Rep. Lloyd Smucker

Minor League Baseball Relief Act This bill establishes a program for the relief of certain minor league baseball clubs and independent professional baseball clubs that experienced large business losses. The bill provides funding for the Small Business Administration to make grants to such clubs that experienced decreases in gross revenue in 2020 of at least 75%, as measured against revenues in 2019 (or, if revenues were negatively affected by a natural disaster or weather disruption in 2019, by the average of revenues over the prior three-year period). The source of funding for the grants shall be funds appropriated under enacted COVID-19 relief legislation that have not been obligated and are no longer being used to carry out activities authorized under those laws. Grant amounts provided to any club may not exceed $10 million.

Unclaimed Savings Bond Act of 2021 This bill establishes requirements and procedures for the Department of the Treasury to transfer ownership of certain matured, unredeemed savings bonds and related records to states.

Ensuring Patient Access to Critical Breakthrough Products Act of 2021 This bill provides for Medicare coverage of medical devices that are approved under the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Breakthrough Devices Program. (Under the program, manufacturers work with the FDA to expedite the review and approval of certain medical devices that provide for more effective treatment or diagnosis of life-threatening or irreversibly debilitating human diseases or conditions.) The bill allows designated medical breakthrough devices to be temporarily covered under Medicare during a four-year transitional period. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) must assign payment codes for such devices within three months of FDA approval. The CMS must also establish a process to allow for continued coverage after the transitional period has expired, taking into account any additional evidence or data the CMS deems necessary. The CMS must also provide for temporary and, where appropriate, permanent Medicare coverage of breakthrough devices for which there is no existing benefit category (i.e., classification).

Trade Preferences and American Manufacturing Competitiveness Act of 2021 This bill reauthorizes and revises specified U.S. trade programs and provisions. Specifically, the bill extends through January 1, 2027, the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP), which provides duty-free treatment to products imported from designated beneficiary countries. The bill makes various changes to the GSP, including by (1) adding human rights, environmental, and other criteria for designation as a beneficiary developing country; (2) requiring an assessment of how the GSP supports worker and gender rights; and (3) requiring a study on rules of origin and GSP utilization rates. Additionally, the bill provides through December 31, 2023, and retroactively applies to 120 days before this bill's enactment, temporary duty suspensions or reductions to eligible imported products. This authorization is commonly known as the Miscellaneous Tariff Bill (MTB). The last version of the MTB was enacted in September 2018 and the temporary treatment for those products listed in the MTB expired on December 31, 2020. The bill also extends the American Manufacturing Competitiveness Act of 2016 for two future MTB cycles (one in 2022 and one in 2025). This extension allows the U.S. International Trade Commission to conduct the MTB petition, review, and recommendation process for those additional cycles. The bill extends customs user fees through June 21, 2031.

Using Sustainable Energy Resources to Fund Equitable e-Transportation Act or the USER FEE Act This bill imposes an additional tax on the use of a specified electric highway vehicle (i.e., any highway motor vehicle, including a plug-in hybrid vehicle, that is propelled to a significant extent by an electric motor drawing electricity from a rechargeable battery that has a capacity of not less than four kilowatt hours). The bill requires the tax revenues generated by this bill to be transferred to the Highway Trust Fund.

Shark Fin Sales Elimination Act of 20 21 This bill addresses the sale of shark fins and the inclusion of rays and skates in the Seafood Traceability Program. The Seafood Traceability Program has data reporting and recordkeeping requirements at the time of entry for imported fish or fish products entered into U.S. commerce. The bill makes it illegal to possess, buy, or sell shark fins or any product containing shark fins, except for certain dogfish fins. A person may possess a shark fin that was lawfully taken consistent with a license or permit under certain circumstances. Penalties are imposed for violations under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act. The Department of Commerce must revise its regulations to include rays and skates as species that are subject to the Seafood Traceability Program.

Flexible Financing for Rural America Act This bill allows rural utility service providers to submit to the Department of Agriculture (USDA) a request to adjust the interest rate or modify the terms of certain loans. The request shall include a report summarizing how the adjustment or modification will assist the borrower in providing critical utility services to a rural community. Specifically, on receipt of a request, USDA or the Department of the Treasury (in the case of a loan owned by the Federal Financing Bank) must adjust the interest rate on the loan to match certain interest rates for obligations of comparable maturity to the term remaining on the loan (or a higher rate requested by the borrower), and make modifications to the loan terms as necessary to address changes in the financial position of the borrower due to the COVID-19 public health emergency and to promote the financial sustainability of the borrower. In carrying out the adjustments or modifications, USDA or Treasury shall not impose or collect any fee from, or impose any penalty on, a borrower. The bill also provides funding to implement the adjustments and modifications and for the liquidation of residual intragovernmental amounts owed by the Federal Financing Bank in connection with certain loans.

Hamas International Financing Prevention Act This bill imposes sanctions targeting Hamas, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and any affiliate or successor groups. The President shall periodically report to Congress a list of each foreign person or instrumentality that knowingly assists, provides significant support or services to, or is involved in a significant transaction with a senior member or supporter of any of the targeted groups. The President shall impose two or more sanctions on the named persons. Specifically, the person may be (1) denied credit and services from the Export-Import Bank, (2) barred from purchasing certain controlled defense articles, (3) denied exports of items on the U.S. Munitions List, (4) prevented from receiving exports of certain goods or technology controlled for national security reasons, (5) prohibited from receiving financing of more than $10 million from any U.S. financial institution, or (6) subject to property-blocking restrictions. The President shall periodically report to Congress a list of foreign governments that have repeatedly provided material support for the targeted groups' terrorist activities. The President shall bar these governments from receiving for one year (1) U.S. assistance, or (2) exports of controlled munitions. The Department of Treasury shall instruct U.S. leadership of international financial institutions to oppose the provision of assistance to an identified government for one year. The bill provides for certain exceptions and waivers, such as for transactions that would serve U.S. national interests. The President shall report to Congress and periodically provide briefings on other specified topics related to the targeted groups, such as where these groups secure financing and surveillance equipment.

Vaccine Access Improvement Act of 2021 This bill modifies the excise tax on certain vaccines to (1) automatically impose the tax on vaccines that the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) adds to the Vaccine Injury Table, and (2) require HHS to notify the Department of the Treasury and Congress when new vaccines are added to the table. (The excise tax funds the National Vaccine Injury Program, which compensates people who have been injured by vaccines listed on the table.)

Improving Access to Medicare Coverage Act of 2021 This bill deems an individual receiving outpatient observation services in a hospital as an inpatient for purposes of satisfying the three-day inpatient hospital-stay requirement with respect to Medicare coverage of skilled nursing facility services.