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This report provides an assessment of Supreme Court cases from the 1983-85 Term that involve issues involving the free exercise of religion. It provides a detailed review of the case Lynch v. Donnelly, and brief descriptions of twelve other cases that have not been reviewed.

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The Energy Policy and Conservation Act (EPCA! (P.L. 94-163), as amended by the National Energy Conservation Policy Act (NEPCA) (P.L. 95-619) , requires that energy efficiency standards be established for each of 13 classes of appliances that are major consumers of energy. NEPCA stipulates that such standards "be designed to achieve the maximum improvement in energy efficiency which the Secretary [of Energ'y] determines is technologically feasible and economically justified." The Department of Energy ' announced proposed standards for 8 of the 13 classes of appliances in June 1980 and initiated public hearings on them prior to final promulgation. In January 1981, the DOE suspended this process; after re-studying the proposed standards, it announced in April 1982 a finding that no standards are economically justified.

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This report analyzes the impact which the divestiture of the American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T) will have on the 3.2 million holders of AT&T stock. The method of distribution and the listing and trading mechanics of the shares as well as dividend and tax information are discussed. A brief analysis of initial stock performance based on the first two weeks of trading concludes the analysis.

Since 1981 President Reagan has requested increasing amounts of military and economic aid to assist two embattled Salvadoran governments in he struggle against leftist guerrillas. While Congress has generally supported the Administration's requests for economic aid, it has regularly cut military assistance to El Salvador and has made the aid contingent upon a semi-annual Presidential certification that human rights are improving in the country.

This report discusses Immigration reform, which continues to be of concern in the '96th Congress, and legislation has been moving quickly. Specific issues include illegal immigration, temporary workers, legalization, asylum adjudications, and legal immigration. The legislation under consideration is the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1983, popularly referred to as the Simpson-Mazzoli bill, introduced in the House and Senate on Feb, 17, 1983 as H.R. 1510 and S. 529.

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This report discusses how best to coordinate the Federal government's multi-agency efforts to curb illicit traffic in dangerous drugs has once again become an issue of major interest to the Congress. Critics of the Reagan Administration's anti-drug program contend that it lacks an overall strategy and that it suffers from the absence of a central mechanism for the formulation of general policy as well as for the broad direction of operations

The authorization for Federal refugee resettlement assistance provided by the Refugee Act of 1980 expires Sept. 30, 1983. The 97th Congress had extended this assistance authority for one year only pending a more thorough review of the entire Refugee Act including its admissions provisions. Admissions issues that have been of interest to Congress include the role of Congress and the executive branch in establishing annual numerical limits on refugee admissions, and the interpretation of the definition of a refugee. A new block grant refugee assistance program proposed by the Reagan The administration was addressed in hearings on the reauthorization of resettlement assistance; other continuing concerns are refugee dependency on cash assistance and the geographic distribution of refugees in the United states.

Transportation has been substantially deregulated over the last 5 years and there is talk of enacting legislation during the 98th Congress to further deregulate transportation or to restore some of the regulation that recent legislation has removed. This mini brief gives an overview of the deregulation already enacted into law, and some of the ideas being considered for further legislation. The brief also refers to some sources for further reading.

Federal involvement in the education of the handicapped increased significantly with the enactment of the Education for All Handicapped Children Act of 1975 (P.L. 94-142) in the 94th Congress. This legislation amended the provisions for State assistance under Part B of the Education of the Handicapped Act (EHA, P.L. 91-230, title VI, as amended) to require that a "free appropriate public education" be available for all handicapped children age 3 through 21 by September 1980. P.L. 94-142 authorized increased Federal financial assistance along with new requirements for participating State agencies and local school districts. Current issues relating to Federal policy for the education of the handicapped include concerns about costs and responsibilities in educating the handicapped, about the level of Federal financial support, about the characteristics of handicapped children actually identified and served, about the implementation of P.L. 94-142 requirements by State and local school districts, and about Administration proposals to revise Part B regulations.

Despite Federal efforts last year to curb production and dispose of surpluses, record production and continued high carryover stock levels for most commodities have depressed farm prices and significantly increased expected Federal outlays for agricultural price support programs. In an attempt to bring supply in line with demand, President Reagan announced on January 11, 1983, that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) would implement a payment-in-kind (PIK) program for the 1983 wheat, rice, corn, sorghum, and upland cotton crops. Recently, USDA announced a PIK program for the 1984 wheat crop.

Mounting concern about the payment of social security Benefits to aliens living abroad resulted in the enactment of legislation this year adding new restrictions on the payment of benefits to certain aliens, P.L. 98-21.

On Mar. 24, 1983, the Congress adopted, as part of the Social Security Amendments of 1983 (P.L. 98-21), a measure to preclude virtually all incarcerated felons from receiving social security benefits of any kind, including retirement and survivor benefits. This action expanded previous legislation. In October 1980, legislation had been enacted (P.L. 96-473) that denied only social security disability benefits and student benefits to prisoners convicted of a felony.

The Reagan Administration announced its major crime Control proposals in 1981, shortly after the final report from the Attorney General's Task Force on Violent Crimes, and reiterated support for significant changes in Crime control legislation in 1983. Congressional initiatives and modifications of those proposals continue interest and controversy in crime control matters in the 98th Congress.

This issue brief presents a short background on the physical/chemical properties of dioxin, describes several existing sources of possible human exposure, and highlights what is currently known about its environmental impacts and human health effects. Congressional interest is intense at this time because of large numbers of Vietnam veterans' claims for benefits associated with use of herbicides in that war as well as because of certain incidents of potential significance to health involving disposal of wastes containing dioxin.

As part of his program for economic recovery, President Reagan included a proposal to discontinue social security benefits for 18 to 22-year-old students attending college or vocational school. Critics of the student benefit believe that other federally funded educational assistance programs which tailor the amount of aid provided to actual educational costs and family income should be relied upon to help finance the college educations of students who are children of retired, disabled, and deceased workers.

This notice from the Department of Transportation, denies a petition for rule-making filed by Physicians for Automotive Safety (PAS), asking this agency to mandate the installation of seat belts on all school buses. NHTSA believes that the currently mandated occupant protections in school buses provide an adequate level of safety protection, and that seat belts would not raise the level of protection for the occupants unless States and local jurisdictions were willing to take steps to ensure that the seat belts were actually used.

This paper reviews the initiatives of the Reagan Administration to control cost overruns during the last 2 and a half years and the actions taken by the Congress to strengthen its oversight role. Particular attention is directed at the critical need to enhance management incentive and accountability at all level of the acquisition process. If recently instituted reform in the Department of Defense fail to control cost overruns, pressure may grow for a more sweeping and radical approach. Serious consideration in such an event might even be given to removing responsibility for weapons acquisition management for the military service and assigning it to a civilian-operated supply agency.

This report discusses the Federal Trade Commission's (FTC) used car rule, which aims to prevent and discourage oral misrepresentations and deceptive omissions of material facts by those selling used cars concerning warranty coverage and mechanical condition.

The United States has charged that the Soviet Union is implicated in the use of chemical weapons in Afghanistan and of chemical and toxin weapons, including the toxin known as "Yellow Rain," in Laos and Kampuchea (Cambodia). These charges raise two significant sets of issues: First, issues surrounding the evidence that has been presented to show: (a) that such weapons have been used and (b) that the Soviet Union is implicated in this use. Second, issues connected with the implications of Soviet involvement, if proven, in chemical and toxin warfare.