The Law of Foreign Missions and Media in U.S.-China Relations
The United States and People’s Republic of China (PRC or China) compete in a variety of legal regimes, ranging from multilateral trade bodies, to human rights law, to international maritime law in the...
Artificial Intelligence: Background, Selected Issues, and Policy Considerations
The field of artificial intelligence (AI)—a term first used in the 1950s—has gone through multiple waves of advancement over the subsequent decades. Today, AI can broadly be thought of as computerized...
Broadband Data and Mapping: Background and Issues for the 117th Congress
Access to high-speed internet service, also known as broadband, is increasingly important in the 21st century, as more aspects of everyday life, such as job applications, bank transactions, and homewo...
OLC: Congressional Notice Period Prior to Withdrawing from Treaty Unconstitutional
On May 22, 2020, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced the United States’ intent to withdraw from the multilateral Treaty on Open Skies (Open Skies Treaty), an arms control treaty permitting partie...
Magnetic Levitation (Maglev) Trains: Technical Background, Cost Estimates, and Recent Developments
Since the 1990s, the U.S. Department of Transportation has provided funding to support development and construction of a train system operated by magnetic levitation (maglev). Maglev trains use magnet...
H.R. 1 and S. 1: Overview and Related CRS Products
Brief Overview
H.R. 1 and S. 1, the For the People Act, propose major amendments to federal law governing campaign finance and elections. The bills’ provisions, unless otherwise noted, would affect fe...
Commemorative Works in the District of Columbia: Categorization of Proposed and Enacted Memorials, 1973-2020
In 1783, the Continental Congress authorized the nation’s first memorial, an equestrian statute to honor General George Washington. Since that time, Members of Congress have introduced hundreds of mea...
State Sales and Use Tax Nexus After South Dakota v. Wayfair
In its 2018 decision in South Dakota v. Wayfair, Inc., the Supreme Court upheld a South Dakota law requiring out-of-state sellers, or “remote sellers,” to collect and remit sales taxes on goods and se...
Coup in Burma: Implications for Congress
On February 1, 2021, Burma’s military, known as the Tatmadaw, seized control of Burma’s Union Government and detained State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi (the country’s de facto civilian leader) and memb...
Platte River Restoration Efforts
Background
The Platte River system, located in the states of Colorado, Nebraska, and Wyoming, supports 15 major dams and reservoirs, which provide water, hydroelectric power, irrigation, flood control...
Google v. Oracle: Supreme Court Rules for Google in Landmark Software Copyright Case
On April 5, 2021, the Supreme Court issued its highly anticipated decision in Google LLC v. Oracle America Inc., the culmination of a decade-long software copyright dispute between the two tech giants...
Over the Line: Asset Thresholds in Bank Regulation
As of December 31, 2020, there were over 5,000 banks in the United States. While certain kinds of banks may be similar to each other, the industry as a whole is made of up institutions that differ in ...
AMG Capital Management v. FTC: Supreme Court Holds FTC Cannot Obtain Monetary Relief in Section 13(b) Suits
On April 22, 2021, the U.S. Supreme Court held in AMG Capital Management, LLC v. Federal Trade Commission that Section 13(b) of the Federal Trade Commission Act (FTCA) (15 U.S.C. § 53(b)) does not all...
The Generic Drug User Fee Amendments (GDUFA): Background and Reauthorization
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulates the safety, effectiveness, and quality of drugs—both brand name and generic—pursuant to its authorities under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act ...
American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (P.L. 117-2): Private Health Insurance, Medicaid, CHIP, and Medicare Provisions
The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARPA; P.L. 117-2) addresses a number of issues that were before Congress related to Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) relief and economic stimulus. The ARPA was...
Jones v. Mississippi, the Eighth Amendment, and Juvenile Life Without Parole
On April 22, 2021, the Supreme Court decided Jones v. Mississippi, holding that the Eighth Amendment’s ban on cruel and unusual punishments does not require a finding that a juvenile offender is perma...
Climate Change: Selected Federal Economic Development Tools and Policy Considerations
Social, economic, and ecological risks associated with climate change, such as those documented in the U.S. Fourth National Climate Assessment and by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, hav...
Worker Classification: Employee Status Under the National Labor Relations Act, the Fair Labor Standards Act, and the ABC Test
The classification of workers as “employees” rather than independent contractors is critical for purposes of most federal and state labor and employment laws. In general, the rights and protections af...
Congress’s Authority to Limit the Removal of Inspectors General
Federal law establishes a variety of inspectors general (IGs), each of whom is generally tasked with detecting waste, fraud, and abuse through independent and objective investigations, audits, and rev...