Congressional Research Service (CRS) Reports and Issue Briefs articles from November 2001

Congressional Research Service (CRS) Reports and Issue Briefs archives from November 2001

Trade promotion (fast-track) authority: H.R. 3005 provisions and related issues.
November 28, 2001... 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...

Trade agreement implementation: expedited procedures and congressional control in existing law.
November 26, 2001... Summary Expedited procedures for trade agreements were established by Section 151 of the Trade Act of 1974, and took their current form with the Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness Act of 1988 (OTCA 1988). These statutory expedited...

Cuba: issues for Congress.
November 20, 2001... 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...

China and the World Trade Organization.
November 19, 2001... 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. In September 2001, China completed its multilateral...

Trade promotion authority (fast-track authority for trade agreements): background and developments in the 107th Congress.
November 16, 2001... SUMMARY One of the major trade issues in the 107th Congress will be whether or not Congress approves trade promotion authority (formerly called fast-track authority) for the President to negotiate trade agreements with expedited...

Nuclear arms control: the U.S.-Russian agenda.
November 16, 2001... 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...

Afghanistan: current issues and U.S. policy concerns.
November 15, 2001... Summary Even before the U.S. military campaign against the Taliban movement began on October 7, 2001, Afghanistan had been mired in conflict for about 22 years, including the Soviet occupation during 1979-1989. The orthodox Islamic...

The War Powers Resolution: after twenty-eight years.
November 15, 2001... Summary In the post-Cold War world, Presidents have continued to commit U.S. Armed Forces to potential hostilities without specific authorization from Congress, and the War Powers Resolution has come under new scrutiny. On June 7, 1995...

The Middle East peace talks.
November 14, 2001... 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...

Trade and the Americas.
November 9, 2001... 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...

Intelligence issues for Congress.
November 9, 2001... 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...

Financing issues and economic effects of past American wars.
November 7, 2001... Summary The increased government outlays associated with wars can be financed in four ways: through higher taxes, reductions in other government spending, government borrowing from the public, or money creation. The first two methods are...

Drug certification requirements and proposed congressional modifications in 2001.
November 6, 2001... 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...

Nuclear weapons in Russia: safety, security, and control issues.
November 5, 2001... 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...

Drug control: international policy and options.
November 2, 2001... SUMMARY Efforts to greatly reduce the flow of illicit drugs from abroad into the United States have so far not succeeded. Moreover, over the past decade, worldwide production of illicit drugs has increased dramatically: opium and...

Terrorism, the future, and U.S. foreign policy.
November 2, 2001... 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...

State department and related agencies FY2002 appropriations.
November 2, 2001... Summary On April 9, 2001, the President submitted his FY2002 budget request which included nearly $8 billion for the Department of State and the Broadcasting Board of Governors. This represents an increase of $925 million (or 13.1%) from...

Russia.
November 1, 2001... 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...