Algeria: Current Issues (open access)

Algeria: Current Issues

This report focuses on current political issues, as well as Algeria's economy, its foreign policy, and U.S.-Algeria relations. Key issues include reform efforts initiated after anti-government demonstrations in early 2011 and amid the regional tumult of the "Arab Spring"; terrorism and related security issues; human rights; national reconciliation following the "dark decade" of the 1990s Islamist insurgency; and activism in ethnic Berber areas.
Date: January 18, 2012
Creator: Arieff, Alexis
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Afghanistan Casualties: Military Forces and Civilians (open access)

Afghanistan Casualties: Military Forces and Civilians

This report collects statistics from a variety of sources on casualties sustained during Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF), which began on October 7, 2001, and is ongoing. OEF actions take place primarily in Afghanistan.
Date: January 18, 2012
Creator: Chesser, Susan G.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Reexamination of Agency Reporting Requirements: Annual Process Under the GPRA Modernization Act of 2010 (GPRAMA) (open access)

Reexamination of Agency Reporting Requirements: Annual Process Under the GPRA Modernization Act of 2010 (GPRAMA)

On January 4, 2011, the GPRA Modernization Act of 2010 (GPRAMA) became law. The acronym "GPRA" in the act's short title refers to the Government Performance and Results Act of 1993 (GPRA 1993), a law that GPRAMA substantially modified. Some of GPRAMA's provisions require agencies to produce plans and reports for a variety of audiences that focus on goal-setting and performance measurement. Other provisions, by contrast, establish an annual process to reexamine the usefulness of certain reporting requirements. The report concludes by looking potential issues for Congress in two categories.
Date: April 18, 2012
Creator: Brass, Clinton T.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Economic Growth and the Unemployment Rate (open access)

Economic Growth and the Unemployment Rate

Issues concerning and which can be influenced by Congress regarding unemployment rates.
Date: April 18, 2012
Creator: Levine, Linda
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
U.S.-Vietnam Relations in 2011: Current Issues and Implications for U.S. Policy (open access)

U.S.-Vietnam Relations in 2011: Current Issues and Implications for U.S. Policy

In 2010 the US and Vietnam mobilized a multinational response to China's perceived attempts to boost its claims to disputed waters and islands in the South China Sea. This report looks at how various issues (US interests, Vietnamese interests, economic ties, and human rights) can affect this burgeoning relationship.
Date: May 18, 2012
Creator: Manyin, Mark E.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Multilateral Development Banks: Overview and Issues for Congress (open access)

Multilateral Development Banks: Overview and Issues for Congress

This report provides an overview of the MDBs and highlights major issues for Congress. The first section discusses how the MDBs operate, including the history of the MDBs, their operations and organizational structure, and the effectiveness of MDB financial assistance. The second section discusses the role of Congress in the MDBs, including congressional legislation authorizing and appropriating U.S. contributions to the MDBs; congressional oversight; and U.S. commercial interests in the MDBs.
Date: April 18, 2012
Creator: Nelson, Rebecca M.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP): Implementation and Status (open access)

Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP): Implementation and Status

The Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) was created by the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act1 (EESA) enacted on October 3, 2008, to address the ongoing financial crisis. This report provides a brief outline of the programs created under TARP, recent changes made by Congress, and a summary of the current status and estimated costs of the program. It also provides an Appendix that contains detailed discussions of the individual TARP programs. This report will be updated as warranted by market and legislative events.
Date: May 18, 2012
Creator: Webel, Baird
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
The U.S. Export Control System and the President's Reform Initiative (open access)

The U.S. Export Control System and the President's Reform Initiative

The 112th Congress may consider reforms of the U.S. export control system. The balance between national security and export competitiveness has made the subject of export controls controversial for decades. The U.S. export control system is diffused among several different licensing and enforcement agencies. This report not only discussed the background of such issues, but also the differences between the Obama Administration and Congress' approaches to export legislation reform.
Date: May 18, 2012
Creator: Fergusson, Ian F. & Kerr, Paul K.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Tribal Criminal Jurisdiction over Non-Indians in the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) Reauthorization and the SAVE Native Women Act (open access)

Tribal Criminal Jurisdiction over Non-Indians in the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) Reauthorization and the SAVE Native Women Act

A report looking at incidences of violence against women of American Indian ethnicity in relation to legal jurisdiction. American Indians experience violent crimes at a rate much higher than the general population. This trend carries over to domestic violence: American Indian women experience domestic and dating violence at more than twice the rate of non-Indian women. Most of this violence involves an offender of a different race. This fact creates a jurisdictional problem because tribal courts do not have criminal jurisdiction over crimes committed within the tribe's jurisdiction by non-Indians.
Date: April 18, 2012
Creator: Smith, Jane M. & Thompson, Richard M., II
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Federal Taxation of Aliens Working in the United States (open access)

Federal Taxation of Aliens Working in the United States

This report outlines issues regarding the taxation of aliens since several pieces of current legislation have been introduced that would impose restrictions for claiming child tax credits or for claiming credits and refunds. The report includes an overview of immigration status, resident or nonresident aliens, taxation of income for various classifications, and Social Security and medicare taxes.
Date: May 18, 2012
Creator: Lunder, Erika K.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
U.S.-EU Trade and Economic Relations: Key Policy Issues for the 112th Congress (open access)

U.S.-EU Trade and Economic Relations: Key Policy Issues for the 112th Congress

U.S. and European private stakeholders, concerned about slow growth, job creation, and increased competition from emerging economies, have urged Brussels and Washington to strengthen transatlantic trade and economic ties by reducing or eliminating remaining trade barriers and by cooperating more closely in addressing global economic challenges. A select group of these issues are examined in this report.
Date: January 18, 2012
Creator: Ahearn, Raymond J.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Fukushima Nuclear Disaster (open access)

Fukushima Nuclear Disaster

The huge earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station on March 11, 2011, knocked out backup power systems that were needed to cool the reactors at the plant, causing three of them to undergo fuel melting, hydrogen explosions, and radioactive releases. Radioactive contamination from the Fukushima plant forced the evacuation of communities up to 25 miles away and affected up to 100,000 residents, although it did not cause any immediate deaths. Studies of the Fukushima disaster have identified design changes, response actions, and other safety improvements that could have reduced or eliminated the amount of radioactivity released from the plant. As a result, Fukushima has prompted a reexamination of nuclear plant safety requirements around the world, including in the United States.
Date: January 18, 2012
Creator: Holt, Mark; Campbell, Richard J. & Nikitin, Mary Beth
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
The U.S. Export Control System and the President's Reform Initiative (open access)

The U.S. Export Control System and the President's Reform Initiative

This report discusses some of the proposed legislation and other issues related to the U.S. export control system. In considering the future of the U.S. export control system, Congress may weigh the merits of a unified export control system—the end result of the President's proposal—or the continuation of the present bifurcated system by reauthorizing the present Export Administration Act (EAA) or writing new legislation. In doing so, Congress may debate the record of the present dual-use system maintained by emergency authority, the aims and effectiveness of the present non-proliferation control regimes, the maintenance of the defense industrial base, and the delicate balance between the maintenance of economic competitiveness and the preservation of national security.
Date: May 18, 2012
Creator: Fergusson, Ian F. & Kerr, Paul K.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Rio+20: The United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, June 2012 (open access)

Rio+20: The United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, June 2012

This report discusses the purpose of the June 2012 United Nations (U.N.) Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD or “Rio+20”) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It looks at issues that could be addressed during the conference as well as how this conference may differ from the last U.N. Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in Rio in 1992.
Date: June 18, 2012
Creator: Leggett, Jane A. & Carter, Nicole T.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Free Trade Agreements: Impact on U.S. Trade and Implications for U.S. Trade Policy (open access)

Free Trade Agreements: Impact on U.S. Trade and Implications for U.S. Trade Policy

This report looks at how free trade areas (FTAs) affect U.S. trade in regards to trade policy, specifically tariffs. It looks closely at the Bush Administration's Trade Promotion Policy, and pending FTAs leftover from this administration. Additionally, it looks at the Obama Administration's work in the prospective Trans-Pacific Strategic Economic Partnership Agreement (TPP).
Date: June 18, 2012
Creator: Cooper, William H.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Madagascar's Political Crisis (open access)

Madagascar's Political Crisis

This report looks at political instability that has plagued the country since 2009. It address other concerns that Congress has about the country as well, specifically threats to Madagascar's unique ecosystem.
Date: June 18, 2012
Creator: Ploch, Lauren & Cook, Nicolas
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Iran Sanctions (open access)

Iran Sanctions

This report looks at the purposes and results of U.S. sanctions on Iran, which were initiated as a result of Iran's nuclear program and human rights issues. It ends by discussing future issues that Congress can consider regarding the sanctions.
Date: June 18, 2012
Creator: Katzman, Kenneth
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Political Transition in Tunisia (open access)

Political Transition in Tunisia

This report discusses Tunisia's "Jasmine Revolution," the common term for President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali's flight from the country following weeks of mounting anti-government protests. This report discusses how the Jasmine Revolution appears to have added momentum to anti-government sentiment in Egypt, Libya, Yemen, and other countries. This report discusses Tunisia's pro-democracy movement; concerns over potential instability in a previously secure, pro-Western area; and U.S.-Tunisian relations.
Date: June 18, 2012
Creator: Arieff, Alexis
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
U.S. Trade Deficit and the Impact of Changing Oil Prices (open access)

U.S. Trade Deficit and the Impact of Changing Oil Prices

This report provides an estimate of the initial impact of the changing oil prices on the nation's merchandise trade deficit.
Date: June 18, 2012
Creator: Jackson, James K.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
EPA's Proposed Vessel General Permits: Background and Issues (open access)

EPA's Proposed Vessel General Permits: Background and Issues

This report covers two proposed permit drafts by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regarding Vessel General Permits (VGPs): one for large vessels to replace the 2008 VGP (draft VGP), and one for smaller vessels that currently are covered by a congressionally-enacted temporary moratorium (draft sVGP).
Date: June 18, 2012
Creator: Copeland, Claudia
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Strategic Petroleum Reserve: Authorization, Operation, and Drawdown Policy (open access)

The Strategic Petroleum Reserve: Authorization, Operation, and Drawdown Policy

This report looks at the history, purpose, and current status of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.
Date: June 18, 2012
Creator: Andrews, Anthony & Pirog, Robert
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Veterans' Medical Care: FY2013 Appropriations (open access)

Veterans' Medical Care: FY2013 Appropriations

This report focuses on the Veterans Health Administration (VHA). The VHA is primarily a direct service provider of primary care, specialized care, and related medical and social support services to veterans through the nation's largest integrated health care system.
Date: June 18, 2012
Creator: Panangala, Sidath Viranga
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Canadian Oil Sands: Life-Cycle Assessments of Greenhouse Gas Emissions (open access)

Canadian Oil Sands: Life-Cycle Assessments of Greenhouse Gas Emissions

This report discusses basic methodology of life-cycle assessments and compares several publicly-available assessments of life-cycle emissions data for Canadian oil sands crudes against each other and against those of other global reference crudes. It also includes a survey of the scientific literature and the findings of the State Department's Keystone XL Project Envoronmental Impact Statement, and concludes with a discussion of tools for policymakers who are interested in using the assessments to investigate the potential impacts of U.S. energy policy choices onthe environment.
Date: June 18, 2012
Creator: Lattanzio, Richard K.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Texas Register, Volume 37, Number 20, Pages 3645-3760, May 18, 2012 (open access)

Texas Register, Volume 37, Number 20, Pages 3645-3760, May 18, 2012

A weekly publication, the Texas Register serves as the journal of state agency rulemaking for Texas. Information published in the Texas Register includes proposed, adopted, withdrawn and emergency rule actions, notices of state agency review of agency rules, governor's appointments, attorney general opinions, and miscellaneous documents such as requests for proposals. After adoption, these rulemaking actions are codified into the Texas Administrative Code.
Date: May 18, 2012
Creator: Texas. Secretary of State.
Object Type: Journal/Magazine/Newsletter
System: The Portal to Texas History