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This report examines military airstrikes and ground operations that Russia launched against its Chechnya region in late September 1999. It provides background information on earlier Chechen guerrilla attacks on the neighboring Dagestan region of Russia and on the unsolved terrorist bombing of several apartment buildings in Russia. Current problems of governance in Chechnya are discussed, as well as Chechnya’s response to the Russian offensive. The concerns of the United States and other Western governments about the conflict are examined. A map is included. This report supersedes CRS Report RS20358, Chechnya Conflict.

This report consists of American Federalism, 1776 to 2000: Significant Events.

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The Posse Comitatus Act outlaws willful use of any part of the Army or Air Force to execute the law unless expressly authorized by the Constitution or an Act of Congress. History supplies the grist for an argument that the Constitution prohibits military involvement in civilian affairs subject to only limited alterations by Congress or the President, but the courts do not appear to have ever accepted the argument unless a violation of more explicit constitutional command could also be shown. The provision for express constitutional authorization when in fact the The constitution contains no such express authorizations has been explained alternatively as a meaningless political face-saving device or as an unartful reference to the President's constitutional powers.

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This report chronicles major developments in U.S. - China relations during the Clinton Administration, and in the 103rd through the 106th Congresses, from late 1992 to 1999.

This report discusses the history of the federal grants-in-aid system, which predates the Constitution. he grants-in-aid system assumed its current form when President Franklin D. Roosevelt initiated his New Deal programs. Since Roosevelt, the grants-in-aid system has expanded, especially in the number and dollar amount of categorical grant programs.

This report discusses the burden of a national debt, the view among economists, the federal budget deficits, and the financial burden that future generations will inherit, a larger privately owned capital stock and a higher level of income.

This report discusses the burden of a national debt and who bears that burden, which is a matter of Congressional concern since the gross national debt of the United States stands at some $5.5 trillion dollars.

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