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The Americans with Disabilities Act, the ADA, provides broad nondiscrimination protection in employment, public services, public accommodations and services operated by public entities, transportation, and telecommunications for individuals with disabilities. The Supreme Court has decided fifteen ADA cases including four cases in the 2001-2002 Supreme Court term. This report will summarize the major provisions of the ADA and will discuss selected recent issues, including the Supreme Court cases. It will be updated as developments warrant.

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This report examines the trend in the male-female wage gap and the explanations offered for its existence. Remedies proposed for the gender wage gap's amelioration are addressed, with an in-depth focus on the comparable worth approach to achieving "pay equity" or "fair pay" between women and men.

This report discusses certain provisions of law that commonly are known as “fast-track” or expedited procedures. They are so labeled because these statutory provisions contain special legislative procedures that apply to one or both houses of Congress and that expedite, or put on a fast track, congressional consideration of a certain measure or a narrowly defined class of measures. This report first presents the nature, purpose, and elements of fast-track procedures. Then the report discusses some of the most important ways in which these procedures differ from the normal procedures of the House and Senate and, therefore, how the use of expedited procedures can affect the legislative process in Congress.

P.L. 104-193 (the 1996 welfare reform legislation) made major changes to the Child Support Enforcement (CSE) program. Some of the changes include requiring states to increase the percentage of fathers identified, establishing an integrated, automated network linking all states to information about the location and assets of parents, and requiring states to implement more enforcement techniques to obtain collections from debtor parents. Additional legislative changes were made in 1997, 1998, and 1999, but not in 2000, 2001, or 2002. This report describes several aspects of the revised CSE program and discusses three issues that probably will be reexamined by the 108th Congress — CSE financing, parental access by noncustodial parents, and distribution of support payments.

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This report discusses the nature and scope of the Chinese space program. The People's Republic of China launched its first astronaut, or "taikonaut," Lt. Col. Yang Liwei, on October 15, 2003 Beijing time (October 16 Eastern Daylight Time). China thus became only the third country, after Russia and the United States, able to launch humans into orbit. Lt. Col. Yang landed on October 16 Beijing time (October 15 EDT) after making 14 orbits (21 hours and 23 minutes).

This report discusses various proposed changes to the military retirement system, which includes benefits for retirement after an active or reserve military career, disability retirement, and survivor benefits for eligible survivors of deceased retirees. Major issues include whether some or all military retirees should be allowed to receive both military retired pay and any VA disability compensation to which they are otherwise entitled -- referred to as "concurrent receipt" -- whether some military personnel should be entitled to military retired pay with less than 20 years of service, and whether many more personnel should serve well past the 20-year point before retiring.

This report provides a brief background of the blue-slip process, followed by an overview of current issues concerning blue slips, the debate over the need for a blue-slip policy, and recent and possible future changes to the process.

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This report and its appendices present a general overview of congressional office procedures associated with handling casework and the assistance provided by a Member of Congress to help constituents in their dealings with federal agencies.

This report discusses the United States free trade agreements with Singapore and Chile that include labor provisions.

This report discusses the Russian government's arrest of "oligarch" Mikhail Khodorkovskiy in late October 2003 and other moves against his Yukos oil company. The background of the arrest and subsequent political and economic fallout are presented, as well as implications for Russia and U.S. interests.

This report is a chronological list of these proclamations for 2002 and 2003, indicating the proclamation number and its Federal Register citation.

This report provides Review of 10 States based on Home and Community-Based Services — States Seek to Change the Face of Long-Term Care of Arizona.

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This report contains policy issues and organizational alternatives of counterintelligence reform at the department of energy.

This report provides brief summaries of five types of tax-advantaged accounts for healthcare and compares them with respect to characteristics such as eligibility, contribution limits, and use of funds.

This report provides a selection of information gateways for businesses, state and local government, research organizations, and others that wish to pursue homeland security related business opportunities or grants from the federal government.