Congressional Research Service (CRS) Reports and Issue Briefs articles from April 2002

Congressional Research Service (CRS) Reports and Issue Briefs archives from April 2002

Electronic commerce: an introduction.
April 1, 2002... Summary Electronic commercial transactions over the Internet, or "e-commerce," have grown so fast over the last five years that many experts continue to underestimate its growth and development. Whether retail business-to-customer or...

China and the World Trade Organization.
April 2, 2002... Summary China has sought over the past several years to become a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO), the international agency that administers multilateral trade rules. China's WTO membership (as well as that of Taiwan's) was...

Iraq: compliance, sanctions, and U.S. policy.
April 2, 2002... SUMMARY In recent years, the United States has been unable to maintain an international consensus for strict enforcement of all applicable U.N. Security Council resolutions on Iraq, but it has largely succeeded in preventing Iraq from...

Korea: U.S.-South Korean relations--issues for Congress.
April 3, 2002... SUMMARY The United States maintains a strong, multifaceted alliance relationship with South Korea that has for decades served vital interests of both sides. Against the background of continuing difficulties in dealing with North Korea and...

Syria: U.S. relations and bilateral issues.
April 4, 2002... SUMMARY U.S.-Syrian relations have warmed somewhat in recent years as a result of the collapse of the Soviet Union, Syria's participation in the allied coalition against Iraq in 1991, and Syrian agreement to participate in Arab-Israeli...

Why certain trade agreements are approved as congressional-executive agreements rather than as treaties.
April 5, 2002... Summary Trade agreements such as the NAFTA and the GATT Uruguay Round agreements have been approved by majority vote of each House of Congress rather than by two-thirds vote of the Senate--that is, they have been treated as...

The Middle East peace talks.
April 5, 2002... SUMMARY The end of the Cold War, the decline of the Soviet Union, and the U.S.-led victory in the Gulf war facilitated the beginning of a new peace process in 1991. Israel and the Palestinians discussed a 5-year period of interim self-rule...

North Korea's nuclear weapons program.
April 5, 2002... SUMMARY North Korea's nuclear weapons program became an immediate foreign policy issue facing the United States because of North Korea's refusal to carry out its obligations under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and other...

Israeli-United States relations.
April 5, 2002... SUMMARY Israeli-U.S. relations are an important factor in U.S. policy in the Middle East, and Congress has placed considerable importance on the maintenance of a close and supportive relationship. The main vehicle for expressing support...

Egypt-United States relations.
April 5, 2002... SUMMARY U.S.-Egyptian relations are tied to maintaining regional stability, improving bilateral relations focused on Egyptian economic development and military cooperation, developing Egypt's democracy, sustaining the March 1979...

Presidential advisers' testimony before congressional committees: a brief overview.
April 5, 2002... Summary Since the beginning of the federal government, Presidents have called upon executive branch officials to provide them with advice regarding matters of policy and administration. While Cabinet members were among the first to play...

Trade and the Americas.
April 8, 2002... SUMMARY The Summit of the Americas, held in December 1994, led to ongoing congressional interest in three inter-related trade policy issues. The first involves an invitation extended to Chile to join NAFTA. The second focuses on...

Afghanistan's path to reconstruction: obstacles, challenges, and issues for congress.
April 8, 2002... Summary For the past 22 years, Afghanistan has been embroiled in conflict. Humanitarian assistance programs have been a key part of the overall multilateral effort to relieve human suffering and assist refugees and internally displaced...

Palestinians and Middle East peace: issues for the United States.
April 9, 2002... SUMMARY The United States began contacts with the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) in December 1988, after the PLO accepted Israel's right to exist, accepted U.N. Resolutions 242 and 338 that call for an exchange of land for peace,...

AIDS in Africa.
April 9, 2002... SUMMARY Sub-Saharan Africa has been far more severely affected by AIDS than any other part of the world. The United Nations reports that 28.1 million adults and children are infected with the HIV virus in the region, which has about 10% of...

Iran: current developments and U.S. policy.
April 9, 2002... SUMMARY More than two decades after the November 4, 1979 seizure of the U.S. embassy in Tehran, and even before Iran's tacit cooperation with post-September 11 U.S. efforts to defeat Afghanistan's Taliban regime, signs of moderation in...

Caspian oil and gas: production & prospects (1).
April 9, 2002... Summary There is a prospect of exceedingly large reserves of crude oil and natural gas in the Caspian Sea region, and a consequent large increase in the production of oil and gas from that area. Because diversity of energy sources is a...

Enron: a select chronology of congressional, corporate, and government activities.
April 9, 2002... Summary Enron Corporation, which had more than $49 billion in total assets for 2001 and was listed as the seventh largest U.S. corporation (ranked by revenues in 2000) by Fortune magazine, filed for Chapter 11 reorganization protection on...

Free trade agreements: impact on U.S. trade and implications for U.S. trade policy.
April 9, 2002... Summary Free trade areas (FTAs) are arrangements among two or more countries under which they agree to eliminate tariffs and nontariff barriers on trade in goods among themselves. However, each country maintains its own trade policies,...

Trade promotion authority (fast-track authority for trade agreements): background and developments in the 107th congress.
April 10, 2002... SUMMARY One of the major trade issues in the 107th Congress is whether or not Congress approves trade promotion authority (formerly called fast-track authority) for the President to negotiate trade agreements with expedited procedures for...

Libya.
April 10, 2002... SUMMARY The United Nations Security Council passed three resolutions that placed sanctions on Libya until Libya surrendered for trial two men suspected of bombing Pan Am flight 103 in 1988 and French flight UTA 772 in 1989. Libya...

Preventing proliferation of biological weapons: U.S. assistance to the former Soviet States.
April 10, 2002... Summary The former Soviet and subsequently Russian biological weapons program possessed capabilities far in excess of any such program known to have existed elsewhere. These capabilities included genetically-altered, antibiotic-resistant...

U.S. foreign aid to East and South Asia: selected recipients.
April 10, 2002... Summary The U.S. war on terrorism has given new impetus to U.S. aid to Asia. In addition to the goals of alleviating poverty, encouraging democratic social and political forces, fostering economic growth and stability, and cultivating...

Campaign financing.
April 11, 2002... SUMMARY Concerns over financing federal elections have become a seemingly perennial aspect of our political system, centered on the enduring issues of high campaign costs and reliance on interest groups for needed campaign funds. ...

Treatment of "battlefield detainees" in the war on terrorism.
April 11, 2002... Summary After earlier criticism from human rights organizations and many foreign governments regarding the determination that the Geneva Conventions of 1949 do not apply to the detainees held in Cuba, President Bush shifted position with...

State department and related agencies: FY2003 appropriations.
April 12, 2002... Summary On February 4, 2002 the Bush Administration sent its FY2003 budget request to Congress. The State Department request totaled about $7.6 billion, while the international broadcasting request totaled $491 million. Secretary of State...

Nuclear arms control: the U.S.-Russian agenda.
April 12, 2002... SUMMARY Although arms control negotiations are not as important to the U.S.-Russian relationship as they were to the U.S.-Soviet relationship during the Cold War, the United States and Russia have continued to implement existing nuclear...

Nuclear weapons in Russia: safety, security, and control issues.
April 12, 2002... SUMMARY When the Soviet Union collapsed in late 1991, it reportedly possessed more than 27,000 nuclear weapons, and these weapons were deployed on the territories of several of the former Soviet republics. All of the nuclear warheads have...

Energy policy: setting the stage for the current debate.
April 12, 2002... SUMMARY The Bush Administration issued its plan for a national energy policy on May 16, 2001. The plan was controversial, characterized by some as leaner on conservation and renewables than Democratic proposals, and predisposed to trade...

Trade promotion (fast-track) authority: summary and analysis of selected major provisions of H.R. 3005.
April 15, 2002... Summary A major trade issue in the 107th Congress is whether or not Congress will approve authority for the President to negotiate trade agreements and submit the agreements for implementation under expedited legislative procedures. This...

The USA PATRIOT Act: a legal analysis.
April 15, 2002... April 15, 2002 Summary The USA PATRIOT Act passed in the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks. It flows from a consultation draft circulated by the Department of Justice, to which Congress made substantial modifications and...

Latin America and the Caribbean: legislative issues in 2001-2002.
April 18, 2002... Summary This report provides an overview of the major legislative issues facing Congress in 2001 and 2002 relating to Latin America and the Caribbean. Organized by the regions and subregions of the Western Hemisphere, the report provides...

Immigration: adjustment to permanent resident status under Section 245(i).
April 18, 2002... Summary The Senate may again consider extending a controversial immigration provision known as [section]245(i). On March 12, 2002, the House passed such an extension. Section 245(i) of the Immigration and Nationality Act was first enacted...

The USA PATRIOT Act: a sketch.
April 18, 2002... Summary Congress passed the USA PATRIOT Act (the Act) in response to the terrorists' attacks of September 11, 2001. The Act gives federal officials greater authority to track and intercept communications, both for law enforcement and...

Andean Regional Initiative (ARI): FY2002 supplemental and FY2003 assistance for Colombia and neighbors.
April 23, 2002... Summary Congress is considering President Bush's requests for new funding and additional authority to provide assistance to Colombia and six regional neighbors in a continuation of the Andean Regional Initiative launched in 2001. As of...

Afghanistan: challenges and options for reconstructing a stable and moderate state.
April 24, 2002... Summary The U.S.-led effort to end Afghanistan's role as host to Osama bin Laden and other anti-western Islamic terrorists requires not only the defeat of the Taliban but also the reconstruction of a stable, effective, and ideologically...

Cybercrime: the Council of Europe Convention.
April 26, 2002... Summary Thirty-three countries-including the United States-have signed the Council of Europe's Convention on Cybercrime of November 2001. The Convention seeks to better combat cybercrime by harmonizing national laws, improving...