Metastatic Breast Cancer Access to Care Act This bill expedites payment of Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) benefits and eligibility for Medicare coverage for those with metastatic breast cancer (i.e., breast cancer that has spread to other sites in the body). Specifically, the bill eliminates the 5-month waiting period for SSDI benefits and the subsequent 24-month waiting period for Medicare coverage for individuals with metastatic breast cancer. Under current law, individuals generally must wait five months after the onset of disability to begin receiving SSDI benefits and an additional 24 months to become eligible for Medicare.
Plastic Waste Reduction and Recycling Research Act This bill establishes the Plastic Waste Reduction and Recycling Research Program to improve the global competitiveness of the U.S. plastics recycling industry and to mitigate any harmful effects of plastic waste on the environment. The bill also provides for an interagency committee to coordinate agency activity in support of the program.
Child Care for Working Families Act This bill provides funds and otherwise revises certain child care and early learning programs for low- to moderate-income families. Specifically, the bill provides funds for the Child Care and Development Block Grant program and reestablishes it as a child care and development assistance program. The bill also allocates program funds for states to provide services and supports to infants, toddlers, and children with disabilities. Further, the bill revises the program to require each state to create a tiered and transparent system for measuring the quality of child care providers, which must include evidence-based standards and payment rates that are based on a certain cost estimation model; ensure that copayments are based on a sliding scale and that no family receiving assistance pays more than 7% of its household income on child care; and use quality child care amounts for certain activities, such as increasing the supply of child care providers. The bill also provides funds and establishes grants for states to create preschool programs for low- to moderate-income children between the ages of three and five years. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) must make grants to Head Start agencies to provide children with access to full-school-year and full-school-day services, provide access to additional service hours for migrant and seasonal agencies, or enhance the quality of existing services. Finally, the bill requires, and provides funds for, HHS to assist Head Start agencies with ensuring their teachers and staff are paid a living wage.
Protecting Military Installations from Foreign Espionage Act This bill places restrictions on the purchase of certain property by a foreign person who is owned or controlled by, is acting for or on behalf of, or receives subsidies from Russia, China, Iran, or North Korea. Specifically, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States must review a purchase or lease by, or a concession to, any such foreign person of private or public real estate in the United States that is within (1) 100 miles of a military installation; or (2) 50 miles of a military training route, special use airspace, a controlled firing area, or a military operations area. Further, the Department of Defense and the Department of Transportation may not issue final determinations regarding specified projects (e.g., energy projects) that involve a transaction under review by the committee until the committee concludes its action.
Finish the Wall Act This bill requires the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to resume activities related to the construction of a barrier system along the U.S.-Mexico border and addresses other border-related issues. DHS must resume all such construction activities that were planned or underway prior to January 20, 2021. DHS must also expend all funds appropriated or explicitly obligated since October 1, 2016, for construction of this barrier system. DHS may not cancel contracts for activities related to such construction entered into on or before January 20, 2021. Furthermore, within 14 days of this bill's enactment, DHS must certify to Congress that U.S. Customs and Border Protection facilities that process adults taken into custody at the border are fully compliant with certain laws related to the collection of DNA. (Among other things, these laws allow for the collection of DNA samples from non-U.S. persons detained under U.S. authority.)
This resolution recognizes the need for education, research, and medical interventions to address infertility and disparities associated with that disease.
Record of Military Service for Members of the Armed Forces Act of 2021 This bill requires the Department of Defense (DOD) to create the Certificate of Military Service. The Certificate of Military service will be a standard record of military service for all members of active and reserve components of the armed forces to encompass all duty, including that of National Guard and Coast Guard duty. Under the bill, the document must (1) be standardized, (2) be the same for all members of the armed forces, and (3) replace and serve the same function as a discharge certificate or certificate of release (DOD Form DD-214). The bill also requires that a current record of service be issued to members of the reserve components upon the occurrence of any of the following events: permanent change to duty status (e.g., retirement or transfer to active duty), discharge or release from temporary active duty orders, specified promotions, and transfer to another state National Guard.
Military Spouses Retirement Security Act This bill allows a tax credit for certain small businesses that include military spouses in their retirement plans.
Illegal Alien NICS Alert Act This bill requires the national instant criminal background check system to automatically notify U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and relevant state and local law enforcement agencies when the system indicates that a prospective firearm transferee is illegally or unlawfully in the United States.
College for All Act of 2021 This bill establishes measures to expand access to higher education, including by eliminating tuition and required fees for eligible students, revising the Federal Pell Grant program, and reauthorizing certain programs to assist students from disadvantaged backgrounds. Specifically, the bill provides funding to eliminate tuition and required fees for (1) all students at community colleges and two-year tribal colleges and universities; (2) working- and middle-class students at four-year public institutions of higher education (IHEs) and tribal colleges and universities; and (3) eligible students at private, nonprofit historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) and minority-serving institutions. The bill permanently reauthorizes and otherwise revises the Federal Pell Grant program by providing funding to increase the maximum award for each eligible student, increasing the duration limit for the use of Pell Grants, and allowing students to use their awards to cover living and non-tuition expenses. Next, the bill makes Dreamer students (i.e., students who have been granted Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals status) who entered the United States before the age of 16 and who meet certain educational criteria eligible for federal financial aid. Further, the bill requires the Department of Education to award grants to underfunded IHEs, HBCUs, and minority-serving institutions for investing in support programs to improve student outcomes (e.g., graduation rates). The bill also reauthorizes through FY2031 the Federal TRIO Programs and reauthorizes through FY2025 the Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs.
CERCLA Liability Expansion and Accountability for Negligent and Unjust Pollution Act or the CLEANUP Act This bill includes petroleum products under the definition of hazardous substances for purposes of Superfund, the program that directs and funds the cleanup of sites contaminated with hazardous substances. Additionally, the release of a petroleum product shall be considered as a release under Superfund if liability for such release is established by any other federal law. Per the bill, a petroleum product is petroleum or oil of any kind, in any form, or any fraction thereof, and includes fuel oil, sludge, oil refuse, and oil mixed with wastes other than dredged spoil.
Superfund Reinvestment Act This bill authorizes the use of amounts in the Hazardous Substance Superfund for environmental cleanup costs under the Superfund program (which provides funding to clean up sites contaminated with hazardous substances). Receipts and disbursements of the Hazardous Substance Superfund must (1) not be counted for purposes of the President's budget, the congressional budget, the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985, or the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2010; (2) be exempt from general budget limitations imposed by statute on expenditures and net lending (budget outlays); and (3) be available only for the allowable uses specified for the Superfund. This bill (1) reinstates and adjusts for inflation annually after 2021, the Hazardous Substance Superfund financing rate and the corporate environmental income tax threshold amount; and (2) extends the borrowing authority of the Superfund through 2029.
