Master Sergeant Roddie Edmonds Congressional Gold Medal Act This bill provides for the posthumous award of a Congressional Gold Medal to Roddie Edmonds in recognition of his achievements and heroic actions during World War II.
United States-Israel Cybersecurity Cooperation Enhancement Act of 2021 This bill requires the Department of Homeland Security to establish a grant program that contributes to the homeland security capabilities of both the United States and Israel by supporting cybersecurity research and development as well as the demonstration and commercialization of cybersecurity technology. Grant applicants must address a requirement in the area of cybersecurity research or cybersecurity technology and be comprised of a joint venture between a U.S. entity and an Israeli entity (or the governments of each country).
Sustainable Budget Act of 2021 This bill establishes the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform within the legislative branch to identify policies to improve the fiscal situation in the medium term and achieve fiscal sustainability over the long term. The commission must propose recommendations that (1) are designed to balance the budget, excluding interest payments on the debt, within 10 years in order to stabilize the ratio of the public debt to gross domestic product at an acceptable level; and (2) meaningfully improve the long-term fiscal outlook, including changes to address the growth of entitlement spending and the gap between projected federal revenues and expenditures. Congress must consider the commission's recommendations using specified expedited legislative procedures.
Eliminating Global Market Distortions To Protect American Jobs Act of 2021 This bill addresses unfair trade practices by making various changes to U.S. antidumping and countervailing duty law. Antidumping provides relief to U.S industries and workers that are materially injured or threatened with injury due to imports of like products sold in the U.S. market at less than fair value, while countervailing duty provides such relief from imports of products subsidized by a foreign government or public entity. Specifically, the bill establishes a process for successive antidumping and countervailing duty investigations. Successive investigations may be concurrent (an ongoing investigation of the same product from different countries) or recently completed (not more than two years before the date of the initiation of the successive investigation). Further, the bill establishes a time line for the Department of Commerce to issue determinations in successive investigations. Among other provisions, the bill authorizes Commerce to apply countervailing duty law to subsidies provided by a foreign government or public entity to a company operating in a different country, use another method for calculating the cost of production in specific circumstances, and require importers to provide a certification that the imported merchandise is not subject to an antidumping or countervailing duty order. Additionally, the bill establishes procedures for Commerce to conduct circumvention inquiries, including by specifying the deadlines for preliminary and final determinations.
Accelerate Long-term Investment Growth Now Act or the ALIGN Act This bill makes permanent the expensing of certain new business equipment. Expensing allows the deduction of the full amount of an expense item in the same taxable year.
Affordable Housing Credit Improvement Act of 2021 This bill revises provisions of the low-income housing tax credit and renames it as the affordable housing credit . The bill increases the per capita dollar amount of the credit and its minimum ceiling amount beginning in 2021 and extends the inflation adjustment for such amounts. The bill modifies tenant income eligibility requirements and the average income formula for determining such income. It also revises rules for student occupancy of rental units and tenant voucher payments, and prohibits any refusal to rent to victims of domestic abuse. The bill further modifies the credit to increase state allocations of the credit; repeal the qualified census tract population cap; prohibit local approval and contribution requirements; increase the credit for certain projects designated to serve extremely low-income households; increase the credit for certain bond-financed projects designated by state agencies; eliminate the basis reduction for properties that receive certain energy-related tax benefits; and increase the population cap for difficult development areas (i.e., areas with high construction, land, and utility costs relative to area median gross income). The bill also includes Indian and rural areas as difficult development areas and modifies other requirements relating to casualty losses, acquisition credits, and foreclosures.
Conservation and Innovative Climate Partnership Act of 2021 This bill requires the Department of Agriculture to award competitive grants to land-grant colleges or universities for raising public awareness, conducting workshops, and providing technical assistance to increase agricultural producers' voluntary adoption of conservation practices (e.g., alley cropping) and innovative climate practices (e.g., carbon sequestration). Grantees must carry out activities in partnership with at least one other entity, such as the Natural Resources Conservation Service, a land-grant college or university, a state entity, or a nonprofit organization.
Global Hostage Act of 2021 This bill directs the President to impose visa- and property-blocking sanctions on foreign individuals or entities that knowingly participate in or are complicit in politically motivated harassment, abuse, arrest, or imprisonment of a U.S. citizen or permanent resident. These sanctions shall also apply to those that materially assist or support such actions and those that provide significant support to an individual or entity sanctioned under this bill.
Head Start Improvement Act This bill replaces the existing Head Start program with block grants to states and Indian tribes for prekindergarten (pre-K) education. Instead of providing direct financial assistance to Head Start agencies, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) shall allot block grant funds for pre-K education among eligible states and tribes in accordance with their relative proportions of children, age three, four, or five, from low-income households. Grant recipients shall use the grant funds to (1) award subgrants to eligible entities that provide pre-K education programs; (2) administer such programs; and (3) provide technical assistance, oversight, monitoring, research, and training. Under current law, HHS is authorized to designate, monitor, and establish standards for Head Start agencies. The bill instead shifts pre-K program oversight and control to states and tribes. In addition, to the extent permitted under state law, grant recipients may use grant funds to establish (1) portable voucher systems that allow costs to be paid for attendance at private pre-K education programs; and (2) an education savings account that allows a parent of a low-income child to use a portion of the grant funds, or other available public or private funds added to the account, for expenses related to pre-K education. Under current law, federal financial assistance for a Head Start program is generally limited to 80% of total program costs. The bill maintains this limitation by requiring grant recipients to provide matching funds equal to 20% of the grant amount.
Family Medical Leave Modernization Act This bill expands who is permitted to take qualifying family and medical leave and provides additional leave for parents and family caregivers. The bill grants leave to private sector and federal employees to care for a domestic partner and any individual whose close association with such employees is like a family relationship, regardless of biological or legal relationship, if (1) such individual has a serious health condition, or (2) there is a qualifying exigency due to such employees' active duty in the Armed Forces. The bill entitles an employee who is a domestic partner, next of kin of a member of the Armed Forces, or any individual whose close association is like a family relationship, regardless of biological or legal relationship, to take leave to care for the service member. The bill entitles private sector and federal employees to take additional leave to participate in or attend their children's and grandchildren's school or community organization activities, meet routine family medical care needs, or care for their elderly relatives.
Rural Opportunities to Use Transportation for Economic Success Act or the ROUTES Act This bill provides statutory authority for the Rural Opportunities to Use Transportation for Economic Success (ROUTES) Initiative at the Department of Transportation (DOT). The purpose of the initiative is to (1) improve analysis of rural projects applying for DOT discretionary grants, including ensuring that project costs, local resources, and the larger benefits to the American people and economy are appropriately considered; and (2) provide rural communities with technical assistance for meeting transportation infrastructure investment needs in a financially sustainable manner. To carry out the mission of the initiative, DOT must establish the ROUTES Council.
Fire Fighters and EMS Employer-Employee Cooperation Act This bill requires the Federal Labor Relations Authority to determine whether a state substantially provides fire and emergency medical services (EMS) personnel the right to form and join a labor organization; recognition by fire and EMS employers of the employees' labor organization, agreement to bargain with the organization, and reduction of any agreements to writing in a contract or memorandum of understanding; the right to bargain over hours, wages, and terms and conditions of employment; and arbitration or other mechanisms to resolve an impasse in collective bargaining negotiations. The bill makes the authority responsible for (1) determining the appropriateness of units for labor representation; (2) supervising elections; (3) conducting hearings and resolving complaints of unfair labor practices; and (4) protecting the right of employees to form, join, or assist any labor organization, or to refrain from doing so. An employer, fire and EMS personnel, or labor organization may not engage in a lockout, sickout, work slowdown, strike, or any other organized job action that will measurably disrupt the delivery of emergency services and is designed to compel an employer, fire and EMS personnel, or labor organization to agree to the terms of a proposed contract.
