This issue brief discusses "killer satellites," the unofficial moniker for antisatellite (ASAT) missiles possessed by the Soviet Union in the 1970s and 1980s, as well as U.S. efforts to develop ASAT systems and simultaneously limit their development and use.

This report is on Are High-Interest Rates a Threat to Sustained Economic Recovery?

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 report shows that in recent years, attention has increasingly focused upon the minority composition of the Federal judiciary, in apparent response to concerns that judges appointed to the Federal bench should more compositely reflect the U.S. population they serve. Two of the larger U.S. subpopulations served by the Federal judiciary are blacks and Hispanics. Accordingly, this mini brief lists chronologically and cumulatively the appointments of blacks and Hispanics to the Federal bench, which includes the U.S.Supreme Court, Circuit Courts of Appeals, and District courts.

On August 5, 1983, President Reagan signed Public Law 98-67, which provides duty-free entry into the United States for certain Caribbean exports and allows U.S. business people to take tax deductions for the expense of attending conventions in the Caribbean region.

The Reagan Administration has proposed legislation which would seek to use trade and aid to promote political stability and economic growth in the Caribbean Basin region. Among other things, it would create a one-way free trade zone, where the small nations of the region would have an opportunity for export-led growth through duty-free access to the U.S. market. It would also provide $350 million in economic aid for 1982 to El Salvador and other Caribbean countries.

This paper discusses and analyzes the major issues evolving from the changes in funding.

This report answers common legal questions relating to currency, legal tender, and money.

This report is about recommendations for improving American public elementary and secondary education.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

This brief report is prepared in response to numerous requests for information on the related issues of drunk driving and raising the drinking age.

This report is about the impact aids for education.

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.

This report compares the actual tax revenues and distribution of the tax burden under the Federal individual income tax from 1971 to 1981 with estimates of what they would have been under the 1971 tax structure if indexed for inflation and under the 1971 tax structure if left unchanged. Policy implications of the comparison are discussed.

This report traces the progress of proposals to expand the right to vote to citizens between the ages of 18 and 21, culminating in the ratification of the 26th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States in 1971. It also reviews the voting rates of the newly enfranchised age group and compares them to voting rates of other age groups.

This report is about perceptions of national energy problem

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.

This report

This report provides background and discusses the inventory and disposal of public lands and other Federal property. For many years the Federal Government has operated under a statutory policy of retaining public domain lands and has disposed of the proceeds from the sale of surplus property other than by the reduction of the national debt. Under the present system, the Government disposes of some types of land when it is determined to be surplus to Government needs, or, in the case of public lands, when it is determined that the national interest would best be served by the sale or exchange of particular tracts of land.