This resolution recognizes essential employees with disabilities for their efforts during the COVID-19 (i.e., coronavirus disease 2019) pandemic.
This resolution opposes lifting specified sanctions on Iran and resolves that these sanctions may be terminated only after Iran has ceased providing support for acts of international terrorism and has dismantled its nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons and related technologies.
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.
American Innovation and R&D Competitiveness Act of 2021 This bill eliminates the five-year amortization requirement for research and experimental expenditures scheduled to begin in 2022, thus allowing continued expensing of such expenditures in the taxable years in which they are incurred.
Charlotte Woodward Organ Transplant Discrimination Prevention Act This bill expressly prohibits health care providers and other entities involved in matching donated organs with recipients from denying or restricting an individual's access to organ transplants solely on the basis of the individual's disability, except in limited circumstances. Specifically, these entities may consider an individual's disability when making decisions about transplants only if a physician finds, based on an individualized evaluation, that the individual's physical or mental disability is medically significant to the provision of the transplant. A disability shall not be considered medically significant if the individual has an adequate support system in place to comply with transplant-related medical requirements. These entities must also make reasonable changes to their policies to make transplants and related care more available to individuals with disabilities. Aggrieved individuals may bring claims of discrimination to the Office of Civil Rights of the Department of Health and Human Services or before a federal court. The bill provides for expedited resolutions of these claims.
This bill authorizes the President to award the Medal of Honor to James Megellas for acts of valor on January 28, 1945, during the Battle of the Bulge in World War II.
Managing Predators Act This bill gives states the authority to manage the populations of gray wolves and to determine if the wolves are endangered or threatened species. Specifically, the bill permanently removes the populations of gray wolf in Wisconsin, Michigan, Minnesota, and Wyoming from the federal endangered and threatened species list. In addition, the bill revises requirements for the gray wolf in any state other than Wisconsin, Michigan, Minnesota, and Wyoming. If the population of the gray wolf, as estimated by such state, is at or above a population goal established by the state, then the Department of the Interior may not make a determination that the wolf in such state is an endangered or threatened species.
Improving Confidence in Veterans' Care Act This bill prescribes oversight requirements for the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) regarding health care professionals at VA medical centers. Specifically, the bill requires the VA to ensure each VA medical center consistently compiles, verifies, and reviews specified documentation for each VA health care professional (including contractors). The VA shall ensure that specified health care professionals hold an active Drug Enforcement Administration registration. Each VA medical center must implement (1) monitoring of the performance and quality of the health care delivered by each health care professional at the center, and (2) reviews of such care if an individual notifies the VA of any potential concerns relating to a failure to meet generally accepted standards of clinical practice. The bill imposes notification requirements in situations where the VA substantiates a concern relating to the clinical competency of, or quality of care delivered by, a current or former VA health care professional. The VA is prohibited from entering into a settlement agreement relating to an adverse action against a VA health care professional if such agreement includes terms that require the VA to conceal certain information from the employee's personnel file. Such prohibition does not apply to adverse actions determined to be prohibited personnel practices. The VA must provide mandatory training, at least biannually, to employees of each medical center who are responsible for specified tasks (e.g., those who are responsible for compiling, validating, or reviewing the credentials of VA health care professionals).
This resolution requests that the President transmit to the House of Representatives documents related to the amount of funding that was provided in specified laws regarding COVID-19 (i.e., coronavirus disease 2019) and is currently unspent. The specified laws include the Coronavirus Preparedness and Response Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2020; the Families First Coronavirus Response Act; the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act); the Paycheck Protection Program and Health Care Enhancement Act; and Division N of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021.
This resolution recognizes the benefits of vitamin D to the immune system and the correlation between vitamin D deficiencies and poor COVID-19 (i.e., coronavirus disease 2019) outcomes. It also encourages federal agencies to issue guidance on vitamin D intake during the COVID-19 pandemic.
