Guard, Reserve, and Active Duty Department of Veterans Affairs Educational Assistance Parity Act of 2021 or the GRAD VA Educational Assistance Parity Act of 2021 This bill expands eligibility for Post-9/11 educational assistance to members of the National Guard who perform full-time National Guard duty or full-time service in the National Guard when performing active duty.
Rural Veterans Travel Enhancement Act of 2021 This bill addresses Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) transportation benefits for certain veterans. First, the bill makes permanent the authority for the VA to transport any person to or from a VA facility or other place in connection with vocational rehabilitation, required counseling, or for an examination, treatment, or care. The bill also permanently extends the authorization of appropriations for grants provided to state veterans service agencies and veterans service organizations to transport highly rural veterans for medical care. The bill requires the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to study fraud, waste, and abuse of benefits under the VA beneficiary travel program and report the findings to Congress. The GAO must also study and report on (1) the efficacy of the current mileage reimbursement rate under the program in mitigating the financial burden of transportation costs for traveling to and from VA medical facilities for care, (2) the origins of the amount of the deductible and its impact on the efficacy of the benefits provided in mitigating the financial burden on veterans seeking medical care, and (3) recommendations for how this program or another program could further encourage veterans to seek medical care. The bill also requires the VA to implement various pilot programs related to transportation benefits for veterans for specified purposes.
Department of Veterans Affairs Information Technology Reform Act of 2021 This bill addresses the management and implementation of information technology projects and investments of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). Specifically, the bill prohibits the VA from obligating or expending funds for any major information technology project that begins after the date of enactment of this bill unless a report is submitted that includes information on the cost, schedule, and performance of the project. The information in the report must be used as a baseline against which changes or variances are measured and reported on during the life cycle of the project. Projects must be managed by an interdisciplinary team that includes a certified project manager, a functional lead, a technical lead, a contracting officer, and other appropriate personnel. The VA's Chief Information Officer must (1) exercise authority over the management, governance, and oversight processes relating to information technology of the VA's Financial Services Center; and (2) supervise the information technology employees and contractors of the center. The VA must ensure its annual budget justification materials include a list of its active information technology projects and specified information about such projects, projected funding needs for projects, a prioritized list of every proposed project that is unfunded, and information about the decommissioning of information technology systems and applications. Finally, the VA must assess all of its information technology investments to determine the suitability for migration to a cloud computing service.
Stop Inflationary Spending Resolution This resolution modifies the Standing Rules of the Senate to require a vote of two-thirds (currently three-fifths) of the Senate to invoke cloture on appropriations legislation if inflation exceeded 4% during the preceding 12-month period.
This resolution acknowledges the maternal health crisis disproportionately affecting American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian women and calls for actions to address disparities.
This bill requires the Department of Defense, the Department of State, the Department of the Treasury, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, and other appropriate federal agencies to report to Congress a strategy to disrupt and dismantle narcotics production and trafficking networks linked to the regime of Bashar al Asad in Syria.
Protecting Access to Credit for Small Businesses Act This bill prohibits the Small Business Administration from directly making a loan under the 7(a) Program, which authorizes loans and loan guaranties to small businesses that meet certain requirements.
Preserving Rights Of Tenants by Ensuring Compliance To the Second Amendment Act or the PROTECT the Second Amendment Act This bill establishes a right for a resident of covered federally assisted rental housing to lawfully possess a firearm within the residential dwelling unit occupied by the resident and any common area of the federally assisted rental housing in which the resident resides in the course of entering or exiting the rental housing.
Protecting Medicare and American Farmers from Sequester Cuts Act This bill makes several budgetary, technical, and procedural changes, particularly in relation to Medicare and increasing the debt limit. Specifically, the bill continues to exempt Medicare from sequestration until March 31, 2022. (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.) The bill also establishes expedited Senate procedures for considering legislation to increase the debt limit. The procedures limit debate, waive points of order, and prohibit amendments. The procedures may only be used once and expire after January 16, 2022. Additionally, the bill (1) temporarily extends other provisions under Medicare, including a payment increase under the physician fee schedule; and (2) requires any debits recorded for FY2022 on the statutory pay-as-you-go (PAYGO) scorecards to be deducted from the scorecards for 2022 and added to the scorecards for 2023.
Strategic Production Response Act This bill limits the drawdown of petroleum in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve until the Department of Energy develops a plan to increase the percentage of federal lands leased for oil and gas production.
Humane Cosmetics Act of 2021 This bill generally prohibits animal testing in the evaluation of cosmetic products, and it prohibits the sale or transport of cosmetics developed using animal testing, subject to civil penalties. These prohibitions begin one year after enactment. The bill specifies exceptions to these prohibitions, including if such animal testing (1) is conducted outside the United States to comply with a foreign regulatory authority; (2) is pursuant to a specified finding that there are no nonanimal alternatives to test the safety of a potentially dangerous cosmetic product or ingredient; (3) is of a product or ingredient for a drug or device subject to regulation by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA); or (4) is required for a noncosmetic purpose pursuant to a state, federal, or foreign regulatory authority. Further, no animal-testing evidence may be used to establish the safety of a cosmetic product or ingredient that is regulated by the FDA after the effective date of this bill, subject to limited exceptions.
Taiwan Preclearance Act This bill requires the Department of Homeland Security to report to Congress on various issues, including (1) a plan for establishing a U.S. Customs and Border Protection preclearance facility in the Indo-Pacific region; (2) an analysis of the feasibility and advisability of establishing a preclearance facility in Taiwan; and (3) an assessment of the impact that a preclearance facility will have on trade, tourism, and the security partnership between Taiwan and the United States. (Preclearance facilities are stations in designated foreign airports that inspect travelers prior to boarding U.S.-bound flights.)
