This resolution expresses the sense of the House of Representatives that federal employees should be applauded for their work and that their salaries and benefits should not be uniquely targeted for deficit reduction.
This resolution expresses support for the designation of the National Day of Awareness for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls.
Stop Corporate Inversions Act of 2021 This bill revises rules for the taxation of inverted corporations (i.e., U.S. corporations that acquire foreign companies to reincorporate in a foreign jurisdiction with income tax rates lower than the United States). The bill provides that a foreign corporation that acquires the properties of a U.S. corporation or partnership after May 8, 2014, shall be treated as an inverted corporation and thus subject to U.S. taxation if, after such acquisition (1) it holds more than 50% of the stock of the new entity (expanded affiliated group), or (2) the management or control of the new entity occurs primarily within the United States and the new entity has significant domestic business activities.
Military and Veteran Caregiver Student Loan Relief Act of 2021 This bill makes designated primary family caregivers of veterans eligible for student loan forgiveness under the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program. Under the PSLF program, the Department of Education must cancel the balance of interest and principal due on a borrower's Federal Direct Loans after the borrower makes 120 monthly loan payments while employed in a public service job. This bill broadens the definition of public service job to include service as a primary family caregiver of an eligible veteran participating in the Program of Comprehensive Assistance for Family Caregivers.
Transform, Heal, and Renew by Investing in a Vibrant Economy Act or the THRIVE Act This bill establishes a program to address the economy, racial justice, and climate change. The President must establish a board to advise the President and the heads of federal departments and agencies regarding the implementation of this bill. The President, in consultation with the board, must establish a 10-year plan to create a society that enables and supports greater racial, Indigenous, gender, environmental, and economic justice; work opportunities; healthy communities; a stable climate; and healthy ecosystems. In addition, the President, in consultation with the board, must implement a program that provides support to public or private entities that carry out qualified programs. The programs must meet certain labor, equity, and environmental conditions and support infrastructure, including to expand access to pollution-free, renewable, and affordable energy; care workers and social infrastructure (e.g., health care infrastructure); expanded access to housing; efforts to protect and restore biodiversity or natural habitats and efforts to remediate pollution in communities harmed by environmental, economic, or socioeconomic injustice; agriculture, including agricultural workers; or the development and transformation of the U.S. industrial base, including by expanding manufacturing of clean technologies.
Advancing International and Foreign Language Education Act This bill reauthorizes through FY2027 and otherwise revises international education programs. These programs provide grants to institutions of higher education and related entities to (1) enhance instruction in international and foreign language studies, and (2) promote international business skills and education. First, the bill reauthorizes programs related to international and foreign language studies. Specifically, it extends (1) the Graduate and Undergraduate Language and Area Centers and Programs, which include the National Resource Centers program; (2) the Language Resource Centers; (3) the Undergraduate International Studies and Foreign Language Programs; and (4) the American Overseas Research Centers. Next, the bill revises the Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowships program to permit graduate students to receive a stipend for the beginning, intermediate, or advanced study of a foreign language related to the student's area of specialization. Further, the bill replaces the existing Technological Innovation and Cooperation for Foreign Information Access program with an international research and innovation program. Additionally, the bill reauthorizes programs related to international business skills and education. Specifically, it reauthorizes the Centers for International Business Education program. It also reauthorizes the Education and Training program and otherwise makes changes to the program, including by (1) renaming the program; and (2) mandating certain program activities, such as the incorporation of specified programs and studies into professional education and technical training curricula. Finally, the bill permits the Department of Education to prioritize grant applications from minority-serving institutions.
Green Climate Fund Authorization Act of 2021 This bill authorizes $4 billion in both FY2022 and FY2023 for U.S. contributions to the Green Climate Fund (a fund established under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change to finance projects that address climate change).
Creating Opportunities Now for Necessary and Effective Care Technologies (CONNECT) for Health Act of 2021 or the CONNECT for Health Act of 2021 This bill expands coverage of telehealth services under Medicare. Among other provisions, the bill allows the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to waive certain restrictions, such as restrictions on the types of technology that may be used; permanently removes geographic restrictions on originating sites (i.e., the location of the beneficiary) and allows the home of the beneficiary to serve as the originating site for all services; permanently allows federally qualified health centers and rural health clinics to serve as the distant site (i.e., the location of the health care practitioner); and allows the CMS to generally waive coverage restrictions during any public health emergency. Additionally, the CMS must report on the effects of expanded telehealth services during the COVID-19 public health emergency, including with respect to the utilization, quality, and outcomes of services. The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation may also test alternative payment models relating to expanded telehealth services.
Honoring All Veterans Act This bill adds the following as a mission statement for the Department of Veterans Affairs: "To fulfill President Lincoln's promise to care for those 'who shall have borne the battle' and for their families, caregivers, and survivors."
Ban Conflicted Trading Act This bill prohibits a Member of Congress or certain congressional officers or employees from (1) purchasing or selling specified investments, (2) entering into a transaction that creates a net short position in a security, or (3) serving as an officer or member of any board of any for-profit entity.
Mark Takai Atomic Veterans Healthcare Parity Act This bill includes veterans who participated in the cleanup of Enewetak Atoll in the Marshall Islands between January 1, 1977, and December 31, 1980, as radiation-exposed veterans for purposes of the Department of Veterans Affairs presumption of service-connection for specified cancers. Under a presumption of service-connection, specific conditions diagnosed in certain veterans are presumed to have been caused by the circumstances of their military service. Health care benefits and disability compensation may then be awarded.
This concurrent resolution (1) affirms, on the 400th anniversary of the arrival of the first slave ship, that the nation owes a debt of remembrance not only to those who lived through the injustices of slavery but also to their descendants; and (2) urges the establishment of a U.S. Commission on Truth, Racial Healing, and Transformation to properly acknowledge, memorialize, and be a catalyst for progress, including toward permanently eliminating persistent racial inequities.
