Rep. Steven M. Palazzo

Guard and Reserve GI Bill Parity Act of 2021 This bill expands eligibility for Post-9/11 GI Bill educational assistance and addresses other Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) programs and benefits. Specifically, the bill expands the type of duty that is eligible for such educational assistance. Beginning on August 1, 2025, types of duty eligible for educational assistance benefits include (1) active duty for training performed by a member of the Armed Forces on or after this date, and (2) active duty for training occurring before this date only if the individual is a member on or after this date. Furthermore, beginning on August 1, 2032, duty eligible for these benefits includes active or inactive duty training performed by a member of the Armed Forces before, on, or after August 1, 2032. Educational assistance eligibility for individuals who performed qualifying types of duty as provided in the bill before August 1, 2025, expires on the latter of (1) August 1, 2040, or (2) the end of the 15-year period after their discharge or release from the Armed Forces. For individuals who performed such duty on or after August 1, 2025, educational assistance eligibility does not expire. Furthermore, the bill provides for the expiration of eligibility applicable to individuals subject to two different periods of eligible duty. The bill also makes adjustments to certain loan fees under the VA home loan program, including the fee for an interest rate reduction refinancing loan. Additionally, the VA must provide information to new veterans that includes a description of the medical care, services, and other benefits they are entitled to through the VA.

Survivor Benefits Fairness Act This bill adjusts the effective date of a reduction or discontinuance of compensation, dependency and indemnity compensation, or pension payments to the last day of the month during which a marriage, remarriage, or death of a payee occurs.

Advancing the Quality and Understanding of American Aquaculture Act or the AQUAA Act This bill establishes standards for sustainable aquaculture in federal offshore waters in the exclusive economic zone and establishes related requirements. For example, it requires the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to establish a national plan to identify and designate aquaculture opportunity areas. In addition, NOAA must establish a unified permitting and review process for aquaculture operations. NOAA must also establish a grant program for research and development to support the development of a sustainable marine aquaculture industry, such as research and services to create innovative design and engineering solutions to common obstacles within the aquaculture industry. Finally, the bill directs the Department of Commerce to create and provide resources for an Office of Aquaculture within NOAA to coordinate regulatory, scientific, outreach, and international issues related to aquaculture.

Accelerating Access to Critical Therapies for ALS Act This bill establishes grant programs to address neurodegenerative diseases, such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (also known as ALS or Lou Gehrig's disease), and contains other related provisions. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) shall award grants to eligible entities for scientific research utilizing data from expanded access to investigational ALS treatments for individuals who are not otherwise eligible for clinical trials.  The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) shall award grants to public and private entities to cover the costs of research and development of drugs that diagnose or treat ALS and other rare neurodegenerative diseases. HHS shall also establish the Public-Private Partnership for Neurodegenerative Diseases between the National Institutes of Health, the FDA, and at least one eligible entity (generally, an institution of higher education or a nonprofit organization). The partnership shall support the development and regulatory review of drugs that address ALS and other rare neurodegenerative diseases. The FDA shall publish on its website a five-year action plan for fostering the development of drugs that improve or extend the lives of people living with rare neurodegenerative diseases. The Government Accountability Office must report to Congress about the grants provided under this bill, including an analysis of the impact of such grants on research and development of treatments for ALS.

Strategic Production Response Act or the SPR Act This bill limits the drawdown of petroleum in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve until the Department of Interior issues a plan or updates a previously issued plan to increase the production of oil and gas on federal land. The bill defines federal land to (1) include Outer Continental Shelf land; and (2) exclude land otherwise not available for oil and gas development within the National Park System, the National Wildlife Refuge System, the National Wilderness Preservation System, a National Marine Sanctuary, or Indian land.

This bill posthumously provides for the award of a Congressional Gold Medal in commemoration of the 13 service members who died on August 26, 2021, while stationed at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Afghanistan.

This resolution recognizes the importance of Christmas symbols and traditions. The resolution (1) disapproves of attempts to ban references to Christmas, and (2) supports the use of these symbols and traditions by those who celebrate Christmas.

Preserving Rights Of Tenants by Ensuring Compliance To the Second Amendment Act or the PROTECT the Second Amendment Act This bill establishes a right for a resident of covered federally assisted rental housing to lawfully possess a firearm within the residential dwelling unit occupied by the resident and any common area of the federally assisted rental housing in which the resident resides in the course of entering or exiting the rental housing.

Community Bank Relief Act of 2021 This bill requires banking agencies to set the community bank leverage ratio between 8% and 8.5% for calendar years 2022, 2023, and 2024 for community banks seeking to satisfy simplified capital adequacy requirements. Currently, banking agencies are statutorily required to set the rate between 8% and 10% through rulemaking. Under current regulations, the rate will increase from 8.5% to 9% on January 1, 2022.

Cattle Price Discovery and Transparency Act of 2021 This bill requires the Department of Agriculture (USDA) to take various actions to address transparency in pricing and contract terms in the cattle industry. Among these requirements, USDA must (1) establish regional minimum percentages of cattle that meat packers must procure through negotiated purchases or negotiated grid purchases (i.e., transactions where the price is known and negotiated at the time of the transaction), and (2) maintain a publicly available catalog of contracts offered by meat packers to livestock producers for the purchase of fed cattle.