Officer Reports for the Texas Society, Sons of the American Revolution October 13 - 15, 2017 Board of Managers meeting.

Committee Reports for the Texas Society, Sons of the American Revolution October 13 - 15, 2017 Board of Managers meeting.

This report describes the naming process for U.S. naval ships and various regulations regarding the process. Recent legislation related to ship names is also included.

This report describes the concept of business cycles and their effect on the economy.

This report discusses cluster munitions and their use and dangers. U.S. policy regarding them is discussed including the November 2017 rule issued by the DOD which relaxed standards for cluster munitions to allow the use of munitions that did not gave a 1% or less unexploded submunitions rate in extreme war situations reversing a 2008 rule.

This report provides background information and issues for Congress on China's naval modernization effort and its implications for U.S. Navy capabilities. For an overview of the strategic and budgetary context in which China's naval modernization effort and its implications for U.S. Navy capabilities may be considered, see Appendix A.

This report discusses Afghanistan's history of conflict, governmental structure, human rights issues, and security policies and initiatives. A special focus is put on the U.S. involvement in Afghan security and ongoing fights against the Taliban and other terrorist groups and U.S. aid to Afghanistan both economically and militarily. It includes fiscal year 2018 aid requests for both military assistance and economic and humanitarian aid.

This report discusses the case of "Ohio v. American Express" which the Supreme Court has accepted for hearing which poses the question of how federal antitrust law should treat two-sided markets which are platforms in which two distinct user groups operate in an interdependent way. The case challenges anti-steering clauses in American Express contract agreements with merchants that prevent the merchants from promoting the use of other credit cards. The case has the potential to change the way vendors accept card payments across the country--but the case also provides the Supreme Court with the opportunity to guide the lower courts that are increasingly confronting antitrust issues concerning two-sided markets. As a result, the American Express case raises several issues for Congress that could implicate its legislative and oversight roles with respect to the financial services industry and, more generally, the regulation of two-sided markets.

This report discuses the legislative branch appropriations for fiscal year 2017. It first provides an overview of the consideration of FY2017 legislative branch appropriations, with subsections covering each action followed by a section on prior year actions and funding, which contains historical tables. The report then addresses the FY2017 budget requests, requested administrative language, and selected funding issues for individual legislative branch agencies and entities. Finally, Table 5 through Table 9 list enacted funding levels for FY2016 and FY2017, while the Appendix lists House, Senate, and conference bills and reports; public law numbers; and enactment dates since FY1998.

This report examines some of the potential consequences to U.S. agricultural markets of a U.S. withdrawal from NAFTA, focusing on the possibility that higher tariffs could be imposed on U.S. imports and exports. In particular, under a NAFTA withdrawal, it is likely that most-favored nation (MFN) tariffs would be imposed on agricultural products traded among the NAFTA countries instead of the current zero tariff (i.e., duty-free trade) for most agricultural products. In general, MFN tariffs on U.S. agricultural imports would likely raise prices both to U.S. consumers and other end users, such as manufacturers of value-added food products.

This report discuses the EPA proposal in October 2017 to repeal the "Clean Power Plan" due to their determination after review of the rule that it exceeded their statutory authority to implement it. Steps in the process of repealing the rule, the outcome of the current court case regarding the rule, and possible replacement rules regarding Carbon dioxide emissions and power plants.

This report discusses the child credit and the child care credit and what changes are being made to them in the new tax reform plan currently being debated. This report provides background to help assess who would be assisted by potential changes to either credit. It shows what types of families with children receive both credits and how the credits are distributed across the income distribution.

This report provides an overview of flood assistance programs and the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) related mitigation incentives; it also raises flood-related policy considerations associated with federal programs and practices.

This report discusses the National Flood Insurance Act and the proposed 21st Century Flood Reform Act in the House. House leaders submitted an Amendment in the Nature of a Substitute (H.R. 2874ANS) on November 6, 2017, that would modify H.R. 2874, the 21st Century Flood Reform Act, to add provisions from the six other bills approved by the House Financial Services Committee. H.R. 2874 would authorize the NFIP until September 30, 2022. This report summarizes selected provisions of the bill, concentrating on changes related to premiums and surcharges, affordability, increasing participation, the role of private insurance, treatment of multiple loss properties, and some provisions related to floodplain mapping and mitigation.

This report describes statutory requirements for allocating congressional nominations to service academies. It also identifies the qualifications that must be met by potential nominees, as established by statute and each academy. Finally, sample documents that could be used by congressional offices at various stages of the nomination selection process are included. These documents provide basic information and can be customized to fit the specific needs of individual office policies.

This report discusses the French presidential election of 2017 and includes brief descriptions of the main candidates and current poll leaders, major campaign issues, and possible implications of the results of the French election for American-French relations and for their role in Europe and the EU. This report was written before the election which was won by Emmanuel Macron.

This report discusses the U.S. government's assistance to AIG during the 2007-2009 financial crisis and the costs and returns of the investment in the company.

This report provides brief answers to some of the questions regarding immigration agents' authority to apprehend and remove aliens; these questions were raised by reports that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents conducted enforcement actions in at least six states during the week of February 6, 2017.

This report provides information about the rules and authorities that affect media coverage of Congress, current practices among the press galleries, and selected data on gallery membership since the 94th Congress. It also provides a brief discussion of considerations that commonly underlie the galleries' practices or may affect gallery operations and congressional media rules.

This report examines debates over what constitutes an unfunded federal mandate and the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act's (UMRA's) implementation. It focuses on UMRA's requirement that CBO issue written cost estimate statements for federal mandates in legislation, its procedures for raising points of order in the House and Senate concerning unfunded federal mandates in legislation, and its requirement that federal agencies prepare written cost estimate statements for federal mandates in rules. It also assesses UMRA's impact on federal mandates and arguments concerning UMRA's future, focusing on UMRA's definitions, exclusions, and exceptions that currently exempt many federal actions with potentially significant financial impacts on nonfederal entities. An examination of the rise of unfunded federal mandates as a national issue and a summary of UMRA's legislative history are provided in Appendix A. Citations to UMRA points of order raised in the House and Senate are provided in Appendix B.

This report outlines what a funding gap for an agency run on legislative appropriations is and the brief descriptions of all the funding gaps which have occurred at federal agencies since fiscal year 1977 with extended descriptions and discussion of two of the largest funding gaps and accompanying shutdowns.

This report discusses a recently proposed rule by the Secretary of Energy "The Grid Resiliency Pricing Rule" which directs the Federal Energy Regulatory Committee (FERC) to establish "just and reasonable rates" for wholesale electricity sales in competitive markets. The rule is seen as as supporting coal-powered power plants, which have lost sales due to lower prices from more efficient and cheaper natural gas fired plants and alternative energy sources, because a recent report by the Department of Energy categorizes coal and nuclear powered plants as more fuel-secure and resilient due to supplies of fuel kept on hand that would allow the plants to be self-sufficient for a period after a a disaster.

This report discusses the ongoing conflict in Syria and previous actions taken by the United States to intervene in the conflict, mediate peace, and assist refugees as well current considerations related to Syria in Congress.

This report outlines significant cases on which Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch had voted while on the Tenth Circuit court, organized by topical categories. These categories represent fields of law where Judge Gorsuch could, if confirmed, influence the High Court's approach.