United States · United States Congress · 13 September 2017
Recognize, Assist, Include, Support, and Engage Family Caregivers Act of 2017 or the RAISE Family Caregivers Act This bill directs the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to develop and make publicly available a National Family Caregiving Strategy that identifies recommended actions for recognizing and supporting family caregivers in a manner that reflects their diverse needs. HHS shall convene a Family Caregiving Advisory Council to advise the department on recognizing and supporting family caregivers. The council shall terminate after five years.
United States · United States Congress · 13 September 2017
Community Health Investment, Modernization, and Excellence Act of 2017 This bill amends the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act to extend through FY2022 and make appropriations for enhanced funding for the community health centers program.
United States · United States Congress · 13 September 2017
Freight Infrastructure Reinvestment Act of 2017 This bill amends the Internal Revenue Code to impose a 1% tax on certain ground transportation of property within the United States. In addition, the bill establishes: (1) a National Freight Mobility Infrastructure Fund, consisting of amounts equivalent to taxes received under the bill; and (2) a National Freight Mobility Infrastructure Improvement Program, through which the Department of Transportation is authorized to make competitive grants for eligible costs associated with projects to improve freight mobility.
United States · United States Congress · 13 September 2017
Comprehensive Consumer Credit Reporting Reform Act of 2017 This bill amends the Fair Credit Reporting Act to revise requirements for disputes regarding consumer credit information reported by a consumer reporting agency (CRA). The bill prescribes requirements for: record maintenance by furnishers of credit information, CRA action when notified of inaccurate or incomplete information from furnishers, and injunctive relief for consumers in the event of noncompliance. The bill limits the circumstances in which a CRA may furnish a consumer report for employment purposes. No CRA may furnish a consumer report containing any adverse item of information relating to a delinquent or defaulted private education loan of a borrower who has a specified demonstrated history of loan repayment. The bill revises requirements relating to information contained in credit reports, requires removal of adverse information that resulted from specified fraudulent lending activity, and shortens the time period adverse information stays on reports. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) must issue final regulations for development of credit scoring models. CRAs must disclose free credit scores to consumers with their free annual consumer reports. Specified lenders must give consumers free copies of any consumer reports and credit scores they used for underwriting before consumers sign the respective loan agreements. The bill establishes requirements related to credit report sales, required disclosures, and credit freezes. The CFPB is directed to create a nationwide CRA registry.
United States · United States Congress · 7 September 2017
Protect DREAMer Confidentiality Act of 2017 This bill directs the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to protect individual application information submitted to DHS after June 15, 2012, as part of a request for consideration or reconsideration for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program from disclosure to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) or U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) for any purpose other than implementing such program. Such information may be shared with national security and law enforcement agencies: (1) to identify or prevent fraudulent claims, (2) for national security purposes relating to an individual application, or (3) for the investigation or prosecution of a felony not related to immigration status. DHS may not refer an individual whose case has been deferred pursuant to the DACA program to ICE, CBP, the Department of Justice, or any other law enforcement agency.
United States · United States Congress · 7 September 2017
Confederate Monument Removal Act This bill amends the Revised Statutes of the United States to prohibit statues of certain persons who served voluntarily with the Confederate States of America from being displayed in National Statuary Hall in the U.S. Capitol. The Architect of the Capitol shall identify all such statues and, subject to the approval of the Joint Committee on the Library of Congress, arrange for their removal from the Capitol within 120 days. States may substitute statues in accordance with the requirements and procedures of the Revised Statutes and the Legislative Branch Appropriations Act, 2001. The bill makes appropriations for the activities in the bill.
United States · United States Congress · 18 August 2017
Censures and condemns President Trump for his inadequate response to the violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, on August 12, 2017, for his failure to condemn the White supremacist groups responsible for actions of domestic terrorism, for asserting that "both sides" were to blame and excusing the violent behavior of participants in the Unite the Right rally, and for employing people with ties to White supremacist movements in the White House. Urges President Trump to fire all White House advisors who have urged him to cater to the White supremacist movement.
United States · United States Congress · 15 August 2017
Special Counsel Independence Protection Act This bill sets forth requirements and limitations with respect to the removal from office of a special counsel appointed by the Attorney General, or of another official appointed by the Attorney General who exercises a similar degree of independence from the Department of Justice (DOJ) chain of command. Specifically, a special counsel or other appointed individual may be removed only if: (1) the Attorney General files an action in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia and files a contemporaneous notice of the action with Congress; and (2) the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia issues an order finding misconduct, dereliction of duty, incapacity, conflict of interest, or other good cause, including violation of DOJ policies.
United States · United States Congress · 15 August 2017
Condemns the role of white supremacist groups in inciting violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, and denounces the increase in fear-mongering, racism, anti-Semitism, bigotry, and violence by white supremacists, neo-Nazis, the Ku Klux Klan, and other hate groups. Offers condolences to the families of those who died in Charlottesville, and wishes quick recoveries for those injured. Urges President Trump to: (1) disavow any support he has received from hate groups, (2) terminate the employment of any White House staff and administration officials who have supported white supremacists, and (3) use the office of the President and resources of the Cabinet to address the growing prevalence of domestic hate groups.
United States · United States Congress · 4 August 2017
Free File Permanence Act of 2017 This bill requires the Department of the Treasury to continue to operate the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Free File Program. The program must work with state government agencies to enhance and expand the use of the program, while continuing to: provide free commercial-type online individual income tax preparation and electronic filing services to the lowest 70% of taxpayers by income; provide all taxpayers (regardless of income) with a basic, online electronic fillable forms utility; and work with the private sector to provide the free tax preparation and electronic filing services. Treasury must work with the private sector through the program to identify and implement innovative new program features to improve and simplify the taxpayer's experience with completing and filing individual income tax returns. The IRS and members of the tax software and electronic industry involved in the program must support and promote improvements within the program by mutually testing, piloting, and offering innovative solutions to: simplify the tax system, reduce compliance and reporting burdens, increase tax return accuracy through financial data authentication, strengthen the tax system against fraud through cybersecurity collaboration, avoid duplication, and maximize the use of electronic technology. The Electronic Tax Administration Advisory Committee must report annually to Congress regarding the program, including website statistics, cybersecurity standards, demographic information, marketing and education efforts, simplifications and innovations, and state and local participation.
United States · United States Congress · 28 July 2017
Rural Economic Vitalization Act This bill authorizes the voluntary waiver of permits or leases for grazing on federal lands managed by the Department of Agriculture or the Department of the Interior. If a permit or lease is waived by a permittee or lessee, the appropriate department must: accept and terminate the permit or lease, refrain from issuing any new grazing permit or lease within the grazing allotment covered by the permit or lease, and ensure a permanent end to livestock grazing on the allotment covered by the permit or lease. If an allotment covered by a waiver is also covered by another permit or lease that is not waived, the department must reduce the level of commercial livestock grazing on the allotment to reflect the waiver. The departments must not accept more than 100 grazing permits and leases per year, in the aggregate, under this authority.
United States · United States Congress · 28 July 2017
Real Education for Healthy Youth Act of 2017 This bill requires the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), in coordination with the Department of Education, to award grants for: (1) comprehensive sex education for adolescents, (2) comprehensive sex education provided by institutions of higher education, and (3) training faculty and staff to teach comprehensive sex education to adolescents. HHS must enter a contract with a nonprofit organization to evaluate and report on these grants. The bill makes appropriations to carry out the the bill. Grants may not be used for health education programs that: withhold health-promoting or lifesaving information about sexuality-related topics, including HIV; are medically inaccurate or have been scientifically shown to be ineffective; promote gender or racial stereotypes; are insensitive and unresponsive to the needs of certain youth, including survivors of sexual abuse or assault, sexually active youth, pregnant or parenting youth, or individuals with varying gender identities or sexual orientations; or are inconsistent with the ethical imperatives of medicine and public health. The bill amends the Public Health Service Act to revise requirements and eliminate prohibitions regarding the content of educational programs funded through the AIDS prevention program. The bill amends the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to allow funding to be used for: (1) materials or programs that promote or encourage sexual activity, and (2) contraceptive distribution in schools. The bill amends title V (Maternal and Child Health Services) of the Social Security Act to repeal the program for abstinence education. Unobligated funds for abstinence education are transferred and made available to carry out this bill.
United States · United States Congress · 28 July 2017
Requests the President and directs the U.S. Attorney General to transmit to the House of Representatives copies of any document or communication in their possession that refers or relates to: the firing of James B. Comey as Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation; the participation of Attorney General Jeff Sessions in Comey's removal; the scope or application of Sessions's recusal from investigations of matters related to the presidential campaign and the application of such recusal to Comey's removal; the scope or application of executive privilege as applied to Sessions's testimony before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence on June 13, 2017; President Trump's Twitter statement on May 12, 2017, that "James Comey better hope that there are no tapes of our conversations before he starts leaking to the press!"; any system used by the White House to secretly record conversations between the President and Comey; any contemporaneous account of any meeting between such individuals; any communication Donald Trump, Jr., Paul Manafort, or Jared Kushner may have had with Sessions or Comey that relates to their June 9, 2016, meeting with Natalia Veselnitskaya, Rinat Akhmetshin, and Irakly Kaveladze; any analysis regarding the violation of any criminal law with respect to such meeting as it may pertain to a federal campaign's attempt to obtain information that would incriminate Hillary Clinton from a foreign government; and the disposition or review of any application for a security clearance submitted by Kushner or Sessions.
United States · United States Congress · 28 July 2017
American Hope Act of 2017 This bill amends the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 to allow a state to extend higher-education benefits to state residents regardless of whether they are lawfully present in the United States. In addition, the bill requires the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to cancel the removal, and adjust the status, of certain residents who entered the United States as children prior to 2017. An individual whose status has been so adjusted shall be considered to have obtained conditional permanent-resident status, valid for a period of eight years and subject to termination on the basis of specified deportable conduct. In order for an individual's conditional status to become permanent, the individual must timely file with DHS a petition indicating, among other specified information, that the individual has maintained conditional permanent-resident status for at least three years. Any period of time in which the individual was granted deferred action pursuant to the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals policy shall count toward this three-year period. Information furnished by an individual in such a petition may not be used by an officer or employee of the United States to initiate removal proceedings. The bill also: (1) allows DHS to establish a competitive grant program for the provision of nonprofit assistance to eligible applicants for conditional permanent-resident status; (2) establishes the Presidential Award for Business Leadership in Promoting American Citizenship; (3) allows the Department of Education to develop an open-source, electronic English-learning program; (4) specifies requirements related to federal higher-education assistance for individuals with conditional permanent-resident status; and (5) requires the Government Accountability Office to report on specified data related to the bill.
United States · United States Congress · 28 July 2017
South Asian Heart Health Awareness and Research Act of 2017 This bill amends the Public Health Service Act to direct the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to make grants to states for the purpose of promoting awareness of the increasing prevalence of heart disease, including its relationship to type 2 diabetes, in South Asian communities in the United States. For the purpose of conducting research and related activities with respect to cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, and other health-related ailments among South Asian communities in the United States, the National Institutes of Health, in coordination with the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute: (1) may conduct or support, through funding opportunity announcements, grants, or cooperative agreements, basic, clinical, and translational research; and (2) may award grants and cooperative agreements to public or nonprofit private entities. The bill amends the Food, Agriculture, Conservation, and Trade Act of 1990 to authorize the Department of Agriculture to award research and extension grants for developing and disseminating science-based tools and strategies to promote heart healthy nutrition among South Asian communities in the United States. The bill expresses the sense of Congress that medical schools in the United States that are accredited by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education should include as part of their nutrition curriculum a focus on South Asian diet and ways to achieve optimal nutrition in South Asian communities.
United States · United States Congress · 28 July 2017
Youth Access to Sexual Health Services Act of 2017 This bill authorizes the Department of Health and Human Services to award grants to support the access of marginalized youth to sexual health services such as sexual health education and contraception. Marginalized youth are disadvantaged individuals under the age of 26. Grants may be awarded to state or local health or education agencies, public schools, nonprofit organizations, hospitals, Indian tribes, and tribal organizations. Grants may be used to: (1) provide sexual health information to marginalized youth, (2) promote effective communication regarding sexual health among marginalized youth, (3) promote and support opportunities for school-age parents, and (3) train individuals who work with marginalized youth to promote sexual health and the development of safe and supportive environments. Grants may not be used to provide access to health services that: (1) are medically unsound; (2) withhold sexual health-promoting or lifesaving information; (3) promote gender stereotypes; or (4) are insensitive or unresponsive to the needs of young people, including youth with varying gender identities and sexual orientations, sexually active youth, pregnant or parenting youth, and survivors of sexual abuse or assault. Unobligated funds for abstinence education are transferred and made available for these grants.
United States · United States Congress · 28 July 2017
State Marihuana And Regulatory Tolerance Enforcement Act This bill amends the Controlled Substances Act to prohibit federal enforcement of marijuana offenses in a state that: (1) requests a waiver from the Department of Justice (DOJ) certifying that it legalized marijuana; (2) certifies that it has or will have a regulatory scheme sufficient to protect federal interests (e.g., preventing marijuana distribution to minors); and (3) agrees to study and report on certain outcomes. DOJ may revoke the waiver of a state that fails to meets the conditions.
United States · United States Congress · 28 July 2017
Expresses the sense of Congress regarding: elimination of homelessness by 2020; expanded funding for the low-income rental housing assistance program, the Community Development Block Grant program, the HOME Investment Partnerships program, the McKinney-Vento homeless assistance program, and the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit program; substantial additional funding to the National Housing Trust Fund; increased funding for job training and related programs; a federal "housing first" policy linking housing with supportive services for persons with special needs; and permanent housing connected to employment, transportation, and job training programs for American families and individuals.
United States · United States Congress · 27 July 2017
Background Check Completion Act of 2017 This bill amends the federal criminal code to prohibit a licensed gun dealer from transferring a firearm to an unlicensed person prior to completion of a background check. (Current law permits a licensed gun dealer to transfer a firearm to an unlicensed person if a submitted background check remains incomplete after three business days.)
United States · United States Congress · 27 July 2017
Customer Non-Discrimination Act This bill amends the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to include sex, sexual orientation, and gender identity among the prohibited categories of discrimination or segregation in places of public accommodation. It defines: "sex" to include a sex stereotype, sexual orientation or gender identity, and pregnancy, childbirth, or a related medical condition; "sexual orientation" as homosexuality, heterosexuality, or bisexuality; and "gender identity" as gender-related identity, appearance, mannerisms, or characteristics, regardless of the individual's designated sex at birth. The bill expands the categories of public accommodations to include places or establishments that provide: exhibitions, recreation, exercise, amusement, gatherings, or displays; goods, services, or programs, including a store, a shopping center, an online retailer or service provider, a salon, a bank, a gas station, a food bank, a service or care center, a shelter, a travel agency, a funeral parlor, or a health care, accounting, or legal service; or transportation services. "Establishment" shall not be construed to be limited to a physical facility or place. Protections against discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, or national origin must include protections against discrimination based on: (1) an association with another person who is a member of such a protected class; or (2) a perception or belief, even if inaccurate, that an individual is a member of such a protected class. The bill prohibits the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993 from providing a claim, defense, or basis for challenging such protections. The bill prohibits denial of an individual's access to a shared facility (including a restroom, a locker room, and a dressing room) that is in accordance with the individual's gender identity.
United States · United States Congress · 27 July 2017
Opioid and Heroin Abuse Crisis Investment Act of 2017 This bill amends the 21st Century Cures Act to make appropriations for FY2019-FY2023 for state grants to address the opioid abuse crisis. States receiving a grant must report on substance abuse services provided to underserved populations, including Native Americans.
United States · United States Congress · 27 July 2017
Local and Independent Television Protection Act of 2017 This bill requires the Federal Communications Commission to amend the National Television Multiple Ownership Rule to eliminate the UHF discount by increasing from 50% to 100% the number of attributed television households in an ultrahigh frequency (UHF) television station's designated market area. (The number of attributed television households in a UHF television station's designated area is used to calculate the total number of television households an entity with a cognizable interest in more than one television station reaches nationally. A broadcast license cannot be granted or transferred if such license would result in the total number of television households reached nationally by an entity exceeds 39%.) This change in the National Television Multiple Ownership Rule does not apply to an entity that had a national television audience exceeding 39% prior to September 26, 2013, if such an entity exceeds the limit only because of the increased number of television households attributed to the entity's UHF television stations.
United States · United States Congress · 27 July 2017
Food Recovery Act of 2017 This bill provides funding and establishes requirements to reduce food waste and standardize date labeling on food. The bill authorizes grants or loans for activities related to: raising awareness about wasted food and food recovery efforts to reduce the quantity of wasted food, reducing food waste at schools and farms, and installing facilities that include composting or anaerobic digesters that use food or crop waste to produce energy. The bill provides funds for: (1) state storage and distribution costs under the Emergency Food Assistance Program, and (2) national media campaigns to decrease food waste. The bill also: establishes a Food Recovery Liaison within the Department of Agriculture (USDA), specifies that composting is eligible for support under USDA's conservation programs, expands the tax deduction for charitable contributions to include contributions of food inventory for nonprofit retail sales, expands the liability protections for the donation of food, and requires companies that receive federal food service contracts to donate surplus food to nonprofit organizations that assist food-insecure people. The bill requires date labels on food packaging to include the phrases "best if used by" to indicate food quality and "use by" to warn of food that may be unsafe to eat after a specified date. Labelers may include a quality date on packaging, but must include a safety date on ready-to-eat products. No one may prohibit the sale, donation, or use of a product based on passage of the quality date of the product.
United States · United States Congress · 26 July 2017
Dream Act of 2017 This bill directs the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to cancel removal and grant lawful permanent resident status on a conditional basis to an alien who is inadmissible or deportable or is in temporary protected status who: (1) has been continuously physically present in the United States for four years preceding this bill's enactment; (2) was younger than 18 years of age on the initial date of U.S. entry; (3) is not inadmissible on criminal, security, terrorism, or other grounds; (4) has not participated in persecution; (5) has not been convicted of specified federal or state offenses; and (6) has fulfilled specified educational requirements. DHS shall cancel the removal of, and adjust to the status of an alien lawfully admitted for permanent residence on a conditional basis, an alien who was granted Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) status unless the alien has engaged in conduct that would make the alien ineligible for DACA. DHS may not: (1) grant conditional permanent resident status without the submission of biometric and background data, and completion of background and medical checks; and (2) disclose or use information provided in applications filed under this bill or in DACA requests for immigration enforcement purposes. The bill prescribes the conditions under which DHS: (1) may terminate a person's conditional permanent resident status, and (2) shall adjust a person's conditional status to permanent resident status. The bill: (1) sets forth documentation requirements for establishing DACA eligibility, and (2) repeals the denial of an unlawful alien's eligibility for higher education benefits based on state residence.
United States · United States Congress · 25 July 2017
529 Opening Paths To Invest in Our Nation's Students Act or the 529 OPTIONS Act This bill amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow distributions from qualified tuition programs (known as 529 plans) to be used for certain expenses associated with registered apprenticeship programs. The bill expands the definition of "qualified higher education expenses" for which tax-free distributions are allowed to include: (1) books, supplies, and equipment required for the enrollment or attendance of a designated beneficiary in an apprenticeship program registered and certified with the Department of Labor; (2) child care at a licensed day care center, and transportation, in connection with such enrollment or attendance; and (3) costs associated with obtaining an industry certification or other credential in connection with an apprenticeship program.
United States · United States Congress · 25 July 2017
Pesticide Protection Act of 2017 This bill requires the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to cancel the registration of the pesticide chlorpyrifos under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act. The bill prohibits the sale and use of existing stock of chlorpyrifos. The bill requires the EPA to ban chlorpyrifos residue on food under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act.
United States · United States Congress · 25 July 2017
Teaching Health Centers Graduate Medical Education Extension Act of 2017 This bill amends the Public Health Service Act to extend and expand funding through FY2020 for graduate medical education programs at teaching centers (which train medical residents in primary care specialties). The bill allows funds to be used for maintaining, expanding, and establishing graduate medical residency programs.
United States · United States Congress · 24 July 2017
Celebrates the 100th anniversary of the Hiram M. Chittenden Locks. Commends the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for its stewardship of the locks. Recognizes: (1) the significant contribution of the locks to the national maritime economy, and (2) the need for federal investments in modernizing the locks and continuing to educate the community about their history and the preservation of natural resources.
United States · United States Congress · 24 July 2017
Recognizes that international education and exchange programs enhance national security, significantly further U.S. foreign policy goals and economic competitiveness, and promote mutual understanding and cooperation among nations. Encourages such programs to ensure that the United States maintains a broad international knowledge base. Supports such programs as a means to strengthen foreign language skills and foster a better understanding of the world by U.S. citizens. Commends American and international education and exchange participants, volunteers, educators, program alumni, host families, high schools, institutions of higher education, and host communities for their involvement in such programs. Celebrates the integral role such programs play for the United States and its people.
United States · United States Congress · 20 July 2017
Advancing Care for Exceptional Kids Act or the ACE Kids Act This bill amends title XIX (Medicaid) of the Social Security Act to establish a state Medicaid option to provide for medical assistance with respect to coordinated care provided through a health home (i.e., a designated provider or team of health-care professionals) for children with medically complex conditions. A state shall make payments for such health-home services regardless of whether they are provided through a fee-for-service or managed-care system. For an initial period of eight fiscal-year quarters, the federal matching rate applicable to such payments shall be increased by 20 percentage points, not to exceed 90%. A state that exercises this option shall specify its methodology for determining payment and evaluating quality of care, in accordance with requirements established by the bill. In addition, the state must meet specified requirements regarding hospital referrals, out-of-state providers, education and outreach, data collection, and reporting. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services must issue guidance on best practices for using out-of-state providers to provide care to children with medically complex conditions. The Medicaid and Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) Payment and Access Commission must report to Congress and to the Department of Health and Human Services on specified matters related to children with medically complex conditions.
United States · United States Congress · 20 July 2017
Affirms U.S. leadership and commitment to improving access to quality education for the poorest and most marginalized children and youth worldwide. Supports the mission and goals of the Global Partnership for Education (GPE) to mobilize global and national efforts to contribute to the achievement of equitable, quality education and learning. Recognizes that U.S. investments in bilateral basic education are complemented by GPE's education systems approach and convening authority. Encourages continued commitment and investments by the U.S. government, international donors, private foundations, and private sector donors through the GPE to the global effort to promote children and youth attending school.
United States · United States Congress · 20 July 2017
Expresses support for the goals and ideals of National Clinicians HIV/AIDS Testing and Awareness Day. Encourages: (1) clinicians to become actively involved in HIV/AIDS awareness, testing, treatment, and referral services; (2) the media to observe this day by educating clinicians about the important role they play in providing access to HIV/AIDS services and by educating clinicians and the public about the benefits of HIV testing; and (3) individuals to get tested for HIV and educate themselves about the prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDS.
United States · United States Congress · 19 July 2017
Supplemental Security Income Restoration Act of 2017 This bill modifies the Supplemental Security Income benefits program, including by raising the asset limit and otherwise revising provisions related to program eligibility.
United States · United States Congress · 18 July 2017
Applauds the United Nations General Assembly for uniting to honor President Mandela's contribution to international peace and freedom. Recognizes the global impact of President Mandela's legacy and commitment to nonviolence, respect, and dialogue. Supports the international community's recognition of United Nations Nelson Mandela International Day. Urges all U.S. citizens to reflect on the importance of peace, tolerance, democracy, human rights, and reconciliation in honor of Nelson Mandela International Day.
United States · United States Congress · 17 July 2017
President John F. Kennedy Commemorative Coin Act This bill directs the Department of the Treasury to mint and issue not more than 500,000 $1 silver coins in commemoration of President John F. Kennedy. The bill requires all sales of such coins to include a surcharge of $10 per coin, which shall be paid by Treasury to the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation to support the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum.
United States · United States Congress · 17 July 2017
LGBT Data Inclusion Act This bill requires federal agencies that collect information through a survey that includes demographic data (where subjects self-report information or a proxy provides information about the subject or responds for all persons in a household) to establish data standards that require: a determination of which existing data sets exclude information about sexual orientation and gender identity; an identification, and a use, of appropriate methods to include questions on sexual orientation and gender identity in surveys that facilitate categorization and voluntary participation and that preserve privacy and confidentiality; and a routine assessment of needed changes in survey methods related to asking such questions. Agencies that publish reports relying on survey demographic data must include information on sexual orientation and gender identity. Individuals shall not be: (1) required by this bill to disclose their sexual orientation or gender identity to an agency; or (2) subjected to fines or penalties for refusing to answer, or providing a false answer to, any survey question regarding gender identity or sexual orientation. Nothing in this bill shall be construed to permit the use of such collected information in a manner that would adversely affect an individual.
United States · United States Congress · 14 July 2017
Requests the President and directs the U.S. Attorney General to transmit to the House of Representatives copies of any document or communication in their possession that refers or relates to: the firing of James B. Comey as Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the participation of Attorney General Jeff Sessions in Comey's removal, the scope or application of Sessions's recusal from investigations of matters related to the presidential campaign and the application of such recusal to Comey's removal, the scope or application of executive privilege as applied to Sessions's testimony before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence on June 13, 2017, President Trump's Twitter statement on May 12, 2017, that "James Comey better hope that there are no tapes of our conversations before he starts leaking to the press!", any system used by the White House to secretly record conversations between the President and Comey, and any contemporaneous account of meetings between such individuals.
United States · United States Congress · 14 July 2017
Marketplace Certainty Act This bill expands eligibility for additional cost-sharing reductions that apply to certain enrollees of qualified health plans.
United States · United States Congress · 13 July 2017
Justice is Not For Sale Act of 2017 This bill requires federal, state, and local governments to directly operate and perform core services at adult prisons and detention centers. It reestablishes parole for eligible federal prisoners sentenced on or after January 1, 2017. (The Sentencing Reform Act of 1984 eliminated parole for offenders convicted of federal crimes committed after November 1, 1987.) It requires financial service providers at prisons and detention centers to impose reasonable and proportional fees and charges for money transfer services. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau must assess such fees or charges. The Federal Communications Commission must cap prison phone call rates and connection charges, require telecommunications providers to offer collect and debit account call services, restrict commission payments and ancillary charges, and require correctional facility administrators to allow more than one telecommunications provider. The bill eliminates the requirement for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to maintain at least 34,000 detention beds. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) must establish alternatives to detention programs and determine detention bed capacity based solely on detention needs. DHS must conduct annual inspections and routine oversight of detention facilities. The bill prohibits family detention; requires alternatives to detention programs for detained family units; and prohibits separating a family to detain a family member, except to detain an alien parent who is dangerous and inadmissible on terrorism grounds. Finally, the bill establishes a private right of action for a person aggrieved by a violation of this bill.
United States · United States Congress · 13 July 2017
Do No Harm Act This bill makes the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993 (RFRA) inapplicable to federal laws (or implementations of laws) that: protect against discrimination or the promotion of equal opportunity, including the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Family Medical Leave Act, Executive Order 11246 (concerning equal employment opportunity), the Violence Against Women Act, and the Department of Housing and Urban Development's (HUD's) rules entitled "Equal Access to Housing in HUD Programs Regardless of Sexual Orientation or Gender Identity"; require employers to provide wages, other compensation, or benefits, including leave; protect collective activity in the workplace; protect against child labor, abuse, or exploitation; or provide for access to, information about, referrals for, provision of, or coverage for, any health care item or service. Under current law, RFRA prohibits the government from substantially burdening a person's exercise of religion even if the burden results from a rule of general applicability, except in furtherance of a compelling governmental interest when using the least restrictive means. The bill makes RFRA inapplicable to: (1) terms requiring goods, services, functions, or activities to be performed or provided to beneficiaries of government contracts, grants, cooperative agreements, or awards; or (2) denials of a person's full and equal enjoyment of a government-provided good, service, benefit, facility, privilege, advantage, or accommodation. To assert a RFRA claim or defense in a judicial proceeding, the government must be a party to the proceeding.
United States · United States Congress · 12 July 2017
Zero Tolerance for Domestic Abusers Act This bill amends the federal criminal code to: state that the term "intimate partner" includes a dating partner and any other person subject to a protection order under state domestic or family violence law; and expand the term "misdemeanor crime of domestic violence" to include the use or attempted use of physical force, or the threatened use of a deadly weapon, by a current or former intimate partner. The bill makes it a crime to knowingly sell or dispose of a firearm to a person who has been convicted of a misdemeanor crime of stalking. It also makes it a crime for such convicted stalker to receive or possess a firearm.
United States · United States Congress · 11 July 2017
Every Kid Outdoors Act This bill directs the Departments of the Interior, Agriculture, Commerce, and the Army to establish the Every Kids Outdoors program to provide fourth graders free access to federal lands and waters to which the public has access. Such Departments shall issue such students annual passes, upon request, which shall allow free access to: a per-vehicle fee area for the student and any passengers accompanying the student in a private, noncommercial vehicle or for up to three adults accompanying the student on bicycles; or a per-person fee area for the student and up to three adults accompanying the student. In carrying out such program, such departments: may collaborate with state park systems that opt to implement a complementary Every Kid Outdoors State park pass, shall maintain a publicly available website that provides information about the program, may provide visitor services, and may support approved partners of the federal lands and waters by furnishing them with opportunities for participation in the program.
United States · United States Congress · 29 June 2017
Restoring Confidence in America's Elections Act This bill amends the Help America Vote Act of 2002 to: (1) prohibit the purchase or use in a federal election of an electronic voting system that does not produce a voter-verified paper record; (2) prohibit the imposition of conditions on voting by mail; (3) make mandatory the availability of early voting; and (4) require sufficient polling places, equipment, and resources to facilitate voting. The National Science Foundation shall make grants to: (1) study, test, and develop accessible ballot voting, verification, and casting mechanisms and devices and best practices to enhance the accessibility of paper ballot voting for individuals with disabilities, for voters whose primary language is not English, and for voters with difficulties in literacy; and (2) research the development of election-dedicated voting system software. Each state shall, except when the winning candidate had no opponent or received 80% or more of the votes, manually audit federal election results, without advance notice to the precincts selected. The bill amends the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to make it unlawful for a chief state election administration official, unless such official or an immediate family member is a candidate, to take an active part in political management or in a political campaign for federal office over which such official has supervisory authority. The Department of Justice must initiate an investigation of an allegation of voter intimidation or suppression within 30 days of receiving such an allegation. The Election Assistance Commission shall award grants for the development of voting systems that produce a voter-verified paper record of each vote cast, are compatible with commodity accessibility devices, and are fully accessible for the use of individuals with disabilities.
United States · United States Congress · 29 June 2017
Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund Reform Act of 2017 This bill amends the Internal Revenue Code to make certain amounts in the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund available, without appropriation, to pay 100% of the eligible operations and maintenance costs of specified portions of the Saint Lawrence Seaway (a system of locks, canals, and channels in Canada and the United States that permits oceangoing vessels to travel from the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes) as well as those assigned to commercial navigation of all U.S. harbors and inland harbors; rebates of certain tolls or charges on the seaway; and all expenses of administration relating to harbor maintenance tax incurred by the Department of the Treasury, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and the Department of Commerce. The bill also amends the Water Resources Development Act of 1986 to require allocation to certain donor ports and energy transfer ports of at least 20% of amounts made available each fiscal year from the trust fund, and the Department of the Army to make allocations equally between these types of ports.
United States · United States Congress · 29 June 2017
21st Century STEM for Girls and Underrepresented Minorities Act This bill amends the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to authorize the Department of Education to provide grants to local educational agencies to encourage the ongoing development of programs and curricula for girls and underrepresented minorities in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics and prepare those students to pursue undergraduate and graduate degrees and careers in such fields.
United States · United States Congress · 29 June 2017
Citizenship Empowerment Act This bill requires state chief election officials to distribute mail voter registration forms to each person who becomes a U.S. citizen at a naturalization ceremony at the ceremony's conclusion.
United States · United States Congress · 29 June 2017
Recognizes National Eating Disorders Awareness Week. Recognizes the rate at which individuals are affected by eating disorders and the inadequate rate at which such individuals seek treatment. Acknowledges that eating disorders can be successfully treated and that individuals with eating disorders can and do recover.
United States · United States Congress · 26 June 2017
Expresses support for: (1) equal rights and protections for all people, regardless of actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity; and (2) the designation of LGBT Equality Day on June 26 to commemorate Supreme Court decisions handed down on that day in 2003, 2013, and 2015. Acknowledges the need for further legislation to ensure that people in the United States are free from all forms of discrimination on the basis of actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity.
![Official portrait of Rep. Smith, Adam [D-WA-9]](https://www.congress.gov/img/member/116_rp_wa_9_smith_adam_200.jpg)