Older Americans Act: Programs and Funding (open access)

Older Americans Act: Programs and Funding

Report on the programs and funding for social and nutrition services for older persons, including a list of the programs, grants, elder rights, and more.
Date: August 31, 2000
Creator: O'Shaughnessy, Carol; Graney, Paul J. & Thomas, Cristal A.
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 FY2002, as well as legislation that deals with federal programs in support of agricultural exports and federal aid dedicated to farms and agricultural reform.
Date: July 31, 2002
Creator: Hanrahan, Charles E.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Agricultural Trade in a U.S.-Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) (open access)

Agricultural Trade in a U.S.-Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA)

As part of its overall trade strategy, the Bush Administration over the last year began negotiating bilateral free trade area (FTA) agreements with four regional blocs or countries. Negotiations on a U.S.-Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) involving Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua began in late January 2003 and are currently scheduled to conclude this December. While negotiators have reportedly made progress in a number of areas, efforts to formulate a framework for handling agricultural trade have been slow.
Date: October 31, 2003
Creator: Jurenas, Remy
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Farm "Counter-Cyclical Assistance" (open access)

Farm "Counter-Cyclical Assistance"

This report discusses recently approved legislation reauthorizing major farm income and commodity price support programs through crop year 2007. This legislation includes new “counter-cyclical assistance” programs for grains, cotton, oilseeds, peanuts, and milk. The intent of counter-cyclical assistance is to provide more government support when farm prices and/or incomes decline, and less support when they improve. In fact, farmers have, for many years, been eligible for various forms of counter-cyclical assistance. At issue has been the need for, and potential impacts of, another counter-cyclical program.
Date: May 31, 2002
Creator: Becker, Geoffrey S. & Womach, Jasper
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: July 31, 2003
Creator: Buck, Eugene H.; Corn, M. Lynne & Baldwin, Pamela
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Population Assistance and Family Planning Programs: Issues for Congress (open access)

Population Assistance and Family Planning Programs: Issues for Congress

None
Date: July 31, 2003
Creator: Nowels, Larry
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
The National Debt: Who Bears Its Burden? (open access)

The National Debt: Who Bears Its Burden?

This report discusses the burden of a national debt, the view among economists, the federal budget deficits, and the financial burden that future generations will inherit, a larger privately owned capital stock and a higher level of income.
Date: January 31, 2002
Creator: Labonte, Marc & Makinen, Gail
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
The 0.22 Percent Across-the-Board Cut in FY2001 Appropriations (open access)

The 0.22 Percent Across-the-Board Cut in FY2001 Appropriations

Report describing changes that affected the government budget for the 2001 fiscal year under the Consolidated Appropriations Act.
Date: May 31, 2001
Creator: Keith, Robert
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Internet Commerce and State Sales and Use Taxes (open access)

Internet Commerce and State Sales and Use Taxes

State governments rely on sales and use taxes for approximately one-third (33.6%) of their total tax revenue - or approximately $179 billion in FY2002 .' Local governments derived 12.4% of their tax revenue or $44 .1 billion from local sales and use taxes in FY20012 Both state and local sales taxes are collected by vendors at the time of transaction and are levied at a percentage of a product's retail price. Alternatively, use taxes are not collected by the vendor if the vendor does not have nexus (loosely defined as a physical presence) in the consumer's state . Consumers are required to remit use taxes to their taxing jurisdiction . However, compliance with this requirement is quite low. Because of the low compliance, many observers suggest that the expansion of the internet as a means of transacting business across state lines, both from business to consumer (B to C) and from business to business (B to B), threatens to diminish the ability of state and local governments to collect sales and use taxes . Congress has a role in this issue because commerce between parties in different states conducted over the Internet falls under the Commerce Clause of the Constitution.' …
Date: March 31, 2004
Creator: Maguire, Steven
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Association Health Plans, Health Marts and the Small Group Market for Health Insurance (open access)

Association Health Plans, Health Marts and the Small Group Market for Health Insurance

An estimated 41.2 million people were without health insurance in 2001. Legislation under consideration by the 108th and earlier Congresses is intended to assist small employers in offering health insurance as a benefit to their workers. A new bill, H.R. 4281, introduced on May 5, 2004, The Small Business Health Fairness Act of 2003 (H.R. 6601s. 545), and a number of bills from the earlier Congresses include provisions creating new groups for small firms to join or encouraging the growth of existing groups so that small employers can band together to offer coverage to their employees.
Date: July 31, 2003
Creator: Hearne, Jean P.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Child Pornography Produced Without an Actual Child: Constitutionality of 108th Congress Legislation (open access)

Child Pornography Produced Without an Actual Child: Constitutionality of 108th Congress Legislation

This report analyzes the First Amendment issues raised by S. 151, 108th Congress, in the versions passed by the Senate and the House. The Senate passed the version reported by the Senate Committee on the Judiciary (S.Rept. 108-2). The House version began as H.R. 1161, which, except for its section 10, was adopted as an amendment (Title V) to H.R. 1104, which the House passed as S. 151, the Child Abduction Prevention Act.
Date: March 31, 2003
Creator: Cohen, Henry
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Critical Infrastructure Information Disclosure and Homeland Security (open access)

Critical Infrastructure Information Disclosure and Homeland Security

This report discusses the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) that was passed to ensure by statute citizen access to government information. Nine categories of information may be exempted from disclosure. Three of the nine exemptions provide possible protection against the release of critical infrastructure information: exemption 1 (national security information); exemption 3 (information exempted by statute); and exemption 4 (confidential business information). Congress has considered several proposals to exempt critical infrastructure information from the FOIA.
Date: August 31, 2002
Creator: Moteff, John D. & Stevens, Gina Marie
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Detention of American Citizens as Enemy Combatants (open access)

Detention of American Citizens as Enemy Combatants

This report provides background information regarding the cases of two U.S. citizens deemed “enemy combatants,” Yaser Esam Hamdi, who has been returned to Saudi Arabia, and Jose Padilla, who remains in military custody. A brief introduction to the law of war pertinent to the detention of different categories of individuals is offered, followed by brief analyses of the main legal precedents invoked to support the President’s actions, as well as Ex parte Milligan, which some argue supports the opposite conclusion. The report concludes that historically, even during declared wars, additional statutory authority has been seen as necessary to validate the detention of citizens not members of any armed forces, casting in some doubt the argument that the power to detain persons arrested in a context other than actual hostilities is necessarily implied by an authorization to use force.
Date: March 31, 2005
Creator: Elsea, Jennifer K.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Privacy Protection for Customer Financial Information (open access)

Privacy Protection for Customer Financial Information

None
Date: January 31, 2003
Creator: Murphy, M. Maureen
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Asian Pacific Americans in the United States Congress (open access)

Asian Pacific Americans in the United States Congress

This report provides information on the 33 Asian Pacific Americans who have served in the United States Congress from 1903 to the present, including 13 Resident Commissioners from the Philippine Islands. These Resident Commissioners served from 1907-1946 while the Philippines were a U.S. territory and commonwealth (all were Philippine born). Information on Members and territorial delegates includes party affiliations, length and dates of service, and committee assignments.
Date: July 31, 2003
Creator: Tong, Lorraine H.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Senate Conferees: Their Selection and Authority (open access)

Senate Conferees: Their Selection and Authority

None
Date: March 31, 2003
Creator: Rybicki, Elizabeth & Bach, Stanley
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Congressional Budget Actions in 2002 (open access)

Congressional Budget Actions in 2002

During the second session of the 107th Congress, the House and Senate will consider many different budgetary measures. Most of these measures will pertain to FY2003 (which will begin on October 1, 2002) and beyond, but some may make adjustments to the budget for FY2002. As the congressional session progresses, this issue brief will describe House and Senate action on major budgetary legislation within the framework of the congressional budget process and other procedural requirements.
Date: December 31, 2002
Creator: Heniff, Bill, Jr.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Retirement Benefits for Members of Congress (open access)

Retirement Benefits for Members of Congress

None
Date: July 31, 2000
Creator: Purcell, Patrick J.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Ecstasy: Actions of the 107th Congress to Control MDMA (open access)

Ecstasy: Actions of the 107th Congress to Control MDMA

Legislation has been proposed in the 107th Congress to combat the use and abuse of Ecstasy (MDMA) and other “club drugs.” In a 2001 survey, 12% of 12th graders reported ever having taken the drug. The Ecstasy Anti-Proliferation Act of 2000, enacted by the 106th Congress, directed the U.S. Sentencing Commission to increase penalties for Ecstasy offenses. As of March 2001, MDMA penalties became more severe than for powder cocaine but less severe than for heroin.
Date: October 31, 2002
Creator: Eddy, Mark
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Drug Control: International Policy and Options (open access)

Drug Control: International Policy and Options

Over the past decade, worldwide production of illicit drugs has risen dramatically: opium and marijuana production has roughly doubled and coca production tripled. Street prices of cocaine and heroin have fallen significantly in the past 20 years, reflecting increased availability. Despite apparent national political resolve to deal with the drug problem, inherent contradictions regularly appear between U.S. anti-drug policy and other national policy goals and concerns. The mix of competing domestic and international pressures and priorities has produced an ongoing series of disputes within and between the legislative and executive branches concerning U.S. international drug policy. One contentious issue has been the Congressionally-mandated certification process, an instrument designed to induce specified drug-exporting countries to prioritize or pay more attention to the fight against narcotics businesses.
Date: January 31, 2002
Creator: Lee, Rensselaer
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Gun Legislation in the 109th Congress (open access)

Gun Legislation in the 109th Congress

None
Date: March 31, 2005
Creator: Krouse, William J.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Jonathan Pollard: Background and Considerations for Presidential Clemency (open access)

Jonathan Pollard: Background and Considerations for Presidential Clemency

None
Date: January 31, 2001
Creator: Best, Richard A., Jr. & Mark, Clyde R.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
United Nations Peacekeeping: Issues for Congress (open access)

United Nations Peacekeeping: Issues for Congress

None
Date: May 31, 2002
Creator: Browne, Marjorie Ann
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
POWs and MIAs: Status and Accounting Issues (open access)

POWs and MIAs: Status and Accounting Issues

None
Date: March 31, 2003
Creator: Goldich, Robert L.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library