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This report summarizes the Clean Air Act and its major regulatory requirements. It describes the Act's major provisions and provides tables listing all major amendments, with the year of enactment and Public Law number, and crossreferencing sections of the Act with the major U.S. Code sections of the codified statute.

This report provides background and analysis on social security reform. The report discusses the most recent development, the basis for the debate, specific areas of contention and reform initiatives.

This report provides background on Free Trade Areas (FTAs) including: definitions of Free Trade Areas, why countries form FTAs, FTAs in the context of U.S. trade policy, Bush Administration policies and recent developments, the economic impact of FTAs, whether FTAs create trade or divert it, FTAs the the WTO, debate points related to FTAs, relevant legislation, and final conclusions and implications for Congress.

This report discusses payment to physicians through Medicare, a nationwide program that offers health insurance protection for 40 million aged and disabled persons.

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This report answers a select number of often asked questions about Title IX and how it pertains to sports activities at educational institutions.

This report provides a brief discussion of immigration policy priorities and agencies in the past and currently that have been responsible for the various immigration functions.

This report looks into Congress' continued debate regarding NASA's International Space Station (ISS) program to build a permanently-occupied space station in Earth orbit where astronauts live and conduct research. NASA expects that research performed in the near-zero gravity environment of the space station will result in new discoveries in life sciences, biomedicine, and materials sciences. Current congressional space station debate focuses on the impact of the space shuttle Columbia tragedy on the ISS program; the possibility that portions of the space station may not be built for cost reasons; and whether Russia can fulfill its commitments to ISS.

In recent years conflicting budget priorities and divided political control have accentuated the institutional tensions between the executive and legislative branches inherent in the federal budget process. President Clinton, like his two predecessors, called for an item veto, or possibly expanded impoundment authority, to provide him with greater control over federal spending. This report provides a brief history of impoundment and discusses the debate surrounding the line item veto.

This report discusses the issue facing Congress on whether to continue to support the executive branch’s prosecution of medical marijuana patients and their providers, in accordance with marijuana’s status as a Schedule I drug under the Controlled Substances Act, or whether to relax federal marijuana prohibition enough to permit the medical use of botanical cannabis products by seriously ill persons, especially in states that have created medical marijuana programs under state law.

This report describes how the practice of naming post offices through public law originated and how it is commonly done today. House and Senate practices for approving such legislation, and procedures followed by the U.S. Postal Service in organizing a dedication ceremony, are also described.