Rep. Cynthia Axne

American Patriots of WWII through Service with the Canadian and British Armed Forces Gold Medal Act of 2021 This bill directs the award of a Congressional Gold Medal in honor of the dedicated service of U.S. nationals who voluntarily joined the Canadian and British armed forces during World War II. Following the award, the medal shall be given to the Smithsonian Institution for display and research. The U.S. Mint may strike duplicates in bronze.

Abortion is Health Care Everywhere Act of 2021 This bill authorizes the use of certain foreign assistance funds to provide comprehensive reproductive health care services in developing countries, including abortion services, training, and equipment.

Treatment in Place Act This bill allows for Medicare payment of ground ambulance services that did not result in the actual transport of an individual to a permitted facility, if the lack of transport was due to community-wide COVID-19 (i.e., coronavirus disease 2019) protocols for emergency medical services during the public health emergency.

This bill expedites the approval process for renewable fuels under the renewable fuel standard (RFS) program. The existing RFS program requires transportation fuel to contain a minimum volume of renewable fuel. Producers must register renewable fuels under the program. The bill considers an application to register a renewable fuel under the RFS program to be approved by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) if the fuel has been approved under any state renewable fuel program. It also establishes a deadline for the EPA to make a decision on any pending application for a renewable fuel that has not yet been approved under any state program. In addition, the bill establishes deadlines for the EPA to make decisions on pending pathway petitions by producers to register biofuels. If the EPA does not make decisions on the petitions by the deadlines, then petitions are automatically approved.

George Floyd Justice in Policing Act of 2021 This bill addresses a wide range of policies and issues regarding policing practices and law enforcement accountability. It increases accountability for law enforcement misconduct, restricts the use of certain policing practices, enhances transparency and data collection, and establishes best practices and training requirements. The bill enhances existing enforcement mechanisms to remedy violations by law enforcement. Among other things, it does the following: lowers the criminal intent standard—from willful to knowing or reckless—to convict a law enforcement officer for misconduct in a federal prosecution, limits qualified immunity as a defense to liability in a private civil action against a law enforcement officer, and grants administrative subpoena power to the Department of Justice (DOJ) in pattern-or-practice investigations. It establishes a framework to prevent and remedy racial profiling by law enforcement at the federal, state, and local levels. It also limits the unnecessary use of force and restricts the use of no-knock warrants, chokeholds, and carotid holds. The bill creates a national registry—the National Police Misconduct Registry—to compile data on complaints and records of police misconduct. It also establishes new reporting requirements, including on the use of force, officer misconduct, and routine policing practices (e.g., stops and searches). Finally, it directs DOJ to create uniform accreditation standards for law enforcement agencies and requires law enforcement officers to complete training on racial profiling, implicit bias, and the duty to intervene when another officer uses excessive force.

Retired Pay Restoration Act This bill allows the receipt of both military retired pay and veterans' disability compensation with respect to any service-connected disability. Under current law, only individuals with service-connected disabilities rated at 50% or more receive both without offset. Individuals who were retired or separated after at least 20 years of military service due to a service-connected disability shall be eligible for the full concurrent receipt of both veterans' disability compensation and either military retired pay or combat-related special pay.

This resolution censures and condemns President Donald J. Trump for asking the Georgia Secretary of State on January 2, 2021, to overturn the Georgia results of the November 2020 presidential election. It further calls on President Trump to (1) retract and disavow this behavior, and (2) acknowledge President-elect Joseph R. Biden as the victor of the November 2020 presidential election.

Treat and Reduce Obesity Act of 2021 This bill expands Medicare coverage of intensive behavioral therapy for obesity. Specifically, the bill allows coverage for therapy that is provided by (1) a physician who is not a primary care physician; or (2) other health care providers (e.g., physician assistants and nurse practitioners) and approved counseling programs, if provided upon a referral from, and in coordination with, a physician or primary care practitioner. Currently, such therapy is covered only if provided by a primary care practitioner. The bill also allows coverage under Medicare's prescription drug benefit of drugs used for the treatment of obesity or for weight loss management for individuals who are overweight.

Venezuela TPS Act of 2021 This bill permits nationals of Venezuela to qualify for temporary protected status, which prevents their removal from the United States and allows them to obtain employment and travel authorization. Such status shall be available to qualifying nationals of Venezuela for 18 months starting from this bill's enactment.

Preventing Future Pandemics Act of 2021 This bill establishes measures to address global public health risks posed by wildlife markets, which are commercial markets that sell or slaughter wildlife for human consumption as food or medicine in communities where alternative nutritional or protein sources are available. Specifically, the bill prohibits importing, exporting, purchasing, or selling live wild animals in the United States for human consumption as food or medicine. The Department of the Interior must hire, train, and deploy at least 50 new U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service law enforcement attachés around the world, and the U.S. Agency for International Development must increase specified activities to address the threats and causes of zoonotic (animal-to-human transmission) disease outbreaks. Additionally, the United States must work with other United Nations member states to urge a global ban on commercial wildlife markets and enforcement of laws to end wildlife trafficking. Further, the President may impose sanctions against a foreign country or foreign nationals that the Department of State has determined are taking certain actions that enable or facilitate commercial wildlife markets. Among other reports required by the bill, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine must conduct a study and submit a report that includes an evaluation of (1) the impact that consumption of terrestrial wildlife as food or medicine has on the transmission of novel viral and other pathogens, (2) the role of consuming terrestrial wildlife as food or medicine in the transmission of microbes from animals to humans, and (3) the conditions at live wildlife markets that lead to this transmission.