This report discusses issues regarding Agriculture funding, specifically the Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform (FAIR) Act (P.L. 104-127), which prescribed farm commodity support policy through 2002.

Congressional interest in the value of intellectual property has grown as technology becomes increasingly important to the United States. It is now widely accepted that technological progress accounts for up to one-half of the nation's economic growth. Concurrently, the role of patents has changed as the use of cooperative research and development (R&D) expands to facilitate this technological advancement and generate new products, processes, and services for the marketplace.

Among airborne intelligence, surveillance, and reconaissance (ISR) platforms, the U-2 Dragon Lady and the RQ-4A Global Hawk are especially valuable. This report discusses how best to use existing and planned manned and unmanned ISR aircraft to most effectively satisfy the Department of Defense's (Dod) requirements for timely and accurate information on enemy forces.

A number of legislative proposals to restructure or eliminate the Department of Energy (DOE) and the DOE laboratories have been introduced since the end of the Cold War, especially since the beginning of the 104th Congress. This legislation has been introduced because of perceived major problems with DOE, including its overall mission. Sponsors state, for example, that about 85% of DOE's budget is for non-energy programs, even though the nation's dependency on foreign energy sources has increased since the establishment of the department. Also of concern is the department's failure to go far enough, in their view, in solving its long-term management problems, downsizing, and reducing budgets.

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This report provides an overview of the structure and status of the CSR program, the issues raised about the program, early reports on its implementation, and relevant legislative action by the 106th Congress. It also considers emerging results from the California class size reduction effort, the state effort most closely watched by proponents and opponents of the federal CSR program.

Open conflict broke out between Ethiopia and Eritrea in May 1998 after disagreements over several areas along the common border worsened. The war occurred despite earlier creation of a joint border commission to address complaints by both sides. An estimated 50,000-100,000 people were killed in the conflict and close to a million people have been displaced.

The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) establishes national environmental policies that apply to the federal government and also prescribes certain procedural requirements for federal agency actions. Except as otherwise provided by Congress, NEPA applies to all federal agency actions, although its requirements may vary depending on the nature of the action involved. This report provides an overview of NEPA's requirements. It is not anticipated that this report will be updated.

This report contains the issues and options for Congress on the farm economic relief.

This report supports congressional interest in the IMF by providing a basic understanding of its mission and operations, and how they may have evolved over time.

This report is about Asian Financial Crisis and Recovery with status and implications for U.S. interests.

This report surveys the legislation’s legislative history. It provides a brief narrative and side-by-side comparison of selected provisions in the House and Senate bills, with an emphasis on consumer bankruptcy.

Negotiations on the Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) were completed December 11, 1997, committing the industrialized nations to specified, legally binding reductions in emissions of six "greenhouse gases." This report discusses the major provisions of the Kyoto Protocol.

This report provides an overview federal regulatory reform.