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.
Keeping the Lights On Act of 2021 This bill allows an eligible employer a payroll tax credit equal to 50% of a limited amount of qualified fixed expenses paid by such employer in a calendar quarter. Qualified fixed expenses include a mortgage, rent, or a utility payment. An employer is eligible for such payroll credit if the employer was carrying on a trade or business that had not more than 1,500 full-time employees or not more than $41.5 million in gross receipts in 2019. The employer's business must have been suspended in a calendar quarter due to COVID-19 (i.e., coronavirus disease 2019) and have experienced a significant decline in gross receipts due to that pandemic. The credit may not be claimed by the federal government or by any state or tribal government, or by U.S. possessions, but may be claimed by tax-exempt organizations.
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.
Reopen Small Businesses Safely Act This bill requires the Small Business Administration to issue rules or guidance to ensure that an economic injury disaster loan recipient may use loan amounts for covered worker protection expenditures related to the COVID-19 (i.e., coronavirus disease 2019) pandemic.
Strengthening Training and Accessibility for New and Diverse Apprenticeships through Relevant and Dependable Standards Act or the STANDARDS Act This bill provides statutory authority and modifies standards for registered apprenticeships, youth apprenticeships, and pre-apprenticeship programs in the Department of Labor. In addition, the bill also provides statutory authority for (1) the Office of Apprenticeship within Labor to formulate and promote the furtherance of certain quality standards necessary to safeguard the welfare of apprentices, and (2) requirements for apprenticeship agreements between a program sponsor and an apprentice.
Invest Now Act This bill reduces to 5% the capital gains tax rate for property purchased in 2021 and held by the taxpayer for more than five years.
Military Child Educational Freedom Act This bill modifies the requirements for tax-exempt Coverdell education savings accounts to permit members of the Armed Forces serving on extended active duty or their spouses to use the accounts for certain education expenses incurred in connection with a home school that provides elementary or secondary education. The home school must be treated under state law as a home school or a private school.
Restore America's Main Street Act of 2021 This bill provides a small business with $1.5 million or less in gross receipts and not more than 50 full-time employees a refundable tax credit (rebate) equal to the lesser of 30% of its gross receipts for the first taxable year beginning in 2021, or $120,000. The credit is also available to certain charitable organizations.
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.
Supplemental Security Income Equality Act This bill extends the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program to Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, and Guam. This is a federal program designed to help aged, blind, and disabled individuals with limited income and resources meet basic needs. When Congress created the SSI program in 1972, it excluded these territories. The Social Security Administration may waive or modify statutory requirements relating to the provision of benefits as necessary to adapt the SSI program to each territory. This bill also eliminates a limit on payments from the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program and other Department of Health and Human Services programs to the territories.
