Conservation Reserve Payments and Self-Employment Taxes (open access)

Conservation Reserve Payments and Self-Employment Taxes

Farmers enrolling their land in the Department of Agriculture's Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) receive payments for refraining from farming their property and for engaging in certain conservation practices mandated by the Department of Agriculture. These payments are described in the contract with the Department of Agriculture as "rental payments." Farmers would like to treat the income as "rental income" because it would not be subject to self-employment taxes, but the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) insists that under certain conditions, the payments are income from the trade or business of farming and thus subject to self-employment taxes.
Date: May 1, 2000
Creator: Morris, Marie B.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Hearings in the House of Representatives: A Guide for Preparation and Procedure (open access)

Hearings in the House of Representatives: A Guide for Preparation and Procedure

The report describes provisions of House rules that pertain to hearings, and citations to these rules are included for reference.
Date: May 1, 2000
Creator: Sachs, Richard C.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Legislation to Prevent Cybersquatting/Cyberpiracy (open access)

Legislation to Prevent Cybersquatting/Cyberpiracy

None
Date: May 1, 2000
Creator: unknown
System: The UNT Digital Library
Soil and Water Conservation Issues (open access)

Soil and Water Conservation Issues

None
Date: May 1, 2000
Creator: unknown
System: The UNT Digital Library
Chechnya Conflict: Recent Developments (open access)

Chechnya Conflict: Recent Developments

This report examines military airstrikes and ground operations that Russia launched against its Chechnya region in late September 1999. It provides background information on earlier Chechen guerrilla attacks on the neighboring Dagestan region of Russia and on the unsolved terrorist bombing of several apartment buildings in Russia. Current problems of governance in Chechnya are discussed, as well as Chechnya’s response to the Russian offensive. The concerns of the United States and other Western governments about the conflict are examined. A map is included. This report supersedes CRS Report RS20358, Chechnya Conflict.
Date: May 3, 2000
Creator: Nichol, Jim
System: The UNT Digital Library
Employer-Provided Training (open access)

Employer-Provided Training

None
Date: May 3, 2000
Creator: Levine, Linda
System: The UNT Digital Library
Outer Continental Shelf: Oil and Gas Leasing and Revenue (open access)

Outer Continental Shelf: Oil and Gas Leasing and Revenue

The Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) was the source of $18 billion of oil and natural gas during 1998. This amounted to 25% of the nation's natural gas production and nearly 20% of the nation's crude oil. Nearly all of this output comes from the Central and Western Gulf of Mexico, where supporting infrastructure is already in place and there is little environmental opposition. Except for one sale in Alaska, no leases have been auctioned since 1991 in any other OCS region. The deep waters off Alabama, Louisiana, and Texas are the current focus of producer interest in the OCS.
Date: May 3, 2000
Creator: Kumins, Lawrence C.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Biennial Budgeting: Background and Legislative History in the 106th Congress (open access)

Biennial Budgeting: Background and Legislative History in the 106th Congress

Proposals for a two-year budget cycle have previously been reported in the Senate in 1988, 1990, 1994, and 1997. Another such proposal, S. 92, was reported by the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee on March 10, 1999 (S.Rept. 106-12). S. 92 calls for the House and Senate to use the first year of each Congress to consider a two-year budget resolution and two-year appropriation bills, and the second year to consider multiyear authorizations and conduct oversight. More recently, biennial budgeting has also been a topic of interest in the House where the Rules Committee conducted a series of hearings on February 16, March 10, and March 16, 2000.
Date: May 4, 2000
Creator: Saturno, James V.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Disaster Mitigation Assistance Bills in the 106th Congress: Comparison of Provisions (open access)

Disaster Mitigation Assistance Bills in the 106th Congress: Comparison of Provisions

The Administration initiative to shift federal emergency management policy away from a "response and recovery" emphasis has generated little congressional controversy, although some have raised concerns about the cost effectiveness of implementing a mitigation strategy. Greater attention, it is generally argued, should be given to mitigation (loss reduction) efforts before disasters occur in order to reduce future losses. Legislation (H.R. 707, S. 1691) pending before the 106th Congress would amend the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (the Stafford Act) which authorizes federal assistance when the President declares that a catastrophe has overwhelmed state and local resources.
Date: May 5, 2000
Creator: Bea, Keith
System: The UNT Digital Library
Aircraft Hushkits: Noise and International Trade (open access)

Aircraft Hushkits: Noise and International Trade

This report discusses aircraft noise regulations as they relate to hushkits, which is a combination of strategies designed to reduce aircraft noise. These strategies can include new technologies, redesigned engine enclosures, replacement engine components, entirely new engines, or a combination of any of the above. This report dicusses the new EU regulation limiting hushkitted commercial jet aircraft in the EU, the United States' response to this regulation, and the effect this could have on international air travel relations.
Date: May 8, 2000
Creator: Fischer, John W.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Endangered Species: Continuing Controversy (open access)

Endangered Species: Continuing Controversy

None
Date: May 8, 2000
Creator: Corn, M. Lynne
System: The UNT Digital Library
State Cost Containment Initiatives for Long-Term Care Services for Older People (open access)

State Cost Containment Initiatives for Long-Term Care Services for Older People

None
Date: May 8, 2000
Creator: unknown
System: The UNT Digital Library
Electricity: The Road Toward Restructuring (open access)

Electricity: The Road Toward Restructuring

This report talks about Electricity regulation and transmission issues. It also includes the history of the California Electricity Crisis.
Date: May 11, 2000
Creator: Abel, Amy & Parker, Larry
System: The UNT Digital Library
Recent Tax Changes Affecting Installment Sales (open access)

Recent Tax Changes Affecting Installment Sales

On December 17, 1999, President Clinton signed the Work Incentives Improvement Act of 1999 (H.R. 1180; P.L. 106-170). This Act contained revenue provisions extending several popular tax benefits such as the work opportunity tax credit, the welfare to work tax credit, and the applicability of the nonrefundable personal tax credits to the individual alternative minimum tax. To pay for the extension of these tax benefits the Act also included several tax changes that increased revenue. Among these revenue offset provisions was a modification and limitation on the use of the installment method of reporting asset sales for taxpayers who normally use the accrual method of accounting.
Date: May 11, 2000
Creator: Esenwein, Gregg A.
System: The UNT Digital Library
African Development Bank and Fund (open access)

African Development Bank and Fund

The African Development Bank Group, including the Bank itself (AfDB) and its "soft-loan" affiliate, the African Development Fund (AfDF), is a development finance institution based in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire. The Bank has 53 African members, as well as 24 non-regional members, including the United States. In the mid-1990s, the Bank faced management problems and difficulties arising from non-performing loans, but reforms launched in 1995 by a new Bank president, Omar Kabbaj, brought new pledges of support from the non-regionals. U.S. contributions to the Bank resumed in FY2000. This report will be updated as events warrant.
Date: May 12, 2000
Creator: Copson, Raymond W.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Victims' Rights Amendment: Proposals to Amend the United States Constitution in the 106th Congress (open access)

Victims' Rights Amendment: Proposals to Amend the United States Constitution in the 106th Congress

None
Date: May 12, 2000
Creator: Doyle, Charles
System: The UNT Digital Library
Social Security: A Discussion of Some Issues Affecting the Early Retirement Age (open access)

Social Security: A Discussion of Some Issues Affecting the Early Retirement Age

This report examines certain technical aspects of the issues surrounding the earliest age of retirement, not only in terms of its treatment under reform proposals, but also in terms of its effect under today's law. It includes background and history of the topic as well as issues related to financing, equity, and incentive effects.
Date: May 15, 2000
Creator: Kollmann, Geoffrey
System: The UNT Digital Library
Restructuring DOE and Its Laboratories: Issues in the 106th Congress (open access)

Restructuring DOE and Its Laboratories: Issues in the 106th Congress

A number of legislative proposals to restructure or eliminate the Department of Energy (DOE) and the DOE laboratories have been introduced since the end of the Cold War, especially since the beginning of the 104th Congress. This legislation has been introduced because of perceived major problems with DOE, including its overall mission. Sponsors state, for example, that about 85% of DOE's budget is for non-energy programs, even though the nation's dependency on foreign energy sources has increased since the establishment of the department. Also of concern is the department's failure to go far enough, in their view, in solving its long-term management problems, downsizing, and reducing budgets.
Date: May 17, 2000
Creator: Boesman, William C.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Retirement Plans With Individual Accounts: Federal Rules and Limits (open access)

Retirement Plans With Individual Accounts: Federal Rules and Limits

None
Date: May 18, 2000
Creator: unknown
System: The UNT Digital Library
Retirement Plans with Individual Accounts: Federal Rules and Limits (open access)

Retirement Plans with Individual Accounts: Federal Rules and Limits

None
Date: May 18, 2000
Creator: Storey, James R. & Graney, Paul J.
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Social Security “Lock Box” (open access)

The Social Security “Lock Box”

None
Date: May 18, 2000
Creator: unknown
System: The UNT Digital Library
Social Security: Summary of Major Changes in the Cash Benefits Program (open access)

Social Security: Summary of Major Changes in the Cash Benefits Program

Title II of the original Social Security Act of 1935 established a national plan designed to provide economic security for the nation's workers. The system of Old-Age Insurance it created provided benefits to individuals who were age 65 or older and who had "earned" retirement benefits through work in jobs covered by the system.
Date: May 18, 2000
Creator: Kollmann, Geoffrey
System: The UNT Digital Library
Telecommunications Discounts for Schools and Libraries: The “E-Rate” Program and Controversies (open access)

Telecommunications Discounts for Schools and Libraries: The “E-Rate” Program and Controversies

None
Date: May 18, 2000
Creator: unknown
System: The UNT Digital Library
Agricultural Trade Issues In the 106th Congress (open access)

Agricultural Trade Issues In the 106th Congress

This report considers the fall in agricultural exports between 1996 and 1999 in the United States. To solve this issue, much of the debate surrounds changing U.S. trade policies. The problem with this solution is that countries have not always honored existing trade agreements.
Date: May 19, 2000
Creator: Becker, Geoffrey S.; Hanrahan, Charles & Jurenas, Remy
System: The UNT Digital Library