Congressional Research Service (CRS) Reports and Issue Briefs articles from May 2008

Congressional Research Service (CRS) Reports and Issue Briefs archives from May 2008

The strategic petroleum reserve: history, perspectives, and issues.(CRS Report for Congress)(Report)
May 1, 2008... Summary Congress authorized the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) in the Energy Policy and Conservation Act (EPCA, P.L. 94-163) to help prevent a repetition of the economic dislocation caused by the 1973-1974 Arab oil embargo. The program...

Defense: FY2009 authorization and appropriations.(CRS Report for Congress)(Report)
May 1, 2008... Summary The President's FY2009 federal budget request, released February 4, 2008, included $611.1 billion in new budget authority for national defense. This total included $515.4 billion in discretionary new budget authority for the base...

Energy: selected facts and numbers.(CRS Report for Congress)(Report)
May 1, 2008... Summary Energy supplies and prices are major economic factors in the United States, and energy markets are volatile and unpredictable. Thus, energy policy has been a recurring issue for Congress since the first major crisis in the 1970s....

Suits against terrorist states by victims of terrorism.(CRS Report for Congress)(Report)
May 1, 2008... Summary In 1996 Congress amended the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA) to allow U.S. victims of terrorism to sue designated State sponsors of terrorism for their terrorist acts. The courts have handed down large judgments against the...

Overview.(Suits Against Terrorist States by Victims of Terrorism)(Report)
May 1, 2008... Prior to 1996, foreign States were immune from civil liability in U.S. courts for injuries caused by acts of terrorism carried out by their agents and proxies. In 1996, Congress amended the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA) (1) to allow...

Background on state immunity.(Suits Against Terrorist States by Victims of Terrorism)(Report)
May 1, 2008... Customary international law historically afforded sovereign States complete immunity from being sued in the courts of other States. In the words of Chief Justice Marshall, this immunity was rooted in the "perfect equality and absolute...

The Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996: civil suits against terrorist states by victims of terrorism.(Suits Against Terrorist States by Victims of Terrorism)(Report)
May 1, 2008... In 1996 Congress added another exception to the FSIA to allow the U.S. courts, federal and state, to exercise jurisdiction over foreign States and their agencies and instrumentalities in civil suits by U.S. victims of terrorism. (12) The...

Early cases and efforts to satisfy judgments.(Suits Against Terrorist States by Victims of Terrorism)(Report)
May 1, 2008... Several suits were quickly filed against Cuba and Iran pursuant to the new provisions. Neither State recognized the jurisdiction of the U.S. courts in such suits, however; and both refused to appear in court to mount a defense. The FSIA...

The search for a cause of action: Cicippio-Puleo v. Iran.(Suits Against Terrorist States by Victims of Terrorism)(Report)
May 1, 2008... After Congress passed the Flatow Amendment in 1996, providing for a cause of action against foreign officials for terrorist conduct, the judge in the Flatow case held Iran itself liable under a theory of respondeat superior, and awarded...

Iran hostages case: Roeder v. Islamic Republic of Iran.(Suits Against Terrorist States by Victims of Terrorism)(Report)
May 1, 2008... Judicial Proceedings In late 2000 a suit was filed in federal district court on behalf of the 52 embassy staffers who had been held hostage by Iran from 1979-81 and on behalf of their families. Roeder v. Islamic Republic of Iran (92)...

Iraq: lawsuits involving acts of Saddam Hussein regime.(Suits Against Terrorist States by Victims of Terrorism)(Report)
May 1, 2008... Confiscation of Blocked Assets for Reconstruction On March 20, 2003, immediately after the U.S. and its coalition partners initiated military action against Iraq, President Bush issued an executive order providing for the confiscation and...

Ministry of Defense (Iran) v. Elahi.(Suits Against Terrorist States by Victims of Terrorism)(Report)
May 1, 2008... Although Iran has not appeared in court to defend itself in any of the terrorism cases brought against it, it did nonetheless challenge a decision that allowed a judgment-holder to collect part of a judgment against Iran out of an award owed to...

109th Congress: proposed legislation.(Suits Against Terrorist States by Victims of Terrorism)(Report)
May 1, 2008... In addition to the bills addressing the Acree decision, (H.R. 1321 and H.Con.Res. 93, discussed supra) and one bill to provide compensation in the Roeder case (H.R. 3358), two other bills in the 109th Congress were introduced in an effort to...

110th Congress the National Defense Authorization Act for FY2008, [section] 1083.(Suits Against Terrorist States by Victims of Terrorism)(Report)
May 1, 2008... The Justice for Victims of State Sponsored Terrorism Act, S. 1944, was passed by the Senate as Section 1087 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008 (NDAA FY2008), H.R. 1585. A modified version of the provision, a measure...

Suits against the United States for "terrorist" acts.(Suits Against Terrorist States by Victims of Terrorism)(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... At least two of the States affected by the FSIA exception appear to have enacted legislation allowing their citizens to file suit against the United States for violations of human rights or interference in the countries' internal affairs. Cuba...

Conclusion.(Suits Against Terrorist States by Victims of Terrorism)(Report)
May 1, 2008... The 1996 amendments to the FSIA allowing victims of terrorism to sue designated foreign States for damages in U.S. courts were enacted with broad political support in Congress. But subsequent difficulties in obtaining payment of the substantial...

Appendix A. Judgments against terrorist states.(Suits Against Terrorist States by Victims of Terrorism)(Table)
May 1, 2008... Table A-1. Judgments Against Terrorist States Covered by VTVPA [section] 2002 (P.L. 106-386) Judgment Compensatory Punitive Damages Damages Awarded ...

Appendix B. Assets of terrorist states.(Suits Against Terrorist States by Victims of Terrorism)(Table)
May 1, 2008... Table B-1. Amount of Assets of Terrorist States Non-blocked Blocked Assets Assets in millions of in millions of State ...

Kosovo and U.S. policy: background and current issues.(CRS Report for Congress)(Report)
May 1, 2008... Summary Close to nine years after NATO intervened militarily in the southern Serbian province of Kosovo, Kosovo declared itself an independent and sovereign state on February 17, 2008. The event marked a new stage in, but not the end of,...

U.S. foreign aid to East and South Asia: selected recipients.(CRS Report for Congress)(Report)
May 1, 2008... Summary This report analyzes annual budget justifications and legislation for foreign operations appropriations and discusses U.S. foreign aid trends, programs, and restrictions in 16 East Asian and South Asian countries. It does not cover...

U.S. trade and investment relationship with Sub-Saharan Africa: the African Growth and Opportunity Act and Beyond.(CRS Report for Congress)
May 1, 2008... Summary Following the end of the apartheid era in South Africa in the early 1990s, the United States sought to increase economic relations with sub-Saharan Africa. President Clinton instituted several measures that dealt with investment,...

Syria: background and U.S. relations.(CRS Report for Congress)(Report)
May 1, 2008... Summary Despite its weak military and lackluster economy, Syria remains relevant in Middle Eastern geopolitics. The Asad regime has its hands in each of the four major active or potential zones of conflict in the region (Lebanon,...

Tuberculosis: international efforts and issues for Congress.(CRS Report for Congress)(Report)
May 1, 2008... Summary Infectious diseases are estimated to cause more than 25% of all deaths around the world. A number of infectious disease outbreaks over the past decade, such as H5N1 avian influenza and severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), have...