Dredging to Ensure the Empowerment of Ports Act or the DEEP Act This bill replaces the existing permitting process under the Clean Water Act for projects that involve the dredging of ports or their navigation channels within navigable waters with a new process under a nationwide permit. In addition, the bill repeals the Foreign Dredge Act of 1906.
Port Modernization and Supply Chain Protection Act This bill allows foreign-built dredge vessels to operate in the United States by eliminating requirements for such vessels to be U.S.-built and -owned.
Incentivizing the Expansion of U.S. Ports Act This bill allows the operation of foreign-built dredge vessels in the United States. (Current law generally requires that such vessels be domestically built and owned.)
Allied Partnership and Port Modernization Act This bill permits certain NATO-affiliated dredge vessels to operate in the United States. The vessels must be (1) documented under the laws of a NATO member country, (2) built by a NATO member country or a major non-NATO ally, and (3) majority-owned and -operated by entities incorporated in NATO member countries. (Current law generally requires that such vessels be domestically built and owned.)
This bill authorizes Hershel Woodrow Williams, who is the last surviving recipient of the Medal of Honor for acts performed during World War II, to lie in state in the Capitol rotunda upon his death.
Coal Council Certainty Act of 2021 This bill requires the Department of Energy (DOE) to maintain the National Coal Council under the charter that was in effect on November 19, 2021. Historically, this council provided DOE with advice and guidance about policies concerning coal. However, the council ceased operations in November 2021 when its charter was not renewed by DOE.
Critical Infrastructure Manufacturing Feasibility Act This bill requires the Department of Commerce to study and report on products that are in high demand across the critical infrastructure sectors. Critical infrastructure sectors are those whose assets, systems, and networks are vital to national security, the economy, public health or safety, or any combination of those matters. The study must (1) identify the products in high demand across those sectors that are being imported due to manufacturing, material, or supply chain constraints; and (2) analyze the costs, benefits, and feasibility of manufacturing those products in the United States.
Radiation Exposure Compensation Act Amendments of 2021 This bill expands two programs that compensate individuals who were exposed to radiation during certain nuclear testing or uranium mining and subsequently developed medical conditions, including cancers. First, the bill expands and extends a program that compensates individuals who were exposed to radiation from atmospheric nuclear testing or other sources and subsequently developed specified cancers. Under current law, this program compensates individuals who were present in a designated geographic area during a period of nuclear testing and certain individuals employed in uranium mining. The bill expands the designated areas to include Colorado, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, and Guam and additional areas in Arizona, Nevada, and Utah; makes more individuals who worked in uranium mining eligible for the program; increases the amount of compensation awarded to and provides medical benefits for eligible claimants; and extends for 19 years following the bill's enactment the fund that supports this program and the statute of limitations for filing claims (currently, the program terminates on July 10, 2022). Second, the bill makes certain individuals employed in uranium mines or mills eligible for a program that compensates workers, including Department of Energy employees and contractors, for illnesses caused by occupational exposure to radiation and hazardous substances during development and testing of the nation's nuclear weapons stockpile. The bill also establishes a grant program in the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences for institutions of higher education to study the epidemiological impacts of uranium mining and milling among individuals without occupational exposure.
Better Cybercrime Metrics Act This bill establishes various requirements to improve the collection of data related to cybercrime and cyber-enabled crime (cybercrime). Among the requirements the Department of Justice (DOJ) must enter into an agreement with the National Academy of Sciences to develop a taxonomy for categorizing different types of cybercrime faced by individuals and businesses; DOJ must establish a category in the National Incident-Based Reporting System for collecting cybercrime reports from federal, state, and local officials; DOJ's Bureau of Justice Statistics and the Bureau of the Census must include questions about cybercrime in the annual National Crime Victimization Survey; and the Government Accountability Office must assess the effectiveness of reporting mechanisms for cybercrime and disparities in reporting cybercrime data and other types of crime data.
SJRES 31 is a joint resolution that would block a specific foreign military sale to Saudi Arabia. The sale, submitted to Congress under the Arms Export Control Act, includes 280 advanced air-to-air missiles, 596 missile launchers, and related support equipment. If enacted, the resolution would prohibit the U.S. government from proceeding with this transaction. This directly affects the U.S. government's ability to transfer these defense articles to Saudi Arabia.
Let States Innovate Under Medicaid Act This bill allows state Medicaid programs to use demonstration waivers to institute work or community engagement requirements as a condition of Medicaid eligibility, except for specified populations (e.g., medically frail individuals).
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.
