United States · United States Congress · 16 September 2019
Dignity in Aging Act of 2019 This bill establishes, reauthorizes, and revises several programs administered by the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Labor relating to care for the elderly. Among other things, the bill reauthorizes through FY2024 and revises programs that support caregivers of the elderly; informational services, such as pension counseling; nutritional services, such as meal delivery; disease prevention and health promotion services; community and workforce training regarding elder care; and abuse and neglect prevention services. The bill also establishes several entities and programs to further support elder care, including initiatives that aim to promote independent living and reduce social isolation for the elderly.
United States · United States Congress · 12 September 2019
School Shooting Safety and Preparedness Act This bill requires the Department of Education to publish an annual report on indicators of school crime and safety. Such report shall collect specified information, including (1) the number of school shootings that have taken place nationwide; (2) the age, gender, race, ethnicity, and nationality of each victim; (3) the motivation of the shooter; (4) how the shooting was stopped; and (5) the number and type of firearms and ammunition used in each shooting.
United States · United States Congress · 12 September 2019
Puppies Assisting Wounded Servicemembers for Veterans Therapy Act or the PAWS for Veterans Therapy Act This bill requires the Department of Veterans Affairs to implement a pilot program to assess the effectiveness of addressing post-deployment mental health and post-traumatic stress disorder through a method where veterans train service dogs for veterans with disabilities.
United States · United States Congress · 12 September 2019
Bahamas TPS Act of 2019 This bill designates the Bahamas as a temporary protected status (TPS) country for 18 months from the enactment of this bill. (Qualified nationals of a TPS-designated country shall have work authorization and may not be removed from the United States while the designation is in effect.) A Bahamian national shall qualify for temporary protected status if the individual (1) has been continuously physically present in the United States since the bill's enactment, (2) meets certain admissibility and eligibility requirements generally required for such status, and (3) registers with the Department of Homeland Security.
United States · United States Congress · 12 September 2019
Cost Assistance Made Possible for Undergraduate Students Act or the CAMPUS Act This bill establishes a grant program whereby the Department of Education shall make grants to eligible higher education institutions to provide emergency finanical aid to students.
United States · United States Congress · 12 September 2019
Safe Cosmetics and Personal Care Products Act of 2019 This bill expands the Food and Drug Administration's authority to regulate cosmetics, including with respect to safety standards, product recalls, and product testing. The bill also generally prohibits the use of animal testing for the purpose of developing cosmetics.
United States · United States Congress · 12 September 2019
Enhancing Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Through Campus Planning Act This bill requires the Department of Education to encourage institutions of higher education to develop and implement comprehensive campus mental health and suicide prevention plans.
United States · United States Congress · 9 September 2019
Rural Maternal and Obstetric Modernization of Services Act or the Rural MOMS Act This bill expands initiatives to address maternal health in rural areas. The bill provides funding for the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) to establish rural obstetric networks for improving outcomes in birth and maternal morbidity. Specifically, these networks must (1) connect individuals with care providers, (2) identify successful maternal-care models, (3) facilitate collaboration among rural providers, (4) provide training and guidance, (5) collaborate with academic institutions that have regional expertise, and (6) measure and address inequities in birth outcomes among rural residents. HRSA also must award five-year demonstration program grants to (1) train physicians, medical residents, and other practitioners to provide maternal and obstetric services in rural communities; and (2) support academic programs that develop or provide training to improve maternal care in rural areas. Further, the bill adds maternal-health services as part of the telehealth network and telehealth resource-centers grant programs. The bill also makes a series of changes to the research and reporting requirements of the Department of Health and Human Services and the Government Accountability Office with respect to data on maternal-health outcomes.
United States · United States Congress · 6 September 2019
Reducing Waste in National Parks Act This bill directs each regional office of the National Park Service (NPS) to establish a program to recycle and reduce the use of disposable plastic bottles within each NPS unit located in its region. NPS regional offices may eliminate the sale of water in disposable plastic bottles within their NPS units after having considered several specified factors. Where, prior to enactment of this bill, an NPS unit does not offer water for sale in disposable plastic bottles, the unit may continue that practice if it submits to the regional office an evaluation of those factors. NPS regional offices shall develop for each NPS unit a proactive visitor education strategy to address visitor expectations of water availability and explain the rationale for the program.
United States · United States Congress · 30 August 2019
Strengthening Financial Aid for Students Act (Strengthening FAFSA) This bill increases the income protection allowance levels used to calculate a working student's expected family contribution and need for financial assistance. An income protection allowance is an amount for basic living expenses that is protected from being considered income available for postsecondary educational expenses. The bill also raises from 12 to 14 the total number of semesters during which a student may receive a federal Pell Grant.
United States · United States Congress · 23 August 2019
This concurrent resolution recognizes the disparity in wages paid to Black women and its impact on women, families, and the nation, and reaffirms Congress' support for ensuring equal pay and closing the gender wage gap.
United States · United States Congress · 20 August 2019
National Suicide Hotline Designation Act of 2019 This bill requires the Federal Communications Commission to designate 9–8–8 as the universal telephone number for a national suicide prevention and mental-health crisis hotline.
United States · United States Congress · 2 August 2019
Green Jobs and Opportunity Act This bill requires the Department of Labor to address current and future workforce shortages within the clean energy technology sector. Labor must monitor trends and shortages within the sector, recommend ways to prepare the workforce to meet the demands of a clean energy economy, and provide grants to establish training programs for occupations or fields of work with such shortages. Labor must also establish a National Advisory Committee on the Clean Energy Technology Workforce to provide advice on preparing the workforce to transition to a clean energy economy.
United States · United States Congress · 30 July 2019
Negro Leagues Baseball Centennial Commemorative Coin Act This bill directs the Department of the Treasury to mint and issue up to 50,000 $5 gold coins, 400,000 $1 silver coins, and 750,000 half-dollar clad coins in commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the establishment of the Negro National League, a professional baseball league that was formed in response to African-American players being banned from baseball's major leagues. The design of the coins shall be emblematic of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum and its mission to promote tolerance, diversity, and inclusion. All surcharges from sales of these coins shall be paid to the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum to fund educational and outreach programs and exhibits.
United States · United States Congress · 25 July 2019
EARLY Act Reauthorization of 2019 This bill reauthorizes through FY2024 programs that raise public awareness about breast health, educate health care providers to encourage early detection of breast cancer, and provide support for young women diagnosed with breast cancer.
United States · United States Congress · 25 July 2019
Save Our Seas 2.0 Act or the SOS 2.0 Act This bill establishes requirements and incentives to reduce, recycle, and prevent marine debris (e.g., plastics), including requirements to establish a Marine Debris Response Trust Fund, a Marine Debris Foundation, a Genius Prize for Save Our Seas Innovations, a strategy to improve waste management and recycling infrastructure, a Waste Management Revolving Fund for states, a Waste Management Infrastructure Grant program, a Drinking Water Infrastructure Grant program, a Wastewater Infrastructure Grant program, and a Trash-Free Water Grant program.
United States · United States Congress · 25 July 2019
Clean Energy Victory Bond Act of 2019 This bill directs the Department of the Treasury to issue Clean Energy Victory Bonds for investment in clean energy projects at the federal, state, and local level.
United States · United States Congress · 25 July 2019
Great Lakes Coastal Resiliency Act of 2019 This bill requires the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to assess the resiliency of the Great Lakes coastline, with a focus on (1) areas vulnerable to rising water levels and severe weather; and (2) lake conditions that contribute to coastal erosion, sustained flooding, and damage to properties and critical infrastructure.
United States · United States Congress · 25 July 2019
Fracturing Responsibility and Awareness of Chemicals Act of 2019 This bill revises drinking water requirements concerning hydraulic fracturing (fracking) operations. Specifically, the bill gives the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) the authority to protect groundwater sources (e.g., wells) from certain pollution risks posed by fracking operations. The bill also establishes requirements for disclosing the chemicals intended for use in fracking operations as well as the chemicals actually used in the operations. If the proprietary chemical formulas of chemicals used in fracking operations are necessary for treatment in medical emergencies, then the operations must disclose the formulas or the specific chemical identities of trade secret chemicals to the state, the EPA, or the treating physicians or nurses upon request, regardless of whether written statements of need or confidentiality agreements have been provided.
United States · United States Congress · 25 July 2019
Focused Reduction of Effluence and Stormwater runoff through Hydrofracking Environmental Regulation Act of 2019 or the FRESHER Act of 2019 This bill addresses stormwater runoff from mining, oil, or gas operations. Specifically, it eliminates a prohibition on the Environmental Protection Agency from requiring a permit under the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System for discharges of certain collected, uncontaminated stormwater runoff from mining operations or oil and gas operations. In addition, the Department of the Interior must study stormwater runoff associated with oil or gas operations, including an analysis of (1) measurable contamination, (2) groundwater resources, and (3) the susceptibility of aquifers to contamination from stormwater runoff associated with the operations.
United States · United States Congress · 25 July 2019
CLEANER Act of 2019 or the Closing Loopholes and Ending Arbitrary and Needless Evasion of Regulations Act of 2019 This bill eliminates the exemption of waste associated with the exploration, development, or production of crude oil, natural gas, or geothermal energy from regulations governing the disposal of hazardous waste. Within a year of enactment, the Environmental Protection Agency must determine whether waste associated with oil, gas, or geothermal energy activities meet the criteria promulgated for the identification or listing of hazardous waste.
United States · United States Congress · 25 July 2019
Social Determinants Accelerator Act of 2019 This bill establishes the Social Determinants Accelerator Interagency Council and provides funds for the council to (1) assist the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) in awarding specified grants, (2) increase coordination among health and social service programs, and (3) provide program evaluation guidance and technical assistance to increase the impact of social service programs. Specifically, the bill provides funds for the CMS to award up to 25 grants to state, local, or tribal health or human services agencies for the development of social determinants accelerator plans that address at least one health and one social outcome for a specified target population.
United States · United States Congress · 25 July 2019
Trauma-Informed Modernization of Eldercare for Holocaust Survivors Act or the TIME for Holocaust Survivors Act This bill includes matters concerning Holocaust survivors in federal grants and programs that serve older adults. Specifically, the bill includes an individual's status as a Holocaust survivor within the scope of the greatest social needs for purposes of such programs. Under current law, these programs must target populations with the greatest economic and social needs. Additionally, among other activities, the Administration on Aging must establish a national center to provide resources, training, and technical assistance related to delivering services to older individuals who experience the long-term and adverse consequences of trauma. In addition, the administration may designate within it a person responsible for implementing and coordinating services for individuals who are Holocaust survivors.
United States · United States Congress · 25 July 2019
This concurrent resolution expresses the sense of Congress that a commemorative stamp honoring the businessperson Martha Matilda Harper should be issued.
United States · United States Congress · 24 July 2019
Greater Access and Independence through Nonvisual Access Technology Act of 2019 or the GAIN Act This bill requires the Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board (Access Board) to establish access standards for home (1) medical devices, (2) appliances, and (3) exercise equipment that allow blind consumers to effectively use such products.
United States · United States Congress · 23 July 2019
Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement Act of 2019 or the MORE Act of 2019 This bill decriminalizes marijuana. Specifically, it removes marijuana from the list of scheduled substances under the Controlled Substances Act and eliminates criminal penalties for an individual who manufactures, distributes, or possesses marijuana. The bill also makes other changes, including the following: replaces statutory references to marijuana and marihuana with cannabis , requires the Bureau of Labor Statistics to regularly publish demographic data on cannabis business owners and employees, establishes a trust fund to support various programs and services for individuals and businesses in communities impacted by the war on drugs, imposes a 5% tax on cannabis products and requires revenues to be deposited into the trust fund, makes Small Business Administration loans and services available to entities that are cannabis-related legitimate businesses or service providers, prohibits the denial of federal public benefits to a person on the basis of certain cannabis-related conduct or convictions, prohibits the denial of benefits and protections under immigration laws on the basis of a cannabis-related event (e.g., conduct or a conviction), and establishes a process to expunge convictions and conduct sentencing review hearings related to federal cannabis offenses.
United States · United States Congress · 23 July 2019
Give Our Athletes Level Salaries Act or the GOALS Act This bill prohibits the use of funds for the 2026 World Cup until the U.S. Soccer Federation agrees to provide equitable pay to the members of the U.S. Women's National Team and the U.S. Men's National Team.
United States · United States Congress · 22 July 2019
Designates the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 511 West 165th Street in New York, New York, as the "Normandia Maldonado Post Office Building."
United States · United States Congress · 18 July 2019
Preventing Lead Poisoning Act of 2019 This bill requires coverage under the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) of lead blood level assessments. Specifically, CHIP must cover a child's assessment once at the age of 12 months and once at the age of 24 months, or once between the ages of 24 months and 72 months if the child has never been assessed. The bill also provides statutory authority for these requirements (regarding testing intervals) for state Medicaid programs.
United States · United States Congress · 17 July 2019
Reuniting Families Act This bill makes various immigration law changes, such as increasing the annual caps for certain immigrant visas and establishing that permanent partners are generally treated as spouses. The bill also expands which familial relationships are considered as immediate family and therefore not subject to annual limits, repeals specified bars from admission for unlawfully present aliens, and limits what constitutes a misrepresentation of citizenship status—a deportable offense—by requiring a willful misrepresentation.
United States · United States Congress · 17 July 2019
Teacher Education for Computer Science Act or the Teach CS Act This bill authorizes the Department of Education to award grants to institutions of higher education for establishing and maintaining teacher education programs for computer science. It also includes computer science as an eligible education category with respect to receiving various teacher preparation grants and graduate fellowships.
United States · United States Congress · 15 July 2019
This resolution states that immigrants and their descendants have made America stronger and naturalized citizens are just as American as those whose families have been in the United States for generations. It also expresses a commitment to keep America open to those who lawfully seek refuge from violence and oppression and those willing to work hard to achieve the American Dream, regardless of race, ethnicity, faith, or country of origin. The resolution strongly condemns as racist the President’s comments about immigrants and those who look to the President like immigrants and states that these have legitimized hatred of new Americans and people of color, including his reference to immigrants and asylum seekers as “invaders.”
United States · United States Congress · 12 July 2019
Recovering America’s Wildlife Act of 2019 This bill provides funding for (1) the conservation or restoration of wildlife and plant species of greatest conservation need; (2) the wildlife conservation strategies of states, Indian tribes, or territories; or (3) wildlife conservation education and recreation projects. The Department of the Interior must use a portion of the funding for a grant program. The grants must be used for innovative recovery efforts for species of greatest conservation need, species listed as endangered or threatened species, or the habitats of such species.
United States · United States Congress · 12 July 2019
Legal Services for Homeless Veterans Act This bill requires the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to enter cooperative agreements or make grants to eligible entities that provide legal services to homeless veterans and veterans at risk for homelessness. To be eligible, an entity must (1) be a public or nonprofit private entity with the capacity to effectively administer a grant or cooperative agreement, (2) demonstrate that adequate financial support will be available to provide legal services to homeless veterans and veterans at risk for homelessness, and (3) agree to meet the VA's established requirements and demonstrate a capacity to meet such requirements.
United States · United States Congress · 10 July 2019
Summer Meals and Learning Act of 2019 This bill directs the Department of Education to award grants to state library administrative agencies to enable them to award subgrants to eligible local educational agencies for summer early reading programs held at schools with a summer lunch site.
United States · United States Congress · 10 July 2019
Complete Streets Act of 2019 This bill directs each state to establish a competitive program to provide technical assistance and grants for the design and construction of complete streets to make transit routes safer and more accessible. Specifically, the bill directs the Department of Transportation (DOT) to establish benchmarks and guidance by which states can implement complete streets programs and eligible entities can carry out complete streets policies and principles; eligible entities seeking technical assistance or funds for a complete streets program to adopt policies using complete streets principles that are approved by the state or metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs) with jurisdiction over such entites; states and MPOs to certify that their complete street policies meet the minimum requirements set out by DOT; states to set aside 5% of their federal highway money to implement a complete streets program; and states and MPOs to adopt design standards for federal surface transportation projects that provide for the safe and adequate accommodation of all users of the surface transportation network, including motorized and non-motorized users, in all phases of project planning, development, and operation.
United States · United States Congress · 10 July 2019
Asuncion Valdivia Heat Illness and Fatality Prevention Act of 2019 This bill requires the Department of Labor to promulgate an occupational safety or health standard on prevention of exposure to excessive heat. Excessive heat includes outdoor or indoor exposure to heat at levels that exceed the capacities of the body to maintain normal body functions and may cause heat-related injury, illness, or fatality. In addition, the bill establishes requirements concerning (1) training and education to prevent and respond to heat illness, and (2) whistle-blower protections.
United States · United States Congress · 9 July 2019
Caring For Our Women Veterans Act This bill establishes various reporting requirements for the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) related to women veterans and health care. Specifically, the bill requires the VA to submit reports on (1) women veterans' use of health care from the VA; (2) use by the VA of general primary care clinics, separate but shared spaces, and women's health centers as models of providing health care to women veterans; and (3) the staffing of the VA related to the treatment of women.
United States · United States Congress · 9 July 2019
Independence at Home Demonstration Act of 2019 This bill extends the Independence at Home Demonstration Program for an additional three years. The program provides Medicare beneficiaries who have multiple chronic conditions with home-based primary care.
United States · United States Congress · 9 July 2019
This resolution expresses support for the designation of Journeyman Lineman Recognition Day. (A journeyman lineman is a person who builds and maintains electrical power systems.)
United States · United States Congress · 9 July 2019
This concurrent resolution expresses the sense of Congress that global warming has resulted in a climate emergency that demands a massive-scale mobilization of U.S. resources to halt, reverse, mitigate, and prepare for the consequences of the emergency.
United States · United States Congress · 2 July 2019
High Speed Gunfire Prevention Act This bill provides statutory authority for restrictions on the possession or transfer of bump-stock-type devices and other parts capable of converting a firearm to automatically shoot multiple rounds without manual reloading by a single function of the trigger. It also makes it a crime to import, manufacture, sell, ship, deliver, possess, transfer, or receive parts or accessories designed to accelerate the rate of fire of a semiautomatic firearm without converting it to a fully automatic firearm. An individual who violates this provision is subject to criminal penalties—a fine, a prison term of up to 10 years, or both.
United States · United States Congress · 27 June 2019
Greg LeMond Congressional Gold Medal Act This bill 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 to Greg LeMond, in recognition of his contributions to the nation as an athlete, activist, role model, and community leader.
United States · United States Congress · 27 June 2019
Bolstering Long-Term Understanding and Exploration of the Great Lakes, Oceans, Bays, and Estuaries Act or the BLUE GLOBE Act This bill addresses data collection and monitoring of the Great Lakes, oceans, bays, estuaries, and coasts. Specifically, the bill increases domestic and international coordination to enhance data management and monitoring of the Great Lakes, oceans, bays, estuaries, and coasts; creates the Interagency Ocean Exploration Committee to promote the exploration and improved understanding of the oceans; revises the Ocean Policy Committee to the Committee on Ocean Policy; establishes a technology innovation task force to combat illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing; requires the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to develop a workforce development program, including to support undergraduate and graduate education in fields related to the advancement of the monitoring, collection, synthesis, and analysis of data regarding the Great Lakes, oceans, bays, estuaries, and coasts; requires NOAA to ensure that a goal of its cooperative institutes is to advance or apply emerging technologies; requires NOAA to establish opportunities to engage indigenous, subsistence, and fishing communities to better understand their needs; institutes an ocean innovation prize to catalyze the rapid development and deployment of data collection and monitoring technology; reauthorizes several NOAA programs, including the Ocean Exploration Program; directs relevant federal agencies to measure the value and impact of industries related to the Great Lakes, oceans, bays, estuaries, and coasts on the U.S. economy; and requires the National Academy of Sciences to assess the potential for an Advanced Research Projects Agency-Oceans.
United States · United States Congress · 27 June 2019
Therapeutic Fraud Prevention Act of 2019 This bill prohibits commercial conversion therapy, which is a practice or treatment designed to change a person's sexual orientation or gender identity or otherwise change behaviors, thoughts, or expressions related to gender or sexual attraction. This prohibition does not apply to treatment that assists an individual undergoing a gender transition or facilitates identity exploration and development.
United States · United States Congress · 27 June 2019
This resolution requests that the President condemn the killing of Jamal Khashoggi and take certain actions to encourage other countries to promote press freedom and cease violence against journalists.
United States · United States Congress · 26 June 2019
Improve Well-Being for Veterans Act This bill requires the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to award grants for a period of three years to eligible entities for the provision of suicide prevention services to veterans and their families. Under the bill, eligible entities include tribally designated housing entities, community-based organizations, and other private entities that meet certain requirements. Entities must submit an application to receive financial assistance that includes a description of the services they propose to provide, among other elements. The bill requires the VA to equitably distribute grants across geographic regions and areas with the most need. Additionally, the VA shall give preference to entities that are experienced in providing suicide prevention services. Entities receiving funding must notify service recipients that funding is wholly or partially from the VA.
![Official portrait of Rep. Morelle, Joseph D. [D-NY-25]](https://www.congress.gov/img/member/67ffc962f22eaf56065817bb_200.jpg)