Rep. Charlie Crist

This bill repeals the limitation on the amount of distilled spirits excise tax covered over (paid) to the treasuries of the U.S. Virgin Islands and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. The bill requires certain amounts of the excise tax paid to the treasury of Puerto Rico to be transferred to the Puerto Rico Conservation Trust Fund.

Medicaid Saves Lives Act This bill requires and provides funds for the Department of Health and Human Services to establish a program that provides health benefits to the Medicaid expansion population in states that have not expanded Medicaid. Specifically, the program must provide coverage for individuals who are newly eligible for Medicaid under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (i.e., the Medicaid expansion population) without premiums and in accordance with Medicaid cost-sharing and other requirements. The bill also extends and increases the temporarily enhanced Federal Medical Assistance Percentage (i.e., federal matching rate) for states that elect to participate in Medicaid expansion if they have not already done so.

United States Call Center Worker and Consumer Protection Act of 2021 This bill establishes restrictions on businesses that relocate call centers or redirect customer service calls to locations outside the United States. Specifically, a business must notify the Department of Labor that it intends to move its customer service call center overseas and Labor must maintain a publicly available list of such businesses. Subject to narrow exceptions, a business appearing on such list is ineligible to receive federal grants or guaranteed loans for five years after the business is added to the list. Further, agencies must condition the awarding of government contracts on the requirement that any call center activity pursuant to the contract must be performed in the United States. Additionally, the bill requires call center employees to disclose their physical location at the beginning of each call initiated or received, unless all employees of the business participating in the communication are located in the United States, among other exceptions.

This resolution recognizes and expresses support for efforts to promote democracy and human rights in Cuba.

This resolution congratulates the Tampa Bay Lightning for becoming the 2021 National Hockey League Stanley Cup champions.

This resolution expresses support for the designation of Journeyman Lineworkers Recognition Day. (A journeyman lineworker is a person who builds and maintains electrical power systems.)

Department of Energy Science for the Future Act This bill supports specified research and development activities of the Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science. The bill establishes various programs, including a basic energy sciences research and development program; a program of research and development for the application of advanced computing practices to foundational and emerging research problems in chemistry and materials science; a web-based platform to develop and provide access to a database of computed information on known and predicted materials properties and computational tools to accelerate breakthroughs in materials discovery and design; a biological systems science and climate and environmental science research and development program; research and development activities in biomolecular characterization and imaging science; earth and environmental systems science research; a coastal zone research initiative; an initiative focused on the development of engineered ecosystems; a program to implement a strategy for achieving computing systems with capabilities beyond exascale computing systems; a program of fundamental research and development of energy efficient computing and data center technologies relevant to advanced computing applications; a Quantum User Expansion for Science and Technology program or QUEST program; a collaborative research and development program of fusion energy technologies; a research program in elementary particle physics and advanced technology research and development to improve the understanding of the fundamental properties of the universe, including constituents of matter and energy and the nature of space and time; research activities on the nature of the primary contents of the universe, including the nature of dark energy and dark matter; a research program to discover and understand various forms of nuclear matter; a program across the DOE for the production of isotopes, including the development of techniques to produce isotopes, that the DOE determines are needed for research, medical, industrial, or related purposes; a midscale instrumentation program to enable the development and acquisition of novel, state-of-the-art instruments ranging in cost from $1 million to $20 million each that would significantly accelerate scientific breakthroughs at user facilities; and a high intensity laser research initiative. The DOE Office of Science shall continue to leverage U.S. participation in the Large Hadron Collider and prioritize expanding international partnerships and investments in the Long-Baseline Neutrino Facility and Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment. DOE shall support construction of a Facility for Rare Isotope Beams to advance the understanding of rare nuclear isotopes and the evolution of the cosmos. DOE shall expand opportunities to increase the number, diversity, equity, and inclusion of highly skilled science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) professionals working in DOE mission-relevant disciplines and broaden the recruitment pool to increase diversity, including expanded partnerships with Historically Black Colleges, Tribal Colleges, Minority Serving Institutions, emerging research institutions, and scientific societies. DOE shall establish within the DOE Office of Science, a cross-cutting research initiative to leverage the federal government's innovative analytical resources and tools, user facilities, and advanced computational and networking capabilities in order to prevent, prepare for, and respond to emerging infectious diseases, including COVID-19. DOE may not carry out gain-of-function research of concern.

National Science Foundation for the Future Act This bill reauthorizes the National Science Foundation (NSF) through FY2026 and authorizes programs and activities at the NSF. The bill establishes requirements for the NSF, including to enter into a contract with the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine to assess the status and opportunities for Pre-K through 12 science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, including computer science, (STEM) education research; award grants to establish no fewer than three multidisciplinary Centers for Transformative Education Research and Translation to support research and development of STEM education innovations; provide grants for research on programming that engages students in grades Pre-K through 8, including underrepresented and rural students, in STEM in order to prepare such students to pursue degrees or careers in STEM; award grants to support research and development activities to encourage greater collaboration and coordination between institutions of higher education and industry to enhance education, foster hands-on learning experiences, and improve alignment with workforce needs; award grants to establish a network of centers for science and technical education; award grants to advance research on the nature of learning and teaching at community colleges; award grants to establish traineeship programs for graduate students who pursue artificial intelligence-related research leading to a masters or doctorate degree; award grants to carry out research on the cyber workforce; establish a cybersecurity workforce data initiative; carry out a national initiative to facilitate the development of networks and partnerships to broaden participation in STEM studies and careers of groups historically underrepresented in such studies and careers; maintain a Research Security and Policy office to coordinate all research security policy issues across the NSF; award grants to support research to improve our understanding of the climate system and related human and environmental systems; support research to significantly advance our understanding of the food-energy-water system; award grants to advance knowledge of risk assessment and predictability to improve our ability to predict extreme events and natural hazards, including pandemics; and award grants to support basic research that will accelerate innovation to advance critical minerals mining strategies and technologies. The bill also establishes within the NSF a Directorate for Science and Engineering Solutions to advance research and development solutions to address societal and national challenges.

Safe Schools Improvement Act of 2021 This bill requires states to direct their local educational agencies (LEAs) to establish policies that prevent and prohibit bullying and harassment of elementary and secondary school students. In particular, these policies must prohibit bullying and harassment based on race, color, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, or religion. Further, LEAs must provide (1) students, parents, and educational professionals with annual notice of the conduct prohibited in their disciplinary policies; (2) students and parents with grievance procedures that target such conduct; and (3) the public with annual data on the incidence and frequency of that conduct at the school and LEA level. The Department of Education must conduct and report on an independent biennial evaluation of programs and policies to combat bullying and harassment in elementary and secondary schools. The National Center for Education Statistics must collect state data to determine the incidence and frequency of the conduct prohibited by LEA disciplinary policies.

Tribal Family Fairness Act This bill revises two programs to provide tribes with additional resources for child and family services. First, the bill revises the MaryLee Allen Promoting Safe and Stable Families program by establishing a minimum grant award for tribes, increasing funds reserved for state court improvement grants, increasing the set-aside for tribes or tribal consortia, exempting certain plans from reporting requirements, allowing funds to be used for tribal customary adoptions, authorizing in-kind contributions to meet tribal matching requirements, and allowing tribal organizations to use the federal negotiated indirect cost rate in lieu of the administrative costs cap. In addition, the bill revises the Stephanie Tubbs Jones Child Welfare Services program by modifying reporting requirements, authorizing in-kind contributions to meet tribal matching requirements, and allowing tribal organizations to use the federal negotiated indirect cost rate in lieu of the administrative costs cap.