Global Climate Change: Selected Legal Questions About the Kyoto Protocol (open access)

Global Climate Change: Selected Legal Questions About the Kyoto Protocol

This report addresses legal issues after the United States signed the Kyoto Protocol to the UnitedNations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The protocol is not yet in effect internationally and cannot be legally binding on the U.S. unless and until the Senate gives its advice and consent.
Date: January 10, 2001
Creator: Ackerman, David M.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Global Climate Change (open access)

Global Climate Change

This report briefly reviews the status of climate science, international negotiations, and congressional activity focused specifically on climate change.
Date: October 10, 2002
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 market-based strategies to reduce greenhouse gases.
Date: September 10, 2003
Creator: Parker, Larry
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Global Climate Change: The Kyoto Protocol (open access)

Global Climate Change: The Kyoto Protocol

This report discusses the Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) that was completed December 11, 1997, committing the industrialized nations to specified, legally binding reductions in emissions of six “greenhouse gases.”
Date: June 10, 2004
Creator: Fletcher, Susan R.
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: October 10, 2003
Creator: Corn, M. Lynne; Gelb, Bernard A. & Baldwin, Pamela
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Higher Education Act: Reauthorization Status and Issues (open access)

The Higher Education Act: Reauthorization Status and Issues

This report discusses the funding authorizations for programs in the Higher Education Act (HEA). This legislation, administered by the U.S. Department of Education (ED), authorizes the federal government’s major student aid programs, as well as other significant initiatives.
Date: June 10, 2003
Creator: Stedman, James B.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Higher Education Act: Reauthorization Status and Issues (open access)

The Higher Education Act: Reauthorization Status and Issues

This report discusses the funding authorizations for programs in the Higher Education Act (HEA). This legislation, administered by the U.S. Department of Education (ED), authorizes the federal government’s major student aid programs, as well as other significant initiatives.
Date: July 10, 2003
Creator: Stedman, James B.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Federal Grants to State and Local Governments: A Brief History (open access)

Federal Grants to State and Local Governments: A Brief History

This report discusses the history of the federal grants-in-aid system, which predates the Constitution. he grants-in-aid system assumed its current form when President Franklin D. Roosevelt initiated his New Deal programs. Since Roosevelt, the grants-in-aid system has expanded, especially in the number and dollar amount of categorical grant programs.
Date: October 10, 2000
Creator: Canada, Ben
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Appropriations for FY2002: District of Columbia (open access)

Appropriations for FY2002: District of Columbia

Appropriations are one part of a complex federal budget process that includes budget resolutions, appropriations (regular, supplemental, and continuing) bills, rescissions, and budget reconciliation bills. This report is a guide to one of the 13 regular appropriations bills that Congress passes each year. It is designed to supplement the information provided by the House and Senate Appropriations Subcommittees on the District of Columbia Appropriations.
Date: January 10, 2002
Creator: Boyd, Eugene & Fauntroy, Michael K.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
FY2004 Budget Documents: Internet Access and GPO Availability (open access)

FY2004 Budget Documents: Internet Access and GPO Availability

Every year the President submits to Congress a series of budget volumes which provides the text of the President’s proposed budget for the coming fiscal year. Neither CRS nor the Library of Congress can provide giveaway copies of these documents. This report provides brief descriptions of these budget volumes and related documents, together with Internet addresses, Government Printing Office (GPO) stock numbers, and prices to obtain these publications.
Date: March 10, 2003
Creator: Murray, Justin
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Medical Records Privacy: Questions and Answers on the HIPAA Final Rule (open access)

Medical Records Privacy: Questions and Answers on the HIPAA Final Rule

This report discusses the issue facing Congress on whether to continue to support the executive branch’s prosecution of medical marijuana patients and their providers, in accordance with marijuana’s status as a Schedule I drug under the Controlled Substances Act, or whether to relax federal marijuana prohibition enough to permit the medical use of botanical cannabis products by seriously ill persons, especially in states that have created medical marijuana programs under state law.
Date: September 10, 2001
Creator: Redhead, C. Stephen
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Medical Records Privacy: Questions and Answers on the HIPAA Final Rule (open access)

Medical Records Privacy: Questions and Answers on the HIPAA Final Rule

This report discusses the issue facing Congress on whether to continue to support the executive branch’s prosecution of medical marijuana patients and their providers, in accordance with marijuana’s status as a Schedule I drug under the Controlled Substances Act, or whether to relax federal marijuana prohibition enough to permit the medical use of botanical cannabis products by seriously ill persons, especially in states that have created medical marijuana programs under state law.
Date: March 10, 2004
Creator: Redhead, C. Stephen
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Homosexuals and U.S. Military Policy: Current Issues (open access)

Homosexuals and U.S. Military Policy: Current Issues

This report discusses policy towards homosexuals in the U.S. military service. In 1993, new laws and regulations pertaining to homosexuals and U.S. military service came into effect reflecting a compromise in policy. This compromise, colloquially referred to as “don’t ask, don’t tell,” holds that the presence in the armed forces of persons who demonstrate a propensity or intent to engage in homosexual acts would create an unacceptable risk to the high standards of morale, good order and discipline, and unit cohesion which are the essence of military capability. Service members are not to be asked about nor allowed to discuss their homosexuality. This compromise notwithstanding, the issue has remained politically contentious.
Date: February 10, 2005
Creator: Burrelli, David F. & Dale, Charles V.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
The House Apportionment Formula in Theory and Practice (open access)

The House Apportionment Formula in Theory and Practice

This report has four major purposes: to summarize the constitutional and statutory requirements governing apportionment; to explain how the current apportionment formula works in theory and in practice; to summarize recent challenges to it on grounds of unfairness; and to explain the reasoning underlying the choice of the equal proportions method over its chief alternative, major fractions.
Date: October 10, 2000
Creator: Huckabee, David C.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
House and Senate Rules of Procedure: A Comparison (open access)

House and Senate Rules of Procedure: A Comparison

This report compares selected House and Senate rules of procedure for various stages of the legislative process: referral of legislation to committees; scheduling and calling up measures; and floor consideration.
Date: February 10, 2005
Creator: Schneider, Judy
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Social Services Block Grant (Title XX of the Social Security Act) (open access)

Social Services Block Grant (Title XX of the Social Security Act)

The Social Services Block Grant (SSBG) is a flexible source of funds that states may use to support a wide variety of social services activities. States have broad discretion over the use of these funds. This report provides background information on the SSBG and tracks relevant legislation and appropriations measures.
Date: February 10, 2003
Creator: Gish, Melinda
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
European Union Enlargement (open access)

European Union Enlargement

On May 1, 2004, 10 states joined the European Union (EU), enlarging the Union to 25 members. The EU views the enlargement process as an historic opportunity to promote stability in Europe and further the integration of the continent by peaceful means. In addition to the 10 new members (Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia), three other states — Bulgaria, Romania, and Croatia — hope to accede to the EU by 2007. Turkey is also a candidate and is expected to begin accession negotiations in 2005. Macedonia has also applied for EU membership.
Date: June 10, 2005
Creator: Archick, Kristin
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (open access)

Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation

This report provides background on the purpose, structure, and other aspects of the new Institute for Security Cooperation.
Date: April 10, 2002
Creator: Grimmett, Richard F.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
U.S. Foreign Aid to East and South Asia: Selected Recipients (open access)

U.S. Foreign Aid to East and South Asia: Selected Recipients

This report analyzes annual budget justifications and legislation for foreign operations and discusses U.S. foreign aid trends, programs, and restrictions in 16 East Asian and South Asian countries. This report does not cover aid to Pacific Island nations, North Korea, and Afghanistan.
Date: December 10, 2004
Creator: Lum, Thomas
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Homeland Security: 9/11 Victim Relief Funds (open access)

Homeland Security: 9/11 Victim Relief Funds

In the first days following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, an unprecedented number of Americans contributed over $2.7 billion in donations to assist in the relief of victims. According to a 2004 Rand Corporation study, that money amounted to only a modest share (7%) of the $38.1 billion “quantified benefits” provided to victims of the terrorist attacks. The Rand Study reported that payments worth $19.6 billion (51%) were disbursed by insurers and $15.8 billion (42%) were disbursed by government programs.
Date: December 10, 2004
Creator: Wolfe, M. Ann
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Homeland Security: Banking and Financial Infrastructure Continuity (open access)

Homeland Security: Banking and Financial Infrastructure Continuity

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has many responsibilities for ensuring the continuity of the “real” economy: production, distribution, and consumption of public and private goods and services. Other agencies, however, have long had similar responsibilities for the “financial” sectors of the economy, which interact with the sectors DHS oversees pursuant to P.L. 107-296. DHS has some responsibilities for financial sectors, directly and through Treasury Department links. Financial agencies carry out recovery and security activities independently but also coordinately with DHS.
Date: December 10, 2004
Creator: Jackson, William D.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Republic of the Philippines: Background and U.S. Relations (open access)

The Republic of the Philippines: Background and U.S. Relations

This report discusses key issues in U.S.-Philippine relations and developments in Philippine politics, economics, society, and foreign relations. Global terrorism concerns have brought the United States and the Republic of the Philippines (RP) closer together, but they also have produced some bilateral tensions and highlighted weaknesses in Philippine economic, political, and military institutions. The RP faces terrorist threats through alleged cooperation among three groups — Jeremiah Islamiah (JI), the main Southeast Asian Islamic terrorist organization with ties to Al Qaeda; Abu Sayyaf, a small, violent Muslim separatist group which operates in Mindanao and the Sulu Archipelago in the southern Philippines; and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), an armed separatist group with alleged ties to both JI and Abu Sayyaf. President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has strongly supported the U.S.-led war on terrorism.
Date: January 10, 2006
Creator: Lum, Thomas & Niksch, Larry A.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Gasoline Prices: New Legislation and Proposals (open access)

Gasoline Prices: New Legislation and Proposals

This report discusses policy options for Congress regarding gas prices. The high price of gasoline was an important consideration during the debate on major energy legislation, which ended August 8 as the President signed the Energy Policy Act of 2005, H.R. 6 (P.L. 109-58). However, prices continued to surge, spiking at the end of August when Hurricane Katrina shut down refining operations in the Gulf of Mexico. The continuing crisis renewed attention to some issues that were dropped or compromised in the debate over P.L. 109-58. A large number of factors combined to put pressure on gasoline prices, including increased world demand for crude oil and U.S. refinery capacity inadequate to supply gasoline to a recovering national economy. The war and continued violence in Iraq added uncertainty and a threat of supply disruption that added pressure particularly to the commodity futures markets.
Date: January 10, 2006
Creator: Behrens, Carl E. & Glover, Carol
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Farm Commodity Programs: Direct Payments, Counter-Cyclical Payments, and Marketing Loans (open access)

Farm Commodity Programs: Direct Payments, Counter-Cyclical Payments, and Marketing Loans

Commodity support provisions in the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 (P.L. 107-171, the 2002 farm bill) include three primary types of payments: (1) annual direct payments unrelated to production or prices, (2) counter-cyclical payments which are triggered when prices are below statutorily-determined target prices, and (3) marketing assistance loans that offer interim financing and, if prices fall below statutorily-determined loan prices, additional income support. This report describes the payments for wheat, feed grains, cotton, rice, oilseeds, peanuts, wool, mohair, honey, and certain other small grains. These commodities have similar rules, and generally account for about two-thirds of USDA farm commodity program outlays.
Date: February 10, 2006
Creator: Monke, Jim
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library