Congressional Research Service (CRS) Reports and Issue Briefs articles from August 2007

Congressional Research Service (CRS) Reports and Issue Briefs archives from August 2007

Congress's contempt power: a sketch.(Report)
August 1, 2007... Summary Congress's contempt power is the means by which Congress responds to certain acts that in its view obstruct the legislative process. Contempt may be used either to coerce compliance (inherent contempt), punish the contemnor...

Gangs in Central America.(Mara Salvatrucha)
August 2, 2007... Summary The 110th Congress maintains a strong interest in the effects of crime and gang violence in Central America, and its spillover effects on the United States. Since February 2005, more than 1,374 members of the violent Mara...

Iraq: post-Saddam governance and security.(Saddam Hussein)(Report)
August 3, 2007... Updated August 3, 2007 Summary Operation Iraqi Freedom overthrew Saddam Hussein's regime, but much of Iraq remains violent because of Sunni Arab resentment and a related insurgency, compounded by Sunni-Shiite violence that a January...

Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America: an overview and selected issues.
August 4, 2007... Summary The Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America (SPP) is a three-country initiative that is intended to increase cooperation and information sharing in an effort to increase and enhance prosperity in the United States,...

Royalty Relief for U.S. deepwater oil and gas leases.
August 5, 2007... Summary The most common incentives for offshore oil and gas development include Various forms of royalty relief. The Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA) authorizes the Secretary of the Interior to grant royalty relief to promote...

Iran: U.S. concerns and policy responses.
August 6, 2007... Updated August 6, 2007 Summary According to the Administration's "National Security Strategy" document released on March 16, 2006, the United States "may face no greater challenge from a single country than Iran." That perception...

Nuclear power plants: vulnerability to terrorist attack.
August 8, 2007... Summary Protection of nuclear power plants from land-based assaults, deliberate aircraft crashes, and other terrorist acts has been a heightened national priority since the attacks of September 11, 2001. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission...

Iran's influence in Iraq.(Report)
August 9, 2007... Summary Iran is actively assisting the major Shiite Muslim political factions in Iraq, most of which have longstanding ideological, political, and religious sectarian ties to Tehran. A key U.S. concern is that Iran is purportedly arming...

Iraq: government formation and benchmarks.
August 10, 2007... Summary Elections in 2005 produced a permanent constitution and a broad-based but Shiite-led government that has been unwilling or unable to take major steps to reduce Sunni popular resentment and is now showing significant signs of...