United States · United States Congress · 11 April 2018
Special Counsel Independence and Integrity 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 official: may only be removed by the Attorney General or the most senior Senate-confirmed DOJ official, in certain circumstances; may only be removed for misconduct, dereliction of duty, incapacity, conflict of interest, or other good cause; must be provided written notice that specifies the reason for removal; and may file an action to challenge the removal not later than 10 days after notice was provided.
United States · United States Congress · 10 April 2018
Correct the Census Count Act This bill requires the Department of Commerce, beginning with the 2020 decennial census, to attribute to an individual who is incarcerated in a correctional center as of the date on which such census is taken such individual's last place of residence before incarceration.
United States · United States Congress · 22 March 2018
Federal Employee Retroactive Pay Fairness Act This bill requires federal employees furloughed due to a lapse in appropriations that begins on or about March 23, 2018, to be compensated at their standard rate of compensation for the period of such lapse as soon as practicable after such lapse ends.
United States · United States Congress · 22 March 2018
Recognizes the accomplishments and example of Cesar Estrada Chavez, pledges to promote his legacy, and encourages the people of the United States to commemorate his legacy and to always remember his rallying cry, "Si, se puede!" ("Si, se puede!" is Spanish for "Yes, we can!")
United States · United States Congress · 21 March 2018
Student Non-Discrimination Act of 2018 This bill prohibits discrimination, under a federally assisted program, against public school students on the basis of their actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity or that of their associates. The bill authorizes federal departments and agencies to terminate the educational assistance of recipients found to be violating this prohibition. An aggrieved individual may assert a violation of this bill in a judicial proceeding and recover reasonable attorney's fees.
United States · United States Congress · 20 March 2018
National Security Commission Artificial Intelligence Act of 2018 This bill establishes, as an independent commission within the executive branch, the National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence to review the advances in artificial intelligence, related machine learning developments, and associated technologies. Such commission shall consider the methods and means necessary to advance the development of artificial intelligence, machine learning, and associated technologies by the United States in order to comprehensively address national security needs, including economic risk, and any other needs of the Department of Defense or the common defense of the nation.
United States · United States Congress · 20 March 2018
This bill permits the Merit Systems Protection Board to review an agency's determination that an employee (or applicant) is ineligible to hold a sensitive position that does not require a security clearance or access to classified information.
United States · United States Congress · 15 March 2018
Ensuring Medicaid Provides Opportunities for Widespread Equity, Resources, and Care Act or the EMPOWER Care Act This bill amends the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 to extend funding through FY2022 for the Money Follows the Person Rebalancing Demonstration Program and to otherwise revise the program. (Under this program, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services must award grants to state Medicaid programs to assist in rebalancing states' long-term care systems.)
United States · United States Congress · 13 March 2018
Department of Homeland Security Reserve Service Act This bill amends the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to authorize the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to establish a Homeland Security Reserve Service in each covered component of DHS, which shall provide for the temporary employment of former employees or the reemployment of annuitants of such component to stand ready to mobilize during elevated demands for, or critical shortages of, personnel and in times of crisis. DHS shall develop and implement an expedited process for hiring such employees and shall not use a competitive process. "Covered component" is defined as: U.S. Customs and Border Protection, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Transportation Security Administration, the U.S. Secret Service, or the Federal Protective Service of the National Protection and Programs Directorate. An individual who is employed or reemployed may be employed on a full-time or part-time basis, not to exceed one year for each assignment for which the individual is called into service. Not more than 1,000 individuals may be employed in the reserve service at any given time, to be divided across the covered components. DHS may waive this limitation for up to 90 days. DHS must implement the requirements of this bill within 180 days after its enactment and must certify to Congress that each covered component has a sufficient number of reserve personnel.
United States · United States Congress · 9 March 2018
Designates the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 1234 Saint Johns Place in Brooklyn, New York, as the "Major Robert Odell Owens Post Office."
United States · United States Congress · 8 March 2018
Directing Implementation of Sanctions and Accountability for Russian Mischief Act or the DISARM Act This bill directs the President to impose property-blocking and U.S. entry sanctions against certain senior Russian foreign political figures or oligarchs and parastatal entities (and associated individuals) not currently subject to sanctions.
United States · United States Congress · 7 March 2018
This bill directs the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to designate and operate centers of Alzheimer's disease research, education, and clinical activities in at least three VA health care facilities.
United States · United States Congress · 6 March 2018
Advancing Mutual Interests and Growing our Success Act or the AMIGOS Act This bill makes Portuguese nationals eligible to enter the United States as nonimmigrant traders and investors as provided for under the Immigration and Nationality Act if Portugal provides reciprocal nonimmigrant treatment to U.S. nationals.
United States · United States Congress · 5 March 2018
Cancer Care Planning and Communications Act of 2018 This bill provides for Medicare coverage and payment of cancer care planning and coordination services.
United States · United States Congress · 5 March 2018
Undo Sabotage and Expand Affordability of Health Insurance Act of 2018 This bill makes a series of changes relating to health insurance coverage, costs, and funding mechanisms. Among other things, the bill expands requirements relating to coverage of preexisting conditions to include short-term, limited-duration insurance and also establishes a national reinsurance program.
United States · United States Congress · 5 March 2018
This bill requires the Surgeon General to report annually to Congress on the effects of gun violence on public health and the status of actions taken to address those effects.
United States · United States Congress · 1 March 2018
Expresses support for the goals and ideals of National Women's History Month. Recognizes and honors the women and organizations in the United States that have fought for and continue to promote the teaching of women's history.
United States · United States Congress · 27 February 2018
Global Food Security Reauthorization Act of 2018 This bill amends the Global Food Security Act of 2016 to revise policy objectives and to: (1) extend through FY2021 the program to carry out those portions of the global food security strategy that relate to the Department of State and the U.S. Agency for International Development, and (2) expand requirements for reporting by the President regarding strategy implementation. The Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 is amended to extend through FY2021 the assistance program for international disaster relief and rehabilitation, including the set-aside for the emergency food security program.
United States · United States Congress · 27 February 2018
HBCU Parity Act of 2018 This bill amends the Food and Agriculture Act of 1977 to reauthorize and provide mandatory funding for Department of Agriculture grants to upgrade agricultural and food sciences facilities at 1890 land-grant colleges, including Tuskegee University. (Under current law funding for the grant program is subject to the annual appropriations process. Mandatory spending is not controlled by appropriations bills.)
United States · United States Congress · 27 February 2018
Original NAACP Resolution of 2018 Recognizes the 109th anniversary of the founding of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Honors the NAACP for its work to ensure the political, educational, social, and economic rights of all persons.
United States · United States Congress · 27 February 2018
Rare disease Advancement, Research, and Education Act of 2018 or the RARE Act of 2018 This bill reauthorizes through FY2023 the Office of Rare Diseases in the National Institutes of Health. The bill requires (1) the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to expand infrastructure and activities to track the epidemiology of rare diseases and conditions and to incorporate this information into a National Rare Disease or Condition Surveillance System, and (2) the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality to expand its activities to increase providers' awareness of rare diseases and conditions.
United States · United States Congress · 27 February 2018
This joint resolution nullifies the rule submitted by the Federal Communications Commission entitled "Restoring Internet Freedom." The rule published on February 22, 2018: (1) restores the classification of broadband Internet access service as a lightly-regulated "information service"; (2) reinstates private mobile service classification of mobile broadband Internet access service; (3) requires Internet service providers to disclose information about their network management practices, performance characteristics, and commercial terms of service; and (4) eliminates the Internet Conduct Standard and the bright-line rules.
United States · United States Congress · 27 February 2018
Expresses support for the designation of National Vitiligo Awareness Day. (Vitiligo is a condition in which skin color is lost in patches.) Recognizes the importance of providing support for individuals diagnosed with vitiligo.
United States · United States Congress · 27 February 2018
Original Black History Month Resolution of 2018 Recognizes the significance of Black History Month as an important time to acknowledge and celebrate the contributions of African Americans in the nation's history, and encourages the continued celebration of this month to provide an opportunity for all peoples of the United States to learn more about the past and to better understand the experiences that have shaped the nation.
United States · United States Congress · 26 February 2018
Assault Weapons Ban of 2018 This bill amends the federal criminal code to make it a crime to knowingly import, sell, manufacture, transfer, or possess a semiautomatic assault weapon (SAW) or large capacity ammunition feeding device (LCAFD). The prohibition does not apply to a firearm that is: (1) manually operated by bolt, pump, lever, or slide action; (2) permanently inoperable; (3) an antique; or (4) a rifle or shotgun specifically identified by make and model. Additionally, the bill does not prohibit, with respect to a SAW or LCAFD: importation, sale, manufacture, transfer, or possession related to certain law enforcement efforts, or authorized tests or experiments; importation, sale, transfer, or possession related to securing nuclear materials; and possession by a retired law enforcement officer. The bill permits continued possession, sale, or transfer of a grandfathered SAW, which must be securely stored. A licensed gun dealer must conduct a background check prior to the sale or transfer of a grandfathered SAW between private parties. The bill permits continued possession of, but prohibits sale or transfer of, a grandfathered LCAFD. Newly manufactured LCAFDs must display serial number identification. Newly manufactured SAWs and LCAFDs must display the date of manufacture. The legislation amends the NICS Improvement Amendments Act of 2007 to require law enforcement agencies to be notified when a prohibited person attempts to purchase a grandfathered SAW. It also amends the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 to allow a state or local government to use Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant Program funds to compensate individuals who surrender a SAW or LCAFD under a buy-back program.
United States · United States Congress · 26 February 2018
Universal Prekindergarten and Early Childhood Education Act of 2018 This bill authorizes through FY2024 a competitive grant program for states to establish or expand full-day prekindergarten programs that: (1) permit each three- or four-year old child in the state to be voluntarily enrolled by the child's parent, regardless of income, in the program at the public school in which the child would be enrolled for kindergarten; (2) run the length of the regular school year; and (3) are taught by teachers who possess equivalent or similar qualifications to those of teachers of other grades in the school. The federal share of such a grant shall not exceed 80% of the costs of carrying out these activities. Grant funds received under the program shall be used to supplement and not supplant other federal early childhood education funds in the state.
United States · United States Congress · 23 February 2018
Expresses support for the designation of National African American Women Engineers Day and for the goal of increasing the number of African American women in engineering.
United States · United States Congress · 15 February 2018
Heroes Lesley Zerebny and Gilbert Vega First Responders Survivors Support Act of 2018 This bill makes changes to benefits under the Public Safety Officers' Benefits (PSOB) program. The PSOB program provides death, disability, and education benefits to public safety officers and survivors of public safety officers who are killed or permanently disabled in the line of duty. Among other things, the bill increases the death and disability benefit and increases the monthly education assistance benefit.
United States · United States Congress · 15 February 2018
Fresh Start Act of 2018 This bill establishes a process to expunge records related to certain nonviolent criminal offenses. It defines the nonviolent offenses eligible for expungement; it establishes qualifications for an eligible offender; and it sets forth procedures for filing an expungement petition. The bill increases by 5% the allocation of funds under the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant (JAG) Program for a state that implements expungement procedures substantially similar to this bill. It decreases by 5% the JAG allocation for a state that fails to enact substantially similar expungement procedures.
United States · United States Congress · 14 February 2018
Election Security Act This bill directs the Election Assistance Commission to establish grant programs to support (1) states' compliance with certain voting system security requirements, including the use of voting systems that require individual paper ballots marked by hand; (2) states' audits of federal election results (i.e., manual counts of paper ballots); and (3) research and development directed at improving the security and reliability of election infrastructure. The bill also (1) requires the President to develop a national strategy to protect against attacks on U.S. democratic institutions, and (2) establishes the National Commission to Protect U.S. Democratic Institutions.
United States · United States Congress · 7 February 2018
Federal Employee Retroactive Pay Fairness Act This bill requires federal employees furloughed due to a lapse in appropriations that begins on or about February 8, 2018, to be compensated at their standard rate of compensation for the period of such lapse as soon as practicable after such lapse ends.
United States · United States Congress · 5 February 2018
Stopping Overdoses of Fentanyl Analogues Act This bill amends the Controlled Substances Act to add certain fentanyl analogues to schedule I. A schedule I controlled substance is a drug, substance, or chemical that: has a high potential for abuse; has no currently accepted medical value; and is subject to regulatory controls and administrative, civil, and criminal penalties under the Controlled Substances Act.
United States · United States Congress · 5 February 2018
Journalist Protection Act This bill amends the federal criminal code to establish new criminal offenses for intentional acts (or attempts to commit acts) that cause bodily injury to a journalist.
United States · United States Congress · 30 January 2018
Recognizes the 50th anniversary of the 1968 Memphis sanitation workers strike. Honors the perseverance of the members of Union Local 1733 and the contribution of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., in resolving the labor dispute.
United States · United States Congress · 29 January 2018
Healthy Climate and Family Security Act of 2018 This bill amends the Internal Revenue Code to require the Department of the Treasury to establish a carbon trading program that caps the emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) from crude oil, coal, and natural gas. Beginning in 2019, crude oil refineries, petroleum importers, coal mines, coal importers, and natural gas suppliers or processors must purchase carbon permits equivalent to the amount of CO2 that would be emitted by covered fuels. Treasury will auction these permits to those entities. This bill establishes a declining cap on the quantity of permits issued to reduce CO2 emissions until 2050 when the permits issued represent an amount 80% below 2005 CO2 emission levels. Treasury must issue permits for carbon capture and sequestration of CO2 from covered fuels. This bill provides for the trading or sale of permits between entities, the banking by entities of permits for future years, and the borrowing by Treasury of permits from future years to stabilize permit prices. Auction proceeds and penalties are returned to U.S. citizens lawfully present in the United States using the Healthy Climate Trust Fund established by this bill. Treasury must impose fees on the import and pay fees for the export of carbon-intensive goods when the export country does not have equivalent measures to regulate greenhouse gases. Carbon-intensive goods are goods with an increased cost due to the regulation of greenhouse gases. The Environmental Protection Agency must regulate within 10 years all sources of greenhouse gases that are anthropogenically emitted. This excludes gases attributable to the production of animals for food.
United States · United States Congress · 29 January 2018
Safe Coasts, Oceans, And Seaside Towns Act or the Safe COAST Act This bill provides statutory authority for specified safety regulations that govern offshore oil and gas production in the Outer Continental Shelf and provide protections for human, marine, and coastal environments. The Department of the Interior must contract with the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine to complete the study titled "Review and Update of Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement Offshore Oil and Gas Operations Inspection Program" within 21 months.
United States · United States Congress · 29 January 2018
Honors the memory of Echol Cole, Robert Walker, and all the Memphis sanitation workers who struggled for economic justice and human dignity. Honors and remembers the extraordinary moral leadership of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Calls upon and encourages all Americans to remember all those who struggle for justice and to dedicate themselves to realizing the dream of Dr. King.
United States · United States Congress · 25 January 2018
Supports: (1) the goals of the International Decade for People of African Descent, (2) the establishment of a global affairs strategy and assistance for such people, and (3) the expansion of efforts by international organizations to address the human rights situation of such people. Calls upon the United States, in cooperation with African descent communities, academics, activists, businesses, and philanthropic organizations, to develop strategies to execute the goals and ideals of such decade and to combat racism. Reaffirms the commitment of Congress to combat racism, discrimination, and intolerance in the United States and around the globe.
United States · United States Congress · 19 January 2018
Kennedy-King Establishment Act of 2018 This bill establishes the Kennedy-King National Historic Site in Indiana as a unit of the National Park System for the preservation, protection, and interpretation of the site of the speech given by Senator Robert F. Kennedy on April 4, 1968, that is associated with the Kennedy-King Park in Indianapolis, Indiana.
United States · United States Congress · 19 January 2018
This bill requires the Joint Committee on the Library to enter into an agreement to obtain a statue of Shirley Chisholm. The committee may authorize the Architect of the Capitol to enter into the agreement as well as related contracts. The committee shall place the statue in a suitable permanent location in the U.S. Capitol.
United States · United States Congress · 18 January 2018
Advancing Seniors and Kids Act or the ASK Act This bill extends, and otherwise revises, various public health and social welfare programs. Specifically, the bill: permanently extends the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP); extends by one year, but reduces by half, additional federal financial participation for CHIP; extends CHIP's qualifying-states option, express-lane eligibility option, and outreach and enrollment program; extends the Child Enrollment Contingency Fund, the Childhood Obesity Demonstration Project, and the Pediatric Quality Measures Program; modifies Medicare payment rules and reporting requirements with respect to ground-ambulance services; permanently extends specialized Medicare Advantage (MA) plans for certain special-needs individuals; expands certain supplemental benefits under MA for chronically ill enrollees; extends the Medicare payment adjustment known as the "home-health rural add-on"; makes permanent or extends other specified programs and payment rules under Medicare; under Medicaid, extends certain health workforce demonstration projects as well as specified programs related to community health centers, diabetes, graduate medical education, family-to-family health-information centers, abstinence education, and personal-responsibility education; delays certain changes, under Medicaid, to disproportionate-share hospital allotments and to third-party liability provisions; extends the Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting Program and requires, under the program, continued demonstration of improvements in certain benchmark areas; establishes a grant program for the monitoring of representative payees under the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program and the Old Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance (OASDI) program; otherwise revises provisions related to representative payment under SSI and OASDI; and with respect to the child-welfare system, modifies provisions related to information sharing and to overpayment liability.
United States · United States Congress · 18 January 2018
Federal Employee Retroactive Pay Fairness Act This bill requires federal employees furloughed due to a lapse in appropriations that begins on or about January 19, 2018, to be compensated at their standard rate of compensation for the period of such lapse as soon as practicable after such lapse ends.
United States · United States Congress · 18 January 2018
Expresses support and respect for Haiti, El Salvador, and African nations. Censures and condemns President Trump for his derogatory statements about Haiti and other countries at the January 11, 2018, White House meeting and calls on him to retract and apologize for such remarks.
United States · United States Congress · 16 January 2018
Broadband Conduit Deployment Act of 2018 This bill directs the Department of Transportation to require states to evaluate the need to install broadband conduit in any project to construct a new highway or additional lane or paved shoulder for an existing highway that is begun after the enactment of this bill and that receives funding under the federal-aid highway program.
United States · United States Congress · 11 January 2018
Affordable Care Act Outreach for the Uninsured, Transformative Recruitment, and Enrollment Action for Compassionate Healthcare Act of 2018 or the ACA OUTREACH Act This bill amends the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act to provide funds through FY2021 for the Department of Health and Human Services to support (1) navigator programs, which conduct public education activities about qualified health plans and facilitate enrollment; and (2) outreach and promotional activities for health insurance exchanges.
United States · United States Congress · 10 January 2018
Recognizes: (1) National Mentoring Month, and (2) the staff and volunteers at quality mentoring programs who help young people reach their full potential. Acknowledges that mentoring is beneficial in that it supports educational achievement, encourages self-confidence, reduces juvenile delinquency, improves life outcomes, and strengthens communities. Expresses support for: (1) the creation and expansion of quality mentoring programs across the United States, and (2) initiatives to increase the percentage of young people who have a mentor.
United States · United States Congress · 21 December 2017
Medicare IVIG Access Enhancement Act This bill requires the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to establish a three-year demonstration project to evaluate the benefits of providing Medicare coverage and payment for items and services needed for the in-home administration of intravenous immune globulin to treat chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy or multifocal motor neuropathy. Beneficiary participation shall be voluntary.