This bill repeals a provision authorizing the President to waive certain sanctions related to specified Russian natural gas pipeline projects, specifically Nord Stream 2 and TurkStream (and any successor projects). The bill also makes permanent the authority to impose such sanctions.
This joint resolution nullifies the rule titled Medicare and Medicaid Programs; Omnibus COVID-19 Health Care Staff Vaccination , which was issued by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services on November 5, 2021. The rule requires health care providers, as a condition of Medicare and Medicaid participation, to ensure that staff are fully vaccinated against COVID-19.
This resolution designates March 4, 2022, as "National Speech and Debate Education Day" to recognize the value of speech and debate programs in schools. It does not create new laws or allocate funds but encourages schools, communities, and individuals to celebrate these educational activities. The resolution highlights how speech and debate develop critical skills like communication, critical thinking, and civic engagement for students. It is a symbolic gesture with no direct impact on policy or affected populations.
This bill addresses the removal of federal protections for the gray wolf ( Canis lupus ). Specifically, the Department of the Interior must reinstate a rule that removed the gray wolf in the Western Great Lakes region from the endangered and threatened species list. The bill exempts the reinstated rule from judicial review. In addition, it exempts from judicial review a reinstated rule that removes the gray wolf in Wyoming from the list.
American Innovation and Choice Online Act This bill prohibits certain large online platforms from engaging in specified acts, including giving preference to their own products on the platform, unfairly limiting the availability on the platform of competing products from another business, or discriminating in the application or enforcement of the platform's terms of service among similarly situated users. Further, a platform may not materially restrict or impede the capacity of a competing business user to access or interoperate with the same platform, operating system, or hardware or software features. The bill also restricts the platform's use of nonpublic data obtained from or generated on the platform and prohibits the platform from restricting access to platform data generated by the activity of a competing business user. The bill also provides additional restrictions related to installing or uninstalling software, search or ranking functionality, and retaliation for contact with law enforcement regarding actual or potential violations of law. The bill establishes affirmative defenses for the prohibited conduct. The Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice must designate whether an entity is a platform covered by the bill, and both must carry out enforcement activities. The bill also provides for civil penalties, injunctions, and the forfeit of profits for repeat offenders.
This resolution supports reopening the U.S. Capitol Building and Senate Office Buildings to visitors under the public visitation policies that were in place before the COVID-19 pandemic.
Tracking Bad Actors Act of 2022 This bill requires federal financial regulators to jointly publish a database of persons convicted or held liable in criminal, civil, or administrative actions regarding financial services that are brought by federal financial regulators, the Department of Justice, certain self-regulating organizations, or state or local agencies that voluntarily submit such information. The Government Accountability Office must report on the database five years after the database is operational.
This bill prohibits the importation of all petroleum and petroleum products from Russia into the United States. It directly affects U.S. importers, companies, and businesses that currently bring Russian oil or refined oil products into the country. The law takes effect 15 days after enactment for new imports, with a transition rule allowing products already en route to the U.S. before enactment to still be imported. The bill cites Russia's invasion of Ukraine as justification under international trade security exceptions.
Department of Energy Science for the Future Act This bill supports specified research and development activities of the Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science. The bill establishes various programs, including a basic energy sciences research and development program; a Carbon Oxide Sequestration Research and Geologic Computing Initiative; a biological systems science and climate and environmental science research and development program; earth and environmental systems science research; a coastal zone research initiative; a Quantum User Expansion for Science and Technology program or QUEST program; a research program on the fundamental constituents of matter and energy and the nature of space and time; research activities on the nature of the primary contents of the universe, including the nature of dark energy and dark matter; a research program to discover and understand various forms of nuclear matter; a high intensity laser research initiative; and an Emerging Biological Threat Preparedness Research Initiative. The DOE Office of Science shall continue to leverage U.S. participation in the Large Hadron Collider and prioritize expanding international partnerships and investments in the Long-Baseline Neutrino Facility and Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment. DOE shall broaden its recruitment pool to increase participation from underrepresented institutions of higher education, including historically Black colleges and universities. DOE may not carry out certain gain-of-function research.
This bill requires the Secretary of Energy to assign energy emergency and energy security functions to an Assistant Secretary, including responsibilities with respect to infrastructure and cybersecurity. The Department of Energy must ensure that such functions are performed in coordination with relevant federal agencies.
Modernizing Access to our Public Land Act This bill directs the Department of the Interior, the Forest Service, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to jointly develop and adopt interagency standards to ensure compatibility and interoperability among federal databases for the collection and dissemination of certain data. Specifically, these requirements shall apply to outdoor recreation data related to federal lands and used to depict locations at which recreation uses are available to the public. Each such department shall digitize and make publicly available on their websites, as applicable, geographic information system mapping data that specifies, with respect to the relevant department, all federal interests in private land, including easements, reservations, and rights-of-way to which the federal government does not have a fee title interest, and that may be used to provide recreational access to the federal land. Interior, the Forest Service, and the Corps of Engineers must digitize and publish geographic information system mapping data that includes status information as to whether roads and trails are open or closed, the dates on which roads and trails are seasonally opened and closed, the types of vehicles that are allowed on each segment of roads and trails, and the boundaries of areas where hunting or recreational shooting is regulated or closed.
Ukraine Democracy Defense Lend-Lease Act of 2022 This bill temporarily waives certain requirements related to the President's authority to lend or lease defense articles if the defense articles are intended for Ukraine's government to help bolster Ukraine's defense capabilities and protect its civilians from a potential Russian military invasion. For FY2022 and FY2023, an agreement to lend or lease defense articles under this bill shall not be subject to certain requirements and provisions that typically apply to such lend-lease agreements, including (1) a requirement that prohibits a loan period from exceeding five years, (2) a requirement that the United States may recall the loaned defense article at any time, (3) a requirement that the receiving party has agreed to pay the United States all costs incurred in leasing the defense article, and (4) a provision that allows Congress to prohibit certain transfers of defense articles upon the enactment of a joint resolution. The President must establish expedited procedures to ensure the timely delivery of defense articles loaned or leased under this bill.
