Advanced Nuclear Reactor Prize Act This bill authorizes the Department of Energy to award prizes that cover the regulatory costs of the first entities to acquire licenses for operating certain categories of advanced nuclear reactors.
Medical Countermeasures Surge Capacity Act of 2022 This bill expands the scope of research and development activities carried out by the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) to include support for maintaining and improving domestic manufacturing surge capacity and capabilities for vaccines, diagnostics, and other medical countermeasures. In particular, BARDA must enter into transactions with facilities to ensure that domestic manufacturing surge capacity is available to manufacture medical countermeasures and related products in the event of a public health emergency (e.g., by supporting flexible or advanced manufacturing). The Government Accountability Office must report on these efforts. In addition, BARDA must address support for domestic manufacturing surge capacity in its strategic plan for countermeasure research, development, and procurement. The bill also reauthorizes through FY2028 a program through which BARDA may support innovative technologies to assist in medical countermeasure research and development using grants, cooperative agreements, and other transactions.
Informed Lawmaking to Combat Inflation Act This bill requires the Congressional Budget Office to provide inflation estimates for certain legislation that is projected to cause an annual gross budgetary effect of at least 0.25% of the projected gross domestic product of the United States. The estimates must determine whether the legislation will have no significant impact on inflation, a quantifiable inflationary impact on the consumer price index, or a significant impact on inflation that cannot be quantified at the time the estimate is prepared. The requirement does not apply to legislation that (1) provides for emergency assistance or relief at the request of any state, local, or tribal government; or (2) is necessary for the national security or the ratification or implementation of international treaty obligations.
Blockchain Solutions for Small Businesses Act This bill requires the Small Business Administration to study the current and potential uses of blockchain technology (i.e., the technology that supports digital currencies such as Bitcoin) in making loans to qualified small businesses.
Taiwan Representative Office Act This bill requires the Department of State to seek to enter into negotiations with the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office (TECRO) to rename its office in Washington, DC, the Taiwan Representative Office. (The U.S.-Taiwan relationship is unofficial, and TECRO is Taiwan's principal representative office in the United States.)
This resolution supports the participation of the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Teams in the 2022 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games in a safe, free, and secure environment.
Kids in Classes Act This bill prohibits a state educational agency from receiving specified federal education funds unless funds are provided directly to a parent or guardian of an eligible child for certain qualified educational expenses (e.g., educational materials, tutoring, or private school tuition). Eligible child refers to a child who attends a public elementary or secondary school and such school (1) receives specified federal education funds; and (2) does not provide, for more than three days during a school year and for reasons related to a public health emergency or collective bargaining action, in-person instruction for all students who wish to attend.
Eliminating Abusive and Rampant Neglect of Interactive Technologies Act of 2022 or the EARN IT Act of 2022 This bill revises the federal framework governing the prevention of online sexual exploitation of children. The bill establishes the National Commission on Online Child Sexual Exploitation Prevention. The commission must develop best practices for interactive computer services providers (e.g., Facebook and Twitter) to prevent, reduce, and respond to the online sexual exploitation of children. Additionally, the bill limits the liability protections of interactive computer service providers with respect to claims alleging violations of child sexual exploitation laws. The bill replaces various statutory references to child pornography and material that contains child pornography with child sexual abuse material . Finally, the bill makes changes to the reporting requirements for electronic communication service providers and remote computing service providers (providers) who report apparent instances of crimes involving the sexual exploitation of children to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Among the changes, the bill requires providers to report facts and circumstances sufficient to identify and locate each minor and each involved individual. The bill also increases the amount of time that providers must preserve the contents of a report.
Federal Prisons Accountability Act of 2022 This bill modifies the appointment procedures and term of service for the Director of the Bureau of Prisons. Currently, the director is appointed by the Attorney General. This bill requires the director to be appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate. The bill also limits the director to a single term of 10 years.
Stop the Nosy Obsession with Online Payments Act of 2022 or the SNOOP Act of 2022 This bill modifies requirements for third party settlement organizations to eliminate their reporting requirement with respect to the transactions of their participating payees unless they have earned more than $20,000 on more than 200 separate transactions in an applicable tax period. A third party settlement organization is the central organization that has the contractual obligation to make payments to participating payees (generally, a merchant or business) in a third party payment network. This reverses a provision in the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 that lowered the reporting threshold to $600 with no minimum on the number of transactions.
Child Tax Credit for Pregnant Moms Act of 2022 This bill allows a child tax credit for an unborn child who is born alive. It also allows the credit upon certification that a mother's pregnancy resulted in a miscarriage (the involuntary death of an unborn child who was carried in the womb for less than 20 weeks) or that the child was stillborn (the involuntary death of an unborn child who was carried in the womb for 20 weeks or more).
Banning Insider Trading in Congress Act This bill prohibits a Member of Congress or spouse of a Member from holding, purchasing, or selling certain investments. Any profit made in violation of the prohibition must be disgorged to the Treasury and may subject the Member to a civil fine. A loss from a transaction or holding involving a covered financial instrument that is conducted in violation of this bill may not be deducted from the amount of income tax owed by the applicable Member or spouse. The bill also requires each Member to submit an annual certification of compliance and requires the Government Accountability Office to conduct a compliance audit. The prohibition does not apply to assets held in a qualified blind trust or to a sale by a Member or spouse within 180 days after the bill is enacted or within 180 days after the Member commences service, for any Member who commences service after the bill is enacted.
