United States · United States Congress · 28 July 2017
Promoting Affordable Childcare for Everyone Act or the PACE Act This bill amends the Internal Revenue Code, with respect to the tax credit for expenses for household and dependent care services necessary for gainful employment (known as the Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit), to: (1) make the credit refundable, (2) increase the rate for the credit, and (3) require the dollar amounts for such credit to be adjusted for inflation after 2017. The bill also increases the amount of employer-provided dependent care assistance which may be excluded from the gross income of an employee and requires the increased exclusion amount to be adjusted for inflation after 2018.
United States · United States Congress · 28 July 2017
Every Prescription Conveyed Securely Act This bill generally requires, with specified exceptions, electronic prescribing under the Medicare prescription drug benefit with respect to covered drugs that are controlled substances.
United States · United States Congress · 28 July 2017
Hamas Human Shields Prevention Act This bill states that it is U.S. policy to: (1) condemn the use of human shields by Hamas as an act of terrorism and a violation of human rights and international humanitarian law, and (2) act against those engaging in or supporting the use of human shields. The President is urged to direct the U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations (U.N.) to use U.S. influence at the U.N. Security Council to secure support for a resolution imposing multilateral sanctions against Hamas's use of human shields. The President shall prohibit property transactions and U.S. entry with respect to: (1) each foreign person or entity that is a member of or acting on behalf of Hamas and that is responsible for or complicit in Hamas' use of human shields; and (2) each foreign person or entity and each agency or instrumentality of a foreign state that has significantly facilitated any act with respect to such use of human shields, provided material support to a listed person or entity, or attempted to facilitate or support such acts or persons. The President may waive a sanction for 120 days with prior congressional certification that such waiver is vital to U.S. national security interests.
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
Rightsizing Pension Premiums Act of 2017 This bill amends the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) to: (1) modify the formula that the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) uses to calculate the funded percentage of single-employer pension plans, and (2) reduce single-employer PBGC premiums for pension plans that are sponsored by certain small employers or have specified PBGC funded percentages. The bill also prohibits the budget effects of provisions that change PBGC premiums from being counted for the purposes of determining budget points of order for legislation in the House or the Senate. (The PBGC is a federal agency that insures the benefits of private sector, defined benefit pension plans. The PBGC is financed by insurance premiums paid by sponsors of the plans, investment income, assets from pension plans taken over by the PBGC, and recoveries from the companies formerly responsible for the plans.)
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 · 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
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
Safety Enhancements for Communities Using Reasonable and Effective Firearm Storage Act or the SECURE Firearm Storage Act This bill amends the federal criminal code to require that all licensed importers, licensed manufacturers, or licensed dealers of firearms shall keep and store all firearms in the business inventory of the licensee at the premises covered by the license. When the premises are not open for business, the licensee shall secure all firearms by complying with prescribed security measures, including trigger guards and safes. Further, when such premises are not open for business, the licensee shall store certain paper records in a secure location. The Department of Justice shall promulgate regulations prescribing additional security requirements as deemed necessary. The bill includes a set of civil penalties, including fines and potential license suspension or revocation, for noncompliance with the foregoing security requirements. An application for a firearms license must describe how the applicant plans to comply with these security requirements.
United States · United States Congress · 20 July 2017
Sanctioning Hizballah's Illicit Use of Civilians as Defenseless Shields Act This bill states that it shall be U.S. policy to condemn Hizballah's use of human shields as a gross violation of internationally recognized human rights. The President is urged to use U.S. influence at the United Nations Security Council to secure support for a resolution imposing multilateral sanctions against Hizballah for its use of human shields. The President shall: transmit to Congress and update a list of each foreign person or entity that is a member of, or acting on behalf of, Hizballah and that is responsible for, or complicit in, the use of human shields and each foreign person, entity, or instrumentality of a foreign state that has supported or facilitated such person or entity; impose asset blocking and U.S. exclusion sanctions against such person, entity, or instrumentality; and report to Congress on whether specified persons or instrumentalities meet such sanctions criteria. The President may waive the application of such sanctions for up to 120 days if the President reports that such waiver is vital to national security interests.
United States · United States Congress · 20 July 2017
Hizballah International Financing Prevention Amendments Act of 2017 This bill amends the Hizballah International Financing Prevention Act of 2015 to impose specified sanctions on: (1) foreign persons that knowingly assist in or provide support for fund raising or recruitment activities for Hizballah; (2) agencies of foreign governments that provide Hizballah with financial support, arms, or other assistance (export license requirements are included in addition to sanctions if such government is a state sponsor of terrorism); and (3) Hizballah, including by reason of Hizballah's significant transnational criminal activities. The bill expresses the sense of Congress that sanctions should be placed on financial institutions that serve Lebanese government officials affiliated with Hizballah. The Comprehensive Iran Sanctions, Accountability, and Divestment Act of 2010 is amended to sanction foreign financial institutions that facilitate efforts by Iran or the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to aid Hizballah. The bill prescribes reporting requirements or reporting modifications with respect to: (1) foreign persons that knowingly assist or provide significant financial, material, or technological support for foreign persons assisting Hizballah; (2) financial institutions that are owned or organized under the laws of state sponsors of terrorism; (3) Hizballah's racketeering activities; (4) combating illicit tobacco trafficking networks used by Hizballah and other foreign terrorist organizations to finance their operations; (5) the estimated net worth of senior Hizballah officials and how these funds were acquired and used; and (6) countries that support Hizballah or in which Hizballah maintains important logistics networks or financial networks and steps such countries are taking to disrupt such networks.
United States · United States Congress · 20 July 2017
Knowledgeable Innovators and Worthy Investors Act or the KIWI Act This bill makes New Zealand nationals eligible to enter the United States as nonimmigrant traders and investors as provided for under the Immigration and Nationality Act if New Zealand provides reciprocal nonimmigrant treatment to U.S. nationals.
United States · United States Congress · 20 July 2017
Mechanical Insulation Installation Incentive Act of 201 7 This bill amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow an additional tax deduction for the cost of installing mechanical insulation property. The bill: (1) limits the amount of such deduction to the lesser of 30% of the cost or the reduction in energy loss from the installed mechanical insulation property compared to property that meets the minimum requirements of American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) standard 90.1-2007; and (2) allows the cost of mechanical insulation property that is placed in service to replace insulation property to be treated as a deductible business expense in the current taxable year. The bill defines "mechanical insulation property" as insulation materials, facings, and accessory products: (1) placed in service in connection with a mechanical system which is located in the United States and of a character subject to an allowance for depreciation; and (2) utilized for thermal requirements for mechanical piping and equipment, hot and cold applications, and heating, venting and air conditioning applications which can be used in a variety of facilities. The bill also allows a tax deduction for capital expenditures related to mechanical insulation property.
United States · United States Congress · 19 July 2017
Systemic Risk Designation Improvement Act of 2017 This bill amends the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act to allow the Federal Reserve Board (FRB) to subject a bank holding company to enhanced supervision if: (1) the company has been identified as a global systemically important company; or (2) the risk of the company's financial distress, or the nature of the company's activities, could pose a threat to the financial stability of the United States. Currently, companies are subject to this type of oversight if they possess at least $50 billion in assets or are a nonbank financial company under the FRB's supervision. The Financial Stability Oversight Council must approve of any metrics used by the FRB in determining by regulation that a category of bank holding companies is subject to enhanced supervision. Under this bill, companies subject to enhanced supervision may be required to limit mergers and acquisitions, restrict products offered, or maintain a certain debt ratio. The FRB must publish the list of companies that have been identified as requiring enhanced supervision.
United States · United States Congress · 19 July 2017
Compensating Legacy Artists for their Songs, Service, and Important Contributions to Society Act or the CLASSICS Act This bill provides federal copyright protection for sound recordings fixed before February 15, 1972, specifically the right to make digital transmissions. Currently, pre-1972 recordings are only covered by state law. Pre-1972 recordings will fall within the existing compulsory license system for digital transmissions, which currently only cover post-1972 recordings. The bill preempts claims under state and common law for digital transmission of pre-1972 recordings.
United States · United States Congress · 19 July 2017
Help Our Service Members and Citizens Abroad Vote Act This bill modifies provisions relating to the requirement that states transmit absentee ballots to absent uniformed services voters and overseas voters by no later than 45 days before a federal election. Specifically, the bill (1) requires each state to report on the availability, transmission, and receipt of such absentee ballots; and (2) repeals the state hardship exemption.
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 · 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
Water Advanced Technologies for Efficient Resource Use Act of 2017 This bill codifies the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) WaterSense program, which identifies, labels, and promotes water efficient products, buildings, landscapes, and services. This bill also establishes a program to provide financial incentives for consumers to purchase and install residential water efficient products and services labeled under the WaterSense program. In order to meet procurement requirements for a water consuming product or service, federal agencies must purchase a WaterSense product or service, or a Federal Energy Management Program designated product. Agencies do not have to procure those products or services if they are not cost-effective, or not reasonably available. The bill amends the Internal Revenue Code to exclude from the gross income of individual taxpayers any amount received under an incentive program for the purchase and installation of residential water efficient products and services.
United States · United States Congress · 13 July 2017
Harry W. Colmery Veterans Educational Assistance Act of 2017 This bill revises education and related benefits provided to veterans, service members, dependents, and survivors. The bill amends the Post-9/11 veterans' educational assistance program to: remove certain time restrictions on program use; increase assistance for reservists, guardsmen, dependents, and surviving spouses and dependents; provide full eligibility for Post-9/11 Purple Heart recipients and certain reservists and guardsmen; provide an extra academic years' worth of benefits for STEM (science, technology, engineering, or mathematics) degree candidates; establish a five-year pilot program for high technology courses; restore eligibility for service members whose school closes in the middle of a semester; authorize funding to improve claims processing; permit assistance to be used at certain institutions that are not institutions of higher education; and pro-rate the housing stipend for reservists called to active duty. The bill authorizes the Edith Nurse Rogers STEM Scholarship to help veterans complete STEM degrees. The Yellow Ribbon program is extended to Fry Scholarship recipients (surviving dependents of service members who died on active duty) and certain Purple Heart recipients. (The Yellow Ribbon program helps veterans pay for higher education tuition and fee costs not covered by the Post-9/11 program.) The bill: (1) extends the Advisory Committee on Education, (2) increases survivors' and dependents' educational assistance, and (3) extends funding for state educational program approving agencies.
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
Designates the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 1114 North 2nd Street in Chillicothe, Illinois, as the "Sr. Chief Ryan Owens Post Office Building."
United States · United States Congress · 29 June 2017
Iran and Hizballah Western Hemisphere Prevention Act of 2017 This bill declares it to be U.S. policy to prevent further penetration of Iran and Hizballah into the Western Hemisphere and to prioritize diplomatic efforts to engage countries in the hemisphere to disrupt and degrade Hizballah's illicit networks operating in the region. The Department of State shall submit a strategy to prevent hostile activities by Iran and disrupt and degrade Hizballah's illicit networks in the hemisphere. The President shall instruct the State Department to prioritize U.S. diplomatic engagement with countries in the hemisphere in order to increase cooperation and build the capacity of the governments of those countries to prevent such activities and disrupt and degrade such networks. The bill amends the Hizballah International Financing Prevention Act of 2015 to require the President to instruct: the U.S. Permanent Representative to the Organization of American States (OAS) to work to secure OAS support for a resolution that would declare Hizballah to be a terrorist organization and address such illicit networks; and the U.S. Ambassador to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) to work in securing a report on compliance by participating states with OSCE Decision Number 1063, the Consolidated Framework for the Fight Against Terrorism, with regard to Hizballah; and U.S. diplomats to work with international forums to identify government entities in Latin America and the Caribbean that support individuals affiliated with Hizballah in the hemisphere. The State Department must provide to the relevant congressional committees annual briefings that review its efforts to implement such strategy and U.S. bilateral and multilateral engagement with respect to Hizballah in the hemisphere.
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 · 28 June 2017
This bill requires the President to develop a strategy to prevent the financing of terrorism. The strategy shall contain: (1) an assessment of present efforts and existing threats, (2) proposed changes and initiatives, (3) a discussion of the role of the private sector and the enhancement of intergovernmental cooperation, (4) an analysis of emerging threats and the use of technological enhancements to stop the financing of terrorism, and (5) a multiyear budget plan .
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.
United States · United States Congress · 26 June 2017
Expresses support for the designation of National ASK (Asking Saves Kids) Day to encourage parents to begin asking the question, "Is there an unlocked gun in your house?" before their child visits other homes.
United States · United States Congress · 23 June 2017
Student Loan Interest Deduction Act of 201 7 This bill amends the Internal Revenue Code to: (1) increase the maximum tax deduction for interest paid on any qualified education loan to $5,000 ($10,000 for married couples filing a joint tax return), and (2) repeal the limitation on such deduction based upon modified adjusted gross income.
United States · United States Congress · 23 June 2017
Voter Empowerment Act of 2017 Voter Registration Modernization Act of 2017 This bill amends the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 to require states to make available online voter registration. The federal criminal code is amended to prohibit hindering, interfering with, or preventing voter registration. The Help America Vote Act of 2002 is amended to require states to promote access to voter registration and voting for individuals with disabilities. The Election Assistance Commission (EAC) must support pilot programs enabling individuals with disabilities to register and vote at their residences. The bill reauthorizes support for state and local governments to ensure voting access for individuals with disabilities. States must notify individuals convicted of a criminal offense under state law, upon release or upon sentence to probation, of their right to vote in federal elections. Voter Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act of 2017 This bill revises auditing requirements for voting systems. Voting systems must use individual, durable, voter-verified paper ballots. The National Science Foundation must support the study and development of accessible ballot voting and best practices to enhance the accessibility of voting for certain individuals. With exceptions, states must audit federal election results. The Servicemembers Civil Relief Act is amended to extend the guarantee of voting residency to family members of absent military personnel. The EAC must support poll-worker recruitment and training and develop materials for a model program. The Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 is amended to prohibit a chief state election administration official, unless the official or a family member is a candidate, from taking part in political management or in a political campaign for federal office over which the official has supervisory authority. The EAC is reauthorized and its exemption from certain contracting requirements is repealed.
United States · United States Congress · 22 June 2017
Elie Wiesel Genocide and Atrocities Prevention Act of 2017 This bill states that it is U.S. policy to regard the prevention of genocide and other atrocity crimes as a core national security interest and a core moral responsibility. The President shall instruct the Department of State to establish a Mass Atrocities Task Force to strengthen State Department efforts and assist other agency efforts at atrocity prevention and response. The Foreign Service Act of 1980 is amended to provide for the training of Foreign Service Officers in conflict and atrocity crimes prevention. The Director of National Intelligence is encouraged to include in his or her annual testimony to Congress on threats to U.S. national security: (1) a review of countries and regions at risk of atrocity crimes; and (2) specific countries and regions at immediate risk of atrocity crimes, including most likely pathways to violence, specific risk factors, potential perpetrators, and at-risk target groups. The bill establishes the Complex Crises Fund to enable the State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development to support programs and activities to prevent or respond to emerging or unforeseen foreign challenges and complex crises overseas, including potential atrocity crimes. Fund amounts may not be expended for lethal assistance or to respond to natural disasters.
United States · United States Congress · 22 June 2017
Calls for an end to the dog and cat meat industry. Urges the governments of China, South Korea, Vietnam, Thailand, the Philippines, Indonesia, Cambodia, Laos, India, and all other nations to: (1) adopt and enforce laws banning the dog and cat meat trade, (2) increase efforts to prevent any leather or fur byproducts of such trade from entering international markets, and (3) use their food safety laws to crack down on the sale of dog and cat meat. Affirms the U.S. commitment to the protection of animals and to advancing the progress of animal protection around the world. Urges executive branch officials to include the dog and cat meat trade on the agenda for discussion with the officials of countries that have a dog or cat meat industry.
United States · United States Congress · 21 June 2017
Voting Rights Advancement Act of 2017 This bill amends the Voting Rights Act of 1965 to allow a representative official of an Indian tribe, with authorization from the governing body of the tribe, to request one or more polling places to be located on tribal lands. The state or political subdivision shall provide each requested polling place at no expense to the Indian tribe if certain criteria are met. A federal court shall retain jurisdiction to enforce constitutional voting guarantees, but also certain violations of the Act as well as of any federal prohibition against discrimination on the basis of race, color, or membership in a language minority group, for an appropriate period to prevent commencement of new devices to deny or abridge the right to vote. Any state (and all of its political subdivisions) shall be subject to certain requirements for a 10-year period if: 15 or more voting rights violations occurred there during the previous 25 years; or 10 or more violations occurred during the previous 25 years, at least one of which was committed by the state itself (as opposed to a political subdivision within it). A state or political subdivision that obtains a declaratory judgment that it has not used a device to deny or abridge the right to vote shall be exempt from such requirements unlessas specified. This bill prescribes transparency requirements regarding any changes to specified matters. Department of Justice authority to assign observers receives new extensions. Courts shall grant preliminary injunctive relief if a complainant raises a serious question whether the challenged covered practice violates the Act or the Constitution and, on balance, the hardship imposed upon the defendant by the relief will be less than the hardship on the plaintiff if the relief were not granted.
United States · United States Congress · 21 June 2017
This bill directs the United States Postal Service to issue and sell an Alzheimer's Disease Research Semipostal Stamp. Proceeds from the sale of the stamp must be transferred to the National Institutes of Health. The stamp must be made available to the public for six years.
United States · United States Congress · 21 June 2017
Alzheimer's Caregiver Support Act This bill amends the Public Health Service Act to authorize the Department of Health and Human Services 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 · 21 June 2017
Stop the Asian Carp Now Act of 2017 This bill directs the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to release for public comment the Great Lakes and Mississippi River Interbasin Study - Brandon Road interim report that was scheduled for release on February 27, 2017. (The interim report is a feasibility study that assesses the viability of establishing a single point to control the upstream transfer of aquatic nuisance species from the Mississippi River Basin into the Great Lakes Basin in the vicinity of the Brandon Road Lock and Dam in Joliet, Illinois.)
United States · United States Congress · 20 June 2017
Road to Recovery Act This bill provides for coverage, under Medicaid or the Children's Health Insurance Program, of inpatient services in a residential substance use disorder treatment facility with respect to an individual under 65 years of age.
United States · United States Congress · 20 June 2017
Move Ownership and Responsibility to Encourage Makerspaces Act of 2017 or the MORE Makerspaces Act This bill amends the Federal Assets Sale and Transfer Act of 2016 to require federal agencies to submit recommendations to the General Services Administration and the Office of Management and Budget on federal civilian real properties that have sufficient square footage, technological capabilities, and community accessibility for use as makerspaces. The bill defines "makerspace" as a community space that: (1) provides access to tools, technology, and knowledge for learners and entrepreneurs; (2) results in the prototyping or creation of physical goods; and (3) supports the development of educational opportunities for personal growth, workforce training, and early stage business ventures. The Public Buildings Reform Board shall: (1) establish a review process through which federal agencies may lease or sell an abandoned or unused federal civilian real property for use as a makerspace; (2) establish an online public campaign to inform local municipalities of such process; and (3) when such a property is identified through such process, notify the Member of Congress in whose district such property is located so that such Member can inform the local municipality and community of the opportunity to use such property as a makerspace.
United States · United States Congress · 20 June 2017
Reaffirms: (1) the bipartisan commitment of the United States to promote the safety, health, and well-being of refugees; and (2) the goals of World Refugee Day. Recognizes those who have risked their lives to provide life-saving assistance and to help protect people displaced by conflict. Calls upon the U.S. government to: uphold its international leadership role in responding to displacement crises with humanitarian assistance for, and protection of, the most vulnerable populations; work in partnership with the international community to find solutions to existing conflicts and to prevent new conflicts; continue to support the efforts of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and to advance the work of nongovernmental organizations to protect refugees regardless of their country of origin or religious beliefs; and continue to mitigate, through humanitarian and development support, the burden placed on frontline refugee host countries that absorb the majority of the world's refugees.
United States · United States Congress · 16 June 2017
Expresses strong disapproval of the President's announcement to withdraw the United States from the Paris Agreement on climate change. Commends the group of states, cities, colleges and universities, businesses, investors, and individuals who have publicly expressed their support for such agreement. Urges the President to reverse his decision and maintain U.S. participation in such agreement.
United States · United States Congress · 15 June 2017
United States-Israel Anti-Tunnel Defense Cooperation Act This bill authorizes the Department of Defense, upon request of the Ministry of Defense of Israel and in consultation with the Department of State and the Director of National Intelligence, to carry out research, development, test, and evaluation, on a joint basis with Israel, to establish anti-tunneling capabilities to detect, map, and neutralize underground tunnels that threaten the United States or Israel.
United States · United States Congress · 15 June 2017
Restore Honor to Service Members Act This bill 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. Such boards to change a characterization to honorable if such characterization is any characterization except honorable. The Department of Defense (DOD) shall 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 that would have independently led to any discharge characterization except honorable. The bill 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. Each military department shall 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. Specified military personnel records and discharge forms must be reissued in a manner that shall not reflect the sexual orientation of the member.
United States · United States Congress · 15 June 2017
Mental Health in Schools Act of 2017 This bill amends the Public Health Service Act to revise a community children and violence program to assist local communities and schools in applying a public health approach to mental health services, including by: (1) revising eligibility requirements for a grant, contract, or cooperative agreement; and (2) providing for comprehensive school mental health programs that are culturally and linguistically appropriate, trauma-informed, and age appropriate. A comprehensive school mental health program funded under this bill must assist children in dealing with trauma and violence. The bill makes only certain partnerships that include a state educational agency and one or more educational agencies, with a local agency serving as lead partner, eligible for funding. They include public or private entities that use evidence-based intervention. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration shall develop a fiscally appropriate process for evaluating grant program activities, including the development of: (1) guidelines for the submission of program data by recipients; and (2) outcome measures to be applied by recipients in evaluating programs, including student and family measures and local educational measures.
United States · United States Congress · 15 June 2017
IDEA Full Funding Act This bill amends the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act to reauthorize and make appropriations for the grant program to assist states and outlying areas in providing special education and related services to children with disabilities. The bill sets the amount to be appropriated for each fiscal year from FY2018-FY2026 as the greater of: (1) a specified amount, or (2) a specified percentage of an amount determined pursuant to a formula that multiplies the number of children receiving special education services by the average per-pupil expenditure in public elementary and secondary schools. The bill appropriates funds for FY2027 and each subsequent fiscal year equal to the greater of a specified amount or 40% of the amount determined using such formula. Amounts appropriated shall be expended consistent with pay-as-you-go requirements.
United States · United States Congress · 13 June 2017
Housing Opportunity Mortgage Expansion Act This bill amends the Federal Home Loan Bank Act to continue Federal Home Loan Bank (FHLB) membership for captive insurance companies that became members prior to publication of the proposed (now final) Federal Housing Finance Agency rule ending their FHLB membership. (A captive insurance company underwrites insurance for its parent company and does not provide insurance to the public.) The parent company must support residential mortgage activities.
United States · United States Congress · 12 June 2017
Automatic Voter Registration Act of 2017 This bill directs the chief election official of each state to establish and operate an automatic voter registration system for federal elections. The system shall obtain information about eligible voters from contributing state agencies, including all agencies required by federal law to provide voter registration services. The Election Assistance Commission shall make grants to assist states in implementing the bill.
United States · United States Congress · 12 June 2017
Communications Over Various Feeds Electronically For Engagement Act of 2017 or the COVFEFE Act of 2017 This bill amends provisions governing presidential records to: (1) revise the definition of "documentary material" to include social media; (2) revise the definition of "presidential records" to include any personal and official social media account; and (3) define "social media" as any form of electronic communication (such as a website for social networking and microblogging) through which users create an online community to share information, ideas, personal messages, and other content (such as videos).
![Official portrait of Rep. Schneider, Bradley Scott [D-IL-10]](https://www.congress.gov/img/member/s001190_200.jpg)