolved Technical Issues
- This report
- Congressional Ethics in the 98th Congress
- This report describes Congressional Ethics in the 98th Congress.
- Advertising of Alcoholic Beverages: Should a Radio and TV Ban be Imposed?
- This issue brief discusses the ongoing debate centered around television and radio advertising of alcoholic beverages, especially as it relates to the possible negative influence on the drinking habits of minors.
- Mixing Banking and Commerce Using Federal Deposit Insurance: Industrial Banks and Nonbank Banks
- Despite explicit Federal legislation forbidding combining commercial banking with commerce, it remains possible through corporate ownership to combine two kinds of banks with nonbanking activities. Federal legislation does permit combinations that have the effect of allowing some commingling, as is shown below. Continuing efforts to encourage these mixtures may be patterned on industrial banks or nonbank banks, whose operations are favorable for owners such as insurance, securities, or industrial firms.
- Legislative Prayer and School Prayer: The Constitutional Difference
- Congressional Research Service (CRS) report entailing the Constitutional difference between legislative prayer and school prayer. Topics include, descriptions of both types of prayer, their distinctions, and a conclusion on the matter.
- Legislative Prayer and School Prayer: The Constitutional Difference
- The Supreme Court's decisions holding government-sponsored prayer in the public schools to violate the First Amendment's establishment clause but prayer in legislative assemblies to be constitutional are sometimes lifted up as contradictory. This report summarizes the relevant decisions and identifies the distinctions the Court has drawn between the two situations.
- The Line Item Veto Act
- The Line Item Veto Act of 1996 (Public Law 104-130, 110 Stat. 1200), gives the President expanded rescission authority by changing the burden of action and coverage. Under the Impoundment Control Act of 1974 (88 Stat. 332), the President must obtain the support of both Houses within a specified time period for a rescission to become permanent, while the new law puts the burden on Congress to disapprove presidential rescission proposals within a 30-day period. Along with rescission of discretionary appropriations, the new law subjects any new item of direct spending (entitlement) and certain limited tax benefits to cancellation as well.
- Line Item Veto Act of 1996: Lessons from the States
- The Line Item Veto Act of 1996 (P.L. 104-130) authorizes the President to cancel discretionary budget authority, new entitlements, and limited tax benefits. When this authority becomes available on January 1, 1997, it will change the dynamics among all three branches of government. In response to presidential decisions to cancel certain provisions, Congress may change the way it drafts bills and committee reports. Lawsuits will bring these presidential and congressional actions before federal courts, raising a number of constitutional and statutory questions.
- Federal Land Management: Appeals and Litigation
- The Forest Service in the Department of Agriculture and the Bureau of Land Management in the Department of the Interior each currently have a system of administrative appeals for moat agency land management decisions. Critics assert that administrative and judicial appeals are stopping or unacceptably slowing the decision-making processes and the use of federal lands and resources; that many appeals are "frivolous" and brought for the purpose of frustrating rather than improving land management actions, and that appeals greatly increase the costs of management
- The Abandoned Mine Land Fund: Grants Distribution and Issues
- The Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (SMCRA, P.L. 95-87), enacted in 1977, established reclamation standards for all coal surface mining operations, and for the surface effects of underground mining. It also established the Abandoned Mine Land (AML) program to promote the reclamation of sites mined and abandoned prior to the enactment of SMCRA. To finance reclamation of abandoned mine sites, the legislation established fees on coal production. These collections are divided into federal and state shares; subject to annual appropriation, AML funds are distributed annually to states with approved reclamation programs. This report describes the distribution of these funds and the various issues that arise from said distribution.
- Appropriations for FY1998: Defense
- The report discusses national defense foreign affairs. It also points out defense budget trends, key budget and policy issues and legislation.
- Promulgating Procedural Rules For the United States District Courts and Courts of Appeals
- This report sketches the manner in which procedural rules for United States district courts and United States courts of appeals are adopted or modified and the participants in the process.
- Immigration: Visa Entry/Exit Control System
- Section 110 of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 (IIRIRA; Division C of P.L. 104-208) mandates the development of an automated entry/exit control system to create a record for every alien departing from the United States and match it with the record for the alien arriving at the United States. Section 110 also requires that this system identify nonimmigrants who overstay the terms of their admission through online computer searching and that this the system is established at all international ports of entry by September 30, 1998.
- Appropriations for FY1999: Treasury, Postal Service, Executive Office of the President, and General Government
- This report discusses Treasury, Postal Service, Executive Office of the President and General Government Appropriations for FY1999.
- Caribbean Basin Enhancement Legislation
- Legislation provides Caribbean countries similar tariff benefits as Mexico under the Caribbean and Central American Relief and Economic Stabilization Act. A senate bill provides relief to the hurricane affected countries of Central America. The senate bill is more restrictive than the House bill in the scope of tariff benefits offered.
- Animal Waste Management and the Environment: Background for Current Issues
- This report addresses the Background and the then current issues related to Animal Waste Management and the Environment.This background report describes the livestock production industry along with the public health and environmental concerns related to the industry.
- The Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act (PACA)
- The Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act (PACA) of 1930 was enacted in 1930 to promote fair trading practices in the fruit and vegetable industry. Sellers must ship the quantity and quality of produce specified in their contracts, and buyers must accept shipments that meet contract specifications. PACA protections benefit not only growers who are generally sellers , but also a range of parties who are both buyers and sellers, including truckers, packers, processors,
- 527 Organizations: How the Differences in Tax and Election Laws Permit Certain Organizations to Engage in Issue Advocacy without Public Disclosure and Proposals for Change
- This report compares the tax and election laws relating to political organizations and political committees in an attempt to highlight the differences between them, and discusses some of the proposals in the 106th Congress to require additional reporting by organizations engaging in political activities. This report does not address the taxation of other tax-exempt organizations making political expenditures taxable under IRC § 527. The report will be updated as new proposals are reported.
- The Export Administration Act: Controversy and Prospects
- In the 107th Congress, renewed efforts are underway to enact a permanent replacement for the Export Administration Act of 1979 (EAA), temporarily reauthorized in the 106th Congress until August 20, 2001. The Export Administration Act of 2001 (S. 149) was introduced on January 23, 2001. Hearings were held by the Senate Banking Committee, and the bill was reported for consideration by the full Senate by a vote of 19-1 to March 22, 2001. The difficulty in passing a comprehensive rewrite of the EAA has resulted, in part, from the continuing tension between national security and commercial concerns. Industry groups, proponents of heightened export controls, the Administration, and Congress have all participated in the reauthorization debate.
- Major Decisions in the House and Senate on Social Security: 1935-2000
- No Description Available.
- Pay Equity Legislation in the 107th Congress
- The term "pay equity" originates from the fact that women as a group are paid less than men. In 2000, for example, women with a strong commitment to the work force earned 76 cents for every dollar earned by men. As women's earnings as a percentage of men's earnings have narrowed by just 12 percentage points over the past four decades (from about 60% in the 1960s and 1970s to more than 70% in the 1990s), some members of the public policy community have argued that current anti-discrimination laws should be strengthened and that additional measures should be enacted. Others, in contrast, believe that further government intervention is unnecessary because the gender wage gap will narrow on its own as women's labor market qualifications continue to more closely resemble those of men.
- "Terrorism" and Related Terms in Statute and Regulation: Selected Language
- Congress is considering revised definitions of “terrorism” and related terms in the context of the proposed “Anti-Terrorism Act of 2001.” While the proposed definitions relate to criminal law and immigration law, hundreds of other federal statutes and regulations already define “terrorism” and related terms in a variety of other contexts. However, these statutes and regulations ultimately refer to an extremely small set of statutory definitions, current criminal law and immigration definitions being among them. This report provides the current text of these fundamental definitions. The report will be updated as action on new antiterrorism law proceeds.
- Terrorism Legislation: Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism (USA PATRIOT) Act of 2001
- This report discusses wiretapping and other controversial issues as a part of USA PATRIOT Act which bolsters the ability of federal authorities to conduct criminal and intelligence investigations, to bar and expel foreign terrorists from the United States, to separate terrorists from their sources of financial support, to punish acts of terrorism, and to address the needs of the direct victims of the events of September 11.
- Health Insurance Coverage: Characteristics of the Insured and Uninsured Populations in 2000
- Nearly one out of seven Americans were without health insurance for all of 2000. This was the second consecutive annual decrease in the percentage of uninsured people. The largest gain in health insurance coverage was in the employment-based coverage. This report examines the characteristics of both the insured and the uninsured populations in the United States.
- Health Insurance Coverage: Characteristics of the Insured and Uninsured Populations in 2000. February 2002
- This report examines characteristics of both the insured and the uninsured populations in the United States.
- The Privacy Act: Emerging Issues and Related Legislation
- No Description Available.
- Military Tribunals: The Quirin Precedent
- No Description Available.
- Strategic Petroleum Reserve
- No Description Available.
- Water Quality: Implementing the Clean Water Act
- No Description Available.
- Farm Commodity Payment Limits: Comparison of Proposals
- This report discusses U.S. policy regard farm commodities. Greater public awareness of the size of commodity program payments reaching a comparatively small number of very large farms has focused the attention of Congress on payment limits. Limits on commodity program payments have been imposed since 1970. As part of the emergency economic assistance packages enacted each of the past three years, the payment limits have been doubled. In addition, a mechanism has been developed that allows farms to circumvent the limit on loan deficiency payments, namely commodity certificates
- Pipeline Security: Industry and Federal Efforts and Associated Legislation
- No Description Available.
- Amtrak Profitability: An Analysis of Congressional Expectations at Amtrak’s Creation
- This report is categorized into four categories: (I) Passenger Rail Service Deficits Prior to Amtrak, (II) Original Expectations for Amtrak: Administration, (III) Early Returns on Amtrak's Progress Toward Profitability, (IV) Have the Original Pre-Conditions for Amtrak Profitability Been Met?
- Child Pornography: Constitutional Principles and Federal Statutes
- The Child Pornography Prevention Act of 1996, P.L. 104-208, 110 Stat. 3009- 26, added a definition of “child pornography” that include visual depictions of what appears to be a minor engaging in explicit sexual conduct, even if no actual minor was used in producing the depiction. On April 16, 2002, in Ashcroft v. Free Speech Coalition, the Supreme Court held this provision unconstitutional to the extent that it prohibited pictures that were not produced with actual minors. (This case is discussed under “Section 2256,” below.) In response to Ashcroft, bills were introduced in the House and Senate that would continue to ban some child pornography that was produced without an actual minor; on June 25, 2002, the House passed one such bill: H.R. 4623, 107th Congress.
- Social Security Program Protection Act of 2002 (H.R. 4070)
- No Description Available.
- Strategic Petroleum Reserve
- No Description Available.
- Exempting Food and Agriculture Products from U.S. Economic Sanctions: Status and Implementation
- Falling agricultural exports and declining commodity prices led farm groups and agribusiness firms to urge the 106th Congress to pass legislation exempting foods and agricultural commodities from U.S. economic sanctions against certain countries. In completing action on the FY2001 agriculture appropriations bill, Congress codified the lifting of unilateral sanctions on commercial sales of food, agricultural commodities, medicine, and medical products to Iran, Libya, North Korea, and Sudan, and extended this policy to apply to Cuba (Title IX of H.R. 5426, as enacted by P.L. 106-387; Trade Sanctions Reform and Export Enhancement Act of 2000). Related provisions place financing and licensing conditions on sales to these countries. Those that apply to Cuba, though, are permanent and more restrictive than for the other countries. Other provisions give Congress the authority in the future to veto a President's proposal to impose a sanction on the sale of agricultural or medical products.