This report discusses price changes in the pork industry. In late 1998, the lowest hog prices in decades created a crisis in the pork industry and prompted the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and Congress to take a series of actions to assist producers, including direct cash payments, and the purchase of extra pork products to reduce market supplies. The industry sought additional aid as low prices persisted into 1999.

This report provides basic eligibility rules, recipient numbers, and FY1996-FY1998 expenditure data for 80 programs that have provided cash or non-cash benefits to low-income persons.

The Administration requested $78.242 billion for research and development (R&D) in FY2000, 1.3% below the FY1999 estimated level of $79.267 billion. As with past proposals, the Administration requested an increase for civilian R&D, 3% to $39.761 billion, while overall defense R&D would decline 5.3% to $38.481 billion.

This report provides a brief overview of California's proposition 187, a 1994 ballot initiative to deny illegal aliens state benefits and to require reporting of illegal alien applicants for benefits to federal immigration officials.

This report examines the subsidies that families might receive under the Child Care and Development Fund(CCDF) and the Dependent care tax credit(DCTC) and the subsequent out-of-pocket costs they might bear, depending on their income and the state in which they live.

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The pay-as-you-go (PAYGO) rules in the federal budget process require that new direct spending and revenue legislation be deficit neutral. The net effect of all such legislation enacted during a session must not cause a net increase in the budget deficit (or a net decrease in the budget surplus). If direct spending or revenue legislation causes an increase in the deficit, it must be offset by an equivalent amount of direct spending reductions, revenue increases, or a combination of both.

This report discusses two Clean Air Act provisions that can result in denial of federal highway funding to local areas: sanctions and the lapse of what is called "conformity." Under the Clean Air Act, the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency is required to impose highway fund or other sanctions on areas that have not submitted or not implemented adequate plans to attain air quality standards. In addition, federal agencies may not provide financial support to transportation improvements in areas that have not attained air quality standards, unless the improvements conform with the State Implementation Plan for achieving air quality. This report provides information concerning the authority to impose sanctions and to make conformity determinations, lists the areas that have been subject to sanctions determinations since 1990, describes their current status, and discusses the role of sanctions and alternatives under the Act. This report will be updated as developments warrant.

The 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments provided the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the states with new tool to address the problem of interstate transport of air pollutants. This report discusses the actions undertaken as a direct result of this act, additional pollution reduction enforcement measures pursued by the EPA, and actions undertaken by states to reduce offending emissions not in compliance with these measures.

This report summarizes present law governing federal taxation of alcoholic beverages and provides a brief history of its development from 1791 to the present.

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Copyright law protects works of authorship that exhibit original, creative expression, including creativity in the selection, arrangement, or coordination both of traditional printed and electronic databases. Noncreative databases are not subject to copyright protection, although some protection is available through a combination of contract law, trade secrecy law, and misappropriation doctrines of state law.

The Passenger Service Act (PSA) requires that domestic ocean passenger transportation be provided only by ships that are U.S.-owned, U.S.-built and operated by U.S. crews. Proposed legislation to relax some PSA restrictions was introduced during the 105th Congress. Both the Chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee and the Chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, Subcommittee on the Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation, have made recent public statements indicating their strong interets enacting changes to the passenger Service Act during the 106th Congress. This report will be updated as developments warrant.

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Report explaining the fundamentals of immigration in the United States including key terms, statistics, limits, and more.

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