Iran Sanctions Relief Review Act of 2021 This bill restricts the President's authority to unilaterally undertake certain actions with respect to Iran and increases congressional oversight of those actions. Specifically, the President must report to Congress before terminating or waiving sanctions related to Iran or taking a licensing action that significantly alters U.S. foreign policy with respect to Iran. Each report must (1) describe the proposed action and its rationale, and (2) indicate whether or not the action is intended to significantly alter foreign policy concerning Iran. If the intention is to alter that policy, the report must provide additional information about the policy objectives and anticipated effects of the action. After the President submits a report, the bill provides Congress with a 30-day period to review it; this period is extended to 60 days for reports submitted between July 10 and September 7. During this period, Congress may enact a joint resolution approving or disapproving the action. During the review period, the President may not take the action unless Congress passes a joint resolution of approval; if Congress enacts a joint resolution of disapproval, the bill prohibits the President from taking the action. The bill also outlines procedures for the introduction and consideration of these types of joint resolutions.
Sponsored bills
Promoting Women in Trucking Workforce Act This bill directs the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration to establish and facilitate a Women of Trucking Advisory Board to review and report on policies and programs that (1) provide education, training, mentorship, or outreach to women in the trucking industry; and (2) recruit, retain, or advance women into the trucking industry.
Amateur Athletes Protection and Compensation Act of 2021 This bill provides standards relating to compensation for the use of the names, images, and likenesses of amateur intercollegiate athletes and protections for these athletes. Specifically, compensation for such an athlete may only be provided by unaffiliated third parties. Currently the National Collegiate Athletic Association and colleges generally prohibit student athletes from receiving compensation. A national amateur athletic association or institution of higher education may not punish an athlete in an amateur intercollegiate athletic event or competition based on the athlete having entered into an agency contract with an amateur athlete representative certified by the Amateur Intercollegiate Athletics Corporation (AIAC) established by this bill. An amateur intercollegiate athletics association shall allow an amateur intercollegiate athlete to transfer from one institution of higher education to another at least once without losing or delaying eligibility for intercollegiate athletics if specified conditions are met. The AIAC shall serve as a clearinghouse for best practices with respect to the rights and protections of amateur intercollegiate athletes who enter into agency and endorsement contracts. The bill requires institutions of higher education to provide a certain level of health care coverage for such athletes. Such institutions must make specified legally binding disclosures to each athlete before he or she commits to enroll in or attend the institution. The institution must comply with requirements of this bill in order to participate in certain federal student financial aid programs.
Conscience Protection Act of 2021 This bill provides statutory authority for certain protections for health care providers that refuse to participate in abortions based on religious beliefs or other convictions. Health care providers include individual professionals, medical facilities, health insurance organizations, and social services providers that refer clients to health care services. The federal government and entities that receive federal funding for health-related activities, including state and local governments, may not discriminate against a health care provider that refuses to be involved in, or provide coverage for, abortions. Currently, similar requirements apply to various related activities, including certain employment or personnel decisions (the Church Amendments), abortion services training (the Coats-Snowe Amendment), qualified health plans offered through health insurance exchanges, and annual appropriations bills for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and other federal agencies (the Weldon Amendment). The HHS Office for Civil Rights must investigate complaints of this kind of discrimination. Furthermore, HHS may terminate or reduce HHS funding for health-related activities if a person or entity fails to comply with nondiscrimination requirements. Additionally, the Department of Justice or any entity adversely affected by such discrimination may bring a civil action to obtain appropriate relief. A plaintiff does not need to seek or exhaust administrative remedies before bringing the action. A plaintiff may also bring an action, including one for money damages, against a governmental entity. In many cases, principles of sovereign immunity shield states and some localities from these kinds of actions.
Fair and Open Competition Act or the FOCA Act This bill prohibits federal construction contracts or controlling documents for federally supported construction projects from requiring or prohibiting project labor agreements. Such documents also may not discriminate against or give preference to a bidder or contractor who signs or refuses to sign a project labor agreement. An agency may exempt a project from this prohibition to avert an imminent threat to public health or safety or to serve the national security.
National Right-to-Work Act This bill repeals those provisions of the National Labor Relations Act and the Railway Labor Act that permit employers to make an agreement with a labor union to require employees to join such union as a condition of employment. Currently, at least 27 states have enacted laws prohibiting employers from compelling employees to become members of a union as a condition of employment.
Promoting Responsibility Over Moderation In the Social-media Environment Act or the PROMISE Act This bill requires interactive computer services (e.g., social media companies) to establish and publicly disclose policies for moderating content on their services. This includes the categories of information that are not permitted on the service, the process by which information posted on the service is moderated, and how the service provider notifies users that information has been moderated. These moderation policies are enforced by the Federal Trade Commission.
Apprenticeship Hubs Across America Act of 2021 This bill requires the Department of Labor to implement a program to award grants to workforce intermediaries (certain national, regional, state, or local entities that facilitate the establishment of registered apprenticeship programs) to enable them to engage a variety of stakeholders to support, develop, and implement registered apprenticeship programs.
This resolution expresses the sense of the Senate that the Paris Agreement is considered a treaty and that President Biden should submit the agreement to the Senate for advice and consent.
ABLE Age Adjustment Act This bill increases from 26 to 46 the age threshold for tax-favored ABLE (Achieving a Better Life Experience) accounts. (ABLE accounts are designed to enable individuals with disabilities to save for and pay for disability-related expenses. To establish an account, an individual must have a qualifying impairment that began before the individual attained the age threshold.)