Sen. Margaret Wood Hassan

SFC Sean Cooley and SPC Christopher Horton Congressional Gold Star Family Fellowship Program Resolution This resolution establishes in the Senate the Congressional Gold Star Family Fellowship Program under which certain family members of a member of the Armed Forces who is a hostile casualty or died from a training-related injury may serve a 12-month fellowship in the office of a Senator.

Federal Advisory Committee Transparency Act This bill revises provisions regarding federal advisory committees, including to (1) require designation of committee members as special government employees or representatives, (2) apply the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA) to subcommittees and subgroups, and (3) require publication of certain information about advisory committees. The bill requires appointments to advisory committees to be made without regard to political affiliation or campaign activity, unless required by federal statute. Each agency, prior to appointing members to an advisory committee, must solicit nominations for potential committee members. The agency shall solicit nominations at least once every two years. The bill provides statutory authority for the designation of advisory committee members as special government employees (if they are appointed to exercise their individual best judgement) or representatives (if they are appointed to represent a nongovernment entity). Agencies may not designate committee members as representatives to avoid federal ethics rules. Each agency shall make available on its website specified information about each of the agency's advisory committees, including membership, meeting minutes, and notices of future meetings. The General Services Administration must also publish this information. The bill revises requirements for Advisory Committee Management Officers, including to require them to be senior officials with expertise in implementing FACA. The Government Accountability Office shall report on agency compliance with FACA.

Connected Maternal Online Monitoring Act or the Connected MOM Act This bill requires the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to report, and provide resources for states, on coverage of remote physiologic devices and related services (e.g., blood glucose monitors) under Medicaid, so as to improve maternal and child health outcomes for pregnant and postpartum women.

Major Richard Star Act This bill allows a veteran with a combat-related disability and fewer than 20 years of creditable service to receive retirement pay, without reduction, concurrent with disability compensation.

Ensuring Lasting Smiles Act This bill requires private health insurance plans to cover diagnosis and treatment of congenital anomalies and birth defects, such as reconstructive services and items. Coverage must include services and items that functionally improve, repair, or restore any body part that is medically necessary for normal bodily functions or appearance, as determined by the treating physician. Coverage limits and cost-sharing requirements for such services and items may not be more restrictive than those applicable to all medical and surgical benefits under the plan.

Elaine M. Checketts Military Families Act of 2021 This bill directs the Department of Defense to amend regulations to provide that approved parental leave shall not terminate upon the death of the child for whom the leave is taken.

Lori Jackson Domestic Violence Survivor Protection Act This bill makes changes to the federal statutory framework that prohibits the shipment, transport, receipt, or possession of firearms or ammunition by an individual who is subject to a qualifying domestic violence court order. Under current law, a qualifying domestic violence court order must meet certain criteria, including to (1) be issued after a hearing of which the individual had notice and an opportunity to participate; and (2) restrain the individual from harassing, stalking, or threatening an intimate partner (i.e., a current or former spouse, a co-parent of a child, or a current or former cohabitant) or the child of an intimate partner. This bill expands the scope of qualifying domestic violence court orders to include an order that is issued after an ex parte hearing (i.e., a hearing with only one party present); restrains the individual from harassing, stalking, or threatening a dating partner or former dating partner; or restrains the individual from intimidating a witness. Current law also prohibits an individual who is convicted of a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence from shipping, transporting, receiving, or possessing firearms or ammunition. These restrictions generally only apply to spouses, co-parents, and cohabitants, and to offenses that involve physical force or deadly weapons. This bill expands the scope of these restrictions to include dating partners and offenses that involve stalking.

American Innovation and Jobs Act This bill revises and expands the deductibility of research and experimental expenditures to allow immediate expensing of such expenditures. It also allows the amortization over a period of at least 60 months of certain other types of research and experimental expenditures not treated as expenses. The bill increases the maximum amount eligible for the tax credit for new and small businesses and increases to 20% the rate of the credit for business startups.

Medicare Sequester Relief Act This bill continues to exempt Medicare from sequestration until the end of the public health emergency relating to COVID-19 (i.e., coronavirus disease 2019). (Sequestration is a process of automatic, usually across-the-board spending reductions under which budgetary resources are permanently cancelled to enforce specific budget policy goals.)

This resolution condemns the February 1, 2021, military coup in Burma (Myanmar) and calls on Burmese authorities to allow journalists, human rights organizations, United Nations monitors, and humanitarian actors full and safe access to every part of the country. The resolution also asks neighboring countries to provide immediate and direct cross-border assistance to address the humanitarian needs of refugees.