Responsible Education Mitigating Options and Technical Extensions Act of 2021 or the REMOTE Act of 2021 This bill addresses the administration of certain Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) educational assistance benefits, including by authorizing the VA to waive certain enrollment verifications, exempting foreign educational institutions from certain requirements, and extending the time limitations on the use of educational assistance benefits.
Transformation to Competitive Integrated Employment Act This bill addresses employment standards for people with disabilities. First, the Department of Labor must award grants to states and certain eligible entities to assist them in transforming their business and program models to support people with disabilities by providing competitive integrated employment, assisting them in finding and retaining work in such employment, providing them with integrated employment and integrated community participation and wraparound services, and ensuring that such services comply with federal regulations for individuals receiving home and community-based services. The bill also prohibits the issuance of new special certificates that allow payment of subminimum wages to people with disabilities and phases out existing certificates over a five-year period. Further, Labor's Office of Disability Employment must award grants for technical assistance and other strategic support to employers transitioning from special certificates to competitive integrated employment for people with disabilities. Labor must contract with a nonprofit entity to conduct an evaluation of the impact of these transitions.
Fairness for Federal Contractors Act of 2021 This bill prohibits executive agencies from requiring contractors to receive a COVID-19 vaccination. The bill also requires the Government Accountability Office to study the degree to which Executive Order 14042 (Ensuring Adequate COVID Safety Protocols for Federal Contractors) caused disruptions to federal contracts, supply chains, and transportation systems.
This joint resolution nullifies a Department of Labor emergency temporary standard for preventing the transmission of COVID-19 in employment settings. Under the standard issued on November 5, 2021, employers with 100 or more employees must require their onsite employees to either be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 or undergo weekly COVID-19 testing.
This bill requires the Department of Agriculture (USDA) to establish a working group to (1) evaluate the food safety threat posed by beef imported from Brazil, and (2) make recommendations regarding whether or not the importation of beef from Brazil should be permitted. The bill also suspends imports of beef from Brazil until the working group submits its recommendations to USDA.
Cattle Price Discovery and Transparency Act of 2021 This bill requires the Department of Agriculture (USDA) to take various actions to address transparency in pricing and contract terms in the cattle industry. Among these requirements, USDA must (1) establish regional minimum percentages of cattle that meat packers must procure through negotiated purchases or negotiated grid purchases (i.e., transactions where the price is known and negotiated at the time of the transaction), and (2) maintain a publicly available catalog of contracts offered by meat packers to livestock producers for the purchase of fed cattle.
Supporting Made in America Renewable and Traditional Energy Act or the SMART Energy Act This bill directs the Department of the Interior to (1) conduct certain sales of leases of onshore and offshore federal land for the development of oil and gas; (2) establish priority areas for geothermal, solar, and wind energy projects on federal lands; and (3) review and make proposals for leasing federal offshore land for wind energy projects in the Atlantic and Pacific Regions of the outer Continental Shelf. The bill also limits delays on federal oil and gas leases.
IDEA Full Funding Act This bill provides permanent, mandatory funding for the grant program that assists states and outlying areas in providing special education and related services to children with disabilities.
This concurrent resolution declares that Congress should not impose any new performance fee, tax, royalty, or other charge relating to the public performance of sound recordings on a local radio station for broadcasting sound recordings over the air, or on any business for such public performance of sound recordings.
Lawless Cities Accountability Act of 2021 This bill prohibits federal funding for a jurisdiction that is a lawless jurisdiction. The term lawless jurisdiction means a state or political subdivision of a state that does one of the following: forbids law enforcement from intervening to restore order during widespread violence or destruction, withdraws law enforcement protection from an area or structure that law enforcement officers are lawfully entitled to access, disempowers or defunds law enforcement agencies, or refuses to accept law enforcement assistance from the federal government amid widespread violence or destruction.
Expanded Telehealth Access Act This bill permanently allows audiologists, physical therapists, occupational therapists, speech-language pathologists, and other providers designated by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to provide telehealth services under Medicare. Currently, the CMS is authorized to waive requirements for Medicare telehealth services during the public health emergency relating to COVID-19, and it has done so to allow all providers that are otherwise eligible to furnish in-person services under Medicare to also furnish telehealth services.
Prohibiting Taxpayer Funded Settlements for Illegal Immigrants Act This bill prohibits using federal funds to make settlement payments to compensate any individuals for being separated from family members while detained by U.S. Customs and Border Protection if the detention was (1) a result of the individual improperly entering (or attempting to improperly enter) the United States, and (2) in accordance with a Department of Justice memorandum that adopted a zero-tolerance policy for such improper entry into the United States.
