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United States · Official source
6,545 records where Rep. Carson, André [D-IN-7] is listed as a sponsor, author, or other actor. Search with topics and years
United States · United States Congress · 11 September 2013
Expresses support for the designation of National Childhood Obesity Awareness Month. Recognizes the importance of preventing childhood obesity and decreasing its prevalence in the United States.
United States · United States Congress · 2 August 2013
Technology and Research Accelerating National Security and Future Economic Resiliency Act of 2013 or the TRANSFER Act of 2013 - Amends the Small Business Act to replace provisions requiring the Director of the National Institutes of Health to use funds for a Proof of Concept Partnership pilot program to accelerate the creation of small businesses and the commercialization of research innovations made by certain institutions with provisions directing each federal agency required to establish a small business technology transfer (STTR) program to carry out an Innovative Approaches to Technology Transfer Grant Program to support innovative approaches to technology transfer at institutions of higher education, nonprofit research institutions, and federal laboratories in order to accelerate the commercialization of federally funded research and technology by small businesses. Outlines activities eligible for funding, application requirements, and award procedures and amounts. Requires successful grant proposals to include a plan to assemble a program oversight board to establish award programs for individual projects and evaluate project applications. Provides the percentage of each agency's extramural budget to be expended on such Program for FY2014-FY2017. Directs each agency to: (1) develop a Program evaluation plan and collect information from grantees annually to evaluate the Program, and (2) submit a Program activities report to specified congressional committees. Requires the Administrator of the Small Business Administration (SBA) to include information on the Program on the public database of small businesses participating in STTR or Small Business Innovation Research programs.
United States · United States Congress · 2 August 2013
Investor Choice Act of 2013 - Amends the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 to revise the authority of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to prohibit, or impose conditions or limitations on the use of, agreements that require customers or clients of any broker, dealer, or municipal securities dealer to arbitrate any future dispute between them arising under the federal securities laws, related rules and regulations, or the rules of a self-regulatory organization if it finds that prohibition, imposition of conditions, or limitations are in the public interest and for the protection of investors. Declares unlawful for a broker, dealer, funding portal, or municipal securities dealer (entities) to enter into, modify, or extend an agreement with customers or clients governing a future dispute between the parties that would mandate arbitration. Declares likewise unlawful acts by such entities that would restrict, limit, or condition the ability of a customer or client to: (1) select or designate a forum for dispute resolution, or (2) pursue a claim relating to a dispute in an individual or representative capacity or on a class action or consolidated basis.
United States · United States Congress · 2 August 2013
Mortgage Forgiveness Tax Relief Act of 2013 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to extend through 2014 the exclusion from gross income of income attributable to the discharge of indebtedness on a principal residence.
United States · United States Congress · 1 August 2013
Missing Alzheimer's Disease Patient Alert Program Reauthorization Act of 2013 - Amends the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 to revise provisions concerning the Missing Alzheimer's Disease Patient Alert Program to direct the Attorney General: (1) through the Bureau of Justice Assistance and in consultation with the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), to award competitive grants to nonprofit organizations to assist in paying for the costs of planning, designing, establishing, and operating locally based, proactive programs to protect and locate missing patients with Alzheimer's disease and related dementias; and (2) in awarding grants, to give preference to national nonprofit organizations that have experience working with patients with Alzheimer's disease and related dementias and their families. Authorizes appropriations for such grants for FY2014-FY2018.
United States · United States Congress · 1 August 2013
Saving More American Resources Today Grid Study Act of 2013 or SMART Grid Study Act of 2013 - Directs the Secretary of Homeland Security (DHS), and the heads of other federal departments and agencies, as necessary, to enter into an agreement with the National Research Council to research the future resilience and reliability of the nation's electric power transmission and distribution system. Names such research the "Saving More American Resources Today Study" or "SMART Study."
United States · United States Congress · 1 August 2013
Alzheimer's Caregiver Support Act - Amends the Public Health Service Act to authorize the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to make grants to public and nonprofit private health care providers to expand training and support services for families and caregivers of patients with Alzheimer's disease.
United States · United States Congress · 1 August 2013
Senator Paul Simon Water for the World Act of 2013 - Expresses the sense of Congress that: (1) the initial U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Water and Development Strategy is a significant accomplishment and improves USAID's capacity to provide sustainable and effective water, sanitation, and hygiene assistance; and (2) the Secretary of State, through the Special Advisor for Water Resources, should develop a Global Water Resources Strategy relating to U.S. foreign policy water objectives. Amends the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 to direct: (1) the Administrator to designate a Global Water Coordinator to coordinate and oversee water, sanitation, and hygiene assistance; and (2) the Secretary of State to designate a Special Advisor for Water Resources to coordinate and oversee policy relating to water, hygiene, and sanitation assistance. Sets forth principles to ensure that water, sanitation, and hygiene projects carried out under the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 and the Senator Paul Simon Water for the Poor Act of 2005 achieve maximum impact. Amends the Senator Paul Simon Water for the Poor Act of 2005 to direct: (1) the President, through the Secretary, to develop a strategy every five years to further the U.S. foreign policy objective to provide affordable and equitable access to safe water and sanitation in developing countries; and (2) the Administrator, through the Global Water Coordinator, to develop a complementary strategy to further the U.S. foreign assistance objective to provide affordable and equitable drinking water, sanitation, and hygiene in developing countries.
United States · United States Congress · 1 August 2013
Directs the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the President pro tempore of the Senate to arrange for the presentation of a congressional gold medal in honor of President Shimon Peres of Israel.
United States · United States Congress · 1 August 2013
Transition-to-Success Mentoring Act - Amends title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA) to reauthorize appropriations under part H (School Dropout Prevention). Establishes a transition-to-success mentoring program under part H of the ESEA requiring the Secretary of Education to award grants to local educational agencies (LEAs) or partnerships between LEAs and community-based nonprofit organizations to establish, expand, or provide technical support to school-based mentoring programs to assist at-risk students in transitioning from middle to high school. Requires grantees to assign to each at-risk student in his or her middle school a success coach who: creates a plan of success for the student; enters into an agreement with the student's parents regarding their role in implementing such plan; meets with the student at least once a month to assess and assist the student's progress; meets at least once a month with the student and the student's parents, teachers, or counselors to evaluate the student's progress and revise or establish new goals for the next academic year; and serves as the student's advocate between the student's parents and teachers. Authorizes the use of grant funds to: (1) train success coaches, (2) cover the cost of any materials they use under the mentoring program, and (3) hire staff to perform or support program objectives.
United States · United States Congress · 1 August 2013
Supreme Court Ethics Act of 2013 - Requires the Supreme Court to promulgate a code of ethics for the Justices of the Supreme Court that shall include the five canons of the Code of Conduct for United States Judges adopted by the Judicial Conference of the United States, with any amendments or modifications that the Supreme Court determines appropriate.
United States · United States Congress · 1 August 2013
Coal Healthcare and Pensions Protection Act of 2013 - Amends the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 to address potential shortages in the Multiemployer Health Benefit Plan for payment of health care benefits to retired coal miners by expanding the eligible uses of interest transferable to the plan from the Abandoned Mine Reclamation Fund, and supplemental payments from the General Fund of the Treasury. Requires calculation of such amount by taking into account only those beneficiaries who are actually enrolled in the plan as of enactment of this Act, as well as those retirees whose health benefits, payable directly by an employer in the bituminous coal industry under a coal wage agreement as a result of a bankruptcy proceeding commenced in 2012, would be denied or reduced. Requires the Secretary of the Treasury to transfer to the trustees of the 1974 United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) Pension Plan a certain additional amount of funds, to pay pension benefits required under that plan, if the $490 million limitation on certain transfers to the UMWA Combined Benefit Fund and distributions to states and Indian tribes exceeds the aggregate amount required to be transferred to them. Amends the Internal Revenue Code to prescribe a special rule that employer contributions to an employees' trust or annuity benefit plan providing supplemental benefits solely to participants in a pension plan are neither deductible nor nondeductible as such from the employer's gross income. Subjects such contributions, on the other hand, to deduction as an allowable trade or business expense. Treats a trust holding the assets of such a pension benefit plan as a tax-exempt organization. Excludes from taxable wages any payments made to, or on behalf of, an employee or his or her beneficiary under such a plan.
United States · United States Congress · 1 August 2013
United States Coast Guard Commemorative Coin Act - Directs the Secretary of the Treasury to mint and issue in commemoration of the United States Coast Guard: (1) $5 gold coins, (2) $1 silver coins, and (3) half-dollar clad coins. Requires the design of such coins to be emblematic of the traditions, history, and heritage of the Coast Guard, and its role in securing our nation since 1790. Prescribes design requirements. Restricts the issuance of such coins to the one-year period beginning on January 1, 2017. Prescribes the sale price of the coins and coin surcharges. Requires such surcharges to be paid by the Secretary to the National Coast Guard Museum Foundation to help finance the design and construction of the National Coast Guard Museum.
United States · United States Congress · 1 August 2013
Constitutional Amendment - Declares that women shall have equal rights in the United States and every place subject to its jurisdiction. Prohibits the United States or any state from denying or abridging equal rights under the law on account of sex.
United States · United States Congress · 31 July 2013
Support Educators and Reinvest in Valuable Education Act or the SERVE Act - Amends title IV (Student Assistance) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 to increase, from $5,000 to $17,500, the amount of loan forgiveness available under the Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) and Direct Loan (DL) programs to highly qualified teachers who have been employed at a low income school in the same local educational agency (LEA) for five consecutive complete school years. Requires those low income schools to be schools: (1) at which more than 30% of the students are impoverished, and (2) located within the school district of an LEA that is eligible for school improvement funds under title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965. Excepts PLUS loans under the FFEL and DL programs that are provided to the parents of dependent undergraduate students from that loan forgiveness program. Includes consolidation loans in that loan forgiveness program, but only to the extent they are used to repay eligible FFELs or DLs.
United States · United States Congress · 31 July 2013
Communities United with Religious leaders for the Elimination of HIV/AIDS Act of 2013 or CURE Act of 2013 - Authorizes the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), acting through the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Minority Health, to make grants to eligible health entities (i.e., a public health agency, a health center, including a center operated by an Indian tribe or organization, a community-based organization, or a faith-based organization) for: (1) HIV/AIDS education and outreach activities, (2) HIV/AIDS prevention and access to treatment, and (3) HIV/AIDS testing activities. Grants priority to grant applications that serve one or more minority groups (i.e., American Indians [including Alaska Natives, Eskimos, and Aleuts], Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders, Blacks, and Hispanics) with a specified HIV occurrence rate. Authorizes the Secretary, acting through the Administrator of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, to make grants to eligible health entities to provide HIV testing, counseling, and referral for medical treatment to youth who are members of minority groups, are not more than age 18, are HIV positive or at risk for HIV/AIDS, including young men of racial minorities who have sex with men, and are engaged in substance abuse. Authorizes the Secretary, acting through the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), to make grants to eligible health entities for public health intervention and prevention activities with respect to one or more minority groups, including: (1) rapid HIV testing, (2) measures and activities to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS and minimize its symptoms, (3) outreach activities targeting both females and males, and (4) referrals to health and mental health resources and health organizations. Directs the Secretary, acting through the Director of the CDC, to: (1) expand and intensify HIV/AIDS prevention and education activities for minority groups, and (2) implement a national media outreach campaign that urges sexually active individuals who are members of minority groups to be tested for and know their HIV/AIDS status. Authorizes the Secretary, acting through the Director of the National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities, to make grants to public or private organizations with one or more published studies on behaviors to study behavioral factors that lead to increased HIV/AIDS prevalence in minority groups.
United States · United States Congress · 30 July 2013
End Racial Profiling Act of 2013 - Prohibits any law enforcement agent or agency from engaging in racial profiling. Defines "racial profiling" to mean the practice of a law enforcement agent or agency relying, to any degree, on race, ethnicity, national origin, gender, or religion in selecting which individual to subject to routine or spontaneous investigatory activities, or in deciding upon the scope and substance of law enforcement activity following the initial investigatory activity, except when there is trustworthy information relevant to the locality and timeframe that links a person of a particular race, ethnicity, national origin, gender, or religion to an identified criminal incident or scheme. Authorizes the United States or an individual injured by racial profiling to enforce this Act in a civil action for declaratory or injunctive relief. Requires: (1) federal law enforcement agencies to maintain adequate policies and procedures to eliminate racial profiling and to cease existing practices that permit racial profiling; and (2) state or local governmental entities or state, local, or tribal law enforcement agencies that apply for grants under the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant Program and the Cops on the Beat Program to certify that they maintain adequate policies and procedures for eliminating racial profiling and have eliminated any existing practices that permit or encourage racial profiling. Requires the Attorney General to issue regulations to ensure that administrative complaint procedures and independent audit programs provide an appropriate response to allegations of racial profiling by law enforcement agents or agencies. Authorizes the Attorney General to award grants and contracts for the collection of data relating to racial profiling and for the development of best practices and systems to eliminate racial profiling. Requires: (1) the Attorney General to issue regulations for the collection and compilation of data on racial profiling, and (2) the Department of Justice Bureau of Justice Statistics to analyze the data collected for any statistically significant disparities. Requires the Attorney General to submit annual reports on racial profiling by law enforcement agencies.
United States · United States Congress · 30 July 2013
Wounded Warrior Service Dog Act of 2013 - Directs the Secretaries of Defense (DOD) and Veterans Affairs (VA) to jointly establish the K-9 Companion Corps program for the awarding of grants to assist nonprofit organizations in establishing, planning, designing, and/or operating programs to provide assistance dogs to certain members of the Armed Forces and veterans who have certain disabilities. Defines "assistance dog" to mean a dog specifically trained to perform physical tasks to mitigate the effects of such a disability, except that such term does not include a dog specifically trained for comfort or personal defense.
United States · United States Congress · 30 July 2013
Captive Primate Safety Act - Amends the Lacey Act Amendments of 1981 to add nonhuman primates to the definition of "prohibited wildlife species" for purposes of the prohibition against the sale or purchase of such species in interstate or foreign commerce. Makes it unlawful for a person to import, export, transport, sell, receive, acquire, or purchase a live animal of any prohibited wildlife species in interstate or foreign commerce (i.e., for pet trade purposes). Modifies exceptions to such prohibition, including by making it inapplicable to a person who is: (1) a licensed and inspected person who does not allow direct contact between the public and prohibited wildlife species, and (2) transporting a single primate of the genus Cebus that was obtained from and trained by a charitable organization to assist a permanently disabled individual with a severe mobility impairment. Sets forth civil and criminal penalties for violations of the requirements of this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 25 July 2013
Restore Honor to Service Members Act - Requires appropriate military record correction boards or discharge review boards to review the discharge characterization of any former members of the Armed Forces requesting a review who were discharged because of their sexual orientation. Permits such boards to change a characterization to honorable if such characterization is any characterization except honorable. Directs the Secretary of Defense (DOD) to ensure that any such changes are carried out consistently and uniformly across the military departments using specified criteria, including that: (1) the original discharge was based on the policy of Don't Ask Don't Tell (as in effect before it was repealed pursuant to the Don't Ask, Don't Tell Repeal Act of 2010) or a similar earlier policy; and (2) the discharge characterization will be changed if, with respect to the original discharge, there were no aggravating circumstances, such as misconduct, that would have independently led to any discharge characterization except honorable. Prohibits "aggravating circumstances" from including: (1) an offense of sodomy committed by the member against a consenting person of the same sex; or (2) statements, consensual sexual conduct, or consensual acts relating to sexual orientation or identity, or the disclosure of such statements, conduct, or acts, that were prohibited at the time of discharge but that became permitted after such discharge. Directs the Secretary of each military department to ensure that oral historians of the department: (1) review discharges between World War II and September 2011 based on sexual orientation, and (2) receive oral testimony of individuals who personally experienced discrimination and discharge because of actual or perceived sexual orientation so that such testimony may serve as an official record of such discriminatory policies and their impact on American lives. Requires the reissuance of specified military personnel records and discharge forms in a manner that shall not reflect the sexual orientation of the member. Amends the Uniform Code of Military Justice to remove from the offense of sodomy specified activity referred to as unnatural carnal copulation with another person of the same or opposite sex.
United States · United States Congress · 25 July 2013
Guard and Reserve Equal Access to Health Act - Directs the Secretary of the military department concerned to provide a physical examination to each member of a reserve component who: (1) will not otherwise receive one through that department, and (2) elects to receive such examination. Requires the Secretary concerned to: (1) provide such examination during the 90-day period before such member's scheduled date of separation, and (2) provide such member with a record of the examination. Prohibits a member from being entitled to transitional health care benefits through their department solely by reason of being provided such examination.
United States · United States Congress · 25 July 2013
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to deny a tax deduction for any business expenses for marketing directed at children (age 17 or younger) to promote the consumption of food of poor nutritional quality and for related expenses, including for travel, goods or services constituting entertainment, amusement, or recreation, gifts, or other promotion expenses. Defines "food of poor nutritional quality" to mean food and beverages that are determined by the Secretary of the Treasury, in consultation with the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), to be inconsistent with the most recent government dietary guidelines.
United States · United States Congress · 25 July 2013
Expresses support for the President's Plan to Reduce Gun Violence. Urges: (1) Congress to enact legislation based on the President's recommendations to reduce gun violence, (2) state legislatures to reject proposed stand-your-ground legislation, and (3) states to repeal enacted stand-your-ground laws. Condemns: (1) gun violence, (2) relevant parties for their roles in obstructing the ability of communities to be safe from gun violence and in proposing stand-your-ground legislation and similar legislation that compromises public safety and the integrity of the prosecutorial system, and (3) all efforts to weaken gun laws and proposals that stand in the way of comprehensive gun law reform.
United States · United States Congress · 24 July 2013
American Jobs Act of 2013 - Prohibits the use of funds made available by this Act for a project for the construction, alteration, maintenance, or repair of a public building or public work unless all of the iron, steel, and manufactured goods used in such project are produced in the United States (Buy American). Waives such prohibition in cases where: (1) the prohibition would be inconsistent with the public interest; (2) iron, steel, and the relevant manufactured goods are not produced in the United States in sufficient and reasonably available quantities of a satisfactory quality; or (3) inclusion of iron, steel, and manufactured goods produced in the United States will increase the cost of the overall project by more than 25%. Requires all laborers and mechanics employed by contractors and subcontractors on federally-assisted projects to be paid wages at the locally prevailing rates (Davis-Bacon Act). Amends the Internal Revenue Code to: (1) restore the making work pay tax credit in 2014, and (2) extend the additional allowance for depreciation (bonus depreciation) for 3 years. Amends the Small Business Investment Act of 1958 to increase from $2 million to $5 million through FY2014 the limit on the guarantee for contract surety bonds and on the liability for bonds obtained by fraud or misrepresentation. Directs the Secretaries of Education and the Interior (for schools operated by the Bureau of Indian Education) to reserve through FY2014 appropriated amounts to provide educational assistance to outlying areas based on their respective needs. Provides for allocations to states and local educational entities for early childhood learning programs in FY2014-FY2015 at specified levels. Directs the Attorney General to carry out a competitive grant program pursuant to the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 for the hiring, rehiring, or retention of career law enforcement officers. Makes appropriations to the Community Oriented Policing Stabilization Fund to carry out such program and provides for a transfer to a First Responder Stabilization Fund, from which the Secretary of Homeland Security (DHS) shall make competitive grants for hiring additional firefighters pursuant to the Federal Fire Prevention Control Act of 1974. Directs the Secretary of Education to award grants to states to modernize, renovate, or repair early learning or elementary or secondary education facilities and existing facilities at community colleges. Makes specified funds available to the Secretary of Transportation (DOT) for: (1) grants-in-aid for airport planning and development and noise compatibility planning projects under the airport improvement program (AIP); (2) Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Next Generation air traffic control system advancements; (3) highway and bridge restoration, repair, and construction projects and for passenger and freight rail transportation and port infrastructure projects; (4) grants for high-speed rail projects, capital investment grants for intercity passenger rail service, and grants to reduce congestion on intercity rail passenger transportation; (5) capital grants to the National Railroad Passenger Corporation (Amtrak); (6) transit capital assistance grants; (7) capital projects for existing fixed guideway system modernization, replacement and repair of buses and bus-related equipment, and construction of bus-related facilities; and (8) discretionary capital investment grants for surface transportation infrastructure. Building and Upgrading Infrastructure for Long-Term Development Act - Establishes the American Infrastructure Financing Authority (AIFA) as a wholly-owned government corporation to make direct loans and loan guarantees to facilitate transportation, water, or energy infrastructure projects. Requires infrastructure projects assisted under this Act to have costs that are reasonably anticipated to equal or exceed $100 million ($25 million for rural infrastructure projects). Sets forth special requirements for infrastructure projects in rural areas. Requires the AIFA Chief Lending Officer to establish: (1) an Office of Rural Assistance to provide technical assistance in the development and financing of rural infrastructure projects, and (2) a Center for Excellence to provide such assistance to public sector borrowers in the development and financing of infrastructure projects. Establishes an Office of Special Inspector General to audit and investigate the business activities of AIFA. Makes private projects for which no public benefit is created ineligible for financial assistance. Sets forth terms for loans or loan guarantees for infrastructure projects. Requires the Chief Executive Officer of AIFA to establish and collect fees sufficient to cover all or a portion of AIFA administrative costs. Amends the Internal Revenue Code to extend through 2014 the exemption from the alternative minimum tax (AMT) for certain tax-exempt private activity bonds. Appropriates funds for assistance to eligible entities, including state and local governments, qualified nonprofit organizations, businesses, or eligible consortia, for the redevelopment of abandoned and foreclosed-upon properties and for stabilization of affected neighborhoods (Project Rebuild). Allows the use of funds to: (1) establish financing mechanisms for the purchase and redevelopment of such properties; (2) purchase and rehabilitate such properties; (3) establish and operate land banks for them; (4) demolish blighted structures (except public housing); and (5) redevelop abandoned, foreclosed, demolished, or vacant properties. Requires each state to receive at least $20 million of formula funds, all of which shall be used with respect to low and moderate-income individuals and families. Requires each state and local government grantee to establish procedures to create preferences for development of affordable rental housing. Allows a grantee to use up to 10% of a grant to create jobs by establishing and operating a program to maintain eligible neighborhood properties. Supporting Unemployed Workers Act of 2013 - Amends the Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2008 to extend the emergency unemployment compensation (EUC) program until January 1, 2016. Amends the Assistance for Unemployed Workers and Struggling Families Act to extend through December 31, 2015, requirements that federal payments to states cover 100% of EUC. Amends the Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act to extend through December 31, 2015, the temporary increase in extended unemployment benefits for employees with 10 or more years of service and for employees with less than 10 years of service. Permits the use of pre-existing appropriated funds under such Act to cover the cost of additional extended unemployment benefits and the cost of current benefits. Establishes the Reemployment NOW program to facilitate the reemployment of individuals receiving emergency unemployment compensation (EUC claimants). Requires a state to submit for approval by the Secretary of Labor a plan meeting certain minimum requirements in order to be eligible for an allotment of federal funds under such program. Authorizes a state to use its allotted funds to: (1) establish a Bridge to Work program to provide EUC claimants with short-term work experience placements with eligible employers; (2) provide a wage insurance program to pay, for up to two years, an EUC claimant who obtains reemployment up to 50% of the difference between the wages received at the time of work separation and the wages received for reemployment; and (3) provide a program of enhanced reemployment services to EUC claimants, including unemployed individuals who have exhausted their EUC rights. Provides for federal financing of state short-time compensation programs. Requires the Secretary of Labor to: (1) award grants to states that enact such programs; (2) develop model legislative language for use by states in developing, enacting, and implementing such programs; and (3) report to Congress and the President on the implementation of such programs. Allows an increased work opportunity tax credit for long-term unemployed individuals (individuals who are unemployed and receiving unemployment compensation for six months or more). Pathways Back to Work Act of 2013 - Establishes programs to subsidize employment for unemployed, low-income adults, to provide summer and year-round employment opportunities to low-income youth, and for work-based training. Provides for an initial appropriation of $5 billion, with funds available for obligation by the Secretary of Labor until December 31, 2014, and for expenditure by grantees and subgrantees until September 30, 2015. Subjects activities funded under this Act to federal labor standards and nondiscrimination protections. Fair Employment Opportunity Act of 2013 - Makes it an unlawful practice for certain employers to: (1) publish a job advertisement or announcement that includes provisions indicating that an individual's status as unemployed disqualifies the individual for employment or that the employer will not consider or hire an individual for employment based on such status, (2) fail or refuse to consider or hire an individual because of such status, or (3) direct or request that an employment agency take an individual's status into account to disqualify an applicant for consideration for employment or when screening or referring employees. Makes it an unlawful practice for an employment agency to commit similar acts, including to: (1) screen, or fail or refuse to consider or refer, an individual for employment because of the individual's unemployed status; or (2) limit, segregate, or classify any such individual in any manner that would limit access to job information or consideration, screening, or referral for jobs. Makes it unlawful for any employer or employment agency to: (1) interfere with, restrain, or deny the exercise of any right provided under this Act; or (2) fail or refuse to hire, discharge, or otherwise discriminate against an employee because such individual opposed any practice made unlawful by this Act or asserted any right under it. Prescribes enforcement authorities and legal remedies for violations of this Act. Amends the Internal Revenue Code to provide for offsets against decreases in revenue by: (1) limiting tax deductions and other tax exclusions for taxpayers whose adjusted gross income exceeds $200,000 ($250,000 for married taxpayers filing a joint return), (2) treating income received by a partner from an investment services partnership interest as ordinary income for income tax purposes, and (3) treating all general aviation aircraft (including corporate jets) as seven-year property for depreciation purposes. Repeals, after 2013, certain tax expenditures for the oil and gas industry, including: (1) the tax deduction for intangible drilling and development costs for oil and gas wells; (2) the tax deduction for tertiary injectant expenditures; (3) percentage depletion for oil and gas wells; (4) the tax deduction for income from activities relating to oil, natural gas, or any primary product thereof; (5) the exemption from limitations on passive activity losses; and (6) the tax credits for enhanced oil recovery and for producing oil and gas from marginal wells. Increases from two to seven years the period for amortizing geological and geophysical expenditures. Denies the foreign tax credit for amounts paid or accrued by a dual capacity taxpayer to a foreign country or U.S. possession. Defines "dual capacity taxpayer" as a person who is subject to a levy of a foreign country or U.S. possession and who receives a specific economic benefit from such country or possession. Sets forth a special rule for the treatment of taxes paid on foreign oil and gas income for purposes of the foreign tax credit. Amends the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 (Gramm--Rudman-Hollings Act), as amended by the Budget Control Act of 2011, to repeal its budget goal enforcement requirements (sequestration mandate).
United States · United States Congress · 24 July 2013
FHA Alternative Credit Pilot Program Reauthorization Act of 2013 - Amends the National Housing Act to extend from five to 10 years the pilot program to establish for mortgagees an automated process for providing alternative credit rating information on mortgagors and prospective mortgagors under mortgages on 1- to 4-family residences who have insufficient credit histories for determining their creditworthiness.
United States · United States Congress · 24 July 2013
FHA In-Person Servicing Improvement Act of 2013 - Directs the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to carry out a pilot program to use authority under the National Housing Act to pay insurance benefits to compensate a mortgagee for any costs of taking loss mitigation actions providing an alternative to foreclosure of a mortgage in default or facing imminent default. Requires the Secretary to make payments to a qualified entity or entities to compensate for their costs of making in-person contact with mortgagors whose payments under covered mortgages are more than 60 days past due.
United States · United States Congress · 23 July 2013
Designates the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 418 Liberty Street in Covington, Indiana, as the "Fountain County Veterans Memorial Post Office."
United States · United States Congress · 23 July 2013
Homeless Veterans Assistance Fund Act of 2013 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to: (1) establish in the Treasury the Homeless Veterans Assistance Fund; and (2) allow individual taxpayers to designate on their tax returns a specified portion (not less than $1) of any overpayment of tax, and to make a contribution of an additional amount, to be paid over to such Fund to provide services to homeless veterans.
United States · United States Congress · 22 July 2013
Rape Survivor Child Custody Act - Directs the Attorney General to make grants to states that have in place a law that allows the mother of any child that was conceived through rape to seek court-ordered termination of the parental rights of her rapist with regard to that child, which the court shall grant upon clear and convincing evidence of rape. Limits such a grant to: (1) an amount that is not greater than 10% of the average of the total funding of the 3 most recent awards a state received under the STOP Violence Against Women Formula Grant Program and the Sexual Assault Services Program; and (2) a 1-year term, subject to renewal for not more than 3 additional years. Requires a state that receives such a grant to use: (1) 25% of grant funds for permissible uses under the STOP Violence Against Women Formula Grant Program, and (2) 75% of funds for permissible uses under the Sexual Assault Services Program.
United States · United States Congress · 22 July 2013
Education for All Act of 2013 - Amends the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 to state that it is U.S. policy to work with foreign countries and international and civil society organizations to achieve universal basic education by: (1) assisting developing countries and nongovernmental and multilateral organizations to provide all children with a quality basic education, and (2) promoting education as the foundation for communities' development. Directs the President to develop a comprehensive U.S. strategy to promote quality universal basic education. Authorizes the President to provide funds and other assistance to qualifying foreign countries to create the policies, processes, and infrastructure to develop national basic quality education plans. Directs the Administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) to designate a Coordinator of United States Government Actions to Provide Basic Education Assistance who shall have primary responsibility for the oversight and coordination of all U.S. government resources and international activities to promote quality universal basic education.
United States · United States Congress · 19 July 2013
Amends title XIX (Medicaid) of the Social Security Act to repeal the exclusion from medical assistance under the Medicaid program of items and services for patients in an institution for mental diseases.
United States · United States Congress · 18 July 2013
Garrett Lee Smith Memorial Act Reauthorization of 2013 - Amends the Public Health Service Act to reauthorize and revise a research, training, and technical assistance resource center to prevent suicides (the Suicide Prevention Resource Center). Expands the program's focus from youth suicides to suicides among all ages, particularly among groups that are at high risk for suicide. Repeals authority for grants to establish research, training, and technical assistance centers related to mental health, substance abuse and the justice system. Reauthorizes a program of grants for the development of state or tribal youth suicide early intervention and prevention strategies. Reauthorizes and revises a grant program to enhance services for students with mental health or substance use disorders at institutions of higher education. Requires the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) (who currently is merely authorized), acting through the Director of the Center for Mental Health Services, to award grants to enhance such services and to develop best practices for the delivery of such services. Permits grant funds to be used for the provision of such services to students and to employ appropriately trained staff. Requires the Secretary to give special consideration to applications for grants that describe programs that demonstrate the greatest need for new or additional mental and substance use disorder services and the greatest potential for replication.
United States · United States Congress · 18 July 2013
Food and Drug Administration Safety Over Sequestration Act of 2013 - Amends the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 (Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Act) to exempt from sequestration calculations (mandatory across-the-board spending cuts) user fees that fund salaries and other administrative expenses of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
United States · United States Congress · 16 July 2013
Saving America's Pollinators Act of 2013 - Requires the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to suspend the registration of imidacloprid, clothianidin, thiamethoxam, dinotafuran, and any other members of the nitro group of neonicotinoid insecticides to the extent such insecticide is registered under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) for use in seed treatment, soil application, or foliar treatment on bee attractive plants, trees, and cereals until the Administrator has made a determination that such insecticide will not cause unreasonable adverse effects on pollinators. Requires such a determination to be based on: (1) an evaluation of the published and peer-reviewed scientific evidence on whether the use or uses of such neonicotinoids cause unreasonable adverse effects on pollinators, including native bees, honeybees, birds, bats, and other species of beneficial insects; and (2) a completed field study that meets the criteria required by the Administrator and evaluates residues, including residue build-up after repeated annual application, chronic low-dose exposure, and cumulative effects of multiple chemical exposures. Prohibits the Administrator from issuing any new registrations of the pesticides listed in this Act for any seed treatment, soil application, and foliar treatment on bee attractive plants, trees, and cereals under FIFRA until the Administrator has made such determination with respect to such insecticide. Requires the Secretary of the Interior, in coordination with the Administrator, to: (1) regularly monitor the health and population status of native bees, (2) identify the scope and likely causes of unusual native bee mortality, and (3) submit to Congress and make public an annual report on such health and population status.
United States · United States Congress · 16 July 2013
American Public Housing Act of 2013 - Amends the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 (Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Act) to exempt from reduction, under any sequestration ordered by the President, the following Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) accounts: Choice Neighborhoods Initiative, Indian Housing Loan Guarantee Fund Program Account, Native American Housing Block Grants, Native Hawaiian Housing Block Grant, Project-Based Rental Assistance, Public Housing Capital Fund, Public Housing Operating Fund, and Tenant-Based Rental Assistance.
United States · United States Congress · 11 July 2013
Ready-to-Compete Act - Amends the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to authorize the Secretary of Education to award grants to public telecommunications entities to coordinate the development, production, and distribution of innovative multiplatform educational programming and services for young children and youth and their parents, educators, and caregivers. Requires grantees to award subcontracts or enter into agreements with public television stations and producers or distributors of educational programming for the operation of Ready-to-Learn programs. Requires Ready-to-Learn programs to: (1) include programming that is aligned with state academic content and achievement standards; (2) include training and materials for educators and caregivers to facilitate their use of the programming and services; (3) address specific community and school needs, ascertained via ongoing community outreach programs; and (4) include programming in reading, social and emotional development, and at least one other topic in an academic or developmentally appropriate area. Amends the Workforce Investment Act of 1998 to authorize the Secretary to award competitive grants to public television stations that partner with states, state workforce investment boards, or institutions of higher education to develop, disseminate, and provide on-line and on-air education and training services for adults.
United States · United States Congress · 11 July 2013
Government Transformation Act - Establishes the Commission on Government Transformation. Directs the Commission to: (1) review work done by governmental and non-governmental entities and conduct research on the organizational practices, operations, and reform efforts of federal agencies; (2) analyze organizational practices and management challenges of federal agencies; (3) assess federal programs for economy, efficiency, and effectiveness and identify best practices; (4) upon request, provide information on Commission activities to the Government Accountability Office (GAO), the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), other federal agency heads, and the Office of Inspector General of each federal agency; and (5) serve as a repository for best practices for federal agencies. Requires the Commission to make interim and annual reports on its activities to the President and Congress and make such reports available to the public. Provides for expedited congressional consideration of legislation to implement recommendations of the Commission.
United States · United States Congress · 11 July 2013
Amends the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974 to require the Director of the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), upon a request by the chairman or ranking minority member of specified congressional committees, to determine if a proposed measure would result in reductions in budget outlays in budgetary outyears through the use of preventive health and preventive health services. Requires CBO, if the measure would result in such substantial reductions, to include in any CBO projection a description and estimate of such reductions and a description of the basis for such conclusions. Authorizes CBO to prepare a budget projection that includes some or all of the budgetary outyears.
United States · United States Congress · 11 July 2013
Trauma Relief Access for Universal Medical Assistance Act - Appropriates to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) $100 million, for FY2014-FY2018, for the program of grants to states to promote universal access to trauma care services provided by trauma centers and trauma-related physician specialties.
United States · United States Congress · 9 July 2013
School-based Health Centers Program Reauthorization Act of 2013 - Amends the Public Health Service Act to extend through FY2019 the authorization of appropriations for grants under the school-based health center program.
United States · United States Congress · 9 July 2013
Thirteenth Amendment Commemorative Coin Act - Directs the Secretary of the Treasury to mint and issue the following coins in commemoration of the sesquicentennial anniversary of the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution (formally abolished slavery in the United States): up to 250,000 $50 bi-metallic platinum and gold coins, up to 250,000 $20 gold coins, and up to 500,000 $1 silver coins. Requires such coins to be considered legal tender and numismatic items. Permits the Secretary to issue such coins only during the calendar year beginning January 1, 2016, except that sales may be initiated, without issuance, before such date. Requires specified surcharges received by the Secretary from the sale of such coins to be paid to the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture. Directs the Secretary to ensure that: (1) the minting and issuing of such coins will not result in any net cost to the U.S. government; and (2) no funds, including applicable surcharges, are disbursed to the Museum until the total cost of designing and issuing all such coins is recovered by the Treasury.
United States · United States Congress · 8 July 2013
Medicare Respiratory Therapist Access Act of 2013 - Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to provide Medicare coverage of pulmonary self-management education and training services furnished by a qualified respiratory therapist in a physician practice to patients with chronic lung disease (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease [COPD], including emphysema and bronchitis, as well as asthma, pulmonary hypertension, pulmonary fibrosis, and cystic fibrosis).
United States · United States Congress · 8 July 2013
Recognizes the Islamic faith as one of the great world religions. Acknowledges the onset of Ramadan and expresses deepest respect to Muslims in the United States and throughout the world on this significant occasion.
United States · United States Congress · 28 June 2013
Higher Education and Employment Transparency Act - Amends the Higher Education Act of 1965 to direct the Secretary of Education to make publicly available on the College Navigator website the job placement information that schools who are participating in that Act's title IV (Student Assistance) programs are required to provide to prospective and enrolled students. Requires those schools to supplement that job placement information by indicating whether or not the jobs their graduates obtain are paid jobs or require any postsecondary education. Requires those schools to include on their websites, and the Secretary to include on the College Navigator website, a link to the appropriate section of the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) website that provides information from the Occupational Employment Statistics program and the Occupational Outlook Handbook of the BLS.
United States · United States Congress · 28 June 2013
Stabilization and Reconstruction Integration Act of 2013 - Establishes as an independent entity the United States Office for Contingency Operations (Office), which shall report to the Department of Defense (DOD) and the State Department. Requires the Director of such Office, among other duties, to: (1) monitor political and economic instability worldwide in order to anticipate the need for mobilizing U.S. and international assistance for the stabilization and reconstruction of a foreign country or region that is at risk of, in, or in transition from, conflict or civil strife; (2) develop contingency plans and procedures to mobilize and deploy civilian and military personnel to conduct appropriate foreign stabilization and reconstruction operations (operations); (3) aid the President in preparing rules and regulations relating to the planning, coordination, and execution of such operations; and (4) evaluate, and report to Congress on, the impact of such operations. Authorizes the President: (1) upon finding that circumstances and U.S. security interests so require, to declare that a stabilization and reconstruction emergency exists and to determine the geographic extent and the date of commencement of such emergency; and (2) to terminate such declaration upon determining that such emergency no longer exists. Gives the Director sole control over such operations conducted during a stabilization and reconstruction emergency. Requires the Director to: (1) coordinate with the Secretary of Defense and commanders of unified and specified combatant commands regarding Office plans or activities for operations, and (2) prescribe a Stabilization Federal Acquisition Regulation. Establishes the Stabilization and Reconstruction Fund. Expresses the sense of Congress that the Director and Office staff should partner with the country in which an operation is taking place, other foreign government partners, international organizations, and local nongovernmental organizations throughout the planning, implementation, and the transition stages of such operations in order to facilitate long term capacity building and sustainability of initiatives. Sets forth the duties of the Inspector General of the Office, including special audit and investigative authority and reporting requirements. Provides information coordination responsibilities of other federal agencies with respect to Office monitoring and evaluation requirements.
United States · United States Congress · 28 June 2013
Right to Rent Act of 2013 - Grants eligible mortgagors subject to foreclosure proceedings the right to continue to occupy foreclosed properties subject to the payment of fair market rent for a period of five years that begins upon the commencement of occupancy of such property. Instructs the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to: (1) monitor compliance with this Act, (2) provide assistance to eligible mortgagors in exercising their rights under this Act, and (3) conduct outreach activities to inform eligible mortgagors of this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 27 June 2013
National Infrastructure Development Bank Act of 2013 - Establishes the National Infrastructure Development Bank as a wholly owned government corporation. Makes the Bank's Board of Directors responsible for monitoring and overseeing energy, environmental, telecommunications, and transportation infrastructure projects. Authorizes the Board to: (1) make senior and subordinated direct loans and loan guarantees to assist in the financing or refinancing of an infrastructure project, (2) issue public benefit bonds and provide financing to infrastructure projects, and (3) pay an interest subsidy to the issuer of American Infrastructure Bonds. Requires the Board to establish an Executive Committee, headed by the chief executive officer, to establish requirements and make recommendations for project proposals to be considered for financial assistance. Requires the Bank to establish a Risk Management Committee, headed by the chief risk officer, which shall: (1) create financial, credit, and operational risk management guidelines for the Bank; (2) set guidelines to ensure diversification of lending activities by both geographic region and infrastructure project type; (3) create conforming standards for all financial assistance provided by the Bank; (4) monitor financial, credit, and operational exposure of the Bank; (5) provide financial recommendations to the Board; and (6) ensure that the aggregate amount of interest subsidies provided for American Infrastructure Bonds in a given calendar year do not exceed 28% of interest payable under all such Bonds. Requires the Bank to establish an audit committee, headed by a chief compliance officer, to be responsible for auditing and accounting activities. Requires the Board to approve criteria established by the Executive Committee, with public input, for determining project eligibility for financial assistance. Sets forth criteria to be considered by the Board for each type of infrastructure project. Requires the Executive Committee to conduct an analysis that considers the economic, environmental, and social benefits and costs of each project under consideration, prioritizing projects that contribute to economic growth, lead to job creation, and are of regional or national significance. Requires any financial assistance for an infrastructure project to be repayable from dedicated revenue sources that also secure the infrastructure project obligations. Limits the amount of assistance under this Act to 50% of reasonably anticipated project costs. Exempts all bonds issued by the Bank, and the interest on or credits with respect to such bonds, from state or local government taxation. Sets forth requirements regarding compliance of assisted projects with wage rate, domestic content, and buy American statutes. Requires the Board to establish an American Infrastructure Bond program. Establishes in the Treasury the National Infrastructure Development Bank Trust Fund into which an amount estimated to equal the tax receipts attributable to interest payable under such Bonds is to be appropriated.
United States · United States Congress · 27 June 2013
Calls on China (PRC) to end the practice of organ harvesting from prisoners, and particularly from Falun Gong prisoners of conscience and members of other religious and ethnic minority groups. Calls for a Department of State investigation into organ transplant practices in China, and for the prosecution of those found to have engaged in such practices. Demands an end to the persecution of the Falun Gong spiritual practice by the Communist Party of China and the release of all Falun Gong practitioners and other prisoners of conscience. Recommends that: (1) the Department issue a travel warning for U.S. citizens traveling to China for organ transplants informing them that the organ source for their operation may be a prisoner of conscience; and (2) the U.S. government condemn organ transplantation abuses in China, ban the entry of those who have participated in such activities, and prosecute such individuals should they be found on U.S. soil.
United States · United States Congress · 27 June 2013
Applauds the U.N. General Assembly for honoring 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 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 · 26 June 2013
Helping Veterans Exposed to Toxic Chemicals Act - Directs the Secretary of Defense to establish within the Department of Defense (DOD) three centers of excellence in the prevention, diagnosis, mitigation, treatment, and rehabilitation of health conditions relating to exposure to open burn pits and other environmental exposures. Requires the Secretary to select for such centers entities that: (1) are equipped with the specialized equipment needed to study, diagnose, and treat health conditions relating to such exposure; (2) have a publication track record of post-deployment health exposures among veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan; (3) have collaborated with a geosciences department that has a medical geology division; (4) have developed animal models and in vitro models of dust immunology and lung injury from Iraq and Afghanistan; and (5) have expertise in allergy and immunology, pulmonary diseases, and industrial and management engineering. Directs the Secretary to ensure that the centers collaborate with the Secretary of Veterans Affairs (VA), institutions of higher education, and other appropriate public and private entities to carry out specified responsibilities, including to: (1) implement the comprehensive plan and strategy for DOD for the prevention, diagnosis, mitigation, treatment, and rehabilitation of health conditions relating to such exposure; and (2) provide for dissemination within DOD of best practices for the treatment of such conditions and the training of health professionals. Requires the center to have access to and make use of the data accumulated by the burn pits registry established under the Dignified Burial and Other Veterans' Benefits Improvement Act of 2012.