Sen. Cory A. Booker

Voices for Veterans Act 2021 This bill expands the membership of the Advisory Committee on Minority Veterans to include veterans who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, gender diverse, gender non-conforming, intersex, or queer. Among other responsibilities, the committee advises the Department of Veterans Affairs on the administration of benefits and provision of health care, benefits, and services to minority veterans.

Pell Grant Preservation and Expansion Act of 2021 This bill makes various changes to the Federal Pell Grant program, including by expanding student eligibility for Pell Grants. The bill also revises student eligibility for federal student-aid programs. Specifically, the bill provides funding to increase the maximum Pell Grant award for each eligible student. Further, the bill requires the award amount to be adjusted for inflation. Next, the bill allows students who receive means-tested federal benefits (e.g., Medicaid) to automatically qualify for the maximum Pell Grant award plus an additional award amount. In addition, the bill moves the Iraq and Afghanistan Service Grant program into the Pell Grant program. Next, the bill raises from 12 to 18 the total number of semesters during which a student may receive a Pell Grant. The bill makes Dreamer students (i.e., students who have been granted Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals status) who entered the United States before the age of 18 and who meet certain educational criteria eligible for federal financial aid. The bill also revises satisfactory academic progress requirements for federal student-aid programs, including by allowing a student who has not been enrolled in an institution of higher education for two years to regain eligibility for federal student aid.

Resilience Investment, Support, and Expansion from Trauma Act or the RISE from Trauma Act This bill establishes and extends various programs to support infants, children, youth, and families who have experienced, or may experience, trauma. Specifically, the bill allows federal agencies to use specified discretionary funds to implement pilot projects to improve outcomes for children experiencing trauma. It also requires the Department of Health and Human Services to provide tool kits and other guidance to train frontline service providers and certain community members about trauma, toxic stress, and resilience. In addition, the Department of Justice (DOJ) must establish a national center to disseminate to law enforcement agencies best practices and other assistance to enhance interactions with infants, children, youth, and families who are exposed to violence and trauma. Furthermore, the bill establishes grants for multi-sector demonstration projects to prevent and mitigate trauma and toxic stress; interventions to improve outcomes for hospital patients who experience drug overdoses, suicide attempts, or violent injury; and clinical training in infant and early childhood mental health. The bill also authorizes DOJ grants to reduce violence and substance use by preventing children's trauma from exposure to violence and substance use. Additionally, it incorporates trauma-informed practices and otherwise addresses trauma in programs for health care professional education, increasing access to health services, and training for educators.

Restaurant Revitalization Fund Replenishment Act of 2021 This bill provides an additional $60 billion in FY2021 for the Restaurant Revitalization Fund, which was established to support restaurants and other food and beverage purveyors in response to COVID-19.

Disarm Hate Act The bill expands the categories of persons who are prohibited from receiving or possessing a firearm. Specifically, it prohibits firearm sale or transfer to and receipt, possession, shipment, or transport by a person (1) who has been convicted of a misdemeanor hate crime, or (2) who has received an enhanced hate crime misdemeanor sentence.

Save Our Future Act This bill imposes a fee on certain fossil fuels, including coal, petroleum products, and natural gas. It also imposes fees on fluorinated greenhouse gases imported into the United States and on facilities that emit greenhouse gases from processes other than fossil fuel combustion. The bill provides rebates to middle- and low-income taxpayers equal to $800 ($1,600 for joint returns), plus $300 times the number of taxpayer dependents. The bill directs the Department of the Treasury to provide cost mitigation grants to states and Indian tribes to assist with the transition to a low-carbon economy, assist rural households in reducing energy expenses, and for assistance to displaced coal industry workers. The bill creates an Office of Energy Veterans Assistance. It also provides funds through FY2032 for community assistance programs, including the Appalachian Regional Commission Revitalization Initiative and the Coal Communities Assistance Initiative. The bill provides funds for each fiscal year after FY2022 for assistance to environmental justice communities (i.e., communities most impacted by environmental harms and risks).

Facial Recognition and Biometric Technology Moratorium Act of 2021 This bill imposes limits on the use of biometric surveillance systems, such as facial recognition systems, by federal and state government entities. A federal agency or official may not in an official capacity acquire, possess, or use in the United States any such system or information obtained by such a system unless Congress passes an act that specifically authorizes such a use. Such an act of Congress must contain certain provisions, such as provisions naming the specific authorized entity and auditing requirements relating to the system. Information obtained in violation of this bill shall not be admissible by the federal government in any proceeding or investigation, except in a proceeding alleging a violation of this bill. An individual aggrieved by a violation of these restrictions shall have the right to sue. Any state officer authorized to sue on behalf of the state's residents shall also have the right to sue on behalf of the state's aggrieved residents. A state or local government unit shall not receive certain federal law enforcement grants unless the government unit complies with a law or policy that is substantially similar to this bill's restrictions on acquiring and using biometric surveillance systems.

Supplemental Security Income Restoration Act of 2021 This bill modifies eligibility for, and other components of, the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program, including by (1) increasing applicable income and resource limits used to determine SSI eligibility, (2) equalizing treatment of married couples when both spouses receive SSI as compared to two unmarried individuals, and (3) eliminating the penalty on SSI applicants or recipients who transfer resources to another individual for less than fair market value.

This resolution condemns the recent rise in anti-Semitic violence and harassment targeting Jewish Americans. The resolution (1) recommits to combating anti-Semitism in all forms; and (2) calls on elected officials, faith leaders, and civil society leaders to denounce and combat all manifestations of anti-Semitism. The resolution urges the President to continue the leadership role of the United States in combating anti-Semitism internationally, advance accurate Holocaust education and counter Holocaust denial and distortion, ensure the physical security of Jewish institutions and organizations, and produce an analysis that accounts for the level and scope of the threat that anti-Semitism poses to the people of the United States. The resolution urges law enforcement agencies to fully participate in the data collection process of the Federal Bureau of Investigation to improve anti-Semitic hate crime data collection.

No PFAS in Cosmetics Act This bill requires the Department of Health and Human Services to issue and finalize a rule to ban the use of intentionally added perfluoroalkyl or polyfluoroalkyl substances in cosmetics.