Flying Cars and Drones Pose Policy Challenges for Managing and Regulating Low-Altitude Airspace (open access)

Flying Cars and Drones Pose Policy Challenges for Managing and Regulating Low-Altitude Airspace

This report discusses the possibility that flying cars may soon become a reality. Development and marketing efforts are bringing to the fore new policy and regulatory challenges regarding the control of low-altitude airspace, safety, noise, privacy, and landowner rights. They also are raising new questions about the appropriate roles of federal, state, and local authorities in regulating and managing these operations.
Date: July 23, 2018
Creator: Elias, Bart
System: The UNT Digital Library
What Happens If the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) Lapses? (open access)

What Happens If the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) Lapses?

This report provides a short overview of what would happen if the NFIP were not to be reauthorized by November 30, 2018, and allowed to lapse.
Date: July 31, 2018
Creator: Horn, Diane P.
System: The UNT Digital Library
The World Trade Organization (WTO): U.S. Participation at Risk? (open access)

The World Trade Organization (WTO): U.S. Participation at Risk?

This report discusses the possibility that the U.S. will withdraw from the World Trade Organization (WTO), after the Trump Administration expressed doubt over its value to the U.S. economy.
Date: July 31, 2018
Creator: Cimino-Isaacs, Cathleen D.
System: The UNT Digital Library
History of Use of U.S. Military Bases to House Immigrants and Refugees (open access)

History of Use of U.S. Military Bases to House Immigrants and Refugees

This report discusses the use of Goodfellow Air Force Base and Fort Bliss, both in Texas, to house migrant families trying to cross the border, as well as the historical use of military bases to house immigrants and refugees.
Date: July 26, 2018
Creator: Kapp, Lawrence & Torreon, Barbara Salazar
System: The UNT Digital Library
Potential WTO Implications of USDA's Proposed Response to Trade-Retaliation (open access)

Potential WTO Implications of USDA's Proposed Response to Trade-Retaliation

This report briefly discusses the World Trade Organization (WTO) commitments that are relevant to U.S. domestic support programs and how the newly-announced U.S. trade retaliation assistance program may or may not comply with those WTO commitments.
Date: July 27, 2018
Creator: Schnepf, Randy
System: The UNT Digital Library
National Flood Insurance Program Borrowing Authority (open access)

National Flood Insurance Program Borrowing Authority

This report evaluates the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) borrowing authority to receive loans from the U.S. Department of the Treasury, particularly in the context of major floods, and also discusses the current financial situation of the NFIP.
Date: July 31, 2018
Creator: Horn, Diane P.
System: The UNT Digital Library
An Apparent First in U.S. Law Enforcement Use of Unmanned Ground Vehicles (open access)

An Apparent First in U.S. Law Enforcement Use of Unmanned Ground Vehicles

This report discusses the use of a robot to kill an active shooter in Dallas, Texas on July 7, 2016, which has raised questions about what this might mean for how police use force in the future.
Date: July 26, 2016
Creator: James, Nathan
System: The UNT Digital Library
Security Cooperation and the FY2017 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) (open access)

Security Cooperation and the FY2017 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA)

This report discusses provisions in the FY2017 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that have elevated ongoing debates over U.S. security sector assistance to foreign countries--and raised questions over whether the policy architecture is suited to meet current and emerging requirements.
Date: July 27, 2016
Creator: Rosen, Liana W.; Serafino, Nina M.; McInnis, Kathleen J. & Skorupski, Bolko J.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Police Shootings and Federal Support for Law Enforcement Safety (open access)

Police Shootings and Federal Support for Law Enforcement Safety

This report discusses federal support for law enforcement safety in light of the recent shooting deaths of police officers in Dallas, Texas, and Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
Date: July 19, 2016
Creator: James, Nathan
System: The UNT Digital Library
North American Leaders' Summit (open access)

North American Leaders' Summit

This report discusses the 10th annual North American Leaders' Summit (NALS), in which Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau hosted President Barack Obama and Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
Date: July 5, 2016
Creator: Villarreal, M. A.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Human Trafficking and Forced Labor: Trends in Import Restrictions (open access)

Human Trafficking and Forced Labor: Trends in Import Restrictions

This report discusses issues regarding a provision against forced labor in the Tariff Act of 1930 (19 U.S.C. 1307), which prohibited from import into the United States "all goods, wares, articles, and merchandise mined, produced, or manufactured wholly or in part in any foreign country by convict labor or/and forced labor or/and indentured labor under penal sanctions" (Section 307 of the Act).
Date: July 29, 2016
Creator: Rosen, Liana W.; Villarreal, M. A. & Feng, Ashley
System: The UNT Digital Library
Ongoing Section 232 Steel and Aluminium Investigations (open access)

Ongoing Section 232 Steel and Aluminium Investigations

This report discuses two investigations by the Department of Commerce related to Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 which allows the President to impose tariffs or quotas on imported goods if it is in the interest of national security. These investigations are being conducted on the steel and aluminium industries to determine whether the President can and whether he should impose import restrictions. Mixed reactions to the investigations and proposals are also discussed.
Date: July 28, 2017
Creator: Fefer, Rachel F.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Private Flood Insurance and the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) (open access)

Private Flood Insurance and the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP)

This report discusses the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) and the requirements that private insurers must meet to satisfy the federal flood insurance requirements. It also discusses legislation in the 115th Congress related to flood insurance.
Date: July 31, 2018
Creator: Webel, Baird & Horn, Diane P.
System: The UNT Digital Library
National Flood Insurance Program Borrowing Authority (open access)

National Flood Insurance Program Borrowing Authority

This report evaluates the National Flood Insurance Program's (NFIP) borrowing authority to receive loans from the U.S. Department of the Treasury, particularly in the context of major floods, and discusses the current financial situation of the NFIP.
Date: July 31, 2018
Creator: Horn, Diane P.
System: The UNT Digital Library
NATO's 2018 Brussels Summit (open access)

NATO's 2018 Brussels Summit

This report discusses the meeting of leaders from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's (NATO's) 29 member states, scheduled to take place on hold a summit at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, on July 11-12, 2018. Despite the heightened U.S.-European tensions, NATO officials say they expect the allies to announce new NATO initiatives in six main areas at the summit: enhancing collective defense and deterrence, defense spending and burdensharing, countering terrorism, enhancing NATO cooperation with the European Union, and NATO enlargement.
Date: July 5, 2018
Creator: Belkin, Paul
System: The UNT Digital Library
Broadband Data and Mapping (open access)

Broadband Data and Mapping

This report discusses the issue of broadband deployment data. Congress recognizes that more accurate broadband availability maps could help ensure that federal broadband programs target unserved areas of the country that are most in need of assistance.
Date: July 3, 2018
Creator: Kruger, Lennard G.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Pipeline Safety: Overdue Statutory Mandates (open access)

Pipeline Safety: Overdue Statutory Mandates

This report discusses the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration's (PHMSA) failure to fulfill key mandates of the Pipeline Safety, Regulatory Certainty, and Job Creation Act of 2011 (P.L. 112-90) and the PIPES Act of 2016 (P.L. 114-183).
Date: July 27, 2018
Creator: Parfomak, Paul W.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Resurgence of Chemical Weapons Use: Issues for Congress (open access)

Resurgence of Chemical Weapons Use: Issues for Congress

This report discusses the use of chemical weapons (CW). Despite being banned under the 1997 Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC), has become a growing international concern in the past several years.
Date: July 24, 2018
Creator: Nikitin, Mary Beth D. & Jabbari, Cyrus A.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Escalating Tariffs: Timeline and Potential Impact (open access)

Escalating Tariffs: Timeline and Potential Impact

This report provides a timeline of key events related to U.S. trade actions on steel and aluminium tariffs and tariffs against China.
Date: July 31, 2018
Creator: Williams, Brock R.; Hammond, Keigh H. & Morrison, Wayne M.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Army Futures Command (AFC) (open access)

Army Futures Command (AFC)

This report summarizes the issue of development of major combat systems for the Army and the proposed solution: Army Futures Command. The report ends with possible issues for Congress to consider.
Date: July 16, 2018
Creator: Feickert, Andrew
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Trump-Putin Summit (open access)

The Trump-Putin Summit

This report discusses the Trump-Putin summit that took place on July 16, 2018 in Helsinki, Finland. The report summarizes issues discussed in the summit press conference, including election interference, Syria, Ukraine, arms control, nonproliferation, and counterterrorism and cybersecurity.
Date: July 20, 2018
Creator: Welt, Cory
System: The UNT Digital Library
Foreign Investment Risk Review Modernization Act (FIRRMA) (open access)

Foreign Investment Risk Review Modernization Act (FIRRMA)

This report discusses the Foreign Investment Risk Review Modernization Act of 2018 (FIRRMA). The House and Senate adopted these bills to amend the current process for the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) (under P.L. 110-49) to review, on behalf of the President, the national security implications of foreign direct investments in the United States.
Date: July 3, 2018
Creator: Jackson, James K. & Cimino-Isaacs, Cathleen D.
System: The UNT Digital Library
"Duck Boat" Accident Highlights Gap in Regulation (open access)

"Duck Boat" Accident Highlights Gap in Regulation

This report discusses recent accidents involving amphibious passenger vehicles (APVs), commonly known as "duck boats." The report highlights a gap in the regulation of APVs and provides recommendations made by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) to improve safety.
Date: July 20, 2018
Creator: Canis, Bill
System: The UNT Digital Library