Overview of the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003 (open access)

Overview of the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003

None
Date: April 21, 2004
Creator: O'Sullivan, Jennifer; Chaikind, Hinda Ripps; Tilson, Sibyl L.; Boulanger, Jennifer & Morgan, Paulette C.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Medicare's Skilled Nursing Facility Benefit (open access)

Medicare's Skilled Nursing Facility Benefit

None
Date: April 16, 2001
Creator: Yacker, Heidi G.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Animal Agriculture: Current Issues (open access)

Animal Agriculture: Current Issues

A variety of animal agriculture issues, including low livestock prices, the impact of consolidation in the meat packing industry, trade, and the environmental impacts of large feedlots, generated interest in the 106th and 107th Congresses. This report addresses this issues in detail.
Date: April 16, 2001
Creator: Heykoop, Jerry & Segarra, Alejandro E.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Sugar Policy Issues (open access)

Sugar Policy Issues

None
Date: April 13, 2001
Creator: Jurenas, Remy
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Sugar Policy Issues (open access)

Sugar Policy Issues

None
Date: April 5, 2002
Creator: Jurenas, Remy
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Soil and Water Conservation Issues (open access)

Soil and Water Conservation Issues

None
Date: April 14, 2003
Creator: Zinn, Jeffrey A.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Dairy Policy Issues (open access)

Dairy Policy Issues

Three major dairy policy issues captured the attention of the 106th Congress, and are expected to remain issues of concern to the 107th Congress-- federal financial assistance for dairy farmers; implementation by USDA of changes to federal farm milk pricing regulations; and regional debates over the market effects of dairy compacts.
Date: April 2, 2001
Creator: Chite, Ralph M.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Dairy Policy Issues (open access)

Dairy Policy Issues

Several dairy issues that were debated during the 108th Congress are expected to continue as issues of interest in the 109th Congress. Separate bills were introduced in the 108th Congress to extend authority for both the Milk Income Loss Contract (MILC) Program and the dairy forward pricing pilot program, and to address dairy producer concerns about the importation of milk protein concentrates.
Date: April 9, 2002
Creator: Chite, Ralph M.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Dairy Policy Issues (open access)

Dairy Policy Issues

Many dairy farmer groups are concerned that imports of milk protein concentrates (MPCs) are displacing domestic dairy ingredients and thus depressing farm milk prices. S.560 and H.R. 1160 would impose tariff rate quotas on certain MPCs, and S. 40 would prohibit the use of dry MPC in domestic cheese production. Dairy processor groups are opposed to these bills. A dairy producer group challenged the Customs Service classification of MPCs, but Customs ruled that current classifications are correct.
Date: April 18, 2003
Creator: Chite, Ralph M.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Agricultural Export and Food Aid Programs (open access)

Agricultural Export and Food Aid Programs

This report discusses projected agricultural imports and exports for FY2003, as well as legislation that deals with federal programs in support of agricultural exports and federal aid dedicated to farms and agricultural reform.
Date: April 17, 2003
Creator: Hanrahan, Charles E.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Pesticide Residue Regulation: Analysis of Food Quality Protection Act Implementation (open access)

Pesticide Residue Regulation: Analysis of Food Quality Protection Act Implementation

This report discusses the Food Quality Protection Act of 1996 (FQPA) which amened the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA), governing U.S. registration, sale, and use of pesticide products, and the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA) under which the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) sets allowable pesticide residue levels for food (tolerances).
Date: April 20, 2001
Creator: Schierow, Linda-Jo
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Farm Commodity Payment Limits: Comparison of Proposals (open access)

Farm Commodity Payment Limits: Comparison of Proposals

This report discusses U.S. policy regard farm commodities. Greater public awareness of the size of commodity program payments reaching a comparatively small number of very large farms has focused the attention of Congress on payment limits. Limits on commodity program payments have been imposed since 1970. As part of the emergency economic assistance packages enacted each of the past three years, the payment limits have been doubled. In addition, a mechanism has been developed that allows farms to circumvent the limit on loan deficiency payments, namely commodity certificates
Date: April 26, 2002
Creator: Womach, Jasper
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Global Climate Change (open access)

Global Climate Change

This report discusses the effect of human activities on global climate change. Human activities, particularly burning of fossil fuels, have increased atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) and other trace gases, including chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), methane, and nitrous oxide.
Date: April 2, 2003
Creator: Justus, John R. & Fletcher, Susan R.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Global Climate Change: Market-Based Strategies to Reduce Greenhouse Gases (open access)

Global Climate Change: Market-Based Strategies to Reduce Greenhouse Gases

This report discusses global climate change and the possibility that human activities are releasing gases, including carbon dioxide (CO2), at rates that could affect global climate change.
Date: April 4, 2001
Creator: Parker, Larry
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Global Climate Change: Market-Based Strategies to Reduce Greenhouse Gases (open access)

Global Climate Change: Market-Based Strategies to Reduce Greenhouse Gases

This report discusses global climate change and the market-based strategies to reduce greenhouse gases.
Date: April 1, 2003
Creator: Parker, Larry
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Global Climate Change: A Survey of Scientific Research and Policy Reports (open access)

Global Climate Change: A Survey of Scientific Research and Policy Reports

This report is intended to guide the reader through U.S. global climate change policy from the passage of the National Climate Program Act of 1978 (P.L. 95-367) through the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, where the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change (FCCC) was opened for signatures. It offers a summary of scientific research on global climate change and related U.S. policy and identifies what many consider to be important milestones in the international policy debate on global climate change.
Date: April 13, 2000
Creator: Morrissey, Wayne A.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Clean Coal Technology Program: Current Prospects (open access)

The Clean Coal Technology Program: Current Prospects

The Clean Coal Technology (CCT) program, started in the 1980's and funded generously in the early 1990's, has completed most of its surviving projects and has not funded any new ones since 1994. However, President Bush’s FY2002 budget outline proposed spending $2 billion over 10 years on a restructured CCT program. It is not clear what kind of projects would be included in the new program.
Date: April 6, 2001
Creator: Behrens, Carl E.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Endangered Species: Difficult Choices (open access)

Endangered Species: Difficult Choices

This report discusses issues debated in the 107th Congress while is considering various proposals to amend the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (ESA). Major issues in recent years have included changing the role of science in decision-making, changing the role of critical habitat, reducing conflicts with Department of Defense activities, incorporating further protection for property owners, and increasing protection of listed species, among others. In addition, many have advocated including significant changes to ESA regulations made during the Clinton Administration in the law itself.
Date: April 3, 2002
Creator: Buck, Eugene H.; Corn, M. Lynne & Baldwin, Pamela
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Endangered Species: Difficult Choices (open access)

Endangered Species: Difficult Choices

This report discusses issues debated in the 107th Congress while is considering various proposals to amend the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (ESA). Major issues in recent years have included changing the role of science in decision-making, changing the role of critical habitat, reducing conflicts with Department of Defense activities, incorporating further protection for property owners, and increasing protection of listed species, among others. In addition, many have advocated including significant changes to ESA regulations made during the Clinton Administration in the law itself.
Date: April 14, 2003
Creator: Buck, Eugene H.; Corn, M. Lynne & Baldwin, Pamela
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR): Controversies for the 108th Congress (open access)

Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR): Controversies for the 108th Congress

This report discusses the ongoing debate about whether or not to approve energy development in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). Current law forbids energy leasing in the Refuge. This report addresses several legislative options on the issue, as well as policymakers' arguments for and against development, especially in the wake of increasing terrorism since 2000-2001.
Date: April 24, 2003
Creator: Corn, M. Lynne; Gelb, Bernard A. & Baldwin, Pamela
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Endangered Species Act: Consideration of Economic Factors (open access)

The Endangered Species Act: Consideration of Economic Factors

The Endangered Species Act (ESA) provides for the listing and protection of species that are found to be “endangered” or “threatened” – species that might become extinct. The listing of a species as endangered triggers the prohibitions in the Act against “taking” (killing or harming) individuals of the protected species, unless a permit is obtained to take individuals incidental to an otherwise lawful proposed action, or an exemption for the proposed action is obtained. Unauthorized taking of a listed species can result in civil or criminal penalties. These prohibitions and potential penalties can affect various activities, including development and use of land, with attendant economic impacts.
Date: April 15, 2003
Creator: Baldwin, Pamela
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Legal Issues Related to Proposed Drilling for Oil and Gas in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (open access)

Legal Issues Related to Proposed Drilling for Oil and Gas in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge

This report discusses the legal issues considered by Congress on whether to permit drilling for oil and gas in the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska.
Date: April 26, 2002
Creator: Baldwin, Pamela
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Legal Issues Related to Proposed Drilling for Oil and Gas in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) (open access)

Legal Issues Related to Proposed Drilling for Oil and Gas in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR)

This report outlines legal issues around permit drilling for oil and gas in the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR), Alaska as background for congressional legislation. Updated April 22, 2003
Date: April 22, 2003
Creator: Baldwin, Pamela
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Education for the Disadvantaged: ESEA Title I Reauthorization Issues (open access)

Education for the Disadvantaged: ESEA Title I Reauthorization Issues

This issue brief covers only Parts A and E of ESEA Title I. Part A of Title I, grants to LEAs, constitutes over 90% of total Title I funding, while Part E authorizes program evaluation and demonstration projects of innovative practices, including the Comprehensive School Reform Program. Other Parts of Title I authorize the Even Start program of joint services to young disadvantaged children and their parents (Part B), plus aid for the education of migrant (Part C) and neglected or delinquent youth (Part D).
Date: April 19, 2002
Creator: Riddle, Wayne C.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library