This report discusses Bank Loan Denial for Nuclear Proliferation under Section 102(b) of the Arms Export Control Act as Applicable to India and Pakistan.

Several courts in the various circuits have considered whether the Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination applies to fear of incrimination in foreign countries, and they have come to divergent conclusions. The United States Supreme Court granted certiorari in United States v. Balsys, and on June 25, 1998, decided that a witness may not invoke the Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination in which only a foreign prosecution is possible. This report provides background on United States v. Balsys and examines the court's opinion.

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H.R. 400 and S. 507 are similar but different omnibus patent reform proposals. Both bills generally transform the Patent and Trademark Office into a government corporation; require publication of patent applications 18 months after filing, subject to certain exceptions that differ in these bills; and extend the patent term for certain delays in patent issuance. S. 507 also contains provisions on patent reexamination reform. This report summarizes and compares the bills and reviews arguments for and against the proposals.

Concerns over financing federal elections have become a seemingly perennial aspect of our political system. This report discusses the debate regarding campaign finance regulation.

During the 104 Congress, legislation was considered that would have altered the 40-hour workweek and overtime pay requirements for private sector workers. In somewhat altered form, such legislation [H.R. 1 (Ballenger) and S. 4 (Ashcroft)] has been reintroduced in the 105 Congress. This report, very briefly, summarizes the issues presented by H.R. 1 and S. 4.

This report summarizes instances in which Congress has considered proposals to impeach or to investigate the possibility of impeaching a President of the United States. It cites the formal impeachment charges that have previously been brought against eight Presidents, as well as the current resolutions calling for an investigation of whether impeachment articles should be files against President William J. Clinton.

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This report discusses to what extent and why military personnel and forces from foreign nations are sometimes stationed in the United States

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This report contains the new reforms and potential issues of child support enforcement.

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There is no general federal statute proscribing criminal attempts; the federal criminal statutes are written in such a manner so as to include only the attempt to commit a specific substantive crime or substantive offense. Therefore, a specific in intent crime would require that the offender specifically intended to devise a scheme intended to commit the crime. The government, on the other hand, must present proof by inferences from the circumstances that the offender possessed the specific intent to commit the crime. This approach to the law has led to a patchwork of attempt statutes- leaving gaps in coverage, and failing to satisfactorily define exactly what constitutes an attempt in all circumstances an attempt in all circumstances. It is also the intent of the legislation to fill the gaps found in the current attempt statutes. This report will be updated if legislative activity warrant.

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Once considered the nation's most regulated industry, the electric utility industry is evolving into a more competitive environment. At the current time, the focus of this development is the generating sector, where the advent of new generating technologies, such as gas-fired combined cycle, has lowered both entry barriers to competitors of traditional utilities and lowered the marginal costs of those competitors below those of some traditional utilities. This technological advance has been combined with legislative initiatives, such as the Energy Policy Act of 1992 (EPACT), to encourage the introduction of competitive forces into the electric generating sector. The questions now are whether further legislative action is desirable to encourage competition in the electric utility sector and how the transition between a comprehensive regulatory regime to a more competitive electric utility sector can be made with the least amount of economic and service disruption.

Since 1994, 41 states and Puerto Rico have sued the tobacco industry to recover the medical costs of treating smokers. On June 20, 1997, a group of state attorneys general and industry lawyers announced that they had reached a settlement that would protect the tobacco companies from civil liability in return for annual industry payments of $365.5 billion over 25 years to reimburse states for their tobacco-related medical costs, and pay for tobacco control programs to reduce tobacco use among teenagers.

This report discusses the background, issues, enforcement and the reforms of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (P.L. 104-193), signed into law on August 22, 1996, and the major changes made to the Child Support Enforcement (CSE) program.

The Clinton Administration is encouraging states and local educational agencies (LEAs) to administer new national tests to 4th-grade pupils in reading and 8th-grade pupils in mathematics each year beginning in 2000. Participation in the tests would be voluntary and would not affect a state or LEA’s eligibility for federal aid programs. These tests would be based on existing assessments that were developed with federal financial support. The federal government would oversee the development of the tests, paying the costs for this as well as technical assistance, and the initial round of test administration, using funds under the Fund for the Improvement of Education (FIE).

CRS Report for Congress entailing information about state charter school laws. Topics include, all 50 states.

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