Congressional Research Service Reports - 51 Matching Results

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Acoustic Thermometry of Ocean Climate: Marine Mammal Issues

Description: After global warming became a concern in the mid-1950s, researchers proposed measuring deep ocean temperatures to reveal any significant trends in core ocean warming. Acoustic thermometry can detect changes in ocean temperature by receiving low-frequency sounds transmitted across an ocean basin because the speed of sound is proportional to water temperature. Acoustic Thermometry of Ocean Climate, or ATOC, is an international program involving 11 institutions in seven nations. It is designed as … more
Date: May 12, 1995
Creator: Buck, Eugene H.
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Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Aviation Taxes and the Airport and Airway Trust Fund

Description: This report discusses the reauthorization of excise tax revenues for the airport and airway trust fund, which has been a contentious issue for the last two years. Most of the concern during this period was about future funding needs for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The issue, somewhat unexpectedly, became an element of the tax plans embedded in House and Senate FY1998 budget reconciliation proposals. The House proposed a major structural change in how aviation taxes would be impos… more
Date: August 12, 1997
Creator: Fischer, John W.
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Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Bosnia: Civil Implementation of the Peace Agreement

Description: Since Dayton Peace Accords, the civilian side of peace implementation has been challenged by the scope of the tasks, and by the lack of commitment demonstrated by the Bosnian parties to various aspects of the peace agreement. In addition, issues such as International Framework for peace implementation, formation of governmental institution, election, civil police task force and displaced persons are discussed in this report.
Date: January 12, 1998
Creator: Kim, Julie
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Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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The Commerce Clause as a Limit on Congressional Power to Protect the Environment

Description: Several times during the 1990s the Supreme Court struck down federal enactments as exceeding Congress' power under the Commerce Clause or Tenth Amendment. This report briefly reviews three of these decisions -- United States v. Lopez, New York v. United States, and Printz v. United States. Its focus, however, is how these cases have played out in subsequent lower-court challenges to federal environmental laws. The report shows that Supreme Court rulings in favor of these states notwithstanding,… more
Date: March 12, 1999
Creator: Meltz, Robert
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Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Energy Efficiency: A New National Outlook?

Description: In 1992, the Nation spent $522 billion for energy ($1996 constant), while energy efficiency and conservation measures were saving the economy about $275 billion per year. Energy is conserved when technical means are employed to improve efficiency or to reduce energy waste. In 1996 constant dollars, conservation research and development (R&D) funding declined from $698 million in FY1979 to $198 million in FY1988 and then climbed to $486 million in FY1994, 31% below the FY1979 peak.
Date: December 12, 1996
Creator: Sissine, Fred
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Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Environmental Protection Agency: FY1998 Budget

Description: EPA appropriations are included in the annual VA-HUD-Independent Agencies Appropriation Bill. Two major issues were whether Superfund cleanups should be accelerated in the absence of statutory reforms and whether the requested state assistance funds are adequate. Because the House and Senate were in agreement on not granting the requested 50% increase in Superfund and in passing increased state funds, the chief conference issue focused on the roughly $225 million difference between the House an… more
Date: January 12, 1998
Creator: Lee, Martin R.
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Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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The Exchange-Rate System: Return to Bretton Woods?

Description: This report focuses on the exchange-rate system set up at Bretton Woods, its breakdown in the 1970s, the current system of managed floating and, finally, proposals to return part or all the way to a more fixed-rate system.
Date: January 12, 1995
Creator: Reifman, Alfred
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Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Immigration Legislation and Issues in the 105th Congress

Description: Immigration legislation enacted and considered in the 105th Congress can be divided into three categories: (1) legislation prompted by the major immigration and welfare legislation enacted in the 104th Congress; (2) legislation in response to the expiration dates of existing provisions; and (3) legislation which addressed emerging new issues -- issues that the 104th Congress did not address, or issues that arose since then.
Date: February 12, 1999
Creator: Vialet, Joyce; Wasem, Ruth Ellen; Krouse, William J. & Eig, Larry M.
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Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Immigration: Reasons for Growth, 1981-1995

Description: Legal immigration to the United States has increased sharply in recent years, and shows no signs of slowing down. The question of why immigration has grown so rapidly and the implications of this growth for the future are expected to be issues in the 105th Congress. Primarily because of legislation enacted in 1980 and 1986, the numerical restrictions of the basic family and employment-based immigration preference system became less significant. The growth in legal immigration during the past 15… more
Date: February 12, 1997
Creator: Vialet, Joyce
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Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Japan and NAFTA

Description: Japan, as an issue, has entered the debate over U.S. approval of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in several ways. The Clinton Administration has argued that Americans should support NAFTA because if it fails to pass Congress, Japan will rush to negotiate a similar arrangement with Mexico. Proponents of NAFTA also have argued that since Japan opposes NAFTA (because of its presumed protectionism and the benefits it provides to North American businesses), it must be "good for Ameri… more
Date: November 12, 1993
Creator: Nanto, Dick K.
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Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Japan's Response to U.S. Trade Pressures: End of an Era?

Description: Over the past 30 years, U.S. trade negotiators have pressured Japan to open its market to foreign goods and services. These outside pressures, known as gaiatsu in Japan, have been based partly on economically coercive bargaining and partly on invitation. The coercive element, which has entailed threats of retaliatory market constriction should a satisfactory resolution of the market opening dispute not be forthcoming, generally has been a necessary ingredient in obtaining concessions from Japan… more
Date: June 12, 1995
Creator: Ahearn, Raymond J.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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