This report serves as a primer on the European Union (EU) and provides a brief description of U.S.-EU relations that may be of interest in the 114th Congress. The EU is a political and economic partnership that represents a unique form of cooperation among sovereign countries, comprising 28 member states, including most of the countries of Central and Eastern Europe; the group has helped to promote peace, stability, and economic prosperity throughout the European continent.

This report gives an overview of the background and current developments of the Democratic Republic of Congo

This report briefly discusses key differences between domestic terrorism and ordinary criminal activity. Unlike ordinary criminals--who are often driven by self-centered motives such as profit and tend to opportunistically seek easy prey--domestic terrorists are driven by a cause or ideology.

Report

This report discusses about the Fair Housing Act (FHA) that was enacted to provide within constitutional limitations, for fair housing throughout the United States.

This report provides information on the types of data that may be collected in a typical personnel security background investigation. In a July 9, 2015, news release on the cyber-intrusions of its systems, OPM "concluded with high confidence that sensitive information, including the Social Security Numbers (SSNs) of 21.5 million individuals, was stolen from the background investigation databases." This report is not an official statement of the data that was compromised in the OPM breach.

This report compares and contrasts the administration of the Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Act of 2008--enacted as Title V of the Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2008-- and Federal Pell Grants, as authorized by title IV-A-1 of the Higher Education Act (HEA).

This report briefly discusses the financing of military construction. Military construction is normally funded through Title I of the Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies appropriations bill and provides funding for the planning, design, construction, alteration, and improvement of facilities used by active and reserve military components worldwide.

This report discusses the foreign affairs appropriations passed within the last 21 years; nearly all of them were passed within omnibus, consolidated, or full-year continuing resolutions, and usually after the start of the new fiscal year. Many foreign policy experts contend that stand-alone appropriation legislation would allow for a more rigorous debate on specific foreign policy activities. They also believe that the practice of delayed appropriations has constrained ongoing program operating levels and the ability to introduce or fund new programs that did not exist in the previous year's budget.

This report focuses on the EPA's (Environmental Protection Agency) revision of rules for designated areas for compliance with the NAAQS (National Ambient Air Quality Standard) for PM2.5 (fine particulate mattter).The states and EPA must then identify areas that exceed the standard and require those areas to take steps to pollutants to meet the standard. This is then the subject of congressional oversight.

This report discusses research, development, and demonstration at the U.S. Department of Energy related to Carbon Capture and Sequestration.

None

This report provides a brief explanation of cash and accrual accounting. It then examines the legislative history surrounding the Tax Reform Act of 1986, which set most of the current policies related to cash accounting for tax purposes.

The report discusses the Health Center Program, which is administered by the Health Resource and Services Administration within the Department of Health and Human Services, awards grants to outpatient health care facilities that provide care to medically under-served populations.

This report identifies and summarizes the provisions of the Senate's standing rules, standing orders, precedents, and other directives that relate to legislative activity in the Senate's standing committees. It covers four main issues: committee organization, committee meetings, hearings, and reporting.

This report looks at the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 (NWPA), Yucca Mountain, and the Obama Administration's de-funding of Yucca Mountain. Federal policy is based on the premise that nuclear waste can be disposed of safely, but proposed storage and disposal facilities have frequently been challenged on safety, health, and environmental grounds. Most of the current debate surrounding civilian radioactive waste focuses on highly radioactive spent fuel from nuclear power plants.

This report discusses the two retirement systems for federal employees: (1) the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) for individuals hired before 1984, and (2) the Federal Employees' Retirement System (FERS) for individuals hired in 1984 or later.

This report provides information on the use of risk and needs assessment in the criminal justice system. It starts with an overview of risk and needs assessment and a discussion of some critiques. The report concludes with a discussion of the issues policymakers might consider if they debate legislation to expand the use of risk and needs assessment in the federal prison system.

This report addresses the two primary components of the concurrent receipt program: Combat-Related Compensation(CRSC) and Concurrent Retirement and Disability Payments(CRDP). It reviews the possible legislative expansion of the program to additional populations and provides several potential options for Congress to consider.

This report examines the interplay between the federal government -- i.e., Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) -- and state and local jurisdictions in enforcing immigration law, with a specific focus on noncitizens who have been convicted of a crime. It briefly outlines the evolution of the cooperation among law enforcement agencies, then discusses current administrative efforts to involve state and local law enforcement, and explores major programs and federal resources available to those agencies that cooperate with ICE to enforce immigration law.

This report discusses President Obama Immigration Accountability Executive Action which would revise some U.S. immigration policies and initiate several programs, including a revised border security policy for the Southwest border.

This report discusses President Obama's Immigration Accountability Executive Action which revises some U.S. immigration policies and initiates several programs, including a revised border security policy for the Southwest border.

This report discusses the current political state of Afghanistan, focusing particularly on the influence of the Taliban and other militant groups, and on the leadership of Afghan President Hamid Karzai. This report also discusses the U.S.-Afghanistan relationship, in both the short and long term, and U.S. efforts under the Obama Administration to provide military, reconstructive, and stabilization aid.

This report discusses the open economy and society of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), provides a general description of the UAE's government and political structure, and outlines the effects of the recent global economic downturn on the UAE in general and on the city of Dubai in particular. It also describes U.S. concern over the proliferation of advanced technology in relation to a recently-signed U.S.-UAE civilian nuclear agreement, due to the UAE economy and the UAE's lax export controls.