Transportation Alternatives Enhancements Act This bill revises the surface transportation block grant program (Transportation Alternatives Program) of the Department of Transportation (DOT). The bill requires DOT to set aside 10% of apportioned funds under the program each fiscal year for states, and allows states to allocate funds to counties, metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs), regional transportation planning organizations, and local governments. Funds may be used for certain projects or activities, including the construction, planning, and design of infrastructure-related projects and systems that will provide safe routes for nondrivers, such as children, older adults, and individuals with disabilities, to access daily needs. MPOs that serve an urbanized area with a population of 200,000 or fewer are eligible for funding under the program. The bill also adjusts funding limits for states to improve the ability of applicants to access funding in an efficient and expeditious manner.
Rep. Emanuel Cleaver
Sponsored bills
Flood Resiliency and Taxpayer Savings Act of 2021 This bill requires federal agencies to take specified actions to evaluate and mitigate the risk of floods to federally funded projects. Specifically, the bill directs federal agencies to evaluate the potential for flooding throughout the planned lifetime or duration of a federally funded project to reduce the risk of financial and property losses and prevent the disruption of critical services during floods. Further, federal agencies must consider certain data and information (e.g., the most recent flood insurance rate map published by the Federal Emergency Management Agency) when evaluating whether a federally funded project is in a floodplain. If the agency determines the data and information are not adequate for understanding the flood risks to the project, then the agency must use an alternative design standard outlined by the bill. Finally, the bill directs the Federal Interagency Floodplain Management Task Force to issue guidelines for federal agencies related to flood risk management.
USPS Fairness Act This bill repeals the requirement that the U.S. Postal Service annually prepay future retirement health benefits.
Energy Debt Relief for American Families Act This bill authorizes supplemental funding to states through the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program to assist eligible households pay 100% of any utility bills they are unable to pay because of economic distress caused by the COVID-19 (i.e., coronavirus disease 2019) pandemic.
Climate Smart Ports Act This bill requires the Environmental Protection Agency to establish a grant program for purchasing or installing equipment and technology to reduce pollution at ports. Specifically, the grants must be used for equipment or technology that produces zero exhaust emissions of certain pollutants and greenhouse gases or captures 100% of the exhaust emissions produced by an ocean-going vessel at berth.
Environmental Justice Mapping and Data Collection Act of 2021 This bill establishes an interagency Environmental Justice Mapping Committee that must create a tool to identify environmental justice communities. Environmental justice communities are communities with significant representation of communities of color, low-income communities, or tribal and indigenous communities that experience, or are at risk of experiencing, higher or more adverse human health or environmental effects, as compared to other communities. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) must establish an environmental justice data repository to maintain the data collected by the committee. The EPA must make the repository available to regional, state, local, and tribal governments.
Energy Resilient Communities Act This bill requires the Department of Energy to establish a program that awards grants to make critical energy infrastructure more resilient to climate change hazards, such as grants for developing clean energy microgrids that support critical community infrastructure or customers of electric utilities with special energy needs due to medical conditions.
Mental Health Access Improvement Act of 2021 This bill provides for coverage of marriage and family therapist services and mental health counselor services under Medicare. It also excludes such services from the skilled nursing facility prospective payment system, and authorizes marriage and family therapists and mental health counselors to develop discharge plans for post-hospital services.
Improving Social Determinants of Health Act of 2021 This bill requires the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to establish a program to improve health outcomes and reduce health inequities by, for example, coordinating activities across the CDC. As part of the program, the CDC must award grants to eligible organizations to build capacity to address social determinants of health. The CDC shall provide for an independent evaluation of certain grants and report findings to Congress.
Women and Climate Change Act of 2021 This bill addresses climate change and its effects on women and girls. Specifically, the bill establishes the Federal Interagency Working Group on Women and Climate Change within the Department of State. The bill outlines the functions of the working group, including the coordination of agencies' policies and activities relating to combating the effects of climate change on women and improving the government's response to and strategy for climate change. In addition, the Office of Global Women's Issues of the State Department must submit a strategy to prevent and respond to the effects of climate change on women.