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

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

Iraq: compliance, sanctions, and U.S. policy.
January 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...

Nuclear nonproliferation issues.
January 2, 2002... SUMMARY The United States has been a leader of worldwide efforts to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons. To this end, the international community and many individual states have agreed to a range of treaties, laws, and agreements, known...

The Middle East peace talks.
January 2, 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...

Iran: current developments and U.S. policy.
January 3, 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...

Agriculture and fast track or trade promotion authority.
January 4, 2002... Summary New "fast track," or trade promotion authority (TPA), legislation to implement trade agreements is at issue in the 107th Congress. Such authority could enable the Administration to submit negotiated foreign trade agreements to...

Intelligence issues for Congress.
January 8, 2002... SUMMARY The U.S. Intelligence Community continues to adjust to the post-Cold War environment. Congressional and executive branch initiatives have emphasized enhancing cooperation among the different agencies that comprise the Community by...

Drug certification requirements and Congressional modifications in 2001.
January 10, 2002... Summary Since the mid-1980s, Congress has required the President to certify that specified drug producing and drug-transit countries are cooperating fully with the United States in counter-narcotics efforts in order to avoid a series of...

The current economic recession: how long, how deep, and how different from the past?
January 10, 2002... Summary In March 2001, the 10th recession of the post-World War II period began. Of these 10 recessions, only two have been long and deep--the recession of 1973-1975 and the recession of 1981-1982. This report examines the current...

NAFTA labor side agreement: lessons for the worker rights and fast-track debate.
January 11, 2002... Summary The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), between the United States, Mexico, and Canada was the first trade agreement ever linked to worker rights provisions in a major way. Its companion "side agreement," the North American...

Iran: current developments and U.S. policy.
January 14, 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...

Israel: U.S. foreign assistance.
January 14, 2002... SUMMARY Israel is not economically self-sufficient, and relies on foreign assistance and borrowing to maintain its economy. Since 1985, the United States has provided $3 billion in grants annually to Israel. Since 1976, Israel has been the...

AIDS in Africa.
January 15, 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...

Enron: selected securities, accounting, and pension laws possibly implicated in its collapse.
January 16, 2002... Summary On December 2, 2001, Enron Corporation filed the largest corporate bankruptcy in United States history. Both the Congress and the Executive branch have begun investigations into whether Enron may have defrauded investors by...

Trade promotion (fast-track) authority: a comparison of H.R. 3005 as approved by the house and by the Senate Finance Committee.
January 17, 2002... Summary This report compares H.R. 3005, the Bipartisan Trade Promotion Authority Act of 2001, as approved by the House on December 6, 2001, and as ordered reported by the Senate Finance Committee on December 18, 2001. The versions for the...

Africa and the war on terrorism.
January 17, 2002... Summary African countries overwhelmingly expressed their support for the U.S.-led efforts on the war against terrorism shortly after the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington. Some African countries are reportedly sharing...

Nuclear arms control: the U.S.-Russian agenda.
January 17, 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...

China and the World Trade Organization.
January 17, 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...

Combating terrorism: are there lessons to be learned from foreign experiences?
January 18, 2002... Summary As the United States braces for possible repeated incidents of international terrorism in the United States, there may be lessons to be learned from the experiences of other countries which have suffered prolonged onslaughts of...

Trade promotion authority (fast-track authority for trade agreements): background and developments in the 107th Congress.
January 18, 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...

Trade promotion authority (fast-track): labor issues (including H.R. 3005 and H.R. 3019).
January 18, 2002... Summary Since trade promotion authority (TPA), formerly called "fast-track negotiating authority" expired in 1994, Congress has been unable to agree on language for its reauthorization. Under TPA, Congress agrees to consider trade...

Trade and the Americas.
January 18, 2002... SUMMARY The Summit of the Americas, held in Miami 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 the North America Free Trade...

North Korea's nuclear weapons program.
January 22, 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...

Refugee admissions and resettlement policy.
January 22, 2002... Summary A refugee is a person fleeing his or her country because of persecution or a well-founded fear of persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion. Typically, the...

Africa: U.S. foreign assistance issues.
January 22, 2002... SUMMARY The Bush Administration requested $789.4 million in Development Assistance (DA) for sub-Saharan Africa in FY2002, $4.2 million less than was provided in FY2001. However, the Foreign Operations Appropriations bill that became law...

The Middle East peace talks.
January 24, 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...

Argentina's political upheaval.
January 25, 2002... Summary Argentina's democratic political system has been under considerable stress since social protests over the country's rapidly deteriorating economy led to the resignation of President Fernando de la Rua on December 20, 2001. After a...

Israeli-United States relations.
January 25, 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...

Saudi Arabia: current issues and U.S. relations.
January 25, 2002... SUMMARY Saudi Arabia, a monarchy ruled by the Saudi dynasty, enjoys special importance in the international community because of its unique association with the Islamic religion and its oil wealth. Since the establishment of the modern...

Suits against terrorist states.
January 25, 2002... Summary In [section] 2002 of the "Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000," Congress directed the Secretary of the Treasury to pay portions of eleven judgments that have been (or will be) handed down in suits against...

Abu Sayyaf: target of Philippine-U.S. anti-terrorism cooperation.
January 25, 2002... Summary The U.S. announcement that 650 military personnel will be deployed to the southern Philippines signified that the Abu Sayyaf terrorist group is the next target after Afghanistan in the U.S. campaign against terrorism. The U.S....

Palestinians and Middle East peace: issues for the United States.
January 25, 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,...

Campaign finance: constitutional and legal issues of soft money.
January 25, 2002... SUMMARY A major issue in the campaign finance reform debate, generally unregulated soft money is perceived as resulting from a loophole in the Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA). Generally, soft money is considered to be funds that are...

Permanent normal trade relations (PNTR) status for Russia and U.S.-Russian economic ties.
January 28, 2002... Summary During his November 13-15, 2001 meetings with Russian President Vladimir Putin, President George W. Bush stated that his administration will work with the Congress to grant Russia permanent "normal trade relations" (PNTR) status....

Sudan: humanitarian crisis, peace talks, terrorism, and U.S. policy.
January 29, 2002... SUMMARY Sudan, geographically the largest country in Africa, has been ravaged by civil war intermittently for 4 decades. An estimated 2 million people have died over the past decade due to war-related causes and famine, and millions have...

Campaign financing.
January 30, 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. ...

Federal securities law: insider trading.
January 30, 2002... Summary Insider trading in securities may occur when a person in possession of material nonpublic information about a company trades in the company's securities and makes a profit or avoids a loss. The Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and...

Global climate change.
January 30, 2002... Global Climate Change SUMMARY There is concern that human activities are affecting the heat/energy-exchange balance between Earth, the atmosphere, and space, and inducing global climate change, often termed "global warming." Human...

The Argentine financial crisis: a chronology of events.
January 31, 2002... Summary Argentina's current crisis resulted from a confluence of events, some external to Argentina's policy process, others directly related to its political and economic choices. Although it is not easy to discern at what specific point...

Bioterrorism: legislation to improve public health preparedness and response capacity.
January 31, 2002... Summary The recent anthrax attacks, though small in scale compared to the scenarios envisioned by bioterrorism experts, strained the public health system and raised concern that the nation is insufficiently prepared to respond to...

Nuclear powerplants: vulnerability to terrorist attack.
January 31, 2002... Summary Protection of nuclear powerplants from terrorist attack has become a current concern in light of the September 11 attacks. Assault by land from armed terrorists, and the threat of crashing a hijacked airliner into a reactor, are...

Drug control: international policy and options.
January 31, 2002... SUMMARY Efforts to reduce the flow of illicit drugs from abroad into the United States greatly have so far not succeeded. Moreover, over the past decade, worldwide production of illicit drugs has risen dramatically: opium and marijuana...

The nuclear posture review: overview and emerging issues.
January 31, 2002... Summary The Bush Administration released the results of its Nuclear Posture Review in January 2002. That study states that the United States will no longer base its nuclear planning on the need to address the "Russian threat." Instead, it...