Iran Nuclear Deal Advice and Consent Act of 2021 This bill prohibits the use of federal funds to rejoin the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action—commonly known as the Iran nuclear deal—unless the President commits to submit any successor agreement to the Senate for advice and consent as a treaty.
Protecting Life and Taxpayers Act of 2021 This bill requires federally funded entities to certify that they will not, subject to certain exceptions, perform abortions or provide funding to other entities that perform abortions. The bill provides exceptions for abortions (1) in cases of rape or incest; or (2) when the life of the woman is in danger due to a physical disorder, injury, or illness.
American Heritage Protection Act of 2021 This bill prohibits the Department of the Interior from changing the name of or altering in any way the Lincoln Memorial, the Jefferson Memorial, the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial, the Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial, the Theodore Roosevelt Island, or the Washington Monument; or moving, or altering in any way, any statue located on federal land related to the War of 1812, the Civil War, or the Revolutionary War.
This resolution expresses the sense of the House of Representatives that (1) clean water is a national priority, and (2) the 2020 final rule titled The Navigable Waters Protection Rule: Definition of "Waters of the United States" should not be withdrawn or vacated.
Screening Partnership Reform Act This bill revises the Screening Partnership Program of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). Specifically, the bill authorizes the operator of an airport to select a qualified private screening company with which the operator prefers the TSA enter into a contract for screening services at that airport. The TSA must enter into a contract with a private screening company only if the cost of providing screening services at the airport is equal to or less than the cost to the federal government of providing the same screening services, and entering into the contract would not compromise aviation security or the effectiveness of the screening of passengers or property at the airport. A private screening company may use screening supervisors who have been trained and certified at a Federal Law Enforcement Training Center to administer comparable on-site training and certification to private security screeners at an airport that is participating in the screening partnership program. Finally, the bill requires a private screening company that is participating in the program to annually submit recommendations to the TSA on new approaches to screening processes and procedures that would enhance the screening of passengers and property at the airport.
Protect Funding for Women's Health Care Act This bill prohibits federal funding of Planned Parenthood Federation of America or its affiliates, subsidiaries, successors, or clinics.
E Visa Integrity Act of 2021 This bill imposes additional requirements to acquire an E visa (for an investor or trader who is a national of a foreign country with a treaty of commerce and navigation with the United States, or an Australian specialty worker). Specifically, if an alien became the national of a foreign country with a treaty of commerce and navigation with the United States through a financial investment in that foreign country and the alien had not previously received an E visa, the alien must have been domiciled in that foreign country for a continuous period of at least three years at any point before applying for an E visa.
Earn to Learn Act This bill directs the Department of Education (ED) to establish a college matched-savings demonstration grant program, through which ED must award competitive grants to states and nonprofit organizations to provide certain low-income students with educational savings accounts (e.g., 529 plans). Further, ED must (1) develop and make available to grant recipients certain tools, including a training platform, a program guide, an online data portal, and certain trainings (e.g., on college readiness); (2) ensure that participation in the grant program does not affect student eligibility for Federal Pell Grants; and (3) provide technical assistance. Grant recipients must use funds to (1) select eligible students to participate in the grant program, (2) provide selected students with financial literacy education, (3) establish an educational savings account for each participating student and allow such students and their families to deposit funds in their account to save for attendance at an institution of higher education or an area career and technical education school, and (4) reserve matching funds for participating students. Additionally, grant recipients must ensure that participating students are entitled to withdraw funds from their accounts under certain circumstances.
Head Start Improvement Act This bill replaces the existing Head Start program with block grants to states and Indian tribes for prekindergarten (pre-K) education. Instead of providing direct financial assistance to Head Start agencies, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) shall allot block grant funds for pre-K education among eligible states and tribes in accordance with their relative proportions of children, age three, four, or five, from low-income households. Grant recipients shall use the grant funds to (1) award subgrants to eligible entities that provide pre-K education programs; (2) administer such programs; and (3) provide technical assistance, oversight, monitoring, research, and training. Under current law, HHS is authorized to designate, monitor, and establish standards for Head Start agencies. The bill instead shifts pre-K program oversight and control to states and tribes. In addition, to the extent permitted under state law, grant recipients may use grant funds to establish (1) portable voucher systems that allow costs to be paid for attendance at private pre-K education programs; and (2) an education savings account that allows a parent of a low-income child to use a portion of the grant funds, or other available public or private funds added to the account, for expenses related to pre-K education. Under current law, federal financial assistance for a Head Start program is generally limited to 80% of total program costs. The bill maintains this limitation by requiring grant recipients to provide matching funds equal to 20% of the grant amount.
Affordable Housing Credit Improvement Act of 2021 This bill revises provisions of the low-income housing tax credit and renames it as the affordable housing credit . The bill increases the per capita dollar amount of the credit and its minimum ceiling amount beginning in 2021 and extends the inflation adjustment for such amounts. The bill modifies tenant income eligibility requirements and the average income formula for determining such income. It also revises rules for student occupancy of rental units and tenant voucher payments, and prohibits any refusal to rent to victims of domestic abuse. The bill further modifies the credit to increase state allocations of the credit; repeal the qualified census tract population cap; prohibit local approval and contribution requirements; increase the credit for certain projects designated to serve extremely low-income households; increase the credit for certain bond-financed projects designated by state agencies; eliminate the basis reduction for properties that receive certain energy-related tax benefits; and increase the population cap for difficult development areas (i.e., areas with high construction, land, and utility costs relative to area median gross income). The bill also includes Indian and rural areas as difficult development areas and modifies other requirements relating to casualty losses, acquisition credits, and foreclosures.
Accelerate Long-term Investment Growth Now Act or the ALIGN Act This bill makes permanent the expensing of certain new business equipment. Expensing allows the deduction of the full amount of an expense item in the same taxable year.
Paris Transparency and Accountability Act This bill restricts the President's authority to unilaterally establish or revise actions the United States plans to take to meet its obligations under the Paris Agreement (a climate change treaty adopted in 2015) and increases congressional oversight of those actions. The bill also prohibits any legal cause of action in U.S. courts pursuant to the Paris Agreement. Specifically, the President must report to Congress before proposing new or revised actions under the agreement. The report must describe the proposed actions, including their impact on global emissions, and outline a detailed plan to address economic effects and related considerations of the actions. If a proposed action results in increased energy or manufacturing costs, the report must include specific policy measures (and timelines for implementing the measures) to prevent (1) job displacement, (2) reduced global competitiveness of U.S. goods, and (3) leaked emissions that may occur as a result of the proposed action. After the President submits a report, the bill provides Congress with a 60-day period to review it. During the review period, Congress may block the actions proposed in the report by enacting a joint resolution of disapproval. The bill also outlines procedures for the introduction and consideration of this type of joint resolution.
