Pay-As-You-Go Procedures for Budget Enforcement (open access)

Pay-As-You-Go Procedures for Budget Enforcement

“Pay-as-you-go” (PAYGO) procedures play an important role in enforcing budget policies with respect to the consideration of revenue and direct spending legislation. Generally, the purpose of PAYGO procedures is to discourage or prevent the enactment of legislation that would cause, or increase, a deficit or reduce a surplus.
Date: December 31, 2007
Creator: Keith, Robert
System: The UNT Digital Library
Consolidated Appropriations Act for FY2008: Brief Overview (open access)

Consolidated Appropriations Act for FY2008: Brief Overview

The Consolidated Appropriations Act for FY2008 was the measure used by Congress and the President to wrap up action on the regular appropriations acts in late 2007, at the end of the first session of the 110th Congress. This report provides a brief overview of the measure, including a discussion of the context for legislative action, the legislative history of the bill, a summary of its structure and content, and information on the use of across-the-board spending cuts to offset part of its cost.
Date: December 28, 2007
Creator: Keith, Robert
System: The UNT Digital Library
California’s Waiver Request to Control Greenhouse Gases Under the Clean Air Act (open access)

California’s Waiver Request to Control Greenhouse Gases Under the Clean Air Act

This report reviews the nature of EPA's, California's, and other states' authority to regulate emissions from mobile sources, discusses the applicability of that authority to GHGs, and analyzes issues related to the California waiver request.
Date: December 27, 2007
Creator: McCarthy, James E. & Meltz, Robert
System: The UNT Digital Library
Federal Mandatory Minimum Sentencing Statutes (open access)

Federal Mandatory Minimum Sentencing Statutes

None
Date: December 27, 2007
Creator: Doyle, Charles
System: The UNT Digital Library
Federal Mandatory Minimum Sentencing Statutes: An Abbreviated Overview (open access)

Federal Mandatory Minimum Sentencing Statutes: An Abbreviated Overview

None
Date: December 27, 2007
Creator: Doyle, Charles
System: The UNT Digital Library
Federal Statutes: What They Are and Where to Find Them (open access)

Federal Statutes: What They Are and Where to Find Them

This report provides a brief overview of federal statutes and where to find them, both in print and on the internet. When Congress passes a law, it may amend or repeal earlier enactments or it may write on a clean slate. After providing an overview on the basics of federal statutes, this report gives guidance on where federal statutes, in their various forms, may be located on the Internet.
Date: December 27, 2007
Creator: Foley, Cassandra L.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Motor Vehicle Manufacturing Employment: National and State Trends and Issues (open access)

Motor Vehicle Manufacturing Employment: National and State Trends and Issues

The 110th Congress is addressing many issues that could have a major impact on the U.S. motor vehicle manufacturing industry. This includes adopting new fuel economy standards for automobiles and light trucks (P.L. 110-140), plus consideration of legislation that may be used to help promote the manufacturing of future generations of fuel-efficient vehicles (S. 2191). This report looks at four sets of issues that have received attention in Congress or among the public more widely, with respect to employment in the U.S. motor manufacturing industry.
Date: December 27, 2007
Creator: Cooney, Stephen
System: The UNT Digital Library
Exclusion of Capital Gains for Owner-Occupied Housing (open access)

Exclusion of Capital Gains for Owner-Occupied Housing

None
Date: December 26, 2007
Creator: Gravelle, Jane G. & Jackson, Pamela J.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Iraq: Foreign Contributions to Stabilization and Reconstruction. December 2007 (open access)

Iraq: Foreign Contributions to Stabilization and Reconstruction. December 2007

This report characterizes foreign contributions to Iraq in terms of personnel and resources, including trends over time, based on best-available information.
Date: December 26, 2007
Creator: Blanchard, Christopher M. & Dale, Catherine Marie
System: The UNT Digital Library
Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007: A Summary of Major Provisions (open access)

Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007: A Summary of Major Provisions

None
Date: December 21, 2007
Creator: Sissine, Fred
System: The UNT Digital Library
Financial Services and General Government (FSGG): FY2008 Appropriations (open access)

Financial Services and General Government (FSGG): FY2008 Appropriations

This report is a guide to one of the regular appropriations bills that Congress considers each year. It is designed to supplement the information provided by the House and Senate Appropriations Subcommittees on Defense. For both defense authorization and appropriations, this report summarizes the status of the bills, their scope, major issues, funding levels, and related congressional activity.
Date: December 20, 2007
Creator: Hatch, Garrett L.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Proposals to Reform “Holds” in the Senate (open access)

Proposals to Reform “Holds” in the Senate

This report examines, over a more than three decade period, a wide range of proposals to reform holds. In general, the objective of these recommendations is not to abolish holds but to infuse more accountability, uniformity, and transparency in their use and to make it clear that holds are not a veto on the majority leader's prerogative of calling up measures or matters.
Date: December 20, 2007
Creator: Oleszek, Walter J.
System: The UNT Digital Library
FY2008 Supplemental Appropriations for Global War on Terror Military Operations, International Affairs, and Other Purposes (open access)

FY2008 Supplemental Appropriations for Global War on Terror Military Operations, International Affairs, and Other Purposes

None
Date: December 19, 2007
Creator: Daggett, Stephen; Epstein, Susan B.; Margesson, Rhoda; Tarnoff, Curt & Veillette, Connie
System: The UNT Digital Library
Federal Research and Development Funding: Possible Impacts of Operating under a Continuing Resolution (open access)

Federal Research and Development Funding: Possible Impacts of Operating under a Continuing Resolution

None
Date: December 17, 2007
Creator: Shea, Dana A. & Morgan, Daniel
System: The UNT Digital Library
Burma: Economic Sanctions (open access)

Burma: Economic Sanctions

This report provides background information on existing economic sanctions against Burma and possible options to expand sanctions.
Date: December 14, 2007
Creator: Niksch, Larry A. & Weiss, Martin A.
System: The UNT Digital Library
China’s Space Program: Options for U.S.-China Cooperation (open access)

China’s Space Program: Options for U.S.-China Cooperation

This report outlines recent activities and future plans in China's civilian space sector. It discusses benefits and trade-offs of possible U.S.-China collaboration in space, as well as several options to improve space relations, including information exchange, policy dialogue, and joint activities.
Date: December 14, 2007
Creator: Logan, Jeffrey
System: The UNT Digital Library
Across-the-Board Spending Cuts in End-of Session Appropriations Acts (open access)

Across-the-Board Spending Cuts in End-of Session Appropriations Acts

This report examines the use of across-the-board spending cuts in the end-of-session appropriations acts for FY2000-FY2006 identified above, assessing the budgetary context leading to the spending cut, recounting the legislative action on the spending cut provision, and reviewing the provision’s design and implementation.
Date: December 13, 2007
Creator: Keith, Robert
System: The UNT Digital Library
Federal Sentencing Guidelines: Background, Legal Analysis, and Policy Options (open access)

Federal Sentencing Guidelines: Background, Legal Analysis, and Policy Options

None
Date: December 13, 2007
Creator: Seghetti, Lisa M. & Smith, Alison M.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Higher Education Act Reauthorization in the 110th Congress: A Comparison of Major Proposals (open access)

Higher Education Act Reauthorization in the 110th Congress: A Comparison of Major Proposals

This report provides a side-by-side comparison of the HEA reauthorization proposals in the Senate-passed version of S. 1642 and the House committee-passes version of H.R. 4137 to current law.
Date: December 13, 2007
Creator: Mercer, Charmaine; Naughton, Blake A.; Skinner, Rebecca R.; Smole, David P.; Kuenzi, Jeffrey J. & Apling, Richard N.
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Americans with Disabilities Act: Supreme Court Decisions (open access)

The Americans with Disabilities Act: Supreme Court Decisions

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) provides broad nondiscrimination protection for individuals with disabilities in employment, public services, public accommodations and services operated by private entities, transportation, and telecommunications. Enacted in 1990, the ADA is a civil rights statute that has as its purpose “to provide a clear and comprehensive national mandate for the elimination of discrimination against individuals with disabilities.” It has been the subject of numerous lower court decisions, and the Supreme Court has decided 20 ADA cases, most recently United States v. Georgia. This report examines the Supreme Court decisions on the ADA.
Date: December 12, 2007
Creator: Jones, Nancy Lee
System: The UNT Digital Library
Application Process for Seeking Section 501(c)(3) Tax Exempt Status (open access)

Application Process for Seeking Section 501(c)(3) Tax Exempt Status

Charities and other entities seeking tax attempt status as organizations must apply to the Internal Revenue Service. This report provides an overview of the application process.
Date: December 12, 2007
Creator: Lunder, Erika
System: The UNT Digital Library
Engrossment, Enrollment, and Presentation of Legislation (open access)

Engrossment, Enrollment, and Presentation of Legislation

None
Date: December 12, 2007
Creator: Petersen, R. Eric
System: The UNT Digital Library
The U.S.-Australia Treaty on Defense Trade Cooperation (open access)

The U.S.-Australia Treaty on Defense Trade Cooperation

This report describes a treaty signed by the United States and Australia on Defense Trade Cooperation in September 2007 that would facilitate defense trade and cooperation between the two nations. On the strategic level, the treaty would further develop ties between two very close allies who have fought together in most of America's conflicts, including most recently in Iraq and in Afghanistan.
Date: December 12, 2007
Creator: Vaughn, Bruce
System: The UNT Digital Library
Federal Tort Claims Act (open access)

Federal Tort Claims Act

None
Date: December 11, 2007
Creator: Cohen, Henry & Burrows, Vanessa K.
System: The UNT Digital Library