Côte d'Ivoire's Post-Election Crisis (open access)

Côte d'Ivoire's Post-Election Crisis

This report discusses the contested November 28, 2010, presidential election runoff election in Côte d'Ivoire. Laurent Gbagbo and his rival, former Prime Minister Alassane Ouattara, both continue to claim to have won the runoff and to exercise exclusive national executive authority, and to attempt to consolidate their control over state institutions. An increase in armed conflicts in late February 2011, among other indicators, signals the possible outbreak of a renewed civil war. This report discusses these events, as well as U.S. and international efforts to support a peaceful transition in Côte d'Ivoire, which has remained largely divided since the civil war that began in 2002.
Date: March 15, 2011
Creator: Cook, Nicolas
System: The UNT Digital Library
European Union Enlargement: A Status Report on Turkey's Accession Negotiations (open access)

European Union Enlargement: A Status Report on Turkey's Accession Negotiations

This report provides a brief overview of the European Union's (EU) accession process and Turkey's path to EU membership.
Date: March 15, 2011
Creator: Morelli, Vincent
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Origination Clause of the U.S. Constitution: Interpretation and Enforcement (open access)

The Origination Clause of the U.S. Constitution: Interpretation and Enforcement

Article I, Section 7, clause 1 of the U.S. Constitution is known as the Origination Clause because it provides that "All Bills for raising Revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives." The meaning and application of this clause has evolved through practice and precedent since the Constitution was drafted. The Constitution does not provide specific guidelines as to what constitutes a "bill for raising revenue." This report analyzes congressional and court precedents regarding that constitutes such a bill. Second, this report describes the various ways in which the Origination Clause has been enforced. Finally, this report looks at the application of the Origination Clause to other types of legislation.
Date: March 15, 2011
Creator: Saturno, James V.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Africa: U.S. Foreign Assistance Issues (open access)

Africa: U.S. Foreign Assistance Issues

The United States provides assistance to 47 African countries, and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has 23 missions in Africa. In recent years, U.S. assistance to Africa saw a major increase, especially in health-related programs. This report provides an overview of U.S. aid to Africa, including the strategic objectives that shape U.S. aid to Africa, information about specific aid programs and initiatives, and the Obama Administration's FY2011 foreign aid budget request.
Date: March 15, 2011
Creator: Dagne, Ted
System: The UNT Digital Library
Access to Broadband Networks: The Net Neutrality Debate (open access)

Access to Broadband Networks: The Net Neutrality Debate

This report discusses the continued debate amongst congressional policymakers regarding telecommunications reform. A major point of the ongoing discussion is whether action is needed to ensure unfettered access to the Internet.
Date: March 15, 2011
Creator: Gilroy, Angele A.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Veterans Affairs: A Preliminary Analysis of the FY2012 Appropriations Request (open access)

Veterans Affairs: A Preliminary Analysis of the FY2012 Appropriations Request

This report provides a preliminary analysis of the President's budget request for FY2012 for the programs administered by the VA. This report is not an exhaustive discussion of VA's budget request for FY2012. A full CRS report on FY2012 VA budget and appropriations issues is planned after initial congressional consideration of appropriations legislation.
Date: March 15, 2011
Creator: Scott, Christine & Panangala, Sidath Viranga
System: The UNT Digital Library
Japan 2011 Disaster: CRS Experts (open access)

Japan 2011 Disaster: CRS Experts

The following table provides access to names and contact information for CRS experts on policy concerns relating to the nuclear and humanitarian disaster unfolding in Japan. Specific policy areas are identified.
Date: March 15, 2011
Creator: Dolven, Ben
System: The UNT Digital Library
Fukushima Nuclear Crisis (open access)

Fukushima Nuclear Crisis

This report briefly discusses the March 11, 2001, earthquake off the east coast of Honshu, Japan's largest island. The earthquake caused an automatic shutdown of eleven of Japan's fifty-five operating nuclear power plants. The plants closes to the earthquake's epicenter, Fukushima and Onagawa, were damaged by the earthquake and resulting tsunami. This report also discusses efforts by the United States and other countries to provide assistance to Japan to deal with the nuclear crisis.
Date: March 15, 2011
Creator: Campbell, Richard J.
System: The UNT Digital Library
GAO Bid Protests: An Overview of Timeframes and Procedures (open access)

GAO Bid Protests: An Overview of Timeframes and Procedures

This report is one of two providing Congress with background on the Government Accountability Office (GAO) bid-protest process. It provides an overview of the timeframes and procedures in a GAO bid protest, including several issues enumerated in the report's introduction.
Date: March 15, 2011
Creator: Manuel, Kate M. & Schwartz, Moshe
System: The UNT Digital Library
Educational Assistance Programs Administered by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (open access)

Educational Assistance Programs Administered by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs

This report provides a detailed description of the six educational assistance programs that are available to veterans or other eligible individuals through the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). Although the programs are administered by the VA, some of the funding for the programs is provided by the Department of Defense (DOD), which transfers monies from its education trust fund to the VA for disbursement.
Date: March 15, 2011
Creator: Dortch, Cassandria
System: The UNT Digital Library
U.S. Tsunami Programs: A Brief Overview (open access)

U.S. Tsunami Programs: A Brief Overview

This report discusses U.S. warning systems and related disaster management programs in place to prepare for and react to tsunamis. This issue is discussed in relation to the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami that devastated Japan.
Date: March 15, 2011
Creator: Folger, Peter
System: The UNT Digital Library
Sessions, Adjournments, and Recesses of Congress (open access)

Sessions, Adjournments, and Recesses of Congress

None
Date: March 15, 2013
Creator: unknown
System: The UNT Digital Library
Cuba: Issues for the 114th Congress (open access)

Cuba: Issues for the 114th Congress

This report is divided into three major sections analyzing Cuba's political and economic environment, U.S. policy, and selected issues in U.S.-Cuban relations. While legislative initiatives are noted throughout the report, a final section of the report provides a listing of bills and resolutions introduced in the 114th Congress.
Date: March 15, 2016
Creator: Sullivan, Mark P.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA): Congressional Interest and Executive Enforcement, In Brief (open access)

Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA): Congressional Interest and Executive Enforcement, In Brief

This report briefly discusses the Foreign Corrupt Practice Act of 1977 (FCPA), which was intended to prevent corporate bribery of foreign officials. Criticisms of the act's operation and scope began almost immediately after its passage and have continued. This report addresses these criticisms.
Date: March 15, 2016
Creator: Seitzinger, Michael V.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Five Years of the Budget Control Act's Disaster Relief Adjustment (open access)

Five Years of the Budget Control Act's Disaster Relief Adjustment

The Budget Control Act (P.L. 112-25, hereinafter the BCA) established a set of limits on federal spending, as well as a set of mechanisms to adjust those limits to accommodate spending that has special priority. This report looks at how the adjustment has functioned over the first five years, and what the future of disaster relief (as defined under the BCA) may look like under current law for the next five years and beyond.
Date: March 15, 2016
Creator: Lindsay, Bruce R.; McCarthy, Francis X. & McCarthy, Francis X.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Title X (Public Health Service Act) Family Planning Program (open access)

Title X (Public Health Service Act) Family Planning Program

This report discusses various issues regarding the Family Planning Program, Title X of the Public Health Service Act. Enacted in 1970, it is the only domestic federal program devoted solely to family planning and related preventive health services.
Date: March 15, 2016
Creator: Napili, Angela
System: The UNT Digital Library
Justice Antonin Scalia's Last Opinion (open access)

Justice Antonin Scalia's Last Opinion

This report discusses Justice Antonin Scalia's last opinion for the court (Kansas v. Carr). There, the Court reversed two decisions of the Kansas Supreme Court and held that "the Eighth Amendment [does not] require... capital-sentencing courts to instruct the jury that mitigating circumstances need not be proved beyond a reasonable doubt." It also held that the Eighth Amendment did not require separate trials for two of the defendants in one of the Kansas cases.
Date: March 15, 2016
Creator: unknown
System: The UNT Digital Library
Navy John Lewis (TAO-205) Class Oiler Shipbuilding Program: Background and Issues for Congress (open access)

Navy John Lewis (TAO-205) Class Oiler Shipbuilding Program: Background and Issues for Congress

This report provides background information and issues for Congress on the John Lewis (TAO-205) class oiler shipbuilding program, a program to build a new class of 17 fleet oilers for the Navy.
Date: March 15, 2016
Creator: O'Rourke, Ronald
System: The UNT Digital Library
Pass-Throughs, Corporations, and Small Businesses, A Look at Firm Size (open access)

Pass-Throughs, Corporations, and Small Businesses, A Look at Firm Size

This report discusses the definition of small businesses and what types of companies they are (corporatiom, pass-through, sole proprietorship etc.) along with information on the relation between firm size and company type.
Date: March 15, 2018
Creator: Keightley, Mark P. & Hughes, Joseph S.
System: The UNT Digital Library
The U.S. Export Control System and the Export Control Reform Initiative (open access)

The U.S. Export Control System and the Export Control Reform Initiative

This report discusses the U.S. export control system for defense related exports and examines the current split administration of the various parts of the system and proposals to unify and streamline the system.
Date: March 15, 2018
Creator: Fergusson, Ian F. & Kerr, Paul K.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Jrisdiction Stripping: When May Congress Prohibit the Courts from Hearing a Case? (open access)

Jrisdiction Stripping: When May Congress Prohibit the Courts from Hearing a Case?

This report discusses the Supreme Court case of "Patchak v. Zinke" and its relevance to Congress. It begins by briefly describing the Court's prior attempts to demarcate the boundaries of Congress's power to take cases away from the federal judiciary. It then discusses the facts and opinions in Patchak and analyzes the effect Patchak may have on Congress's legislative objectives.
Date: March 15, 2018
Creator: Lewis, Kevin M.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Modes of Constitutional Interpretation (open access)

Modes of Constitutional Interpretation

This report provides a brief overview of the major theories of constitutional interpretation.
Date: March 15, 2018
Creator: Murrill, Brandon J.
System: The UNT Digital Library
DOD's Troops to Teachers Program (TTT) (open access)

DOD's Troops to Teachers Program (TTT)

This report describes the U.S. Department of Defense's Troops to Teachers (TTT) program which provides assistance to veterans pursuing careers in education.
Date: March 15, 2018
Creator: Kamarck, Kristy N. & McKinsey, Eva G.
System: The UNT Digital Library
GAO Bid Protests: An Overview of Timeframes and Procedures (open access)

GAO Bid Protests: An Overview of Timeframes and Procedures

This report is one of two providing Congress with background on the Government Accountability Office (GAO) bid-protest process. It provides an overview of the timeframes and procedures in a GAO bid protest, including several issues enumerated in the report's introduction.
Date: March 15, 2010
Creator: Manuel, Kate M. & Schwartz, Moshe
System: The UNT Digital Library