Student Loan Marriage Penalty Elimination Act of 2021 This bill allows married couples filing a joint tax return to apply the $2,500 limitation on the tax deduction for student loan interest separately to each spouse.
Florida Coastal Protection Act This bill prohibits the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management from offering any tract for oil and gas leasing or preleasing in the following areas: the Eastern Gulf of Mexico Planning Area that is within 125 miles of the coastline of Florida, the South Atlantic Planning Area that is south of 30 degrees 43 minutes North Latitude, or the Straits of Florida Planning Area.
Help Wanted Act This bill eliminates certain work search exceptions and flexibilities in the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) program. Specifically, the bill prohibits states participating in PUA from modifying unemployment work search requirements on an emergency basis to respond to COVID-19. The bill also eliminates a requirement that states be flexible regarding work search requirements for individuals who are unable to search for work because of COVID-19. Similarly, the bill makes individuals who decline to work on the basis of safety concerns related to COVID-19 and claimants who quit working as a direct result of COVID-19 ineligible for PUA.
Get Americans Back To Work Act This bill makes an individual ineligible for federal pandemic unemployment compensation (FPUC) after June 30, 2021. It also reduces the amount of FPUC to $150.00 for weeks of unemployment ending after May 31, 2021, and ending on or before June 30, 2021. Under current law, an individual is eligible for FPUC for weeks of employment ending on or before September 6, 2021 in the amount of $300.
Public Health Service Ready Reserve Improvement Act of 2021 This bill entitles members of the Ready Reserve Corps of the Public Health Service to certain rights and benefits concerning leave and pay that are provided to members of the Army Reserve and the National Guard who are employed by the federal government or the government of the District of Columbia. The Ready Reserve Corps provides trained personnel to respond to health emergencies and improve access to health services.
This bill expands a provision that prohibits China from participating in certain naval exercises until specified conditions are met. In addition to the already existing conditions, China may not participate in the naval exercises until the Department of State certifies that China's government has (1) stopped committing any ongoing genocide, (2) apologized for such genocide, and (3) engaged in a credible justice and accountability process for the victims.
Preventing Foreign Attempts to Erode Healthcare Innovation Act This bill prohibits the use of federal funds to support, allow, or facilitate the negotiation or approval of any measure at the World Trade Organization to waive intellectual property rights, including the petition titled Waiver from Certain Provisions of the TRIPS Agreement for the Prevention, Containment, and Treatment of COVID-19 . (The petition was submitted by India and South Africa to suspend all intellectual property rights associated with COVID-19 innovations, such as vaccines.)
China Financial Threat Mitigation Act of 2021 This bill requires U.S. representatives to certain international bodies to advocate for increased international cooperation to mitigate threats caused by the governance, opacity, or instability of financial intermediation in China. (Generally, financial intermediaries provide services, such as accounting and underwriting services, that facilitate financial transactions.) Specifically, this requirement applies to U.S. representatives to the International Monetary Fund, the Group of 20 (G20), and the Financial Stability Board (a technical body established by the G20 to coordinate the group's agenda). The bill also requires the Financial Stability Oversight Council within the Department of the Treasury to report annually to Congress on such threats.
This concurrent resolution commemorates the 30th anniversary of Operation Provide Comfort (the humanitarian operation to defend and deliver aid to Kurdish refugees fleeing attacks by the Hussein regime), and it reaffirms the strong American-Kurdish partnership.
Return Excessive Migrants and Asylees to International Neighbors in Mexico Act of 2021 or the REMAIN in Mexico Act of 2021 This bill requires the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to implement the Migrant Protection Protocols as outlined in the January 25, 2019, memo titled Policy Guidance for Implementation of the Migrant Protection Protocols . (The protocols generally required aliens who are not clearly admissible, including those seeking asylum, arriving by land along the U.S.-Mexico border to be returned to Mexico while their immigration proceedings are pending, rather than remain in the United States. On January 21, 2021, DHS stopped applying the protocols to newly-arrived individuals.)
