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Great Lakes

Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund Expenditures

Posted Mon, 01/25/2010 - 00:00

In 1986, Congress enacted the Harbor Maintenance Tax (HMT) to recover operation and maintenance (O&M) costs at U.S. coastal and Great Lakes harbors from maritime shippers. O&M is mostly the dredging of harbor channels to their authorized depths and widths. The tax is levied on importers and domestic shippers using coastal or Great Lakes ports. Due to a Supreme Court decision in 1998, exporters no longer pay the tax because it was found unconstitutional. The tax is assessed at a rate of 0.125% of cargo value ($1.25 per $1,000 in cargo value).

The Democratic Republic of Congo: Background and Current Developments

Posted Thu, 04/16/2009 - 23:00

In October 2008, the forces of the National Congress for the Defense of the Congolese People
(CNDP), under the command of General Laurent Nkunda, launched a major offensive against the
Democratic Republic of Congo Armed Forces (FARDC) in eastern Congo. Within days, the
CNDP captured a number of small towns and Congolese forces retreated in large numbers.
Eastern Congo has been in a state of chaos for over a decade. The first rebellion to oust the late
President Mobutu Sese Seko began in the city of Goma in the mid-1990s. The second rebellion in
the late 1990s began also in eastern Congo.