This report first outlines the current U.S. policy approach toward Cuba and then discusses the option of moderating policy and what this strategy might entail. It then examines the arguments in favor of such a policy approach and the arguments opposed to changing U.S. Policy.

This report summarizes provisions of the Marine Mammal Protection Act Amendments of 1994 and outlines this Act's implementation schedule for use by Members of Congress and their staff.

In a world in which economic and trade performance are fast gaining acceptance as important components of national power and well being, Congress has become increasingly interested in the comparative success of U.S. business in the vast, rapidly growing Asia-Pacific region. For the most part, Congress has tended to view Japan as the main competitor of the United States in Asian markets and the standard against which U.S. success is measured. The stakes for the United States are considerable. Exclusive of Japan, the Asia-Pacific region accounted for $ 92 billion in U.S. exports in 1993 and $ 138 billion in imports, or about 20 percent of total U.S. exports and 24 percent of U.S. global imports. A number of projections indicate that Asia will account for the largest share of world trade growth in the next decade. Japan's growing economic presence has been accompanied by a relative increase in its political influence vis-a-vis that of the United States, a factor of considerable long term significance for U.S. interests, and it would appear the availability of alternative Asian markets has strengthened Japan's resistance to U.S. trade demands.

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Japan's current political instability began in July 1993, when the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) -- in power since 1955 -- was voted out and replaced by a fragile multiparty coalition government under Prime Minister Morihiro Hosokawa. The new government faced turmoil in April 1994, when Hosokawa suddenly resigned amid a personal financial scandal. Then-deputy prime minister/foreign minister Tsutomu Hata succeeded, but only at the head of a minority government after the Socialist party, a key coalition partner, quit the coalition. Although beset by its own internal squabbles, the LDP remained the single largest party in Japan's bicameral Diet, or parliament. In late June, Hata was forced to resign under threat of an LDP-led no confidence motion.

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The United States and Japan have been deadlocked for over a year in an effort to reach agreements under the July 1993 Framework for a New Economic Relationship. The overriding obstacle has concerned the issue of how to measure progress under future agreements to open Japan's market further to foreign goods and services.

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