Search Results

open access

Medicare+Choice Payments

Description: This report discusses the M+C program that established new rules for beneficiary and plan participation. This report focuses on M+C payments.
Date: May 8, 2002
Creator: Chaikind, Hinda Ripps & Morgan, Paulette C.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Conservation Reserve Program: Status and Current Issues

Description: The Conservation Reserve Program (CRP), enacted in 1985, enables producers to retire highly erodible or environmentally sensitive cropland, usually for 10 years. Congress reauthorized and amended the CRP in the 1996 Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform Act (P.L. 104-127; 16 U.S.C. 3811, et seq.). The law caps enrollment at 36.4 million acres and makes funding mandatory through the commodity Credit Corporation.
Date: May 8, 2001
Creator: Zinn, Jeffrey A.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Farm Bill Trade and Food Aid Provisions

Description: This report discusses the trade provisions of omnibus farm legislation, passed in May 2002. The measure includes a trade title reauthorizing, through 2007, the major foreign food aid and agricultural export programs. It also contains other provisions affecting agricultural trade, including new country-of-origin labeling requirements for meat, seafood, and produce; and increased domestic farm subsidies with possible implications for U.S. trade relations.
Date: May 8, 2002
Creator: Becker, Geoffrey S.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Debt-Limit Legislation in the Congressional Budget Process

Description: The gross federal debt consists of the debt held by the public plus the debt held by government accounts. Almost all of the gross federal debt is subject to a public debt limit, as set forth in statute (31 U.S.C. 3101).This report considers legislation needed to change the public debt limit.
Date: May 8, 1998
Creator: Heniff, Bill, Jr.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Item Veto and Expanded Impoundment Proposals

Description: In recent years conflicting budget priorities and divided political control have accentuated the institutional tensions between the executive and legislative branches inherent in the federal budget process. President Clinton, like his two predecessors, called for an item veto, or possibly expanded impoundment authority, to provide him with greater control over federal spending. This report provides a brief history of impoundment and discusses the debate surrounding the line item veto.
Date: May 8, 2003
Creator: McMurtry, Virginia A.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Industrial Competitiveness and Technological Advancement: Debate Over Government Policy

Description: This report discusses the ongoing congressional interest in the pace of U.S. technological advancement due to its influence on U.S. economic growth, productivity, and international competitiveness. Because technology can contribute to economic growth and productivity increases, congressional interest has focused on how to augment private-sector technological development. Legislative activity over the past decade has created a policy for technology development, albeit an ad hoc one. Because of t… more
Date: May 8, 2003
Creator: Schacht, Wendy H.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

The Hatch-Waxman Act: Proposed Legislative Changes Affecting Pharmaceutical Patents

Description: This report describes the Proposed Legislative Changes Affecting Pharmaceutical Patents on the Hatch-Waxman Act. The Hatch-Waxman Act provides the FDA with certain authorities to offer periods of marketing for a pharmaceutical independent of the rights conferred by patents.
Date: May 8, 2003
Creator: Schacht, Wendy H. & Thomas, John R.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Crime Control: The Federal Response

Description: Under the federal system in the United States, the states and localities traditionally have held the major responsibility for prevention and control of crime and maintenance of order. For most of the Republic’s history, “police powers” in the broad sense were reserved to the states under the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution. Many still hold that view, but others see a string of court decisions in recent decades as providing the basis for a far more active federal role. Several bills are disc… more
Date: May 8, 2003
Creator: O'Bryant, JoAnne
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Drug Control: International Policy and Options

Description: Over the past decade, worldwide production of illicit drugs has risen dramatically: opium and marijuana production has roughly doubled and coca production tripled. Street prices of cocaine and heroin have fallen significantly in the past 20 years, reflecting increased availability. Despite apparent national political resolve to deal with the drug problem, inherent contradictions regularly appear between U.S. anti-drug policy and other national policy goals and concerns. The mix of competing dom… more
Date: May 8, 2002
Creator: Lee, Rensselaer & Perl, Raphael F.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Campaign Finance: Brief Overview of

Description: On May 2, 2003, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia issued its decision in McConnell v. FEC, striking down many key provisions of the law. This report provides a brief overview of the court’s decision and will be updated. The three-judge panel, which was split 2 to 1 on many issues, ordered that its ruling take effect immediately. Since the court has issued its opinion, several appeals have been filed. Under the BCRA expedited review provision, the court’s decision will be revi… more
Date: May 8, 2003
Creator: Whitaker, L. Paige
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Fuel Ethanol: Background and Public Policy Issues

Description: This report provides background concerning various aspects of fuel ethanol, and a discussion of the current related policy issues.
Date: May 8, 2003
Creator: Yacobucci, Brent D. & Womach, Jasper
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Environmental Protection Issues in the 108th Congress

Description: The 108th Congress has acted on a variety of disparate environmental measures; some of these represent proposals or issues that had been under consideration in the 107th Congress and earlier. Environmental issues considered by Congress tend to fall into several major categories: (1) funding issues — whether funding levels are adequate and focused on appropriate priorities; (2) expanding, renewing, or refocusing specific environment programs; (3) environmental issues that are important “subsets”… more
Date: May 8, 2003
Creator: Fletcher, Susan R. & Isler, Margaret M.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Africa: U.S. Foreign Assistance Issues

Description: This report discusses the issue of U.S. economic assistance to sub-Saharan Africa, highlighting the importance of continued assistance in light of U.S. national security and also various U.S.-led efforts to promote reform amongst African citizens themselves. U.S. assistance finds its way to Africa through a variety of channels, including the USAID-administered DA program, food aid programs, and indirect aid provided through international financial institutions and the United Nations.
Date: May 8, 2002
Creator: Copson, Raymond W.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Cooperative R&D: Federal Efforts to Promote Industrial Competitiveness

Description: In response to the foreign challenge in the global marketplace, the United States Congress has explored ways to stimulate technological advancement in the private sector. The government has supported various efforts to promote cooperative research and development activities among industry, universities, and the federal R&D establishment designed to increase the competitiveness of American industry and to encourage the generation of new products, processes, and services. Among the issues before … more
Date: May 8, 2003
Creator: Schacht, Wendy H.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Civilian Nuclear Waste Disposal

Description: The Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 (NWPA) calls for disposal of spent nuclear fuel in a deep geologic repository that is unlikely to be disturbed for thousands of years. Low-level waste sites are a state responsibility under the Low-Level Radioactive Waste Policy Act of 1980. Pursuant to that act, 10 regional compacts for disposal of low level waste have been approved by Congress. Three commercial low-level waste sites are currently operating, in the states of South Carolina, Utah, and Washin… more
Date: May 8, 2003
Creator: Holt, Mark
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
Back to Top of Screen