This report discusses the general impact of cost-of-living increases in social security benefits upon incomes of persons with earnings, cash or non-cash welfare benefits, or other retirement or social insurance payments.

This report consolidates various data on the national debt; it presents changes and comparisons of the debt for the years 1955 to 1980. The report also contains information on the public debt limit, the ownership of the public debt, and the debt owed by several sectors of the economy.

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The United States has charged that the Soviet Union is implicated in the use of chemical weapons in Afghanistan and of chemical and toxin weapons, including the toxin known as "Yellow Rain," in Laos and Kampuchea (Cambodia). These charges raise two significant sets of issues: First, issues surrounding the evidence that has been presented to show: (a) that such weapons have been used and (b) that the Soviet Union is implicated in this use. Second, issues connected with the implications of Soviet involvement, if proven, in chemical and toxin warfare.

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Projections of deficits in excess of $200 billion a year through 1990 and beyond have raised considerable concern about the economic damage they will cause. Yet, many find it hard to describe exactly what harm deficits will bring, or how such harm will come about. This report provides a brief qualitative description of what economic analysis suggests that large deficits will do to the economy, and what the likely consequences of their reduction will be.

Projections of deficits in excess of $200 billion a year through 1990 and beyond have raised considerable concern about the economic damage they will cause. Yet, many find it hard to describe exactly what harm deficits will bring, or how much harm will come about. This report provides a brief qualitative description of what economic analysis suggests that large deficits will do to the economy, and what the likely consequences of their reduction will be.

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This report discusses debate over reform of the Nation's financial structure in the 100th Congress includes re-examination of "the separation of banking and commerce." This separation was mandated by the Glass-Steagall Act (part of the Banking Act of 1933); and was carried forward into the Bank Holding Company Act of 1956, as amended in 1970 and thereafter. The resulting isolation of banking from securities was designed to (1) maintain the integrity of the banking system; (2) prevent self-dealing and other financial abuses; and (3) limit stock market speculation. By half a century later, the "wall" it created seemed to be crumbling, as bankers created new financial products resembling securities, and securities firms innovated new financial products resembling loans and deposits. The ongoing process of "financial deregulation" has evoked calls for Congress to give depository institutions new powers, especially in the securities field. Financial deregulation in the United Kingdom, Canada, and Japan has put additional pressure on Congress to re-examine this Act. Concerns over a seemingly fragile system of depository institutions persist, however, tending to place counter-pressure on Congress to maintain the Act.

This bibliography includes references to magazine articles, monographs, and congressional documents which discuss civil rights legislation following 1984 Supreme Court decision in Grove City v. Bell which ruled title IX applies only to the specific program receiving federal financial assistance.

This report provides the 1988 Democratic and Republican delegate totals and the calendar of Presidential primaries and caucuses, by State. The information is presented in four separate calendars: alphabetically by State; chronologically by primary or caucus date; and separately for each party, arranged i n State order.

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This brief report outlines some possible macroeconomic implications of observing a statutory or constitutional commitment to balance the Federal budget. It does not address the legal questions about the proposal or their implementation, nor the economic and political questions related to decisions about the level of Federal revenues or expenditures. On the latter, its analysis refers to revenue and expenditure levels, in relation to total national product, typical of recent years.