This report lists the key CRS staff relevant to the issues covered and related CRS Products.

This report discusses Department of Transportation and Related Agencies Appropriations for FY2000.

This report

This report is a guide to the Interior and Related Agencies Appropriations bill, which includes funding for agencies and programs in four separate federal departments as well as smaller agencies and diverse programs.

This report is a guide to appropriations of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education for FY2000.

This report discusses Treasury, Postal Service, Executive Office of the President, and General Government Appropriations for FY2000.

This report discusses the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Related Agencies Appropriations for FY2000.

This report provides a select chronology of congressional and presidential actions and documents related to major budget events in calendar year 1999, covering the FY2000 budget. While the paper copy provides numerous Internet addresses, congressional offices can also use the Internet version of this report to access active links to appropriations and budget legislation, budget and economic data tables, pie charts, glossaries, selected testimony, publications, the President’s budget documents, and CRS products.

This study addresses the role of capital gains tax reductions in stimulating new firm formation, innovation, and growth through venture capital investments and tax-favored stock options.

The United States accords permanent most-favored-nation (MFN) treatment to all its trading partners except six countries to which it is denied by law and 14 countries whose MFN status is temporary and subject to the conditions of Title IV of the Trade Act of 1974.

This report describes the basic elements and issues of the Department of Defense's (DOD) Research, Development, Test and Evaluation (RDT&E) Program. It defines basic activities supported by the program, presents budget trends, discusses the management of program, and describes the infrastructure in which the program is implemented. This report is for staff new to the area of defense research and for senior staff interested in historical trends.

This report describes the basic elements and issues of the Department of Defense's (DOD) Research, Development, Test and Evaluation (RDT&E) Program. It defines basic activities supported by the program, presents budget trends, discusses the management of program, and describes the infrastructure in which the program is implemented.

Congress is focusing on problems with security at the Department of Energy’s (DOE) national security facilities, especially the nuclear weapon laboratories. Problems include espionage from within the labs and protection of nuclear material and facilities from outside attack. This report describes the main components of DOE’s security system and reviews current efforts to address shortcomings.

The Constitution assigns each state a number of electors equal to the combined total of the state’s Senate and House of Representatives delegations; at present, the number of electors per state ranges from three to 55, for a total of 538. This report discuses constitutional origins, the electoral college today and explains the allocation of electors and electoral votes.

Between 1988 and June 1999, thirteen emergency supplemental or farm disaster acts provided a total of $17 billion in emergency funding for U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) programs. The vast majority of this amount has gone directly to farmers, primarily in the form of disaster payments ($12.2 billion) to any farmer suffering a significant crop loss caused by a natural disaster, and "market loss" payments ($3.1 billion) to help grain, cotton, and dairy farmers recover from low farm commodity prices. The remaining $1.7 billion has gone to a wide array of other USDA programs, including those for other forms of farm disaster assistance, farm loans, and overseas food aid. Congress is expected to consider a multi-billion financial assistance package for farmers sometime this year.

This report discusses the global climate change policy and proposals to allow credit for early actions to reduce emissions.

None

This report provides an overview of U.S. and international policy objectives in Kosovo from 1998 to mid-1999, when NATO ended an 11-week air strike operation against Yugoslavia (Serbia) and began to deploy a U.N.-authorized peacekeeping force in Kosovo. It reviews stated objectives at various points during this period. It provides an analysis of how certain policy objectives evolved and discusses the extent to which they were or were not achieved.

This report compiles the provisions in federal environmental statutes that explicitly state whether Congress intended to preempt state law.

None

None

Several electricity industry restructuring bills propose to eliminate the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act (PURPA), which has been key to the growth of renewable power facilities. Bills intended to ensure a continuing role for renewable energy sources have been introduced in the 106th Congress that include some combination of a renewable energy portfolio standard (RPS),

On June 14th, 1999, the Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) called for public comment on its current procedures for designating critical habitat. In addition, a proposal is before the Senate (S.1100) to move the time at which critical habitat must be designated for a species under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) from being (basically) concurrent with the listing of the species to the time a recovery plan is finalized for that species. This report is written as background for considering the current legislative proposal and the FWS notice and may be updated as circumstances warrant.

Science, technology, and medicine is playing an integral part in many of the policy issues that are coming before this Congress. Legislative action in certain areas directly affects the progress of science, technology, and medicine (STM). And advances in those areas can significantly affect broader public policy issues. This issue brief provides an overview of several of those issues and identifies CRS reports that treat them in more depth.