VA Caregiver Transparency Act This bill modifies the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Program of Comprehensive Assistance for Family Caregivers and Program of General Caregiver Support Services, including by requiring any assistance or support decisions to be subject to the VA's clinical appeals process.
This resolution denounces socialism and opposes the implementation of socialist policies in the United States.
Entrepreneurs Need Timely Replenishment (for) Eating Establishments Act or the ENTRÉE Act This bill provides FY2021 supplemental appropriations for the Restaurant Revitalization Fund and modifies requirements related to administration of the fund. The fund was established in response to COVID-19 to make grants to eligible food and beverage purveyors for covering specified costs such as payroll, operational expenses, and paid sick leave. The bill correspondingly rescinds unobligated amounts previously made available for the Economic Injury Disaster Loan Program and coronavirus state and local fiscal recovery funds. Further, the bill requires the Small Business Administration (SBA) to (1) review and process grant applications in the order in which they are received; (2) impose requirements on applicants that reduce waste, fraud, and abuse; and (3) submit and report monthly on an oversight and audit plan outlining the SBA's policies, procedures, and activities with respect to these grants.
Veterans Entrepreneurship Act of 2021 This bill requires the Small Business Administration to carry out a pilot program assessing the feasibility and advisability of making grants to eligible veterans to start or acquire a small business concern, a franchise business enterprise, or any other appropriate category of business enterprise. Eligible veterans are those veterans or members of the Armed Forces who (1) are currently retiring or separating from the Armed Forces or have been honorably discharged from active duty, (2) have completed a specified minimum period of active duty, and (3) are entitled to certain educational assistance programs. Grant recipients must complete an entrepreneurship readiness program and prepare a business plan, and they may use grant funds for purposes such as purchasing goods or services, funding a project that is directed toward economic development objectives, and acquiring a business enterprise.
This resolution expresses the sense of the House of Representatives that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) provides essential protection for our country from foreign and domestic threats and that defunding DHS would be detrimental to our national security.
Preserving Rules Ordered for The Entities Covered Through 340B Act of 2021 or the PROTECT 340B Act of 2021 This bill prohibits pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) and health insurance plans from discriminating against health providers participating in the 340B drug pricing program, including pharmacies contracted with such providers to dispense 340B drugs. The 340B program allows certain providers to receive covered outpatient drugs at reduced prices from manufacturers. Specifically, PBMs and insurance plans may not reimburse 340B participants at a lower rate than other entities not participating in the program; impose differing terms (such as fees, charge-backs, or audits) on 340B participants; interfere with an individual's choice to receive drugs from a 340B participant; require 340B participants to identify which drugs fall within the program; or refuse to contract with a 340B participant on the basis that they utilize the program. Violations of this bill are subject to a civil penalty of not more than $5,000 per violation per day. These prohibitions also apply to prescription drug (Part D) sponsors under Medicare. The bill also provides for a process to prevent duplicate 340B drug discounts to states under Medicaid.
Minor League Baseball Relief Act This bill establishes a program for the relief of certain minor league baseball clubs and independent professional baseball clubs that experienced large business losses. The bill provides funding for the Small Business Administration to make grants to such clubs that experienced decreases in gross revenue in 2020 of at least 75%, as measured against revenues in 2019 (or, if revenues were negatively affected by a natural disaster or weather disruption in 2019, by the average of revenues over the prior three-year period). The source of funding for the grants shall be funds appropriated under enacted COVID-19 relief legislation that have not been obligated and are no longer being used to carry out activities authorized under those laws. Grant amounts provided to any club may not exceed $10 million.
Cultivating Opportunity and Recovery from the Pandemic through Service Act or the CORPS Act This bill makes several changes to AmeriCorps programs during the COVID-19 health emergency. Specifically, the bill: increases living allowance payments to program participants; increases educational awards for program participants; relaxes program requirements, including reducing the age requirement for AmeriCorps Seniors to 45 and older; creates a pilot program to allow state commissions to directly place individuals in approved AmeriCorps programs; and allows for targeted AmeriCorps grants to fund recovery projects in communities disproportionately affected by COVID-19. The bill also excludes AmeriCorps living allowance payments and educational awards from taxable income for program participants.
Keeping Our Promises Act This bill expands the list of diseases that are provided a presumption of service-connection for veterans who served in the Republic of Vietnam between January 9, 1962, and May 7, 1975. The bill extends through September 30, 2030, the requirement for the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to make determinations and submissions related to the connection between herbicide exposure and occurrence of disease. Additionally, the VA is prohibited from taking the costs of compensation into account when determining the association between exposure to an herbicide agent and occurrence of a disease. The bill requires the VA to determine within 120 days (currently 60) whether a presumption of service-connection is warranted for diseases covered by a National Academy of Sciences report.
This bill requires the Department of Veterans Affairs to ensure that, if it creates a presumption of service-connection between the occurrence of a disease and exposure to an herbicide agent while serving in the Armed Forces between January 9, 1962, and June 30, 1976, at a military base in Thailand, such presumption must also apply to exposure at any military base in Thailand, regardless of where on the base the veteran was located or what military job specialty the veteran performed.
