Restoring Benefits to Defrauded Veterans Act This bill requires the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to pay certain reissued benefits (i.e., benefits that were misused by a fiduciary) to a beneficiary's estate in situations where a beneficiary predeceases a payment. The VA must pay such benefits to an individual or entity in the following order: the estate of the beneficiary, a successor fiduciary serving the beneficiary when the beneficiary died, or the next inheritor determined by a court of competent jurisdiction.
This bill requires the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to report on its policies and procedures relating to the usage and maintenance of video cameras for patient safety and law enforcement at VA medical facilities.
Conscience Protection Act of 2021 This bill provides statutory authority for certain protections for health care providers that refuse to participate in abortions based on religious beliefs or other convictions. Health care providers include individual professionals, medical facilities, health insurance organizations, and social services providers that refer clients to health care services. The federal government and entities that receive federal funding for health-related activities, including state and local governments, may not discriminate against a health care provider that refuses to be involved in, or provide coverage for, abortions. Currently, similar requirements apply to various related activities, including certain employment or personnel decisions (the Church Amendments), abortion services training (the Coats-Snowe Amendment), qualified health plans offered through health insurance exchanges, and annual appropriations bills for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and other federal agencies (the Weldon Amendment). The HHS Office for Civil Rights must investigate complaints of this kind of discrimination. Furthermore, HHS may terminate or reduce HHS funding for health-related activities if a person or entity fails to comply with nondiscrimination requirements. Additionally, the Department of Justice or any entity adversely affected by such discrimination may bring a civil action to obtain appropriate relief. A plaintiff does not need to seek or exhaust administrative remedies before bringing the action. A plaintiff may also bring an action, including one for money damages, against a governmental entity. In many cases, principles of sovereign immunity shield states and some localities from these kinds of actions.
HRES 815 is a symbolic resolution introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives on November 18, 2021. It expresses congressional support for National Rural Health Day, which recognizes the importance of rural health care and celebrates providers serving rural communities. The resolution highlights challenges like hospital closures and access barriers faced by rural health facilities but does not create new laws or funding. It simply affirms commitment to improving rural health care accessibility through policy, without specifying concrete changes. As a procedural resolution, it has no binding effect on legislation or funding.
Parents Bill of Rights Act This bill outlines various rights of parents and guardians regarding the elementary or secondary school education of their children. Among other requirements, the bill (1) directs local educational agencies to publicly post the curriculum for each elementary and secondary school grade level; and (2) requires schools to notify parents and guardians of their rights, including the right to review the school's curriculum and budget.
HR 6020, the Supporting Medicare Providers Act of 2021, extends temporary Medicare payment increases for physicians through 2022 instead of ending them on January 1, 2022. It updates specific dates in Medicare law (Section 1848(t) of the Social Security Act) to maintain current payment rates for doctors treating Medicare patients. This directly affects physicians and clinics participating in Medicare who rely on these temporary payment adjustments. The bill makes no new policy changes but ensures existing payment levels continue for providers during 2022.
This resolution supports the designation of November 9, 2021, as National Microtia and Atresia Awareness Day. Microtia is a congenital condition affecting the outer ear; it is often accompanied by aural atresia (the absence or closure of the external ear canal resulting in hearing loss).
This resolution modifies requirements for written statements required of nongovernmental witnesses who appear before standing committees of the House of Representatives. Specifically, the resolution eliminates a requirement that a witness disclose whether they are a fiduciary of an organization or entity that has an interest in the subject matter of the hearing, in favor of a requirement that they disclose whether they are a fiduciary of an entity that has received payments from a specified foreign entity. The resolution also requires nongovernmental witnesses to disclose in their written statement certain contracts with specified foreign persons or entities. If the committee determines that a witness knowingly and willfully failed to truthfully comply with such disclosure requirements, the witness is prohibited from testifying before the committee for three years.
Preventing Diabetes in Medicare Act of 2021 This bill extends Medicare coverage for medical nutrition therapy services to beneficiaries with pre-diabetes or risk factors for developing type-2 diabetes.
This bill increases the number of days—from 14 to 60—within which a practitioner must administer certain narcotic drugs (e.g., buprenorphine) to a patient for maintenance or detoxification treatment (i.e., substance use disorder treatment) after receiving the drugs from a pharmacy. Additionally, the bill revises the process by which the Department of Justice may modify the number of days within which such drugs must be administered.
Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection-Inspector General Reform Act of 2021 or the CFPB-IG Act of 2021 This bill establishes a separate Office of Inspector General for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). Currently, such oversight of the CFPB is combined with the Office of Inspector General for the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System.
Fairness for Federal Contractors Act of 2021 This bill prohibits executive agencies from requiring contractors to receive a COVID-19 vaccination. The bill also requires the Government Accountability Office to study the degree to which Executive Order 14042 (Ensuring Adequate COVID Safety Protocols for Federal Contractors) caused disruptions to federal contracts, supply chains, and transportation systems.
