Ghost Army Congressional Gold Medal Act This bill directs the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the President pro tempore of the Senate to award a Congressional Gold Medal to the 23rd Headquarters Special Troops and the 3133d Signal Service Company, known as the Ghost Army , collectively, in recognition of its service during World War II.
Rural STEM Education Research Act This bill specifies federal scientific research and development efforts towards STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, including computer science) workforce development and rural STEM education. (Sec. 3) The bill amends the objectives of the Manufacturing Extension Partnership program to include the provision to secondary schools of information about the job skills needed in manufacturing companies, and the promotion and expansion of certification systems offered through local high schools. The activities of a manufacturing extension center are expanded to include local high schools in the facilitation of collaborations and partnerships between manufacturing companies and schools to help those entities better understand the specific needs of manufacturers and to help manufacturers better understand the skill sets that students learn in school programs. The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) must award prizes to stimulate research and development of creative technologies in order to deploy affordable and reliable broadband connectivity to underserved rural communities. NIST may award not more than a total of $5 million in prizes. (Sec. 4) The Office of Science and Technology Policy must establish a broadband research and development working group to address national research challenges and opportunities for improving broadband access and adoption across the United States. (Sec. 5) The National Science Foundation (NSF) shall enter into an agreement with the National Academy of Sciences under which the National Academy of Sciences agrees to evaluate aspects of STEM education and workforce development in rural areas. (Sec. 6) The Government Accountability Office shall conduct a study on the engagement of rural populations in federal STEM programs. (Sec. 7) Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR) programs shall consider modifications to award structures to increase the capacity of rural communities to provide quality STEM education and STEM workforce development programming to students and teachers. (Sec. 8) The NSF must award grants to institutions of higher education or nonprofit organizations for (1) research and development to advance innovative approaches to support and sustain high-quality STEM teaching in rural schools, (2) research and development of programming to identify the barriers rural students face in accessing high-quality STEM education, (3) development of innovative solutions to improve the participation and advancement of rural students in grades Pre-K through 12 in STEM studies, and (4) research on online STEM education courses for rural communities. The NSF may establish a pilot program of regional cohorts in rural areas to provide peer support, mentoring, and hands-on research experiences for rural STEM educators of students in grades Pre-K through 12 in order to build an ecosystem of cooperation among educators, researchers, academia, and local industry.
STEM Opportunities Act This bill provides for guidance, data collection, and grants for groups historically underrepresented in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education at institutions of higher education (IHEs) and at federal science agencies. Specifically, the bill requires the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) to provide specified guidance related to such groups to federal science agencies and IHEs. Each federal science agency must collect comprehensive demographic data on recipients of merit-reviewed research and development grants given to IHEs and federal laboratories supported by that agency. Each agency must also implement recommendations from the OSTP report titled Reducing the Impact of Bias in the STEM Workforce . In addition, each agency must carry out a pilot program and implement evidence-based policies and practices to minimize the effect of implicit bias in the grant review process. The National Science Foundation (NSF) must carry out and publish a survey to collect data on the demographics of STEM faculty, by broad fields of STEM, at different types of IHEs. The NSF must also carry out a variety of grant programs, including grants for increasing (1) the recruitment, retention, and advancement of individuals from underrepresented minority groups in STEM careers; (2) the recruitment and retention of minority students who are underrepresented in STEM fields; and (3) student participation in computer science and computational thinking education programs at tribal colleges and universities.
Supporting Early-Career Researchers Act This bill authorizes the National Science Foundation to establish a two-year pilot program to award grants to highly qualified early-career investigators to carry out an independent research program at the institution of higher education chosen by such investigator, to last for a period not greater than two years. The NSF shall select grantees from among citizens, nationals, and lawfully admitted permanent resident aliens of the United States. The NSF shall conduct program outreach to recruit fellowship applicants (1) from all regions of the country; (2) from historically underrepresented populations in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM); and (3) who graduate from or intend to carry out research at a variety of types of institutions of higher education, including Historically Black Colleges and Universities.
This resolution expresses support for the goals and ideals of National Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention Month.
This resolution expresses support for the designation of DIPG Awareness Day. DIPG is diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma, a terminal childhood brain cancer.
This resolution expresses the sense of the House of Representatives that the United States can achieve a more perfect union by condemning the violence and destruction perpetrated against the African American community of Greenwood in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The resolution states that a more perfect union may be achieved through other means as well, including by promoting tolerance and unity, and it recognizes Congress's commitment to acknowledge and learn from the history of racism and racial violence in the United States in order to reverse the legacy of white supremacy and fight for racial justice.
This resolution recognizes the forthcoming centennial of the Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921. The resolution acknowledges the historical significance of this event as one of the largest single instances of state-sanctioned violence against Black people in American history; honors the lives and legacies of the estimated 300 Black individuals who were killed during the massacre and the nearly 9,000 who were left homeless and penniless; condemns efforts to cover up the truth and shield the white community, especially government officials, from accountability; condemns the continued legacy of racism and white supremacy against Black people in the United States, particularly in the form of police brutality; encourages education about the massacre, the history of white supremacy that fueled the massacre, and subsequent attempts to deny or cover up the massacre, in all elementary and secondary education settings and in institutions of higher education; and recognizes the commitment of Congress to acknowledge and learn from the history of racism and racial violence to reverse the legacy of white supremacy and fight for racial justice.
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 waiver proposed by India and South Africa to suspend certain provisions of the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights to facilitate the prevention, containment, and treatment of COVID-19.
SBA Cyber Awareness Act This bill addresses the cybersecurity of the Small Business Administration (SBA). Specifically, it requires the SBA to report annually to Congress on (1) an assessment of SBA's information technology (IT) and cybersecurity; (2) a strategy to increase such cybersecurity; (3) a detailed account of SBA's IT component or system manufactured by a company located in the People's Republic of China; and (4) any SBA cyber threat, breach, or cyber attack that occurred during two years before the report, including SBA's actions to respond to or remediate it.
Social Media Privacy Protection and Consumer Rights Act of 2021 This bill requires online platform operators to inform a user, prior to a user creating an account or otherwise using the platform, that the user's personal data produced during online behavior will be collected and used by the operator and third parties. The operator must provide a user the option to specify privacy preferences, and an operator may deny certain services or complete access to a user if the user's privacy elections create inoperability in the platform. The operator must (1) offer a user a copy of the personal data of the user that the operator has processed, free of charge, and in an electronic format; and (2) notify a user within 72 hours of becoming aware that the user's data has been transmitted in violation of the security platform. A violation of the bill's privacy requirements shall be considered an unfair or deceptive act or practice under the Federal Trade Commission Act. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) may enforce this bill against common carriers regulated by the Federal Communications Commission under the Communications Act of 1934 and nonprofit organizations. Currently, common carriers regulated under that Act are exempt from the FTC's enforcement authority, and nonprofit organizations are subject to FTC enforcement only if they provide substantial economic benefit to their for-profit members. A state may bring a civil action in federal court regarding such violations.
No Subsidies for Government Purchases of Electric Vehicles Act This bill disallows a tax credit for qualified plug-in electric drive motor vehicles that are sold to the federal government or a state government.
