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An Introduction to Farm Commodity Programs: The U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA's) Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) is required to provide assistance to 20 specified agricultural commodities, to achieve three primary objectives: to support prices, supplement incomes, and manage supplies. Supporters contend that financial help to the farm sector also ensures consumers an abundant supply of reasonably priced food. But critics believe that basic U.S. farm policies, conceived in the 1930s, no longer meet the needs of modern agriculture or society as a whole. This report discusses the various programs available for different commodities.
Legal Issues Related to Livestock Watering in Federal Grazing Districts: This report discusses proposed regulations related to livestock watering in federal grazing districts.
Conservation Reserve Program: Policy Issues for the 1995 Farm Bill: The Conservation Reserve Program (CRP), enacted in 1985, enables producers to bid to retire highly erodible or environmentally sensitive crop land for 10 years (or longer under certain circumstances). Successful bidders receive annual rental payments, and cost-sharing and technical assistance to install approved plantings. The program was to enroll between 40 and 45 million acres before 1996. Program goals are to reduce erosion and excess production, and more recently, to provide other environmental benefits. To date, about 36.5 million acres have been enrolled.
Implementing Acid Rain Legislation: This report discusses the broad-ranging provisions in Title IV of The Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 (P.L. 101-549), which raise myriad implementation issues, particularly with respect to the system of tradable "allowances."
The Northern Goshawk: Future Endangered Species?: The northern goshawk was listed in January 1992 as a candidate species (Category 2) for possible future listing under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) throughout its range in the United States. Category 2 species are those for which there are not adequate data to justify a listing proposal under ESA at that time.
The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species: Its Past and Future: This report discusses the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). It is divided into six sections: Introduction, Background, CITES and the Endangered Species Act, Implementation, Upcoming Events, and Appendices.
Marine Mammal Protection Act Amendments of 1994: This report summarizes provisions of the Marine Mammal Protection Act Amendments of 1994 and outlines this Act's implementation schedule for use by Members of Congress and their staff.
Competitiveness: Economic Issue or Illusion?: While "competitiveness" has a clear meaning when applied to a baseball team, or a firm or industry, it is of limited usefulness when applied to a country's overall economic performance. Moreover, focussing on competitiveness can lead to questionable economic policies.
Guiding a Bill Through the Legislative Process: This report describes each stage of the legislative process that legislative assistants may find helpful as they seek to further the progress of a specific bill.
Defense Burdensharing: Is Japan's Host Nation Support a Model for Other Allies?: Under an agreement announced in January 1991, the Government of Japan committed itself to increase substantially the amount of support that it provides for U.S. military forces based there. Among other things, Japan agreed by 1995 to absorb 100 percent of the cost of Japanese nationals employed at U.S. military facilities and to pay for all utilities supplied to U.S. bases, to increase the amount of military and family housing construction that it is providing to support U.S. forces, to continue to provide facilities at no charge to the United States and to waive taxes and fees that might otherwise apply to U.S. activities.
Theater Missile Defenses: Possible Chinese Reactions; U.S. Implications and Options: There is a wide range of arguments regarding the Clinton Administration's proposal to spend about $2 billion in FY 1995 on developing an advanced theater missile defense (TMD) system. Arguments also center on whether or not interpretations of the Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty allow for development and deployment of Advanced Antimissile Systems.
U.N. Security Council Consideration of North Korea's Violations of its Nuclear Treaty Obligations: Since early 1993, North Korea has refused to allow inspections of its nuclear facilities by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). This is contrary to North Korea's obligations under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and its 1992 safeguards agreement with the Agency. Following North Korean obstruction of an inspection in March 1994, the IAEA referred the issue to the U.N. Security Council. The Clinton Administration is set to propose that the Council act against North Korea, possibly including the imposition of sanctions. However, the opposition of China to sanctions and the ambivalent attitude of Russia has resulted in a decision by the Administration to propose initial action by the Council short of sanctions. Measures short of sanctions could end up as the totality of U.N. action.
South Korea: U.S. Defense Obligations: U.S. defense obligations to South Korea are contained in the U.S.-South Korean Mutual Defense Treaty, signed in 1953 and ratified in 1954. Under Article m of the treaty, the United States would "act to meet" an attack on South Korea "in accordance with its [U.S.] constitutional processes." At the time of ratification, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee did not define specifically the respective roles of the President and Congress in any decision to act militarily in accord with constitutional processes. The Committee stressed that Article did not set a requirement for an automatic American military response but that it did give the United States a wide range of possible actions
The United States and the Use of Force in the Post-Cold War World: Toward Self-Deterrence?: Early in the post-Cold War era, the willingness of the United States to use military force was tested by Iraq's 1990 invasion of Kuwait. U.S. actions and those of allied nations suggested that the international community had the will and ability to respond to serious aggressions and some other threats to international order. The United States appeared to be showing the way toward a post-Cold War international system whose demonstrated ability to respond to such threats was expected to deter at least some of them.
Japan's Economy: From Bubble to Bust: In the 1980s, Japan's economy posted strong economic growth, in stark contrast to the more pedestrian growth other developed economies experienced. In this period, referred to as the "bubble" economy, Japan experienced a sharp increase in the values of land and stocks. The fast paced growth came to a halt in 1991, however, as the Ministry of Finance grew concerned over prospects of a rising rate of inflation, and, accordingly, tightened the nation's money supply. Since then, Japanese economic growth has fallen sharply and the economy has experienced asset deflation, rising levels of unemployment, and falling corporate profits and investments.
Japan's Budget: Role in Economic Policymaking: The Japanese economy has been in recession for three years, making it the longest recession in Japan's post-war experience. Groups within and outside Japan are calling on Japan to adopt aggressive fiscal policy measures to boost the Japanese economy and to aid in the recovery of the world economy. Japan has enacted a number of limited measures to stimulate, but it is unlikely to move more aggressively to adopt deficit-financing measures to stimulate its economy for a number of reasons: political and government leaders oppose deficit financing in principle; and under present economic conditions, Japanese officials are more concerned with the effects a fiscal stimulus program will have on the yen, on Japan's trade account, and on its economic recovery.
South Korea's Economy and Trade: South Korea has become a mid-level economy with a growing consumer market and industrial base. It now is in transition. It can no longer compete easily in low-wage, low-technology manufacturing with other countries of Asia, yet it does not have the technology and expertise to compete fully with industries from Japan, the United States, and Europe.
Japan's Looming Bank Crisis: A Half Trillion Dollars in Non-Performing Loans?: Japan's top 21 banks have reported Y13.6 trillion (US$136 billion) in non-performing loans, but experts consider the true figure to be in the range of Y40 to Y60 trillion (US$400 to US$600 billion). If 90, Japan's banks may take five to seven more years to write off their bad loans and restore health to their balance sheets. Current write-offs are being financed primarily by sales of stocks held by banks whose values have appreciated. This problem of bad loans is depressing Japan's economic growth rate and making resolution of trade disputes and further opening of Japan's financial markets more difficult.
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.
Alcohol Fuels Tax Incentives and the EPA Renewable Oxygenate Requirement: This report examines the current alcohol fuels Federal tax incentives. Part I describes the statutory provisions of each of the five incentives. Part II examines the major public policy and economic issues of concern to policymakers: potential revenue effects, effectiveness, and economic efficiency.
DOE Environmental Technology Department - A Fact Sheet: The Department of Energy (DOE) established the Office of Technology Development in 1989 to develop faster and less expensive technical solutions to the Department's widespread environmental problems, primarily the legacy of decades of nuclear weapons production. Without new environmental technologies, DOE contends, some types of contamination may prove impossible to clean up. The Office of Technology Development, which is part of DOE's Environmental Management Program (EM), manages all stages of the development of new environmental restoration and waste management technologies, from basic research and development through final testing, demonstration and evaluation.
Risk Analysis and Cost-Benefit Analysis of Environmental Regulations: Concerns about the national economy, environment, public health, and the quality of EPA's regulatory process have led Congress to consider proposals to require EPA analyses of risks, costs, and benefits of proposed regulations. Proponents of analysis want the results used to design more efficient regulations and to prioritize environmental problems for Federal attention. Risk analysis summarizes available scientific information about hazardous activities, chemicals, or technologies and the effects they may have on exposed animals or people under various conditions, for example, with or without regulation. Risk and economic analyses can be qualitative or, if information is sufficient, quantitative, but economists can only quantify economic benefits of enviromental regulations if scientists can quantitatively estimate risks to health and the environment.
Environmental Reauthorizations and Regulatory Reform: Recent Developments: If general regulatory reform bills were enacted, debates on statute-specific reauthorizations could shift from regulatory reforms to the substantive regulatory requirements of each Act. In this case, regulatory reform could consist of proposals to modify statutory requirements to reduce costs to the private sector and State and local governments, to increase flexibility, and to reduce or compensate regulatory impacts on the value of private property. At issue would be a series of potential tradeoffs, for example among efficiency of environmental regulations, national consistency versus local flexibility, protection of private property rights, and degrees of health and environmental protection.
Saving Rates: An International Comparison: An examination of estimates of saving published by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) reveals that the U.S. is one of the least thrifty of the major industrial nations. But, the data also indicate that the U.S. is not the only country to experience a falling rate of saving in recent years. It may be that the large difference between the rates of saving in the U.S. and abroad depends on how saving is defined. A broader definition of saving than the one employed by the OECD suggests that the saving rates in the U.S. and abroad may be closer than official measures suggest.
Fair Trade in Financial Services: Legislation and the GATT: As many countries enjoy growing financial economies, American banking and securities firms feel excluded from them. Asian countries are perceived as being especially discriminatory against U.S. financiers. Conversely, foreign financiers face few barriers against entry into the United States. Their share of U.S. finance has reached very significant amounts--especially that of Japan in U.S. commercial banking. Both pressures have induced consideration of legislation that could require reciprocity for foreign direct investment in financial companies in America, intended to open up corresponding nations' financial markets. The proposed legislation also reflects final collapse of multilateral negotiations in the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade seeking to open up financial services in many nations to U.S. providers. It would apply sanctions against such countries similar to those opening up government securities markets abroad, but might result in some retaliation.
East Asia: The New Triangular Relationship, Implications for U.S. Influence, and Options for U.S. Policy: Recent criticism of the Clinton Administration's policies toward China, Japan and other East Asian countries has contended that the United States is exerting much less influence and is becoming marginal in determining developments in this economically vibrant and strategically important area. Although there are important costs to U.S. influence associated with disputes with Beijing, Tokyo and others, an assessment of the U.S.-Japanese-Chinese triangular relationship that currently dominates trends in the region shows that the United States is likely to continue its influential position in post Cold War East Asia.
A "Managed Trade" Policy Toward Japan?: This report examines: (1) the definition(s) of managed trade, (2) the underlying economic arguments for and against such policies, (3) past U.S. experiences with managed trade, (4) perceptions that Japan is somehow "different" from other trading nations and warrants a distinctive approach to resolving trade disputes, (5) the implications of the Administration's current results oriented approach to U.S.-Japan trade issues, and (6) alternative proposals offered in Congress to resolve trade disputes with Japan.
U.S.-Japan Trade Confrontation: Economic Perspective and Policy: The United States and Japan are at odds over economic policy, particularly trade policy. There is a wide perception in the United States that Japanese trade restrictions contribute to the U.S. trade deficit and cost the United States high-wage jobs.
Japan's Keiretsu: Industrial Groups as Trade Barriers: A prominent feature of Japan's capitalism consists of families of companies called keiretsu that are linked by crossholdings of stock shares, intra-group financing, and certain coordinating mechanisms. Two types of keiretsu exist: large horizontally organized industrial conglomerates, such as Mitsubishi, Mitsui, and Sumitomo, and vertically integrated manufacturers, such as Toyota, Nippon Steel, and Matsushita Electric. They have become a contentious issue in U.S. trade negotiations with Japan for several reasons.
China: Current U.S. Sanctions: In the months following China,s 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown, both the President and the Congress took a number of initiatives protesting Beijing's actions. These initiatives centered around U.S. concerns related to trade, human rights, and non-proliferation. In intervening years, the United States has periodically imposed, lifted, or waived other sanctions and concluded several trade- related agreements with China relating to these concerns. Those measures that remain in place in 1994 are detailed in the accompanying tables.
Current U.S. Sanctions Against China: In the months following China's 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown, both the President and the Congress took a number of initiatives protesting Beijing's actions. These initiatives centered around U.S. concerns related to trade, human rights, and non-proliferation. In intervening years, the United States has periodically imposed, lifted, or waived other sanctions and concluded several trade-related agreements with China relating to these concerns. Those measures that remain in place in 1994 are detailed in the accompanying tables.
Korea: Procedural and Jurisdictional Questions Regarding Possible Normalization of Relations with North Korea: The Clinton Administration signed an agreement with North Korea on October 21, 1994, detailing steps to end the crisis caused by North Korea's nuclear program and pledging to "move toward full normalization of political and economic relations." Many details of the accord have not been disclosed, including the precise mechanisms to be used to provide light water nuclear reactors and annual shipments of U.S. heavy oil to North Korea, and a clear process to be followed in normalizing political and economic relations.
Key Foreign and Defense Policy Issues in the 104th Congress: The new post-Cold War world and the role of the United States will be shaped by action on a wide variety of foreign policy and defense issues. The 104th Congress will debate many of these issues and help determine the outcome as it considers the National Security Act proposed by House Republicans in the Contract with America and takes up bills on foreign policy and defense agencies, programs, and budgets.
China-U.S. Trade Issues: The growing U.S. trade imbalance with China, and alleged Chinese unfair trade practices, have become of major concern to many U.S. policymakers. Over the past few years, the U.S. trade deficit with China has grown at a faster rate than that of any other major U.S. trading partner. In 1993, the U.S. trade deficit with China totalled $22.8 billion, the second largest U.S. bilateral trade imbalance after Japan. Many trade analysts have attributed the growing U.S.-China trade deficit to a variety of Chinese restrictive trade practices. Other areas of concern to the United States have included China's alleged violation of U.S. intellectual property rights, transshipments of textiles to the United States in violation of U.S. textile quotas, and China's alleged use of forced labor for products exported to the United States.
Japan-U.S. Relations: Issues for Congress in the 1990s: No Description Available.
Japan-U.S. Relations: Issues for Congress in the 1990s: No Description Available.
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. It consistently runs the largest annual international trade surplus with the U.S. ($59 billion in 1993). The end of the Cold War, lackluster international economic conditions, and the focus on economic issues in U.S. politics have raised new questions about the appropriate U.S. policy toward this Asian ally.
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.
The National Information Infrastructure: The Federal Role: No Description Available.
Intellectual Property Provisions of the GATT 1994: "The TRIPS Agreement": This report analyzes the intellectual property (IP) provisions of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) 1994 -- the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights, known as the "TRIPS Agreement."
Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) and the Indonesia "Summit" in 1994: This report discusses the Ministerial and Leaders' Meetings of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum, set to be held in Indonesia. APEC is a consultative body with membership of seventeen Pacific Basin economies that includes both China and Taiwan. The body is working toward trade liberalization (but not a free-trade area) in the most dynamic economic region of the world.
World Trade Organization: Institutional Issues and Dispute Settlement: Among the results of the Uruguay Round (UR) of Multilateral Trade Negotiations conducted under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) are institutions to administer the trade obligations contained in the UR agreements and to provide venues for further negotiation and discussion of these and possibly future trade agreements. The two primary institutional instruments are the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the dispute settlement procedures set forth in the Dispute Settlement Understanding (DSU).
Dispute Settlement Under the WTO and Trade Problems with Japan: Under the World Trade Organization (WTO), the United States may use the dispute settlement mechanism to resolve certain trade problems with Japan. As compared with the mechanism under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), the WTO offers expanded coverage and nearly automatic approval for panel requests and reports.
Regional Security Consultative Organizations in East Asia and Their Implications for the United States: In the uncertain security environment of the post-Cold War world, the Clinton Administration has expressed interest in proposals that would create forums for regional security consultations in East Asia.
United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea: Living Resources Provisions: On November 16, 1994, the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (LOS Convention) entered into force, but not for the United States. The LOS Convention was the culmination of more than 10 years of intense negotiation. However, the United States chose not to participate in this Convention in the early 1980s without changes to parts dealing with deep seabed mineral resources beyond national jurisdiction. After a 1994 Agreement amended parts of the LOS Convention dealing with deep seabed mineral resources, the LOS Convention, Annexes, and Agreement package was formally submitted to the U.S. Senate on October 7, 1994, for advice and consent to accession and ratification (Senate Treaty Doe. 103-39) and is awaiting Senate action. This short report describes provisions of the Convention relating to living marine resources and discusses how these provisions comport with current U.S. marine policy.
Dispute Settlement Under the WTO and Trade Problems with Japan: Under the World Trade Organization (WTO), the United States may use the dispute settlement mechanism to resolve certain trade problems with Japan. As compared with the mechanism under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), the WTO offers expanded coverage and nearly automatic approval for panel requests and reports.
The Yen/Dollar Exchange Rate: The dollar declined abruptly in value against the yen in the second quarter of 1994, spurring the central banks of seventeen nations to coordinate a series of intervention efforts in the world's currency trading markets. In addition, the dollar's decline sparked discussions of the possible policy moves the United States and other nations might take to stem the fluctuations in the value of the dollar. Economic theory and empirical evidence indicate that the underlying movement of the exchange rate is tied to the long-term, macroeconomic movements of the economy, or to the combined movements of the economies of different countries, such as the United States and Japan. These macroeconomic factors account for at least half of the overall movement of exchange rates.
International Financial Institutions and Environment: Multilateral Development Banks and the Global Environment Facility: The World Bank and other multilateral development banks (MDB) have come under increasing pressure to assess the environmental impacts of bank-sponsored projects. The U.S. Congress has required that U.S. participation be based on policies that encourage the banks to raise the priority of environmental protection in their operations and to address environmental impacts; however, major issues continue to revolve around the effectiveness of all the MDBs in promoting environmentally sustainable development. Additionally, increasing concern over global environmental problems led to the creation in 1990 of a new multilateral fund -- the Global Environment Facility (GEF) -- to fund environmental projects of global concern that were generally not being funded by the MDBs. The pilot phase of the GEF ended in December 1993, and participants are currently in the process of determining how, or if, it should function as a permanent entity.
Japanese and U.S. Economic Involvement in Asia and the Pacific: Comparative Data and Analysis: In a world in which economic and trade performance are fast gaining acceptance as important components of national power and well being, Congress has become increasingly interested in the comparative success of U.S. business in the vast, rapidly growing Asia-Pacific region. For the most part, Congress has tended to view Japan as the main competitor of the United States in Asian markets and the standard against which U.S. success is measured. The stakes for the United States are considerable. Exclusive of Japan, the Asia-Pacific region accounted for $ 92 billion in U.S. exports in 1993 and $ 138 billion in imports, or about 20 percent of total U.S. exports and 24 percent of U.S. global imports. A number of projections indicate that Asia will account for the largest share of world trade growth in the next decade. Japan's growing economic presence has been accompanied by a relative increase in its political influence vis-a-vis that of the United States, a factor of considerable long term significance for U.S. interests, and it would appear the availability of alternative Asian markets has strengthened Japan's resistance to U.S. trade demands.
A Reappraisal of Foreign Investment Policy: The rise of the multinational corporation and the increased flow of capital across national borders have raised anew the question of how to treat foreign direct investment, both inward and outward. The U.S. government and, increasingly, other governments advocate that, with some exceptions, economic policies should be neutral in the treatment of investment, foreign and domestic, inward and outward. This report discusses the changing view of foreign investment, both nationally and internationally.

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