The September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States gave new momentum to European Union (EU) initiatives to combat terrorism and other crossborder crimes such as drug trafficking, human trafficking, and financial fraud. For many years, EU efforts to address such challenges were hampered by national sovereignty concerns, insufficient resources, and a lack of trust among law enforcement agencies. However, the terrorist attacks and the subsequent revelation of Al Qaeda cells in Europe changed this status quo as it became increasingly evident that the EU’s open borders and different legal systems allowed terrorists and other criminals to move around easily and evade arrest and prosecution. Thus, EU officials renewed their efforts to harmonize national laws and bring down traditional barriers among member states’ police, intelligence, and judicial authorities. As part of this initiative, the EU has also sought to enhance ongoing cooperation with U.S. law enforcement and judicial authorities so that information can be meaningfully shared and suspects apprehended expeditiously.

This report provides a brief overview of the cost of operations in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Enhanced Security.

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This Issue Brief examines DOD’s four largest tactical aircraft modernization programs. The background section provides a brief description of each program, and a discussion of how tactical aircraft fit into the military air operations: the missions they typically perform and how they contrast to longer-range combat aircraft.

The impact of taxes on international trade and foreign investment has had a place in tax policy debates for decades, although its prominence has waxed and waned. The debate has tended to grow more heated during times of domestic economic weakness and high unemployment ; questions arise during such times over whether taxes contribute to such weakness by discouraging exports (or encouraging imports) or by encouraging U.S. firms to move abroad. In recent months, the debate over international taxation again became prominent as a part of the wider debate over “outsourcing.” With taxes, the debate asks how the current tax system likely affects outsourcing, and whether alternative tax policies designed to limit the phenomenon might be desirable. This report applies economic analysis to both questions.

A variety of free online sources can be used by Members of Congress and staff seeking current and breaking news on fisheries, aquaculture, and marine mammals. Services identified include newswires and news services, press release services, regional and topical newsletters, topical discussion groups, comprehensive resource archives, professional organizations, trade and interest organizations, government agencies and international commissions, and issue-specific sites. This summary does not attempt a complete listing of available online sources, but offers a selection of frequently used sources. An emphasis of this report is on identifying services which deliver news and information directly to the user by e-mail. To assure that a broad array of useful sources is covered and to remove sources that are no longer active, this report will be updated periodically.

This report discusses the 30 bills introduced during the 108th Congress seeking to improve campaign finance laws.

Appropriations are one part of a complex federal budget process that includes budget resolutions, appropriations (regular, supplemental, and continuing) bills, rescissions, and budget reconciliation bills. This Report is a guide to one of the 13 regular appropriations bills that Congress passes each year. It is designed to supplement the information provided by the House and Senate Appropriations Subcommittees on Agriculture.

For more than a century, the federal government has constructed water resource projects for a variety of purposes, including flood control, navigation, power generation, and irrigation. While most municipal and industrial water supplies have been built by non-federal entities, most of the large, federal water supply projects in the West, including Hoover and Grand Coulee dams, were constructed by the Bureau of Reclamation (Department of the Interior) to provide water for irrigation.

This report discusses three 108th Congress tort reform bills: the Volunteer Pilot Organization Protection Act (H.R. 1084), the Good Samaritan Firefighter Assistance Act of 2003 (H.R. 1787), and the Nonprofit Athletic Organization Protection Act of 2003 (H.R. 3369).

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This report includes information regarding the implementation of the Clean Water Act. Total maximum daily load requirements, funding issues, and stormwater discharges are among topics discussed in this report.

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Affirmative action remains a focal point of public debate as the result of legal and political developments at the federal, state, and local levels. This report discusses legislation related to affirmative action, as well as legal rulings on the topic and the federal government's role in first establishing and, later, attempting to curb affirmative action policies.

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Under the current Bush Administration, U.S.-China-Taiwan relations have undergone a number of changes. Initially, the new Administration seemed to abandon the longstanding U.S. policy of “strategic ambiguity” on Taiwan in favor of “strategic clarity” that placed more emphasis on Taiwan’s interests and less on PRC concerns. Among other things, President Bush publicly stated that the The United States would do “whatever it takes” to help Taiwan’s defense — an unprecedented a statement which no prior U.S. President has made. In April 2001, the President also approved a substantial sale of U.S. weapons to Taiwan, including Kidd-class destroyers, antisubmarine P-3 “Orion” aircraft, and diesel submarines. The White House also was more accommodating to visits from Taiwan officials than previous U.S. Administrations, and permitted visits from Taiwan’s president in 2001 and 2003, and from Taiwan’s VicePresident and Defense Minister in 2002.

This report is a guide to appropriations of Military Construction for FY2005.

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.

This report discusses the roles of trade, productivity, and recession regarding deindustrialization of the U.S. Economy.

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This report consists of the alternative minimum tax for individuals.,

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