This resolution expresses the sense of the Senate 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2020 final rule titled The Navigable Waters Protection Rule: Definition of "Waters of the United States" should not be withdrawn or vacated.
Advancing Connectivity during the Coronavirus to Ensure Support for Seniors Act or the ACCESS Act This bill provides funding to increase access to telehealth services and virtual visits in skilled and other nursing facilities during the COVID-19 (i.e., coronavirus disease 2019) emergency. The bill designates the funding as emergency spending, which is exempt from discretionary spending limits. Specifically, the bill provides additional funding for FY2021, to remain available through FY2022, to the Telehealth Resource Center Program to address barriers to telehealth faced by skilled and other nursing facilities. The Office for the Advancement of Telehealth within the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy in the Health Resources and Services Administration manages this program. In addition, the bill provides funding for FY2021, to remain available through one month after the emergency period ends, to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) for grants to nursing facilities to support virtual visits for residents during the COVID-19 emergency. HHS must develop relevant guidance for these grants within 15 days. HHS must also coordinate with the Federal Communications Commission on these grants.
Justice for Victims of Sanctuary Cities Act of 2021 This bill provides a private right of action against state and local jurisdictions with certain policies that limit cooperation with federal immigration enforcement efforts, and contains additional provisions related to such jurisdictions. Currently, such cooperation is generally not required. An individual (or certain relatives of such an individual) who is the victim of any felony for which an alien has been arrested, convicted, or sentenced to a prison term of at least one year may sue a state or local jurisdiction if the jurisdiction failed to comply with (1) certain Department of Homeland Security (DHS) requests related to arresting and detaining aliens, and (2) a DHS request to detain the alien in question or provide a notification about the release of the alien. A jurisdiction that accepts certain federal grants may not assert immunity in such a civil action. A jurisdiction (or employee of a jurisdiction) that complies with certain DHS detainer requests shall be deemed to be acting as an agent of DHS. A complying jurisdiction or employee of the jurisdiction shall not be liable in any lawsuit relating to compliance with such requests. In a lawsuit against an employee of the jurisdiction, the United States shall be substituted in as the defendant, and remedies shall be limited to provisions for bringing tort claims against the federal government.
Accountability Through Electronic Verification Act This bill expands the E-Verify program by requiring all employers to use it and permanently reauthorizes the program. Currently, E-Verify use is voluntary for most employers, although some states mandate its use. All employers shall use E-Verify to confirm the identity and employment eligibility of all recruited, referred, or hired individuals, including current employees who were never verified under the program. Failure to use E-Verify shall create a rebuttable presumption that the employer is violating immigration law. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services shall generate weekly reports about individuals who have received a final nonconfirmation of employment eligibility. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) shall use the report to enforce immigration laws. DHS shall establish a program to help certain small businesses verify employee eligibility. DHS shall also update E-Verify's design to help prevent and detect fraud and identity theft. The bill increases civil and criminal penalties for hiring unauthorized aliens. DHS shall debar repeat offenders and those criminally convicted from holding federal contracts, grants, or cooperative agreements. The Social Security Administration, Internal Revenue Service, Department of the Treasury, and DHS shall jointly establish a program to share information to help identify unauthorized aliens. The bill establishes the Employer Compliance Inspection Center within Homeland Security Investigations of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The center's duties include processing I-9 employment eligibility verification forms and ensuring compliance with employment eligibility laws. DHS shall report to Congress on ways to simplify procedures relating to I-9 forms and on whether the I-9 process should be eliminated.
Alzheimer's Caregiver Support Act This bill authorizes the Department of Health and Human Services to award grants to public and nonprofit private health care providers to expand training and support services for families and caregivers of individuals living with Alzheimer's disease or a related dementia.
Ally's Act This bill requires private health insurance plans to cover certain hearing devices and systems (e.g., bone-anchored auditory implants) and related items and services. The bill also imposes limits on cost sharing.
Health Care Fairness for Military Families Act of 2021 This bill modifies the extension of dependent coverage under TRICARE by allowing a dependent under the age of 26 to be covered without an additional premium. Additionally, the bill authorizes such coverage of dependents without a premium regardless of whether they are eligible to enroll in an employer sponsored plan.
This concurrent resolution authorizes the use of the rotunda of the Capitol for the lying in state, upon death, of the last surviving Medal of Honor recipient for acts performed during World War II, if the individual or their next of kin so elects.
This joint resolution proposes an amendment to the Constitution requiring the Supreme Court to be composed of not more than nine Justices.
See Something, Say Something Online Act of 2021 This bill requires an interactive computer service (e.g., a social media company) that detects a suspicious transmission to submit a suspicious transmission activity report (STAR) describing the suspicious transmission. A suspicious transmission is any post, message, comment, tag, or other user-generated content or transmission that commits, facilitates, incites, promotes, or otherwise assists the commission of a major crime. Each STAR must be submitted to the Department of Justice and contain (1) the name, location, and other identification information submitted by the user; (2) the date and nature of the user-generated content or transmission detected for suspicious activity; and (3) any relevant text, information, and metadata related to the suspicious transmission. Any provider of an interactive computer service that fails to report a known suspicious transmission shall not be immune from liability for such transmission and may be held liable as a publisher for the related suspicious transmission.
Drug-Free Communities Pandemic Relief Act This bill authorizes the Drug-Free Communities Support Program, subject to certain limitations, to waive matching funds requirements applicable to certain grants for reducing substance use among youth. Before waiving these requirements, the program must determine that a grantee is unable to raise funds because of the COVID-19 (i.e. coronavirus disease 2019) emergency. Currently, the Office of National Drug Control Policy administers this program, and community coalitions that receive the grants must match a specified percentage of the federal award amount with nonfederal funds, including in-kind contributions.
This concurrent resolution authorizes the use of the rotunda of the Capitol to honor, upon death, the last surviving Medal of Honor recipient for acts performed during World War II, at the election of the individual or their next of kin.
