American Innovation and Choice Online Act This bill prohibits certain large online platforms from engaging in specified acts, including giving preference to their own products on the platform, unfairly limiting the availability on the platform of competing products from another business, or discriminating in the application or enforcement of the platform's terms of service among similarly situated users. Further, a platform may not materially restrict or impede the capacity of a competing business user to access or interoperate with the same platform, operating system, or hardware or software features. The bill also restricts the platform's use of nonpublic data obtained from or generated on the platform and prohibits the platform from restricting access to platform data generated by the activity of a competing business user. The bill also provides additional restrictions related to installing or uninstalling software, search or ranking functionality, and retaliation for contact with law enforcement regarding actual or potential violations of law. The bill establishes affirmative defenses for the prohibited conduct. The Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice must designate whether an entity is a platform covered by the bill, and both must carry out enforcement activities. The bill also provides for civil penalties, injunctions, and the forfeit of profits for repeat offenders.
Bringing Oligarch Accountability Through Seizure Act or the BOATS Act This bill prohibits Russian vessels from entering or operating in the navigable waters of the United States or transferring cargo in any port or place under U.S. jurisdiction, except for national security purposes. Violation of this prohibition subjects a vessel to seizure and forfeiture. Any Russian vessel seized and forfeited to the United States shall be sold at an auction to any entity that is not affiliated with Russia. The proceeds of such auction may only be used for humanitarian aid to Ukraine that is provided by other member states of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
This joint resolution expresses that Congress recognizes that the United States' nuclear testing program and radioactive waste disposal in the Marshall Islands caused irreparable material and intangible harm to the people of those islands, apologizes on behalf of the United States to the individuals and families of the Marshall Islands for the hardships they have endured as a result of the U.S. nuclear testing program and radioactive waste disposal, and recognizes that it is incumbent on the United States to open dialogue regarding the nuclear legacy of the United States in Marshall Islands during any negotiation of the Compact of Free Association or its subsidiary agreements.
Resolving Extended Limbo for Immigrant Employees and Families Act or the RELIEF Act This bill revises provisions related to family- and employment-based visas. The bill (1) increases the per-country cap on family-based immigrant visas from 7% of the total number of such visas available that year to 15%, (2) eliminates the 7% cap for employment-based immigrant visas, and (3) removes an offset that reduced the number of visas for individuals from China. The annual cap for visas for the unmarried children of citizens is increased, and the formula for calculating the cap for the unmarried children of residents is revised. The bill also establishes transition rules for employment-based visas from FY2022-FY2024, by reserving a percentage of EB-2 (workers with advanced degrees or exceptional ability), EB-3 (skilled and other workers), and EB-5 (investors) visas for individuals not from the two countries with the largest number of recipients of such visas. Of the unreserved visas, not more than 85% shall be allotted to immigrants from any single country. The Department of State shall increase allocations of family- and employment-based visas by the number of beneficiaries of such applications filed before this bill's enactment, to be allocated FY2022-FY2026 to beneficiaries of applications filed before this bill's enactment who have not yet received a visa. The minor children and spouses of permanent residents and those accompanying a qualified alien shall be treated as an immediate relative for immigration purposes. Whether an alien qualifies as a minor shall be determined according to the alien's age at the time a relevant petition is filed.
Minorities in Aviation Education Act of 2022 This bill establishes grants for increasing the exposure of students who are underrepresented in aviation to that industry. The Department of Transportation must award the grants to state and local governments or educational agencies.
Women's Health Protection Act of 2021 This bill prohibits governmental restrictions on the provision of, and access to, abortion services. Specifically, governments may not limit a provider's ability to prescribe certain drugs, offer abortion services via telemedicine, or immediately provide abortion services when the provider determines a delay risks the patient's health. Furthermore, governments may not require a provider to perform unnecessary medical procedures, provide medically inaccurate information, comply with credentialing or other conditions that do not apply to providers whose services are medically comparable to abortions, or carry out all services connected to an abortion. In addition, governments may not (1) require patients to make medically unnecessary in-person visits before receiving abortion services or disclose their reasons for obtaining such services, or (2) prohibit abortion services before fetal viability or after fetal viability when a provider determines the pregnancy risks the patient's life or health. The bill also prohibits other governmental measures that are similar to the bill's specified restrictions or that otherwise single out and impede access to abortion services, unless a government demonstrates that the measure significantly advances the safety of abortion services or health of patients and cannot be achieved through less restrictive means. The Department of Justice, individuals, or providers may bring a lawsuit to enforce this bill, and states are not immune from suits for violations. The bill applies to restrictions imposed both prior and subsequent to the bill's enactment.
Original Black History Month Resolution of 2022 This resolution recognizes the importance of commemorating Black History Month to acknowledge the achievements of Black Americans throughout history.
Building Civic Bridges Act This bill establishes an office and pilot grant program within the Corporation for National and Community Service to support civic bridge building, which aims to address local issues and polarization within communities.
This resolution supports the designation of a National FFA Week. It also (1) recognizes the important role of the National FFA Organization (Future Farmers of America) in developing the next generation of leaders who will change the world, and (2) celebrates 70 years of the National FFA Organization's membership magazine.
Bipartisan Ban on Congressional Stock Ownership Act of 2022 This bill prohibits Members of Congress and their spouses from owning or trading stocks, bonds, commodities, futures, or any other form of security. Each current Member must divest within 180 days after the bill is enacted and each new Member must divest within 180 days after becoming a Member. However, Members and their spouses have 5 years to divest from specified complex investment vehicles. The bill does not apply to certain investments, such as investments in widely held investment funds that are diversified and do not present a conflict of interest and investments held in government employee retirement plans. A Member or spouse who violates the bill may be subject to a fine of up to $50,000 for each violation. The bill permits a Member or spouse who is required to divest property under the bill to avoid recognizing gain for income tax purposes from the sale of that property to the extent that the Member or spouse purchases permitted bonds or diversified investment funds within 60 days of the divestiture.
United States-Russian Federation Seafood Reciprocity Act of 2022 This bill prohibits the importation of seafood and seafood products from Russia. The prohibition shall terminate on the date on which the President determines and certifies to Congress that the Russian government has terminated its prohibition on the importation of seafood products from the United States.
Compact of Free Association Host Communities Support Act This bill authorizes various financial waivers for certain U.S. jurisdictions (i.e., states, territories, or possessions) that host citizens of the Marshall Islands, Micronesia, or Palau as residents. (Under current law, citizens of these countries, known as the Freely Associated States, have the right to reside and work in the United States as nonimmigrants or habitual residents.) Specifically, this bill authorizes a federal agency to, for the purposes of a federal grant, waive any matching funds requirements for a jurisdiction that hosts citizens of the Freely Associated States as residents. Furthermore, the President may reduce, release, or waive amounts that such a hosting jurisdiction owes to a federal agency, at the request of the hosting jurisdiction. As a condition of receiving such a reduction, release, or waiver, a hosting jurisdiction must report to the Department of the Interior an accounting of the jurisdiction's unreimbursed economic impacts associated with receiving citizens of the Freely Associated States from 2004 through 2021.
