Adoption Tax Credit Refundability Act of 2021 This bill makes the tax credit for adoption expenses refundable.
China Financial Threat Mitigation Act of 2021 This bill requires U.S. representatives to certain international bodies to advocate for increased international cooperation to mitigate threats caused by the governance, opacity, or instability of financial intermediation in China. (Generally, financial intermediaries provide services, such as accounting and underwriting services, that facilitate financial transactions.) Specifically, this requirement applies to U.S. representatives to the International Monetary Fund, the Group of 20 (G20), and the Financial Stability Board (a technical body established by the G20 to coordinate the group's agenda). The bill also requires the Financial Stability Oversight Council within the Department of the Treasury to report annually to Congress on such threats.
Direct Creation, Advancement, and Retention of Employment Opportunity Act or the Direct CARE Opportunity Act This bill directs the Department of Labor to award grants to eligible entities to develop and carry out projects to recruit, retain, or provide advancement opportunities to direct care workers. The term direct care worker includes home health aides, psychiatric aides, nursing assistants, and personal care aides who assist seniors and persons with disabilities in their homes. After the completion of each project assisted with a grant, the Government Accountability Office must study and report to Congress on (1) an assessment of how the project assisted in the recruitment, retention, or advancement of direct care workers; and (2) recommendations for appropriate legislative or administrative actions.
Investing in American Workers Act This bill allows a business-related tax credit for employers who increase worker training expenditures. The credit is equal to 20% of the excess of (1) the qualified training expenditures for the year, over (2) the average of the adjusted qualified training expenditures for the three previous years. If the employer had no qualified training expenditures in any one of the three previous years, the credit is equal to 10% of the adjusted qualified training expenditures for the year. The credit applies to expenditures for the training of non-highly compensated employees (annual compensation does not exceed $82,000). The training must result in the attainment of a recognized postsecondary credential and be provided through an apprenticeship program; a program of training services that is included on a list of eligible training providers that states are required to maintain under the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act; a program that is conducted by an area career and technical education school, a community college, or a labor organization; or a program that is sponsored and administered by an employer, industry trade association, industry or sector partnership, or labor organization. Certain small businesses and tax-exempt organizations may apply the credit against payroll taxes, subject to specified limits and requirements. Eligible small businesses may also apply the credit against the alternative minimum tax.
Creating Opportunities Now for Necessary and Effective Care Technologies (CONNECT) for Health Act of 2021 or the CONNECT for Health Act of 2021 This bill expands coverage of telehealth services under Medicare. Among other provisions, the bill allows the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to waive certain restrictions, such as restrictions on the types of technology that may be used; permanently removes geographic restrictions on originating sites (i.e., the location of the beneficiary) and allows the home of the beneficiary to serve as the originating site for all services; permanently allows federally qualified health centers and rural health clinics to serve as the distant site (i.e., the location of the health care practitioner); and allows the CMS to generally waive coverage restrictions during any public health emergency. Additionally, the CMS must report on the effects of expanded telehealth services during the COVID-19 public health emergency, including with respect to the utilization, quality, and outcomes of services. The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation may also test alternative payment models relating to expanded telehealth services.
Ban Conflicted Trading Act This bill prohibits a Member of Congress or certain congressional officers or employees from (1) purchasing or selling specified investments, (2) entering into a transaction that creates a net short position in a security, or (3) serving as an officer or member of any board of any for-profit entity.
This concurrent resolution (1) affirms, on the 400th anniversary of the arrival of the first slave ship, that the nation owes a debt of remembrance not only to those who lived through the injustices of slavery but also to their descendants; and (2) urges the establishment of a U.S. Commission on Truth, Racial Healing, and Transformation to properly acknowledge, memorialize, and be a catalyst for progress, including toward permanently eliminating persistent racial inequities.
Improving Training for School Food Service Workers Act This bill adds requirements regarding the availability of training that the Department of Agriculture provides under current law for local food service personnel in schools. The training must be scheduled primarily during regular, paid working hours; offered in-person whenever appropriate; and incorporate hands-on training techniques. If the training is scheduled outside of working hours, food service personnel must be informed about the necessity of scheduling the program and compensated for attending the program. Personnel may not be penalized for failing to attend a program outside of working hours.
Saudi Arabia Accountability for Gross Violations of Human Rights Act This bill imposes visa-blocking sanctions on specified foreign persons determined to have played a role in the killing of Jamal Khashoggi, and it requires the Department of State to report on incidents of arbitrary detention, violence, and state-sanctioned harassment by Saudi Arabia against U.S. citizens and their family members. The bill also requires the State Department to make publicly available a report that describes whether and how a concurrence with Saudi Arabia for U.S. security assistance will avoid identifying the United States with governments that deny human rights and fundamental freedoms to their people.
Mental Health Justice Act of 2021 This bill creates a grant program for states and local governments to train and dispatch mental health professionals to respond, instead of law enforcement officers, to emergencies that involve people with behavioral health needs. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) must manage the program in consultation with the Department of Justice (DOJ). SAMHSA may cancel grants that increase incarceration or institutionalization. Grantees must use funds for purposes including de-escalation and anti-racism training. The Department of Health and Human Services and the DOJ must evaluate this program.
