Chemical Facility Security: Issues and Options for the 113th Congress (open access)

Chemical Facility Security: Issues and Options for the 113th Congress

This report provides a brief overview of the existing statutory authority and implementing regulation. It describes several policy issues raised in previous debates regarding chemical facility security and identifies policy options for congressional consideration.
Date: January 31, 2013
Creator: Shea, Dana A.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Congressional Redistricting and the Voting Rights Act: A Legal Overview (open access)

Congressional Redistricting and the Voting Rights Act: A Legal Overview

This report discusses the VRA that was enacted under Congress's authority to enforce the 15th Amendment, which provides that the right of citizens to vote shall not be denied or abridged on account of race, color, or previous servitude.
Date: January 31, 2013
Creator: Whitaker, L. Paige
System: The UNT Digital Library
Criminal Prohibitions on the Publication of Classified Defense Information (open access)

Criminal Prohibitions on the Publication of Classified Defense Information

This report discusses the statutory prohibitions that may be implicated, including the Espionage Act; the extraterritorial application of such statutes; and the First Amendment implications related to such prosecutions against domestic or foreign media organizations and associated individuals.
Date: January 31, 2013
Creator: Elsea, Jennifer K.
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC): Changes for 2012 and 2013 (open access)

The Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC): Changes for 2012 and 2013

The earned income tax credit, established in the tax code in 1975, provides cash assistance to lower-income working parents and individuals through the tax system. The earned income tax credit will be higher in 2012 and 2013 than it was in 2011. An increase in the size of the earned income tax credit will occur because the maximum amount of earned income used to calculate the credit and the phase-out income level and indexed for inflation. The increases reflect the inflation adjustment.
Date: January 31, 2013
Creator: Scott, Christine
System: The UNT Digital Library
Health Insurance Exchanges Under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) (open access)

Health Insurance Exchanges Under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA)

This report outlines the required minimum functions of exchanges, and explains how exchanges are expected to be established and administered under ACA. The coverage offered through exchanges is discussed, and the report concludes with discussion of how exchanges will interact with selected other ACA provisions.
Date: January 31, 2013
Creator: Fernandez, Bernadette & Mach, Annie L.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Medicare, Medicaid, and Other Health Provisions in the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 (open access)

Medicare, Medicaid, and Other Health Provisions in the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012

None
Date: January 31, 2013
Creator: unknown
System: The UNT Digital Library
Medicare Primer (open access)

Medicare Primer

None
Date: January 31, 2013
Creator: unknown
System: The UNT Digital Library
Overview of Labor Enforcement Issues in Free Trade Agreements (open access)

Overview of Labor Enforcement Issues in Free Trade Agreements

This report identifies two types of labor enforcement issues: those that relate to the free trade agreements (FTA) provisions themselves, including their definitions and their enforceability, and those that relate to executive branch responsibilities, such as resource availability and determining dispute settlement case priorities.
Date: January 31, 2013
Creator: Bolle, Mary Jane
System: The UNT Digital Library
Sovereign Debt in Advanced Economies: Overview and Issues for Congress (open access)

Sovereign Debt in Advanced Economies: Overview and Issues for Congress

None
Date: January 31, 2013
Creator: unknown
System: The UNT Digital Library
U.S. Government Agencies Involved in Export Promotion: Overview and Issues for Congress (open access)

U.S. Government Agencies Involved in Export Promotion: Overview and Issues for Congress

None
Date: January 31, 2013
Creator: unknown
System: The UNT Digital Library
U.S. Trade Remedy Laws and Nonmarket Economies: A Legal Overview (open access)

U.S. Trade Remedy Laws and Nonmarket Economies: A Legal Overview

This report discusses the application of antidumping and countervailing duty law to the goods of nonmarket economy (NME) countries, including the decision of the Department of Commerce (DOC) in 2007 to change its long-standing policy and apply CVD law to such goods; reviews China's successful case in the World Trade Organization challenging the U.S. application of CVDs to Chinese products and the status of U.S. compliance efforts in the case; examines the December 2011 decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in GPX Int'l Tire Corp. v. United States holding that the U.S. CVD law does not authorize DOC to apply CVDs to NME country goods; summarizes the subsequently enacted P.L. 112-99, signed March 13, 2012, a statute authorizing DOC to apply CVDs to such products; and notes recent developments in the GPX litigation.
Date: January 31, 2013
Creator: Smith, Jane M.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Ukraine: Current Issues and U.S. Policy (open access)

Ukraine: Current Issues and U.S. Policy

This report offers background information on Ukraine's current political and economic situation, and foreign policy towards NATO (the North Atlantic Treaty Organization), the European Union, and Russia. It also discusses U.S. policy, U.S. aid to Ukraine, the congressional response, and related legislation.
Date: January 31, 2013
Creator: Woehrel, Steven
System: The UNT Digital Library
Understanding China's Political System (open access)

Understanding China's Political System

This report is designed to provide Congress with a perspective on the contemporary political system of China, the only Communist Party-led state in the G-20 grouping of major economies. China's Communist Party dominates state and society in China, is committed to maintaining a permanent monopoly on power, and is intolerant of those who question its right to rule.
Date: January 31, 2013
Creator: Lawrence, Susan V. & Martin, Michael F.
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Unemployed and Job Openings: A Data Primer (open access)

The Unemployed and Job Openings: A Data Primer

None
Date: January 31, 2013
Creator: unknown
System: The UNT Digital Library
Water Resource Issues in the 113th Congress (open access)

Water Resource Issues in the 113th Congress

This report provides an overview of the federal role in water resources development, management, and protection, including a discussion of the two major federal water resources agencies and related legislation. It also discusses overarching policy issues, such as flood and drought management and response; project funding and authorization priorities; and aquatic ecosystem restoration.
Date: January 31, 2013
Creator: Cody, Betsy A.; Stern, Charles V.; Carter, Nicole T. & Sheikh, Pervaze A.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Budget Control Act: Potential Impact of Sequestration on Health Reform Spending (open access)

Budget Control Act: Potential Impact of Sequestration on Health Reform Spending

This report examines how automatic spending reductions triggered by the Budget Control Act (BCA) might affect health reform appropriations acts.
Date: May 31, 2013
Creator: Redhead, C. Stephen
System: The UNT Digital Library
Central Asia: Regional Developments and Implications for U.S. Interests (open access)

Central Asia: Regional Developments and Implications for U.S. Interests

Report that discusses the current status of Central Asian states and U.S. policy, which has been aimed at facilitating their cooperation with U.S. and NATO stabilization efforts in Afghanistan and their efforts to combat terrorism, proliferation, and trafficking in arms, drugs, and persons.
Date: May 31, 2013
Creator: Nichol, Jim
System: The UNT Digital Library
Filibusters and Cloture in the Senate (open access)

Filibusters and Cloture in the Senate

None
Date: May 31, 2013
Creator: Beth, Richard S. & Heitshusen, Valerie
System: The UNT Digital Library
Iran Sanctions. May 2013 (open access)

Iran Sanctions. May 2013

This report analyzes U.S. and international sanctions against Iran and, in so doing, provides examples, based on a wide range of open source reporting, of companies and countries that conduct business with Iran.
Date: May 31, 2013
Creator: Katzman, Kenneth
System: The UNT Digital Library
Military Parents and Child Custody: State and Federal Issues (open access)

Military Parents and Child Custody: State and Federal Issues

None
Date: May 31, 2013
Creator: unknown
System: The UNT Digital Library
Syria’s Chemical Weapons: Issues for Congress (open access)

Syria’s Chemical Weapons: Issues for Congress

None
Date: May 31, 2013
Creator: unknown
System: The UNT Digital Library
Iran: U.S. Concerns and Policy Responses (open access)

Iran: U.S. Concerns and Policy Responses

This report discusses the reasons that Iran is considered a threat to U.S. security, including Iran's nuclear program, involvement with terrorist organizations, and involvement with neighboring countries' local governments. The report also discusses ways which the U.S. hopes to modify Iran's behavior with sanctions, and the effectiveness of these sanctions.
Date: July 31, 2013
Creator: Katzman, Kenneth
System: The UNT Digital Library
Iran: U.S. Concerns and Policy Responses (open access)

Iran: U.S. Concerns and Policy Responses

This CRS Report for Congress contains descriptions of U.S. policy response, legislation, and sanctions pertaining to Iran. Updated July 31, 2013.
Date: July 31, 2013
Creator: Katzman, Kenneth
System: The UNT Digital Library
Iran's Nuclear Program: Tehran's Compliance with International Obligations (open access)

Iran's Nuclear Program: Tehran's Compliance with International Obligations

This report provides a brief overview of Iran's nuclear program and describes the legal basis for the actions taken by the IAEA board and the Security Council. It will be updated as events warrant.
Date: July 31, 2013
Creator: Kerr, Paul K.
System: The UNT Digital Library