This report discusses and assesses the War Powers Resolution, its application since enactment in 1973, providing detailed background on a variety of cases where it was utilized, or issues of its applicability were raised. It will be revised biannually.

The United States and its allies are helping Afghanistan emerging from more than 22 years of warfare, although substantial risk to Afghan stability remains. Before the U.S. military campaign against the orthodox Islamist Taliban movement began on October 7, 2001, Afghanistan had been mired in conflict since the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979. The defeat of the Taliban has enabled the United States and its coalition partners to send forces throughout Afghanistan to search for Taliban and Al Qaeda fighters and leaders that remain at large, including Osama bin Laden. As the war against remaining Al Qaeda and Taliban elements winds down, the United States is shifting its military focus toward stabilizing the interim government, including training a new Afghan national army, and supporting the international security force (ISAF) that is helping the new government provide security.

This report provides background information regarding the cases of two U.S. citizens deemed “enemy combatants,” Yaser Esam Hamdi, who has been returned to Saudi Arabia, and Jose Padilla, who remains in military custody. The report addresses the constitutional and statutory sources that arguably provide authority for the detention of enemy combatants, as well as those that may prevent the exercise of that power with respect to U.S. citizens. The report concludes that historically, even during declared wars, additional statutory authority has been seen as necessary to validate the detention of citizens not members of any armed forces, casting in some doubt the argument that the power to detain is necessarily implied by an authorization to use force. Finally, the report briefly analyzes the Detention of Enemy Combatants Act, H.R. 1029, which would authorize the President to detain U.S. citizens and residents who are determined to be “enemy combatants” in certain circumstances.

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Scrap tires represent a significant disposal and recycling challenge for the United States. Over 280 million tires are generated on an annual basis, and several states have large stockpiles or abandoned tire piles that are slated for remediation. While most states have programs to address the accumulation and generation of scrap tires, most of these states struggle with creating and sustaining recycling or beneficial end use markets. One of the major issues with market development has been the costs associated with transporting and processing the tires into material for recycling or disposal. According to a report by the Rubber Manufactures Association tire-derived fuel (TDF) represents the largest market for scrap tires, and approximately 115 million tires were consumed in 2001 as TDF (U.S. Scrap Tire Markets, 2001, December 2002, www.rma.org/scraptires). This market is supported primarily by cement kilns, followed by various industries including companies that operate utility and industrial boilers. However the use of TDF has not increased and the amount of TDF used by boiler operators has declined. The work completed through this cooperative research and development agreement (CRADA) has shown the potential of a mobile tire shredding unit to economically produce TDF and to provide an alterative low …