Growing Climate Solutions Act of 2021 This bill authorizes the Department of Agriculture (USDA) to establish a voluntary Greenhouse Gas Technical Assistance Provider and Third-Party Verifier Certification Program to help reduce entry barriers into voluntary environmental credit markets for farmers, ranchers, and private forest landowners. A voluntary environmental credit market is a market through which agriculture and forestry credits may be bought or sold. Entities eligible to participate in the program are (1) providers of technical assistance to farmers, ranchers, or private forest landowners in carrying out sustainable land use management practices that prevent, reduce, or mitigate greenhouse gas emissions, or sequester carbon; or (2) third-party verifiers that conduct the verification of the processes described in the protocols for voluntary environmental credit markets. Among other requirements, USDA must publish (1) a list of protocols and qualifications for eligible entities; (2) information describing how entities may self-certify under the program; (3) information describing how entities may obtain the expertise to meet the protocols and qualifications; and (4) instructions and suggestions to assist farmers, ranchers, and private forest landowners in facilitating the development of agriculture or forestry credits and accessing voluntary environmental credit markets. USDA must also establish an advisory council to make recommendations regarding the list of protocols and qualifications, best practices, and voluntary environmental credit markets. The bill also rescinds certain funds provided in the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 and makes the funds available for the certification program.
Sponsored bills
Israel Relations Normalization Act of 2021 This bill requires the Department of State to take certain actions promoting the normalization of relations between Israel, Arab states, and other relevant countries and regions. Specifically, the State Department must develop a strategy on expanding and strengthening the Abraham Accords (the term used to refer collectively to agreements between Israel and the United Arab Emirates and between Israel and Bahrain marking the public normalization of relations between the two Arab countries and Israel). The strategy must include a description of how the U.S. government will encourage further normalization of relations with Israel. The State Department must report on the status of efforts to promote normalization of relations with Israel and other countries, including information on (1) laws that punish individuals for people-to-people relations with Israelis (i.e., anti-normalization laws), and (2) instances of the use of state-owned or state-operated media outlets to promote the prosecution of citizens or residents of Arab countries calling for peace with Israel.
HBOT Access Act of 2021 This bill requires the Department of Veterans Affairs to furnish hyperbaric oxygen therapy through a provider authorized by the Veterans Community Care Program to veterans who have a traumatic brain injury or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), are at high risk of suicide or self-harm, and have used at least two evidence-based treatment options for their condition. Veterans who receive hyperbaric oxygen therapy due to the enactment of this bill must be included in a study on individuals receiving such treatment to determine the efficacy and effectiveness of the treatment for PTSD and traumatic brain injury.
Lower Costs, More Cures Act of 2021 This bill establishes and modifies several programs and requirements to address prescription drug prices, particularly in relation to Medicare and Medicaid. Among other changes, the bill requires the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to publish certain information, as reported by pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs), relating to generic dispensing rates, drug discounts and rebates, and payments between PBMs, health plans, and pharmacies; caps annual out-of-pocket spending under the Medicare prescription drug benefit; allows prescription drug plan sponsors under the Medicare prescription drug benefit to offer additional plans in a region; establishes requirements under the Medicaid Drug Rebate Program for certain gene therapies for which prices are indexed to achieved outcomes; and establishes the position of Chief Pharmaceutical Negotiator in the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative.
Juneteenth National Independence Day Act This bill establishes Juneteenth National Independence Day, June 19, as a legal public holiday.
Revive Economic Growth and Reclaim Orphaned Wells Act of 2021 or the REGROW Act of 2021 This bill provides funding for grants to plug orphaned (i.e., abandoned) oil and gas wells, clean up pollution leaking from such wells, and conduct research and related activities. Specifically, the bill provides funding for a grant program within the Department of the Interior to plug and clean up orphaned wells located on federal, state, tribal, and private land. In addition, the bill provides funding to the Department of Energy and the Oil and Gas Compact Commission for conducting research and development activities to assist federal land management agencies, states, and Indian tribes in (1) identifying and characterizing undocumented orphaned wells, and (2) mitigating the environmental risks of undocumented orphaned wells.
This resolution designates June 19, 2021, as Juneteenth Independence Day to commemorate the end of slavery in the United States.
Metropolitan Statistical Area Preservation Act This bill prohibits the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) from establishing, for purposes of designating areas as metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs), a minimum population for the urban area of such MSA that is more than 50,000. The OMB may, for statistical purposes only, establish other statistical area designations with higher minimum population requirements for such urban areas.
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.