Defund EcoHealth Alliance Act This bill prohibits the award of federal funds to EcoHealth Alliance, Inc. This is a nonprofit research organization that studies coronaviruses in bat populations and other environmental health concerns. The Government Accountability Office must also audit federal funds provided to that organization over the past decade. The audit must include the amount of those funds provided by EcoHealth Alliance to China, the Chinese Communist Party, or the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
Banning Operations and Leases with the Illegitimate Venezuelan Authoritarian Regime Act or the BOLIVAR Act This bill prohibits an executive agency from entering into a contract for the procurement of goods or services with any person that has business operations with the Maduro regime in Venezuela. The bill lists exceptions, including where vital to U.S. national security or as necessary for purposes of providing humanitarian assistance, disaster relief and other urgent lifesaving measures, or to carry out noncombatant evacuations.
Save Education Jobs Act This bill establishes through FY2030 the Education Jobs Fund, from which the Department of Education (ED) must award grants to state educational agencies and, through them, subgrants to local educational agencies (LEAs) to retain and create education jobs. ED must also provide grants to outlying areas and the Bureau of Indian Education. Specifically, LEAs must use subgrants for compensation and benefits to retain existing employees, rehire former employees, and hire new employees. Further, subgrants may be used for certain activities such as training and professional development, providing salary increases to cover extended days or school years to make up for lost instructional time due to COVID-19 (i.e., coronavirus disease 2019), and developing teacher leadership roles in high-need schools. The bill prohibits the use of subgrants for certain activities, such as funding voucher programs, tax-credit scholarships, or education savings accounts.
Preserve American History Act This bill provides statutory authority for a November 2, 2020, executive order establishing the President's Advisory 1776 Commission to promote the history and principles of the founding of the United States.
Academic Partnerships Lead Us to Success Act or the A PLUS Act This bill creates a framework under which states may receive federal elementary and secondary education funds on a consolidated basis and use such funds for any educational purpose permitted by state law.
Relaunching America's Workforce Act This bill establishes several grant programs to address employment, the workforce, and education access in response to the COVID-19 national emergency. The Department of Labor must provide grants in response to the COVID-19 national emergency to provide training and employment for dislocated, unemployed, and underemployed workers; support youth employment; establish workforce information systems improvements; provide reentry employment opportunities for justice-involved youth and young adults; and create or expand apprenticeship programs. Programs directed towards assisting Native Americans and migrant and seasonal farmworkers may be extended. The Department of Education must provide grants to expand the capacity of adult education providers to prioritize serving adults with low-literacy or numeracy levels negatively impacted by the COVID-19 national emergency, and to improve or expand career and technical education programs and programs of study to respond to state and local needs as a result of the COVID-19 national emergency.
Woman on the Twenty Act of 2021 This bill bars the printing of any $20 note after December 31, 2024, which does not prominently feature a portrait of Harriet Tubman on the front face of the note. The Department of the Treasury shall release to the public the preliminary design of the $20 note prominently featuring a portrait of Harriet Tubman no later than December 31, 2022.
Safe from the Start Act of 2021 This bill directs the Department of State to direct U.S. foreign assistance to address humanitarian crises in a manner that aims to prevent and respond to gender-based violence at the onset of an emergency. The State Department shall focus on (1) preventing gender-based violence, (2) protecting survivors of humanitarian crises from the onset of the emergency, (3) promoting standards and activities to prevent and respond to gender-based violence, and (4) advancing and empowering survivors and at-risk individuals. Activities shall include improving access to post-sexual-assault medical and mental health services and ensuring such services are available to hard-to-reach populations. The State Department may provide support to local and international organizations to achieve its goals.
Global Health, Empowerment and Rights Act This bill establishes that a foreign nongovernmental organization shall not be disqualified from receiving certain U.S. international development assistance solely because the organization provides medical services using non-U.S. government funds if the medical services are legal in both the United States and the country in which they are being provided. Such foreign organizations shall not be subject to requirements relating to their use of non-U.S. funds for advocacy or lobbying activities, other than those that apply to U.S. nongovernmental organizations. Current U.S. policy prohibits various foreign assistance from going to a foreign nongovernmental organization unless it agrees to not perform or actively promote abortions.
Strengthening Youth Apprenticeships Act of 2021 This bill requires (1) the Office of Apprenticeship within the Department of Labor to enter into an agreement with the Department of Education to promote the integration and alignment of apprenticeship programs with secondary, postsecondary, and adult education; and (2) Labor to award grants to eligible entities to create or expand youth apprenticeship programs.
Next Generation Votes Act This bill prohibits a state from refusing to accept an individual's application to register to vote in federal elections on the grounds that the individual is under 18 years of age, so long as the individual is at least 16 years of age.
This bill establishes in the legislative branch the Election Integrity Commission. The commission must (1) study the integrity and administration of the November 2020 general election; and (2) make recommendations to Congress on improving the security, integrity, and administration of federal elections. The commission terminates 30 days after the submission of its final report.
