Fiscal 1998 marked the first year that total receipts exceeded outlays in the federal budget since 1969. Since then, the budget has been in surplus and official projections expect the budget to remain in surplus for the foreseeable future. Congressional Budget Office (CBO) baseline projections indicate that the budget surpluses are expected to grow steadily over the next 10 years.

Senate action on its committee funding for the 107th Congress was modified as a result of the power-sharing agreement established by S. Res. 8 of January 5, 2001.1 This agreement assures Republicans and Democrats of equal staffing resources on all committees, and supplants Senate rules that require minority party control of at least one-third of each committee’s staff positions. Despite some delays in its normal timetable, the Senate, on March 8, 2001, agreed to a biennial funding resolution by unanimous consent.

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"This report opens with an overview of the grounds for inadmissibility and summarizes key legislation enacted in recent years" (p. i).

Falling agricultural exports and declining commodity prices led farm groups and agribusiness firms to urge the 106th Congress to pass legislation exempting foods and agricultural commodities from U.S. economic sanctions against certain countries. In completing action on the FY2001 agriculture appropriations bill, Congress codified the lifting of unilateral sanctions on commercial sales of food, agricultural commodities, medicine, and medical products to Iran, Libya, North Korea, and Sudan, and extended this policy to apply to Cuba (Title IX of H.R. 5426, as enacted by P.L. 106-387; Trade Sanctions Reform and Export Enhancement Act of 2000). Related provisions place financing and licensing conditions on sales to these countries. Those that apply to Cuba, though, are permanent and more restrictive than for the other countries. Other provisions give Congress the authority in the future to veto a President's proposal to impose a sanction on the sale of agricultural or medical products.

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This report examines economic issues relating to across-the-board tax cuts, focusing primarily on distributional issues. The report is divided into four sections. The first section provides a general overview of the tax system. The next discusses recent proposals relating to across-the-board tax cuts. The third section discusses methods of evaluating alternative types of across-the-board tax cuts. The final section briefly discusses issues of efficiency, simplicity, and stabilization policy.

The child tax credit was enacted as part of the Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997. The current credit is $500 per qualifying child. President Bush has proposed increasing the child tax credit to $1,000 per qualifying child. The President has also proposed making permanent the temporary rule in current law that allows the child tax credit to offset a taxpayer’s alternative minimum tax.

Two prominent television events in the past two years placed increased attention on the FCC and its indecency regulations. The airing of the 2003 Golden Globe Awards and the subsequent ruling by the FCC’s Enforcement Bureau, coupled with the controversy surrounding the 2004 Super Bowl halftime show, brought broadcast indecency to the forefront of the congressional agenda during the 108th Congress. Several bills were introduced, but not enacted, in the 108th Congress to increase the penalties imposed for broadcast indecency and to prohibit the broadcast of certain words and phrases in any grammatical form. Similar legislation has been introduced in the 109th Congress.

In response to the 9/11 Commission’s aviation security-related recommendations, two bills — H.R. 5121 and H.R. 10 — introduced in the House contain several provisions to enhance aviation security. Additionally, floor amendments to S. 2845, the National Intelligence Reform Act of 2004, contain numerous aviation security provisions, many of which address 9/11 Commission recommendations related to aviation safety. S. 2845 was passed (96-2) by the Senate on October 6, 2004. The House passed H.R. 10 on October 8 by a vote of 282-134. A conference has been requested to resolve numerous differences between H.R. 10 and S. 2845.

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Medicaid is jointly financed by the federal and state governments, but each state designs and administers its own program within broad federal guidelines. This report provides a brief overview of the Medicaid program administration at the state level and includes information on organization, responsibilities, and expenditures. It also describes policy issues and proposals related to state Medicaid program administration that has attracted recent attention. It will be updated as legislative or other activity warrants.

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This report discusses Iraqi government in the wake of Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF). Elections in 2005 for a transitional National Assembly and government (January 30, 2005), a permanent constitution (October 15), and a permanent (four year) Council of Representatives and government (December 15) were concluded despite insurgent violence and attracted progressively increasing Sunni participation. However, escalating sectarian violence and factional infighting have delayed formation of a new government.

This report discusses the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP), which provides preferential tariff treatment to certain products that are imported from designated developing countries. The primary purpose of the program, which the United States and other industrial countries initiated in the 1970s, is to promote economic growth in developing countries and countries in transition by stimulating their exports. The program was last reauthorized through December 31, 2006, by the 107th Congress in section 4101 of the Trade Act of 2002 (P.L. 107-210).

This report discusses the responsibility of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) for inspecting most meat, poultry, and processed egg products for safety, wholesomeness, and proper labeling.

This report discusses the so-called “Article 98 agreements”. The article contains a provision that the Bush Administration has sought bilateral agreements worldwide to exempt U.S. citizens from ICC prosecution. In 2002, Congress passed the American Servicemembers’ Protection Act or ASPA (P.L. 107-206, title II), which prohibits military assistance to countries that are party to the ICC and that do not have Article 98 agreements. Some Members of Congress and Bush Administration officials have expressed concerns about the unintended effects of these sanctions on U.S. relations with Latin America. Policymakers are considering some options to mitigate these effects without undermining ASPA or diplomatic efforts to secure Article 98 agreements.

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The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has released two reports on a la carte pricing of cable television networks that reach contradictory conclusions. The purpose of this report is to explain how these two reports reached differing conclusions and to analyze the different assumptions and calculations used in each.