The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria, headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, is a public-private partnership intended to attract and rapidly disburse new resources in developing countries for the struggle against infectious disease. Approximately $4.6 billion has been pledged to the Fund, while about $1.5 billion has been received or was in process as of June 13, 2004. A May 2003 report by the U.S. General Accounting Office (GAO) praised the Global Fund for "noteworthy progress in establishing essential governance and other supporting structures" but noted that the Fund's ability to finance additional grants was threatened by a lack of resources.

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This report provides an overview of the major exceptions to the First Amendment.

The First Amendment to the United States Constitution provides that “Congress shall make no law . . . abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press. . . .” This language restricts government both more and less than it would if it were applied literally. It restricts government more in that it applies not only to Congress, but to all branches of the federal government, and to all branches of state and local government. It restricts government less in that it provides no protection to some types of speech and only limited protection to others. This report provides an overview of the major exceptions to the First Amendment — of the ways that the Supreme Court has interpreted the guarantee of freedom of speech and press to provide no protection or only limited protection for some types of speech.

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This report talk about the Issues for Congress on Haiti where congress continues to express concern about a number of developments in Haiti,especially its stalled democratic process and increased violence and human right violations.

The 108th Congress has acted on a variety of disparate environmental measures; some of these represent proposals or issues that had been under consideration in the 107th Congress and earlier. Environmental issues considered by Congress tend to fall into several major categories: (1) funding issues — whether funding levels are adequate and focused on appropriate priorities; (2) expanding, renewing, or refocusing specific environment programs; (3) environmental issues that are important “subsets” of other major areas of concern, such as energy, defense, or transportation programs; and more recently, (4) terrorism and infrastructure protection in areas such as wastewater and chemical facilities.

This report provides background on how the cost-sharing and premium provisions under each bill would affect the amount that a beneficiary pays annually for prescription drugs. In addition, this report gives examples of how annual cost-sharing would differ for beneficiaries with various levels of total prescription drug spending in 2006 under the plans.

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Under provisions of the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001 (EGTRRA, P.L. 107-16, enacted June 7, 2001), the estate tax is scheduled to be repealed in 2010 but reinstated in 2011. All tax cut provisions of EGTRRA are scheduled to sunset on December 31, 2010. This report tracks actions in the 108th Congress to permanently repeal the estate tax or to retain but alter the tax.

This report begins with a comprehensive presentation of current economic conditions focusing on income growth, unemployment, and inflation. The posture of monetary and fiscal policy is surveyed as are the forecasts of economic activity. It concludes with data on the factors important for economic growth.

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This report discusses the developments in Iranian foreign policy, including their assistance the U.S. in ousting Saddam Hussein, their involvement with terrorist organizations, the developments made with respect to weapons of mass destruction, and human rights concerns. It also details the Bush Administration's efforts to maintain the sanctions put in place by the Clinton Administration, as well as U.S. foreign policymakers division on which approach to take regarding Iran's political regime.