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U.S. Military Space Programs: An Overview Of Appropriations And Current Issues, Patricia Moloney Figliola

Congressional Research Service Reports

The 1958 National Aeronautics and Space Act specified that military space activities be conducted by the Department of Defense (DOD). DOD and the intelligence community manage a broad array of space activities, including launch vehicle development, communications satellites, navigation satellites (the Global Positioning System — GPS), early warning satellites to alert the United States to foreign missile launches, weather satellites, reconnaissance satellites, and developing capabilities to protect U.S. satellite systems and to deny the use of space to adversaries (called “space control” or “counterspace systems”). The 1990-1991 Persian Gulf War is dubbed by some as the first “space war” because …

Space Exploration: Issues Concerning The “Vision For Space Exploration”, Marcia S. Smith

Congressional Research Service Reports

On January 14, 2004, President George W. Bush announced new goals for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), directing the agency to focus on returning humans to the Moon by 2020, and eventually sending them to Mars and “worlds beyond.” The President invited other countries to join. Most of the funding for this “Vision for Space Exploration” is to be redirected from other NASA activities, including terminating the space shuttle program in 2010, and ending U.S. participation in the International Space Station by 2016. NASA released an implementation plan for the Vision on September 19, 2005, and estimated the …

Federal R&D, Drug Discovery, And Pricing: Insights From The Nih-University-Industry Relationship, Wendy H. Schacht

Congressional Research Service Reports

Public interest in approaches that might provide prescription drugs at lower cost, particularly for the elderly, has rekindled discussion over the role the federal government plays in facilitating the creation of new pharmaceuticals for the marketplace. In the current debate, some argue that the government’s financial, scientific, and/or clinical support of health-related research and development (R&D) entitles the public to commensurate considerations in the prices charged for any resulting drugs. Others view government intervention in price decisions based upon initial federal funding as contrary to a long-term trend of government promotion of innovation, technological advancement, and the commercialization of technology …

Water Quality: Implementing The Clean Water Act, Claudia Copeland

Congressional Research Service Reports

Congress enacted the last major amendments to the Clean Water Act in 1987 (P.L. 100-4). Since then, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), states, and others have been working to implement the many program changes and additions mandated in the law. At issue today — more than 30 years after enactment of the core law — is what progress is being made to achieve its goals. In general, states and environmental groups fault EPA for delays in issuing guidance and providing assistance to carry out the law. EPA and others are critical of states, in turn, for not reaching beyond conventional …

Manipulating Molecules: Federal Support For Nanotechnology Research, Michael E. Davey

Congressional Research Service Reports

The Bush Administration has requested $1.277 billion for nanotechnology research for FY2007, $24 million less than the estimated $1.301billion appropriated level for FY2006. (See Table 1.) Nanotechnology is a newly emerging field of science where scientists and engineers are beginning to manipulate matter at the molecular and atomic levels in order to obtain materials and systems with significantly improved properties. Ten nanometers is equal to one-ten thousandths the diameter of a human hair. Proponents of this technology argue that nanotechnology will lead to a new industrial revolution in the 21st century. Scientists note that nanotechnology is still in its infancy, …

Hubble Space Telescope: Should Nasa Proceed With A Servicing Mission?, Daniel Morgan

Congressional Research Service Reports

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) estimates that without a servicing mission to replace key components, the Hubble Space Telescope will cease scientific operations in 2008 instead of 2010. In January 2004, then-NASA Administrator Sean O’Keefe announced that the space shuttle would no longer be used to service Hubble. He indicated that this decision was based primarily on safety concerns in the wake of the space shuttle Columbia accident in 2003. Many critics, however, saw it as the result of the new Vision for Space Exploration, announced by President Bush in January 2004, which focuses NASA’s priorities on human …

Memorandum From University Of Illinois College Of Law Professor Ronald D. Rotunda Memorandum To The Honorable Kenneth W. Starr Regarding Whether A Sitting President Is Subject To Indictment [Portions Redacted], Ronald D. Rotunda

United States Department of Justice: Publications

Re: Indictability of the President, with particular respect to whether President Bill Clinton could be charged with indictable offenses while in federal office.

Excerpt from the New York Times article: “It is proper, constitutional, and legal for a federal grand jury to indict a sitting president for serious criminal acts that are not part of, and are contrary to, the president’s official duties,” the Starr office memo concludes. “In this country, no one, even President Clinton, is above the law.”

Impacts Of Technology On U.S. Cropland And Rangeland Productivity, Office Of Technology Assessment

Congressional Research Service Reports

This Nation's impressive agricultural success is the product of many factors: abundant resources of land and water, a favorable climate, and a history of resourceful farmers and technological innovation. We meet not only our own needs but supply a substantial portion of the agricultural products used elsewhere in the world. As demand increases, so must agricultural productivity. Part of the necessary growth may come from farming additional acreage. But most of the increase will depend on intensifying production with improved agricultural technologies. The question is, however, whether farmland and rangeland resources can sustain such intensive use.

Land is a renewable …

A Descriptive Analysis Of Nebraska's Unicameral Legislature, Harry W. Wade

Nebraskiana Publications: Resources and Materials on the 37th State

What is the Nebraska "Unicameral" experience in handling problems relating to organization, procedure, leadership, and lobbying? Has the Nebraska system attracted different kinds of people to legislative service? This study was undertaken for the purpose of determining, on the basis of an investigation of the only one-house state legislative system in the nation, how Nebraska unicameralism functions in present-day circumstances and if the Nebraska experience has produced evidence of alternative ways of dealing with contemporary legislative problems which would tend to bear out the expectations of the supporters of the single-house legislature. Because the Nebraska unicameral plan employs an important …

George W. Norris's Persuasion In The Campaign For The Unicameral Legislature, Phillip K. Tompkins

College of Education and Human Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The people of forty-seven states in this country are governed by bicameral or two-house legislatures. The people of the forty-eighth, Nebraskans, are governed by a unicameral or one-house legislature.

On November 6, 1934, the people of Nebraska provided by amendment to their state constitution, a one-house legislature to be composed of between thirty and fifty members to be elected on a non-partisan ballot. The number of solons was later set at forty-three, and 1957 marked the twentieth anniversary of the first unicameral session in Nebraska.

Senator George W. Norris is generally regarded by all as the father of the unicameral …

The Use Of The Congressional Resolution As An Instrument Of Influence Over Foreign Policy: 1925–1950, Robert Lee Munkres

Department of Political Science: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

I—Introduction

II—General Analysis of the Period: Resolutions Adopted; Record of the Two Houses Compared; Trends; General Significance of the Period; Chart—Ratio of Resolutions Introduced to Resolutions Passed

III—Subject Matter of Resolutions: Subjects Most Frequently Considered; Record of the Two Houses Compared; Pre-War and Post-1941 Periods Compared; Comparison of War and Post-War Periods; General Significance; Chart—Subject Matter of Resolutions

IV—Types of Resolutions: Comparison of the Records of the Two Houses; Analysis of Types of Resolutions Dealing With Specific Subjects; Record of the Two Houses Compared; International Conferences; International Organizations; Negotiation of Treaties and Agreements; Conditions in Foreign Countries; Recognition; General Significance; …

God And Caesar In Nebraska: A Study Of The Legal Relationship Of Church And State, 1854 -1954, Orville H. Zabel

University Studies (University of Nebraska) (1888–1984)

At a time when the control over the relationship of church and state seems to be shifting from the state governments to the Federal Government, it was decided to undertake a case study of the church-state problem in Nebraska. Such a study, stretching over a century, appeared to make possible a contribution to the understanding and solution of problems which have recently gained prominence and which will probably appear frequently in coming years. Any contribution, however slight, to an understanding of what constitutes the most desirable relationship of the church and the state may be of considerable value. Such a …

Washington's Farewell Address: The President’S Address To The People Of The United States, Announcing His Intention Of Retiring From Public Life At The Expiration Of The Present Constitutional Term Of Presidency, George Washington

Electronic Texts in American Studies

This is a digital “facsimile” edition of a contemporary pamphlet version of President George Washington’s “Farewell Address,” first issued in the Philadelphia Daily Advertiser newspaper on September 19, 1796. Co-authored with James Madison and Alexander Hamilton, it expresses Washington’s decision to decline a third term of the presidency and offers his parting advice to his “friends and fellow-citizens.”

Washington’s “farewell address” emphasizes the importance of Union, the danger of partisanship, the threat of parties allied to foreign countries or interests, the accomplishment of a national government, the precedence of national over sectional interests, the maintenance of the public credit, the …

'Farewell' Address To The People Of The United States, Announcing His Intention Of Retiring From Public Life At The Expiration Of The Present Constitutional Term Of Presidency, George Washington

Zea E-Books in American Studies

President George Washington’s farewell address “To the People of the United States” was delivered to the public through the medium of the Philadelphia Daily Advertiser newspaper and was immediately reprinted in other newspapers and in pamphlet form throughout the country, and in England, Ireland, and Scotland as well. All contemporary editions derived directly or indirectly from the Daily Advertiser newspaper source.

The composition of the address was a collaborative effort, with James Madison co-authoring with Washington an early draft that was reviewed and revised at least twice to incorporate suggestions by Alexander Hamilton. The final draft, in Washington’s handwriting, was …

The Christian Commonwealth: Or, The Civil Policy Of The Rising Kingdom Of Jesus Christ, John Eliot

Zea E-Books in American Studies

John Eliot (1604-1690), the Puritan missionary to the New England Indians, developed this plan of political organization for the Christianized tribes that he converted. In the late 1640s, he adapted it for English use and sent a manuscript copy to England, where it appeared in print 10 years later, in 1659, following the death of Cromwell and before the accession of Charles II.

Eliot’s “Preface” to the work was far more radical and troublesome than the utopian theocracy described in the main body. “Much is spoken of the rightful Heir of the Crown of England, and the unjustice of casting …