This report discusses veterans' pensions, which are monthly cash payments made to qualified veterans or survivors so that their total income from all countable sources reach specified annual levels and are administered by the Department of Veteran Affairs (VA).

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This report provides information about the Principal Features and Uses on Discharge Rule in the House. The discharge rule allows a measure to come to the floor of considerationeven if the committee of referral does not report it and the leadership does not schedule it.

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This report covers the economic problems and solutions in Argentina.

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Moldova was incorporated into the Soviet Union June 1940, and regained its independence on August 27, 1991. Shortly thereafter, Moldova faced challenges from Turkic-speaking Gagauz and ethnic Russians, both residing in Moldova's Dniestr valley, who proclaimed separatist "republics." Other challenges facing Moldovans include pursuing economic reform and choosing between potential reunification with their ethnic cohorts in Romania and forging an independent identity.

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This report discusses wiretapping and other controversial issues as a part of USA PATRIOT Act which bolsters the ability of federal authorities to conduct criminal and intelligence investigations, to bar and expel foreign terrorists from the United States, to separate terrorists from their sources of financial support, to punish acts of terrorism, and to address the needs of the direct victims of the events of September 11.

Congress is considering revised definitions of “terrorism” and related terms in the context of the proposed “Anti-Terrorism Act of 2001.” While the proposed definitions relate to criminal law and immigration law, hundreds of other federal statutes and regulations already define “terrorism” and related terms in a variety of other contexts. However, these statutes and regulations ultimately refer to an extremely small set of statutory definitions, current criminal law and immigration definitions being among them. This report provides the current text of these fundamental definitions. The report will be updated as action on new antiterrorism law proceeds.

This report details Iran's efforts to get around U.S. imposed trade restrictions to continue manufacturing weapons of mass destruction. It highlights the countries that Iran collaborated with, as well as the measures put in place by the Clinton Administration which were used to limit the collaboration attempts between Iran and these countries.

Following the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, there is intense congressional interest in improving the security screening process for airline passengers and their baggage. In the United States, screening is the responsibility of the airlines, which generally contract the work out to screening companies. The Federal Aviation Administration has regulatory authority, deploys security equipment in airports, and conducts research and development on security technology. Congress has begun to consider several bills in this area that have been introduced since the September 11 attacks, as well as Administration proposals and actions.

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On October 20-21, 2001, the Ninth APEC Leaders’ Meeting (summit) was hosted by China in Shanghai. The office theme for APEC 2001 was “Meeting New Challenges in the New Century: Achieving Common Prosperity through Participation and Cooperation” with the sub-themes of: (1) sharing the benefits of globalization and the new economy, (2) advancing trade and investment, and (3) promoting sustained economic growth. For the United States, APEC raises fundamental questions that are of special interest to Congress. One is whether consensus can be achieved on the APEC vision of free trade and investment in the Asia Pacific or whether future trade liberalization will be confined primarily to bilateral free-trade agreements or multilateral trade negotiations under the World Trade Organization.

In the 107th Congress, renewed efforts are underway to enact a permanent replacement for the Export Administration Act of 1979 (EAA), temporarily reauthorized in the 106th Congress until August 20, 2001. The Export Administration Act of 2001 (S. 149) was introduced on January 23, 2001. Hearings were held by the Senate Banking Committee, and the bill was reported for consideration by the full Senate by a vote of 19-1 to March 22, 2001. The difficulty in passing a comprehensive rewrite of the EAA has resulted, in part, from the continuing tension between national security and commercial concerns. Industry groups, proponents of heightened export controls, the Administration, and Congress have all participated in the reauthorization debate.

The United States accords permanent normal-trade-relations (NTR) (formerly called most-favored-nation (MFN)) treatment to all its trading partners except six countries to which it is denied by law and 11 countries whose NTR status is temporary and subject to the conditions of Title IV of the Trade Act of 1974.

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