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

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

Immigration and Naturalization Service: restructuring proposals in the 107th Congress.
May 1, 2002... Summary The events of September 11 brought the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) to the forefront of the nation's attention. Although all 19 hijackers entered the country legally, three overstayed their visas. And, on March 11,...

Iraq: compliance, sanctions, and U.S. policy.
May 3, 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...

Agricultural trade issues in the 107th Congress.
May 3, 2002... SUMMARY The 107th Congress is considering trade issues with implications for the U.S. agricultural sector. Trade in agricultural commodities and food products affects farm income and rural employment, and it also generates economic...

China's trade with the United States and the world.
May 3, 2002... Summary International trade of the People's Republic of China (PRC) has become an issue as the United States has granted permanent normal trade relations (PNTR) status to China and the PRC has entered the World Trade Organization (WTO). As...

Campaign financing.
May 6, 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. ...

Sudan: humanitarian crisis, peace talks, terrorism, and U.S. policy.
May 8, 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...

Drug control: international policy and options.
May 8, 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...

Africa: U.S. foreign assistance issues.
May 8, 2002... SUMMARY The Bush Administration is requesting just over $1 billion in Development Assistance (DA) for sub-Saharan Africa in FY2003, as compared with an estimated $887 million going to the region in FY2002. The request for aid through the...

Mexico's counter-narcotics efforts under Fox, December 2000 to April 2002.
May 8, 2002... Summary This report provides information on Mexico's counter-narcotics efforts during the first year and a few months of the presidency of Vicente Fox (December 1, 2000, to April 30, 2002), with special emphasis on calendar year 2001,...

Iran: current developments and U.S. policy.
May 9, 2002... SUMMARY Even before Iran's tacit cooperation with post-September 11 U.S. efforts to defeat Afghanistan's Taliban regime, signs of moderation in Iran had stimulated the United States to try to engage Iran in official talks. Iran, still...

Mexico-U.S. relations: issues for the 107th Congress.
May 10, 2002... SUMMARY The United States and Mexico have a special relationship under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which removes trade and investment barriers between the countries. The friendly relationship has been strengthened by...

Nuclear nonproliferation issues.
May 10, 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...

Afghanistan: challenges and options for reconstructing a stable and moderate state.
May 10, 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...

Syria: U.S. relations and bilateral issues.
May 14, 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...

The Middle East peace talks.
May 14, 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.
May 16, 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...

NATO enlargement.
May 16, 2002... Summary This report provides a brief summary of the last round of NATO enlargement, then sketches recent events culminating in the alliance's June 2001 endorsement of the admission of at least one new member at the NATO summit in Prague in...

China-U.S. relations.
May 17, 2002... SUMMARY In the wake of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks against the United States, U.S. and PRC foreign policy calculations appear to be changing. The Administration of George W. Bush assumed office in January 2001 viewing China as...

Afghanistan's path to reconstruction: obstacles, challenges, and issues for Congress.
May 17, 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.
May 20, 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,...

The former Soviet Union and U.S. foreign assistance.
May 20, 2002... SUMMARY Seeking to encourage a transition to democracy and free market economics in the states of the former Soviet Union (FSU), the United States, since December 1991, has offered roughly $8.2 billion in grants for economic and technical...

Afghanistan: current issues and U.S. policy concerns.
May 20, 2002... Summary U.S. and international officials are hopeful that Afghanistan is emerging from more than 22 years of warfare and instability, although substantial risk to Afghan stability remains. Before the U.S. military campaign against the...

Homeland security office: issues and options.
May 20, 2002... Summary President George W. Bush created the Office of Homeland Security (OHS) within the Executive Office of the President after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks as a federal focal point for coordinating domestic efforts against...

U.S.-European Union trade relations: issues and policy challenges.
May 21, 2002... SUMMARY The United States and European Union (EU) share a huge and mutually beneficial economic partnership. Not only is the U.S.-EU trade and investment relationship the largest in the world, it is arguably the most important. Agreement...

Israel: U.S. foreign assistance.
May 21, 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...

Israeli-United States relations.
May 21, 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...

China's proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and missiles: current policy issues.
May 21, 2002... SUMMARY Congress has long been concerned about challenges to U.S. security posed by the People's Republic of China (PRC) in the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and missiles that could deliver them. Recipients of China's...

U.S.-EU trade tensions: causes, consequences, and possible cures.
May 21, 2002... Summary The United States and the European Union (EU) share a large and mutually beneficial trade and investment relationship. Given a huge volume of commercial interactions, trade tensions and disputes are not unexpected. While trade...

Fair use on the internet.
May 21, 2002... Summary The originating objective of copyright, as stated in the Constitution, was to promote the progress of science and the useful arts. Rewarding the labor of authors is viewed as furthering that objective. The Copyright Act serves this...

Internet privacy: overview and pending legislation.
May 21, 2002... Summary Internet privacy issues encompass concerns about the collection of personally identifiable information (PII) from visitors to Web sites, as well as debate over law enforcement or employer monitoring of electronic mail and Web...

Russia.
May 22, 2002... SUMMARY Vladimir Putin, who was catapulted into the Kremlin following Boris Yeltsin's resignation, was elected President on March 26, 2000 by a solid majority that embraced his military campaign in Chechnya. Parties backing Putin did well...

Turkey: issues for U.S. policy.
May 22, 2002... Summary Turkey has long been considered a strategic U.S. and NATO ally. That it combines a predominantly Muslim identity with a secular democratic government has added to Turkey's significance to the United States since September 11, 2001....

Libya.
May 23, 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...

Egypt-United States relations.
May 23, 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...

Saudi Arabia: current issues and U.S. relations.
May 24, 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...

Trade and the Americas.
May 24, 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...

Nuclear arms control: the U.S.-Russian agenda.
May 24, 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...

Cuba: issues for the 107th Congress.
May 24, 2002... Summary Cuba remains a hard-line Communist state, with a poor record on human rights. Fidel Castro has ruled since he led the Cuban Revolution, ousting the corrupt government of Fulgencio Batista from power in 1959. With the cutoff of...

Immigration legislation and issues in the 107th Congress.
May 28, 2002... SUMMARY Top immigration issues before the 107th Congress include the reorganization of the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) and the eligibility of noncitizens for public assistance. Also pending are various measures to enable...

U.S.-Japan economic ties: status and outlook.
May 29, 2002... SUMMARY The U.S.-Japan relationship is a long-term one involving mutually accepted principles --regional economic and political stability; market-driven economies; and democratic systems of government. The relationship is also complex,...

China-U.S. trade issues.
May 29, 2002... SUMMARY U.S.-China economic ties have expanded substantially over the past several years; total U.S.-China trade rose from $5 billion in 1980 to $122 billion in 2001; China is now the fourth-largest U.S. trading partner. Yet, U.S.-China...

China's economic conditions.
May 29, 2002... SUMMARY Since the initiation of economic reforms in 1979, China has become one of the world's fastest growing economies. From 1979-2001, China's real GDP rose at an average annual rate of 9.4%; real GDP was projected to have risen by 7.3...

Terrorism, the future, and U.S. foreign policy.
May 30, 2002... SUMMARY International terrorism has long been recognized as a foreign and domestic security threat. The tragic events of September 11 in New York, the Washington, D.C., area, and Pennsylvania have dramatically re-energized the nation's...

AIDS in Africa.
May 30, 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...

Intelligence issues for congress.
May 31, 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...

HIV/AIDS international programs: FY2003 request and FY2002 spending.
May 31, 2002... Summary Supplemental Appropriations legislation for FY2002, currently before Congress, could increase spending for international HIV/AIDS programs beyond the amounts currently projected. The Administration's FY2003 request for...

Military transformation: intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance.
May 31, 2002... Summary The Department of Defense (DOD) indicates it is undertaking a major alteration in its capabilities, from a force designed to fight the Soviet Union to one tailored to 21st century adversaries including terrorism. This shift has...