Bill introduced by the Texas House of Representatives relating to the establishment and operation of the Texas Women Veterans Program.

Bill introduced by the Texas Senate relating to an exemption from the franchise tax and certain filing fees for certain businesses owned by veterans during an initial period of operation in the state.

Bill introduced by the Texas Senate relating to state agency contracting.

Bill introduced by the Texas Senate relating to occupational license application and examination fees for certain military service members, military veterans, and military spouses.

This report provides background information and issues for Congress on the Aegis ballistic missile defense (BMD) program, which is carried out by the Missile Defense Agency (MDA) and the Navy; it gives Navy Aegis cruisers and destroyers a capability for conducting BMD operations. Congress's decisions on the Aegis BMD program could significantly affect U.S. BMD capabilities and funding requirements, and the BMD-related industrial base.

This report discusses the coalition organized as part of a global campaign to counter the Islamic State (ISIL/ISIS), including its military aspects and challenges to its coherence.

This report discusses the combination of regulations and standards for controlling vessel discharges, which is at issue today and is addressed in legislation in the 114th Congress, the Vessel Incidental Discharge Act.

This legal sidebar discusses the nature of the relationship between the United States government and the territory of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. Based in part on statutory language providing that the relationship between Puerto Rico and the United States is "in the nature of a compact," arguments have been made that any change in Puerto Rico's political status must be consented to by both parties.

This report summarizes the provisions of S. 1894, as introduced, and H.R. 2898, as passed by the House for conservation of fish species and their habitats in drought-stricken areas. It identifies comparable provisions between the two bills and discusses some of the ways in which those provisions overlap or differ. It also summarizes selected other major provisions in each bill.

This report presents background information and issues for Congress concerning the Navy's ship force-structure goals and shipbuilding plans. Decisions that Congress makes on Navy shipbuilding programs can substantially affect Navy capabilities and funding requirements, and the U.S. shipbuilding industrial base.

This report summarizes legislative actions taken to repeal, defund, delay, or otherwise amend the Affordable Care Act (ACA) since it was signed into law. The report is divided into two sections. The first section focuses on authorizing legislation, and the second section discusses appropriations bills.

This report provides a broad overview of tax extenders -- a collective of temporary tax provisions for which measures have regularly extended the provisions when expired or expiring. Fifty-two temporary tax provisions expired at the end of 2014.

This report discusses the migration and refugee crisis in Europe, as people flee conflict and poverty in neighboring regions. Many are from the Middle East and Africa; others come from Ukraine, as well as Kosovo and elsewhere in the Western Balkans. Experts have characterized the influxes as mixed migration, defined as flows of different groups of people--such as economic migrants, refugees, asylum-seekers, stateless persons, trafficked persons, and unaccompanied children--who travel the same routes and use the same modes of transportation.

This report provides background information regarding the 1979-1981 Iran Hostage Crisis, and discusses the Hostage Relief Act.

This report serves as a primer on the European Union and provides a brief description of U.S.-EU relations that may be of interest in the 114th Congress.

This report provides an overview of Arctic-related issues for Congress, and refers readers to more in-depth CRS reports on specific Arctic-related issues. Issues such as Arctic sovereignty claims; commercial shipping through the Arctic; Arctic oil, gas, and mineral exploration; endangered Arctic species; and increased military operations in the Arctic could cause the region in coming years to become an arena of international cooperation or competition.

This report briefly outlines the history of the establishment of the U.S. naval station at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba during the early twentieth century, its changing relationship to the community around it, and its heightened importance with the onset of military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq. It also explains in detail the legal status of the lease of the land on which the naval station stands, the statutory and treaty authorities granted to the President with regard to any potential closure of the naval station, and the second-order effects on such a closure that current Cuba sanctions laws might have.

This report analyzes U.S. and international sanctions against Iran and provides some examples, based on open sources, of companies and countries that conduct business with Iran. U.S. sanctions have been a major feature of U.S.-Iran policy since Iran's 1979 Islamic revolution, but the imposition of U.N. and worldwide bilateral sanctions on Iran that began in 2006 and increased dramatically as of 2010 is recent by comparison.

This report addresses some of the most frequently asked questions related to on-going controversies related to international "open skies" agreements.

This report discusses the U.S. arms sales and grants to Pakistan since 2001 that have included numerous items useful for counterterrorism and counterinsurgency operations.

Cost-effective electricity storage has long been a kind of "Holy Grail" for the electric power sector. This report briefly discusses potential innovations in electricity storage.

This report compares provisions in two bills in the House of Representatives that address information sharing and related activities in cybersecurity.

This report analyzes this proposed change in U.S. foreign assistance to Egypt; it provides background on the history of cash flow financing (CFF) and reviews various issues for Congress.

This report discusses the military retirement system, which is a funded, noncontributory, defined benefit system that provides a monthly annuity to servicemembers after 20 years of qualifying service.