Sen. Bill Cassidy

This joint resolution nullifies a Department of Education rule published on July 6, 2022, concerning final priorities, requirements, definitions, and selection criteria for the Charter Schools Program.

This bill extends through December 31, 2023, the tax relief for individuals and businesses in presidentially-declared disaster areas declared on or after January 1, 2020.

National R & D Strategy for Distributed Ledger Technology Act of 2022 This bill provides for a national strategy and research and development regarding technologies related to distributed ledgers (e.g., blockchain or Bitcoin). A distributed ledger is a ledger that is shared across and synchronized between a set of distributed nodes (i.e., devices or processes) in a network that store a complete or partial replica of the ledger and meet other requirements. The Office of Science and Technology Policy must develop a national strategy for the research and development of distributed ledger technologies and their applications, including applications of public and permissionless distributed ledgers. The office must coordinate with the National Science and Technology Council and other relevant federal agencies, as appropriate, on the strategy. The national strategy shall include plans to support public and private sector investment and partnerships in research and technology development for societally beneficial applications of distributed ledger technologies, and an identification of additional resources, administrative action, or legislative action recommended to assist with the implementation of such strategy. The National Science Foundation shall make competitive awards to institutions of higher education or nonprofit organizations (or their consortia) to support research, including interdisciplinary research, on distributed ledger technologies and their applications. The National Institute of Standards and Technology may carry out an applied research project to study and demonstrate the potential benefits and unique capabilities of distributed ledger technologies.

National Climate Adaptation and Resilience Strategy Act of 2022 This bill requires the President to identify or appoint a Chief Resilience Officer that must (1) direct a government-wide effort to build resilience to climate change vulnerabilities in the United States in collaboration with existing federal initiatives and interagency adaptation efforts, and (2) create working groups. The officer and the working groups must jointly submit to the President and Congress a strategy for the government to address such vulnerabilities in partnership with nonfederal partners, a plan to implement the strategy, and updates by specified deadlines.

This concurrent resolution commends the bravery, courage, and resolve of the women and men of Iran who are (1) participating in the current protests to defend their fundamental human rights, and (2) risking their safety to speak out against the human rights abuses committed by the Iranian regime. The resolution condemns (1) the brutal beating and death of Mahsa Amini; and (2) the violent suppression by the Iranian regime of women and men participating in the current demonstrations, including children. The resolution calls for transparent accountability for all killings of protesters by Iranian security forces. Finally, the resolution encourages continued efforts by the Biden Administration to respond to the protests, including the recent sanctioning of the Iranian morality police.

Maddy summaryThis bill standardizes whisky tariff classifications under the Harmonized Tariff Schedule. It replaces the current subheading with a uniform 8-digit code (2208.30.00) and creates specific sub-subheadings for different whisky types (Irish/Scotch, Bourbon, Rye, and "Other") based on container size (under or over 4 liters). The tariff rate remains $2.04 per liter for all categories. This directly affects whisky importers and U.S. Customs officials who classify and tax whisky shipments. The change ensures consistent tariff treatment for all whisky types without altering the duty rate.

Strengthening Agency Management and Oversight of Software Assets Act This bill requires each federal agency to develop assessments of their software inventories and software licenses and a plan to reduce costs by consolidating licenses and adopting enterprise license agreements to the greatest extent practicable. The bill also requires the Office of Management and Budget and the Government Accountability Office to report on various government-wide issues relating to federal software licenses and inventories.

For Accurate Import Relief To Aid Retailers and Importers of Foreign Freights Act of 2022 or the FAIR TARIFF Act of 2022 This bill provides for the liquidation or reliquidation of certain entries of products (e.g., wine, spirits, and food) of European Union countries exported to the United States during specified time periods.

Disaster Mitigation and Tax Parity Act of 2022 This bill excludes from gross income, for income tax purposes, any qualified catastrophe mitigation payment made under a state-based catastrophe loss mitigation program. A qualified catastrophe mitigation payment means any amount received for making improvements to an individual's residence for the sole purpose of reducing the damage that would be done to such residence by a windstorm, earthquake, wildfire, or flooding. This tax exclusion is retroactive to taxable years beginning after 2020, including by amended return.

Carbon Removal and Emissions Storage Technologies Act of 2022 or the CREST Act of 2022 This bill expands the current research and development programs of the Department of Energy (DOE) for capturing and storing carbon dioxide to include methods that harness natural processes, such as the removal of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and its storage in geological, biobased, or ocean reservoirs. In addition, the bill establishes a five-year pilot program under which DOE must purchase from certain facilities carbon dioxide removed from the atmosphere or upper hydrosphere.