Steel jaw leghold traps are used in 47 States in the United States to capture furbearing animals (Florida and Rhode Island have prohibited use except with special permit for nuisance animals, and New Jersey has banned all uses). In addition to use by the fur industry, these traps are employed by State agencies in game management (e.g., to control predators and diseases). The leghold trap issue pits animal welfare groups opposed to the pain and suffering of trapped animals against supporters of the trap who maintain that alternatives are not cost effective and/or efficient.

Sluggish U.S. economic growth over the past few years has raised concern in the United States over the state of U.S. "living standards." The focus of this concern is often centered on the position of U.S. "living standards" compared with those of other industrialized nations. However, there is no clear and precise definition of the standard of living concept, especially one that allows for international comparisons. This report analyzes the standard of living concept within an economic framework, where a nation's standard of living is measured according to its gross domestic product (GDP) on a per capita basis. For the purposes of international comparisons, per capita, GDP data are converted to a common currency using purchasing power parities. Based on this measurement, data indicate that the The United States currently maintains the highest standard of living among the world's top seven industrialized powers, also known as the G-7 countries, although it appears that other industrialized countries, including Japan, are quickly closing the gap.

Relations between Russia and Japan are seriously strained. At the heart of the impasse is a territorial dispute over a group of islands seized by the Soviet Union in 1945 and claimed by both countries. The Japanese Government maintains that there can be no normalization of relations between the two countries until Russia agrees to return the islands. Japan may refuse to participate in large-scale economic assistance to Russia until it is satisfied on the territorial question.

On May 25, 1989, President Bush proposed that the United States undertake the Structural Impediments Initiative (SII), a series of discussions with Japan to address certain fundamental Japanese economic policies and business practices that the United States claims impede U.S. exports and investments. The SII was, in part, a Bush Administration response to the stubborn U.S. trade deficit and other problems that have caused friction in the U.S. trading relationship with Japan. It was also a response to congressional pressure to deal more aggressively with Japanese unfair trade practices and to calls from critics to adopt a "managed" trade policy toward Japan.

If the 103rd Congress embarks upon an effort to reauthorize the Endangered Species Act (ESA), it will run into an old acquaintance: the property rights issue. As now written, the ESA has at least the potential to curtail property rights (whatever its actual impact as implemented may be). This report explores the legal repercussions of those impacts, especially whether they constitute takings of property under the fifth amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

For at least 15 years Members of Congress have continued to ask: How many U.S. manufacturing plants have closed? For at least 15 years they have continued to ask: How many U.S. manufacturing plants have relocated abroad, and where have they gone? For at least 15 years the answer has been: For the most part, those questions can't be answered, based on Government data. How many plants are moving to Mexico? What industries and what States are the plants from? How many U.S. workers are losing their jobs as a result? It appears that still, after two legislative attempts to mandate collection of these data, the Government publishes no counts of U.S. plant closings, and almost no information on plant relocations. Options for strengthening the data systems include addressing three main weaknesses: inadequate data program design, a plant closing definition that misses its mark, and publication of partial instead of complete survey results.

There are ten categories of courts (including the local courts of the District of Columbia) to which the President nominates judges. The report provides background and statistics concerning President Bush's judicial nominations in each court category as well as actions taken on those nominations by the United States Senate. Each of the report's ten sections discusses the composition and jurisdiction of the court in question and notes the committee to which nominations to this court were referred when received by the Senate. Also, statistics on judicial nominations received by the Senate during the four years of the Bush Presidency are presented.

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