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Agricultural Exports: Technical Barriers to Trade
Technical barriers to trade (TBTs) are widely divergent measures that countries use to regulate rnarkets, protect their consumers, and preserve natural resources, but which can also discriminate against imports in favor of domestic products. Most TBTs in agriculture are sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) measures designed to protect humans, animals, and plants from contaminants, diseases, and pests. In the wake of new trade agreements aimed at reducing tariffs, import quotas, and other trade barriers, TBTs have become more prominent concerns for agricultural exporters and policymakers.
Appropriations for FY1999: U.S. Department of Agriculture and Related Agencies
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 Appropriations Subcommittees on Agriculture Appropriations. It summarizes the current legislative status of the bill, its scope, major issues, funding levels, and related legislative activity.
Appropriations for FY1999: U.S. Department of Agriculture and Related Agencies
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 Appropriations Subcommittees on Agriculture Appropriations.
Appropriations for FY2000: Defense
This report lists the key CRS staff relevant to the issues covered and related CRS Products.
Capital Punishment: Summary of Supreme Court Decisions of the 1998-99 Term
this report mainly focuses on the Summary of Supreme Court Decisions of Capital Punishment during the 1998-99 Term. This case reveals distinct characteristics.
Central American Asylum Seekers: Impact of 1996 Immigration Law
This report has five sections which include an overview of the asylum and cancellation of removal procedures, three sections describing the situations of the Nicaraguans, Salvadorans and Guatemalans, and finally a section discussing legislative issues.
Central American Asylum Seekers: Impact of 1996 Immigration Law
This report discuses issues related to the significant portion of the Central Americans affected by the IIRIRA revisions still have asylum cases pending and may obtain legal permanent residence by that avenue if they demonstrate a well-founded fear of persecution. The Attorney General also has the discretionary authority to grant blanket relief from deportation, but the discretionary forms of relief do not entail legal permanent residence. There is considerable interest in this issue in the 105th Congress, and the Senate passed by a vote of 99 to 1 an amendment to provide relief for certain Central Americans to the D.C. appropriations bill (S.1156).
China and the 105th Congress: Policy Issues and Legislation, 1997-1998
This report tracks trends in and legislation considered by the 105th Congress in regard to China.
Clean Air Act Issues in the 106th Congress
No Description Available.
Clean Water Issues in the 105th Congress
No Description Available.
Clean Water Issues in the 105th Congress
For the 105th Congress, reauthorization of the Clean Water Act may be a priority in the second session. The Act was last amended in 1987 and authorizations expired on Sept. 30, 1990. Clean water was a priority for the last two Congresses, but no legislation was enacted. In the 104th Congress, the House passed a comprehensive reauthorization bill, but during House debate and subsequently, controversies arose over whether and how the Act should be made more flexible and less burdensome on regulated entities. Issues likely to be of interest again in the 105th Congress include funding, overall flexibility and regulatory reform of water quality programs, and measures to address polluted runoff from farms and city streets.
Collections of Information Antipiracy Act: Summary of H.R. 2652
No Description Available.
Covert Action: An Effective Instrument of U. S. Foreign Policy?
This report addresses the statutory basis for covert actions, criteria for their use in the post-Cold War world, and procedures for their planning, conducting, and funding.
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.
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, updated regularly, discusses a number of the major Social Security issues currently drawing congressional attention.
Deforestation: An Overview of Global Programs and Agreements
In recent years, global environmental concerns have figured prominently on the American political agenda. In particular, tropical deforestation and its implications for global climate change and biological diversity loss have prompted public outcry. Concerns have since grown to include other forest types as well. The Congress has considered a variety of legislation to stem the tide of increasing deforestation and the United States has supported a number of bilateral and multilateral initiatives to assist other countries in managing their forest resources.
A Directory of Some Interest Groups and Governmental Organizations Concerned With National Environmental Policies
This report briefly describes selected associations that have demonstrated strong and continuous interest in environmental protection policies of the United States. It provides background information on some of the active participants in national policy discussions. The set of organizations abstracted for this report is not comprehensive; many groups necessarily have been omitted, often because they failed to respond to our request for information. An attempt was made to balance divergent political opinions and to include groups with different perspectives. All associations included in the report have nationwide membership, maintain an office in the vicinity of the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area, and actively seek to influence national (as opposed to international or regional) environmental policies. The financial information provided varies depending on what was available to CRS.
The Electoral College: How it Works in Contemporary Presidential Elections
The Constitution assigns each state a number of electors equal to the combined total of the state’s Senate and House of Representatives delegations; at present, the number of electors per state ranges from three to 55, for a total of 538. This report discuses constitutional origins, the electoral college today and explains the allocation of electors and electoral votes.
Environment and the World Trade Organization (WTO) at Seattle: Issues and Concerns
This meeting of the decision making body of the WTO was expected to make decisions that would lead to another round of negotiations on a wide variety of trade rules and related issues. Although the United States continues to assert the necessity of pursuing the twin goals of free trade and environmental protection and to argue that these need not be in conflict, controversy remains over how the multilateral trading system should address the specifics of environmental issues.
Europe and China — An Emerging Relationship
No Description Available.
Federal Regulatory Structure for Egg Safety: Fact Sheet
This report discusses the federal role in regulating egg safety. Although the egg industry is primarily responsible for ensuring the safety of its products, four federal agencies hold statutory responsibilities for egg safety.
Global Climate Change: The Role of U.S. Foreign Assistance
This report discusses the role of U.S. foreign assistance to reduce emissions of the greenhouse gases that most experts believe cause global warming
Global Climate Change Treaty: Negotiations and Related Issues
This report discusses the consequences of the 1992 Climate Change Convention and the future of climate change treaties and negotiations within the context of globalization of international politics.
Global Climate Change Treaty: Negotiations and Related Issues
This report discusses the negotiations leading the Kyoto conference of the parties. The United States and other parties to the 1992 Climate Change Convention signed at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro will meet December 1-12 in Kyoto, Japan, to conclude year-long negotiations on a legally binding protocol or amendment to reduce or stabilize emissions of greenhouse gas emissions. The U.S. proposal to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide and five other greenhouse gases to 1990 levels between 2008-2012 is less ambitious than environmentalists and many other treaty Parties urge, but represents a commitment that others, including many in business, fear could damage the economy. A key aspect of the negotiations also is what should be expected of developing nations, whose current emissions of greenhouse gases are relatively small, but are expected to increase rapidly over the next decade with economic development. A sense of the Senate resolution calls for all countries to meet scheduled reductions, and would agree to U.S. participation only if harm to the domestic economy is avoided. If agreement is reached in Kyoto, Senate approval would be required for U.S. ratification, and legislation to implement commitments would also likely be necessary.
Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument
This report discusses controversial issues regarding the creation of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in Utah. Issues include the President's use of the Antiquities Act of 1906 to create the Monument; the Monument's general effect on land uses; the implications for development of minerals and school trust lands; and the bearing on the designation of wilderness.
Grazing Fees: An Overview
This report briefly discusses charging fees for grazing private livestock on federal lands, which is a long-standing but contentious practice. Generally, livestock producers who use federal lands want to keep fees low, while conservation groups and others believe fees should be raised to approximate "fair market value."
Greece and Turkey: Aegean Issues — Background and Recent Developments
This report provides the background and recent developments of the Aegean issues of Greece and Turkey.
Homosexuality and the Federal Constitution: A Legal Analysis of the U.S. Supreme Court Ruling in Romer v. Evans
No Description Available.
House Committee Jurisdiction and Referral: Rules and Practice
This report briefly discusses the factors that determine House committee jurisdiction and more specifically House Rule X.
House Committees: Assignment Process?
This report briefly discusses House Committee assignments, examining the process and assessing its effects.
Housing Issues in the 105th Congress
This report provides an overview of the housing issues in the 105th congress.
Housing Issues in the 105th Congress
No Description Available.
India-U.S. Relations
Although the end of the Cold War has freed U.S.-India relations from the constraints of a bipolar world, relations continue to be affected by the burden of history, most notably the longstanding India-Pakistan regional rivalry. The main areas of U.S. and congressional interest in India include nuclear weapons and missile proliferation, regional stability, human rights, and economic policy issues.
Industrial Energy Intensiveness and Energy Costs in the Context of Climate Change Policy
This report presents and briefly analyzes data on the amount, cost, and distribution by source of energy used by a number of U.S. energy-intensive sectors and "industries." While the report does not analyze how measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions would affect particular industries, it indirectly provides guidance.
Industrial Energy Intensiveness and Energy Costs in the Context of Climate Change Policy
No Description Available.
Intelligence Collection Platforms: Satellites, Manned Aircraft, and UAVs
No Description Available.
International Labor Organization: A Fact Sheet
No Description Available.
Internet: An Overview of Six Key Policy Issues Affecting Its Use and Growth
No Description Available.
Internet: An Overview of Six Key Policy Issues Affecting Its Use and Growth
Report to Congress on the internet in the closing years of the twentieth century, including discussions on encryption, security, privacy, computer fraud, and more.
Internet Tax Bills in the 105th Congress
This report tracks the evolution and content of the Internet tax freedom bills. In general, the bills would impose a federal moratorium on the ability of state and local governments to impose taxes on certain aspects of the Internet and would establish a temporary federal commission to study selected issues and make policy recommendations.
Internet Tax Bills in the 105th Congress
"This report tracks the evolution and content of the Internet tax freedom bills" (p. i).
Japan-U.S. Relations: Issues for Congress in the 1990s
Japan-U.S. relations are more uncertain and subject to greater strain today than at any time since World War II. Longstanding military allies and increasingly interdependent economic partners, Japan and the United States have worked closely together to build a strong, multifaceted relationship based on democratic values and interests in world stability and development. But Japan today is our foremost economic and technological competitor.
Japan's Politics and Government in Transition
Japan's politics and government are undergoing a historic transition. The 38-year one-party rule of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) came to an end on July 18, 1993, when the party was voted out of power, even as it remained the single largest party in the lower house of Japan's bicameral Diet, or parliament. Seven non-communist parties, with little in common save their shared interest in dethroning the LDP, formed a shaky coalition.
Kosovo: International Reactions to NATO Air Strikes
No Description Available.
Kosovo: Review and Analysis of Policy Objectives, 1998-June 1999
This report provides an overview of U.S. and international policy objectives in Kosovo from 1998 to mid-1999, when NATO ended an 11-week air strike operation against Yugoslavia (Serbia) and began to deploy a U.N.-authorized peacekeeping force in Kosovo. It reviews stated objectives at various points during this period. It provides an analysis of how certain policy objectives evolved and discusses the extent to which they were or were not achieved.
Medicare: Private Contracts
This report discusses private contracting for medicare,which is the term used to describe situations where a physician and a patient agree not to submit a claim for a service which would otherwise be covered and paid for by Medicare.
Membership of the 104th Congress: A Profile
No Description Available.
Mexican Wolf: Federal Protection
Mexican wolves were extirpated from the United States by the 1940s as part of the Predatory Animal and Rodent Control program (PARC); wild wolves are believed to exist in secluded areas in Mexico. Listed on the endangered species list in 1967, Mexican wolves exist in the United States only in captivity. The Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) is currently developing plans to reintroduce the wolves into their historic habitat. The plans are controversial, and the species' conservation may be debated during reauthorization of the Endangered Species Act (ESA).
Military Changes to the Unified Command Plan: Background and Issues for Congress
No Description Available.
Nationwide Permits for Wetlands Projects: Permit 26 and Other Issues and Controversies
Nationwide permits of the U.S Army Corps of Engineers authorize certain types of projects in wetlands and other waters and are a key means of minimizing the regulatory burden on landowners This report discusses the nationwide permits reissued in 1996, focusing on one of the most controversial permits (number 26), and a July 1998 proposal to modify nationwide permit 26 further. The revised permits and a federal court decision that invalidated certain Corps' regulations could be impetus for congressional activity. This report will be updated as developments warrant. Also see CRS Issue Brief 97014, Wetland Issues in the 105th Congress.
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