This Report briefly summarizes (1) the primary United States antitrust statutes, and (2) some of the activities which are generally considered to be violations of those laws. There is also some reference to the prohibition against unfair competition and the “unfairness” jurisdiction of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). The laws discussed do not constitute all of the statutes which may be applicable to, or implicated in antitrust issues, but rather, are those which are most often utilized.

This report is divided into two parts. The first gives a brief history of the flag protection issue, from the enactment of the Flag Protection Act in 1968 through current consideration of a constitutional amendment. The second part briefly summarizes the two decisions of the United States Supreme Court, Texas v. Johnson and United States v. Eichman, that struck down the state and federal flag protection statutes as applied in the context punishing expressive conduct.

Interest groups, including those who actively lobby, continue to play a role in the American legislative process. After years of congressional efforts to improve disclosure of interest groups, the Lobbying Disclosure Act (LDA) of 1995 (P.L. 104-65) and the Lobbying Disclosure Technical Amendments Act of 1997 (P.L. 105-166) were signed into law on December 19, 1995, and April 6, 1998, respectively. Both laws seek greater disclosure of interest groups’ activities and more accuracy in reporting their spending. Information on lobbyist registrations and on interest groups in general is available from a variety of online and printed sources, including files available for public inspection. This report provides a list of directories and online services that offer background on the interest groups and lobbyists who focus on legislation in Washington.

This report is one of a series that profiles the emergency management and homeland security statutory authorities of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and three territories (American Samoa, Guam, and the U.S. Virgin Islands). Each profile identifies the more significant elements of state statutes, generally as codified. This report focuses on the state of South Carolina.

This report is one of a series that profiles the emergency management and homeland security statutory authorities of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and three territories (American Samoa, Guam, and the U.S. Virgin Islands). Each profile identifies the more significant elements of state statutes, generally as codified. This report focuses on the state of South Dakota.

This report is categorized into four categories: (I) Background, (II) Deterrence, (III) Response to Terrorist Incidents and (IV) Technology Research and Development.

This report discusses the Oil For Food Program (OFFP) has alleviated some of the worst effects of the 1991 Gulf-War international sanctions regime. While some improvements have been seen in nutrition, health services, water supply and sanitation, there is greater dependence on government services, and observers of the Iraq situation have identified disturbing health and nutrition problems affecting the civilian population.

This report discusses provisions in the National Intelligence Reform Act of 2004 to test Amber Alert network technology for use in expanding the Emergency Alert System (EAS). The Amber Alert network utilizes a combination of technologies, such as highway messages boards, the Internet, and text messaging, to ensure the swift recovery of abducted children.

This report identifies and analyzes the patent law aspects of the current avian influenza drug situation. First, the report explains the role that patent rights have played in affecting the availability of Tamiflu. Second, the report examines options for increasing the drug’s production, including the possibility of governments abrogating Roche’s patent rights by issuing compulsory licenses to other drug companies to manufacture generic versions of Tamiflu without Roche’s consent.

This report provides a table concerning the collection of gasoline excise taxes from FY1933-FY2002.

The Navy is currently procuring one Virginia (SSN-774) class attack nuclear-powered submarine (SSN) per year. Each submarine currently costs about $2.4 billion. The FY2007-FY2011 Future Years Defense Plan (FYDP) to be submitted in February 2006 reportedly will propose maintaining the one-per-year procurement rate through FY2011, and then increasing the rate to two per year in FY2012.

This report focuses on four immigration policy implications of Hurricane Katrina

Animal protection activists in the United States have long sought legislation to modify or curtail some practices considered by U.S. agriculture to be both acceptable and necessary to animal health. Some Members of Congress over the years have offered various bills that would affect animal care on the farm, during transport, or at slaughter. The House and Senate Agriculture Committees from time to time have held hearings on farm animal welfare issues, but their members generally express a preference for voluntary rather than regulatory approaches to humane methods of care. This report briefly provides an overview of the subject.

This report provides historical background on wildfires, and describes concerns about the wildland-urban interface and about forest and rangeland health. The report discusses fuel management, fire control, and fire effects. The report then examines federal, state, and landowner roles and responsibilities in protecting lands and resources from wildfires, and concludes by discussing current issues for federal wildfire management.

This report discusses the amount of money spent, as well as the amount of federal funds available to provide emergency medical care to unauthorized (illegal) aliens in the United States. It is extremely difficult to ascertain the amount of money spent for emergency medical care for unauthorized aliens since most hospitals do not ask patients their immigration status. Additionally, prior to the passage of the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003 (P.L. 108-173) on December 8, 2003 there were no federal funds available for the specific purpose of reimbursing hospitals or states for emergency medical care provided to unauthorized aliens (undocumented immigrants).

The Federal Pell Grant program is the single largest source of grant aid for postsecondary education attendance funded by the federal government, providing grants to undergraduate students estimated to have totaled more than $11.6 billion in FY2002. This report reviews how the program works and provides analysis of program funding, recipients (numbers and characteristics), and the role being played by the program in the distribution of federal student aid. It concludes with an examination of several Pell-related issues that may be considered by the 108th Congress in the HEA reauthorization process. This report will be updated to reflect major legislative action to reauthorize the Pell Grant program.

This report discusses immigration policy and expedited removal, an immigration enforcement strategy originally conceived to operate at the borders and ports of entry, recently has been expanded in certain border regions.

This report introduces the Coastal Louisiana Ecosystem Restoration program, and discusses whether it might have muted the impacts of hurricanes of the magnitude and paths of Katrina or Rita and whether the devastation caused by both hurricanes might cause the Corps to consider different restoration options.

Congress is required by Article I, Section 6, of the Constitution to determine its own pay. Prior to 1969, Congress did so by enacting stand-alone legislation. From 1789 through 1968, Congress raised its pay 22 times using this procedure. Congressional salaries initially were $1,500. By 1968, they had risen to $30,000. Stand-alone legislation may still be used to raise Member pay, as it was most recently in 1982, 1983, 1989, and 1991, but two other methods are now also available, an automatic annual adjustment procedure and a commission process.

The U.S. Forest Service established the first protected "wilderness area" under its own discretion in 1924. In 1964, the Wilderness Act established the National Wilderness Preservation System, reserved to Congress the authority to designate wilderness areas, and directed the Secretaries of Agriculture and of the Interior to review certain lands for their wilderness potential. The Act also designated 54 wilderness areas with 9 million acres of Forest Service land. Congress began expanding the Wilderness System in 1968, and today, there are 631 wilderness areas, totalling nearly 104 million acres, in 44 States.

This report provides information on the importance of Mexico to U.S. interests and catalogues the many ways Mexico and the United States interact. The report is a snapshot of the bilateral relationship at the beginning of 2006.

Executive Order 13168, dated September 27, 2000 established the President's Commission on Improving Economic Opportunity in Communities Dependent on Tobacco Production While Protecting Public Health (Commission). The purpose of the Commission is to provide advice to the President on changes occurring in the tobacco farming economy and recommend such measures as may be necessary to improve economic opportunity and development in communities that are dependent on tobacco production, and protect consumers, particularly children, from hazards associated with smoking.

On September 20, 2004, the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy fulfilled its mandate to submit recommendations for a coordinated and comprehensive national ocean policy to the President and Congress. The Commission's final report, "An Ocean Blueprint for the 21st Century," contains 212 recommendations addressing all aspects of ocean and coastal policy. The 16 members of the Commission call on the President and Congress to take decisive, immediate action to carry out these recommendations, which will halt the steady decline of our nation's oceans and coasts.

State governments rely on sales and use taxes for approximately one-third (32.3%) of their total tax revenue – or approximately $174 billion in FY2000. Local governments derived 16.4% of their tax revenue or $51.6 billion from local sales and use taxes in FY1999. 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 vendors if they do 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. Congress can either take an active or …