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This report the addresses German Military Presence in the United States. The United States has a long history of training with its allies, both here and abroad. Germany first began training its pilots in the United States in 1955.1 The scope of these training programs has grown ever since. Many analysts argue that the most important benefit of an increasing German military presence in the United States may be to enhance opportunities for cooperation at a time when the United States has dramatically reduced its military presence in Europe.

This is a html page with a report on the great lakes water quality.

The continuation in effect of China's most-favored-nation status with the United States is contingent principally on the maintenance in force of the waiver of full compliance with the requirements of the freedom-of-emigration ("Jackson-Vanik") amendment of the Trade Act of 1974. Waivers and their underlying authority must be extended annually.

The United States has pressed China over the past several years to improve its protection of U.S. intellectual property rights (IPR) and to afford greater market access to intellectual property-related products, such as computer software, compact disks (CDs), and audio-visual products. U.S. threats of trade sanctions against Chinese products helped produce trade agreements in January 1992 and February 1995 that pledged China to improve its IPR enforcement regime and expand market access for IPR-related products. However, despite these agreements, U.S. and IPR industry officials have charged that IPR piracy in China remains rampant and is costing U.S. firms $2.3 billion in lost trade annually. On May 15, 1996, the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) threatened to impose approximately $2 billion in trade sanctions against China for failing to abide by the February 1995 IPR agreement. This report outlines the history of the U.S.-Chinese IPR dispute and examines its ramifications for future U.S.-Chinese economic relations.

Until the catastrophic accident with the former Soviet Union's Chernobyl nuclear power plant showed that radioactivity from a major nuclear accident could reach neighboring nations, nuclear safety was held to be an exclusively sovereign responsibility of each nation. Now it is recognized that a nuclear accident in one state can release radioactivity dangerous to another. As a result, many now view international cooperation as one way to help to assure safe operation of each nation's civil nuclear power stations.

This report briefly discusses charging fees for grazing private livestock on federal lands, which is a long-standing but contentious practice. Generally, livestock producers who use federal lands want to keep fees low, while conservation groups and others believe fees should be raised to approximate "fair market value."

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This report discusses legislation establishing national generic promotion ("check-off') programs for 20 specified farm commodities. Thirteen of the 20 authorized programs are now in effect.