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![Official portrait of Rep. Blumenauer, Earl [D-OR-3]](https://www.congress.gov/img/member/b000574_200.jpg)
United States · Official source
8,560 records where Rep. Blumenauer, Earl [D-OR-3] is listed as a sponsor, author, or other actor. Search with topics and years
United States · United States Congress · 9 July 2020
Protect Access to Birth Control Act This bill nullifies interim final rules issued by the Department of Labor, the Department of the Treasury, and the Department of Health and Human Services that allow employers with religious or moral objections to be exempt from the requirement that their health insurance plans cover contraceptive services without cost-sharing.
United States · United States Congress · 9 July 2020
Computers for Veterans and Students Act of 2020 or the COVS Act This bill allows federal agencies to directly transfer surplus computers and related technology to refurbishers for eventual distribution to schools, veterans, seniors, and other specified populations in need. The General Services Administration (GSA) may also transfer property it receives from other agencies to refurbishers for such purposes. Currently, the GSA operates the Computers for Learning Program, which distributes surplus computers and related technology from federal agencies to schools and educational nonprofits; the program does not allow property to be transferred directly to refurbishers.
United States · United States Congress · 9 July 2020
Social Security COVID Correction and Equity Act This bill expands the Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance (OASDI) benefits program, temporarily expands the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program, and otherwise modifies these programs. Specifically, the bill revises OASDI benefits by (1) modifying funding formulas, (2) extending eligibility for certain benefits, and (3) increasing income thresholds used to determine the percentage of benefits subject to federal income tax. Changes to OASDI funding formulas include (1) increasing the primary insurance amount, (2) establishing new methods to calculate benefits for individuals with lifetime low earnings and for widows and widowers, and (3) modifiying application of the national average wage index to prevent certain reductions to benefits. In addition, children of a deceased, disabled, or retired worker remain eligible for OASDI benefits through age 22 if they are full-time students. Under current law, they receive benefits through age 18. The bill also extends dependent child benefits under the OASDI program to specified family members other than grandparents or step-grandparents, including in cases where a court grants custody of the dependent child to an eligible family member. To receive benefits under current law, either both parents must be disabled or deceased or a grandparent or step-grandparent must legally adopt the dependent child. The bill also temporarily increases income and resource limits for the SSI program, thereby temporarily expanding eligibility. This program helps aged, blind, and disabled individuals with limited income and resources meet their basic needs.
United States · United States Congress · 9 July 2020
Earned Income and Child Tax Credits Outreach Act of 2020 This bill directs the Department of the Treasury, in January of 2021 and January of 2022, to carry out a public outreach program to inform individual taxpayers of their potential eligibility for the earned income and child tax credits. The Inspector General for Tax Administration of Treasury must study the outreach program and make recommendations for improving it.
United States · United States Congress · 2 July 2020
SAFE Workers Act or the Secure And Fair Elections for Workers Act This bill requires the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to provide employees with the ability to vote remotely by telephone or the internet in union representation elections during the COVID-19 (i.e., coronavirus disease 2019) public health emergency. The bill further permits the NLRB's use of appropriations to issue directives or regulations providing for electronic voting methods.
United States · United States Congress · 2 July 2020
Reviving the Economy Sustainably Towards A Recovery in Twenty-twenty Act or the RESTART Act This bill establishes a loan program whereby the Small Business Administration (SBA) shall guarantee loan amounts to certain businesses affected by COVID-19 (i.e., coronavirus disease 2019). Specifically, the bill requires the SBA to guarantee 100% of program loan amounts made to certain small businesses that have not more than than 5,000 full-time employees. The terms for such loans shall include (1) a maximum duration of not more than seven years; (2) an amount that is not greater than 45% of 2019 gross receipts, up to $12 million; and (3) no payment on principal for the first two years of the loan. A lender that is otherwise approved to make paycheck protection loans may make and approve loans established by the bill, and a recipient may use loan funds for specified allowable expenses including payroll costs, rent, utilities, and personal protective equipment. Such loans may be forgiven up to the amount of total losses incurred by the recipient in the taxable year 2020.
United States · United States Congress · 1 July 2020
Congressional Oversight to Secure Transparency of Relocations Act or the COST of Relocations Act This bill requires a federal agency seeking to relocate more than 5% of its employees or more than 100 employees to conduct and make public a comprehensive cost-benefit analysis of the proposed change. Specifically, the agency must conduct such analysis and submit it to the agency's office of inspector general for review and submission to Congress. The report must include, among other things the anticipated outcomes and improvements that will result from the proposed relocation, the metrics for measuring whether the proposed relocation results in the anticipated outcomes and improvements, a timeline of past and future engagements with stakeholders regarding the proposed relocation, a comprehensive strategy for accomplishing the proposed relocation, and an assessment of the short- and long-term effects of the proposed relocation on the agency's mission.
United States · United States Congress · 1 July 2020
This resolution recognizes the forthcoming centennial of the Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921. The resolution, among other things acknowledges the historical significance of this event as one of the largest single instances of state-sanctioned violence against black people in American history; honors the lives and legacies of the estimated 300 black individuals who were killed during the massacre and the nearly 9,000 who were left homeless and penniless; condemns efforts to cover up the truth and shield the white community, especially government officials, from accountability; condemns the continued legacy of racism and white supremacy against black people in the United States, particularly in the form of police brutality; encourages education about the massacre, the history of white supremacy that fueled the massacre, and subsequent attempts to deny or cover up the massacre, in all elementary and secondary education settings and in institutions of higher education; and recognizes the commitment of Congress to acknowledge and learn from the history of racism and racial violence to reverse the legacy of white supremacy and fight for racial justice.
United States · United States Congress · 30 June 2020
This resolution directs the Committee on the Judiciary to inquire into specified instances to determine whether the House of Representatives should impeach Attorney General William Barr. The resolution authorizes the committee, or any subcommittee or task force designated by the committee, to take affidavits and depositions by a member, counsel, or consultant of the committee, pursuant to notice or subpoena.
United States · United States Congress · 29 June 2020
Protecting Renters from Eviction and Fees Act of 2020 This bill expands the moratorium on evictions to include all tenants, as opposed to tenants of federally assisted properties, and extends the moratorium until March 27, 2021 (the current moratorium expires on July 25, 2020).
United States · United States Congress · 25 June 2020
Growing Renewable Energy and Efficiency Now Act of 2020 or the GREEN Act of 2020 This bill provides tax incentives for investment in renewable energy resources and energy efficiency programs. Among other provisions, the bill extends for five years the tax credit for production of electricity from certain renewable resources (e.g., wind facilities, biomass, landfill trash facilities), the election to treat certain tangible property as energy property for purposes of the energy tax credit, and certain provisions of the energy tax credit; expands the energy tax credit to include energy storage technology, waste energy recovery property, and qualified biogas property; extends for two years the tax credit for carbon oxide sequestration; allows elective payments in lieu of certain energy-related tax credits; modifies the phaseout provisions of the income and excise tax credits for biodiesel and renewable diesel and extends the termination date for such credits; extends for five years and increases the tax credit for nonbusiness energy property and the new energy efficient home tax credit; extends for six years the residential energy efficient property tax credit; extends for five years the tax deduction for energy efficient commercial buildings; modifies the limitations on new qualified plug-in electric drive motor vehicles tax credit and allows a new credit for such vehicles that are previously-owned; allows a new tax credit for zero emission heavy vehicles (vehicles with a gross weight rating of not less than 14,000 pounds and not powered by an internal combustion engine); extends for five years the tax credits for qualified fuel cell motor vehicles and alternative fuel cell refueling property; provides for additional allocations of the advanced energy project tax credit; allows a new tax credit for the labor costs of installing mechanical insulation property; allows a new tax credit to promote environmental justice programs (programs to improve health and economic outcomes of individuals residing in low-income areas or areas populated disproportionately by racial or ethnic minorities); and requires the Department of the Treasury to report on the utility of data from the Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program for determining the amount of greenhouse gases emitted by taxpayers for purposes of imposing a fee on them for such emissions.
United States · United States Congress · 25 June 2020
Facial Recognition and Biometric Technology Moratorium Act of 2020 This bill imposes limits on the use of biometric surveillance systems, such as facial recognition systems, by federal and state government entities. A federal agency or official may not in an official capacity acquire, possess, or use in the United States any such system or information obtained by such a system unless Congress passes an act that specifically authorizes such a use. Such an act of Congress must contain certain provisions, such as provisions naming the specific authorized entity and auditing requirements relating to the system. Information obtained in violation of this bill shall not be admissible by the federal government in any proceeding or investigation, except in a proceeding alleging a violation of this bill. An individual aggrieved by a violation of these restrictions shall have the right to sue. Any state officer authorized to sue on behalf of the state's residents shall also have the right to sue on behalf of the state's aggrieved residents. A state or local government unit shall not receive certain federal law enforcement grants unless the government unit complies with a law or policy that is substantially similar to this bill's restrictions on acquiring and using biometric surveillance systems.
United States · United States Congress · 25 June 2020
This bill designates the Department of Veterans Affairs clinic in Bend, Oregon, as the Robert D. Maxwell Department of Veterans Affairs Clinic or the Robert D. Maxwell VA Clinic.
United States · United States Congress · 24 June 2020
Research Investment to Spark the Economy Act or the RISE Act This bill authorizes the Departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Defense, Education, Energy, the Interior, and Health and Human Services and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), National Science Foundation, and Environmental Protection Agency to provide support for research regarding COVID-19 (i.e., coronavirus disease 2019) or research disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Support under this bill shall be provided through federal science agencies with at least $50 million in basic and applied research obligations in FY2020. Support may be used to provide supplemental funding to extend the duration of a grant to a research institution or national laboratory that was awarded prior to the enactment of this bill, or to expand the purposes of such a grant as specified; provide supplemental funding through existing competitively awarded cooperative agreements and contracts to cover the increased costs of construction of scientific facilities and equipment that have been delayed because of COVID-19; and award grants and cooperative agreements to institutions of higher education to conduct research on the behavioral, social, or economic effects of COVID-19 and the responses to the disease or on the effectiveness of such responses. Agencies must provide the support as rapidly as possible. Provided funds shall remain available for expenditure for up to two years.
United States · United States Congress · 24 June 2020
American Assistance for American Companies Act This bill disallows certain tax benefits for inverted domestic corporations. An inverted domestic corporation is a U.S. corporation that acquires foreign entities to reincorporate in a foreign jurisdiction with income tax rates lower than U.S. rates). Specifically, an inverted domestic corporation may not claim net operating loss carrybacks, increased deductibility of business interest, nor participate in Federal Reserve Lending Facilities. The bill allows an inverted domestic corporation to elect to be treated as a domestic corporation for U.S. tax purposes.
United States · United States Congress · 24 June 2020
HOME Investment Partnerships Reauthorization Act of 2020 This bill reauthorizes through FY2025 the HOME Investment Partnerships Program, which provides funds to states and local governments to create affordable housing for low-income individuals.
United States · United States Congress · 24 June 2020
Greener Transportation for Communities Act This bill authorizes the use of tax-exempt facility bonds to fund zero-emission vehicle infrastructure used to charge or fuel zero-emissions vehicles. The bill defines zero-emissions vehicles as (1) any any light-duty vehicle or light-duty truck conforming to the applicable low-emission vehicle standard, or any heavy-duty vehicle with an engine conforming to such standard; or (2) vehicles that produce zero exhaust emissions of any criteria pollutant (or precursor pollutant) or greenhouse gas under any possible operational modes and conditions.
United States · United States Congress · 22 June 2020
Taxpayer Research and Coronavirus Knowledge Act of 2020 This bill requires the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), in coordination with specified federal agencies, to compile a public, searchable database of federal contracts, tax benefits, and other support for COVID-19 (i.e., coronavirus disease 2019) biomedical research and development, including information regarding the source and amount of such support. HHS must develop the database within one month and update it every two weeks.
United States · United States Congress · 18 June 2020
Promoting Fair and Effective Policing Through Research Act This bill provides for the establishment of grants and programs to support research on the causes, consequences, and mitigation of police violence; develop standards for biometric identification systems and other advanced policing tools; test biometric identification technologies; and reduce the use of force by law enforcement officers.
United States · United States Congress · 18 June 2020
This resolution condemns bigotry and acts of violence or discrimination against Iranian Americans and others. The resolution, among other things encourages U.S. elected officials to engage Iranian Americans to share their experiences with their communities to end stereotypes, correct misconceptions, and convey instances of abuse against the Iranian American community; calls upon law enforcement authorities to investigate and vigorously prosecute crimes committed against Americans that are based on actual or perceived race, color, religion, national origin, or ethnicity; urges the Office of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties in the Department of Homeland Security to conclude a thorough and timely investigation into detentions of Iranian Americans at the border; and calls on Customs and Border Protection to immediately halt any orders that encourage discrimination on the basis of nationality or religion, including those targeting individuals of Iranian heritage.
United States · United States Congress · 18 June 2020
Infection Control Training and Support Act of 2020 This bill requires the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to ensure that, during the public health emergency relating to COVID-19 (i.e., coronavirus disease 2019), at least one of its contracts with Medicare quality improvement organizations requires that the organization assist skilled nursing facilities with COVID-19 infection control (e.g., training materials).
United States · United States Congress · 18 June 2020
Hastening Arms Limitations Talks Act of 2020 or the HALT Act of 2020 This bill prohibits the obligation or expenditure of funds to conduct an explosive nuclear weapons test that produces yield unless (1) the President details any change to the condition of the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile from the previous year, and (2) Congress enacts a joint resolution approving the test. Further, the bill declares it to be U.S. policy to lead international negotiations on specific arms-reduction measures.
United States · United States Congress · 18 June 2020
Andrew Kearse Accountability for Denial of Medical Care Act of 2020 This bill establishes a new federal criminal offense for failing to obtain medical attention for an individual in federal custody who displays medical distress. Specifically, the bill requires federal law enforcement officers and the Bureau of Prisons' personnel to provide or obtain immediate medical attention for an individual in federal custody who displays medical distress. It criminalizes the negligent failure to obtain or provide such medical attention that results in unnecessary pain, injury, or death. A violator is subject to criminal penalties—a fine, a prison term of up to one year, or both.
United States · United States Congress · 18 June 2020
Juneteenth National Independence Day Act This bill establishes Juneteenth Independence Day as a federal holiday.
United States · United States Congress · 18 June 2020
This resolution commemorates June 19, 1865, or Juneteenth, as the end of slavery in the United States. It also reaffirms the commitment of Congress to honor Juneteenth by supporting the enactment of policies that ensure fair and secure elections for all Americans.
United States · United States Congress · 15 June 2020
This resolution recognizes the historical significance and supports the continued celebration of Juneteenth Independence Day, which commemorates the end of slavery in the United States.
United States · United States Congress · 15 June 2020
Real Economic Support That Acknowledges Unique Restaurant Assistance Needed To Survive Act of 2020 or the RESTAURANTS Act of 2020 This bill temporarily establishes and provides funding for the Restaurant Revitalization Fund, from which the Department of the Treasury shall make grants to eligible food and beverage purveyors to cover specified costs. The amount of such a grant shall be reduced by the amount of (1) any emergency grant received for an economic injury disaster loan, or (2) any paycheck protection loan amount forgiven under the Paycheck Protection Program established to support small businesses in response to COVID-19 (i.e., coronavirus disease 2019). For the grant program's initial period, Treasury must (1) prioritize awarding grants to marginalized and underrepresented communities, and (2) only award grants to eligible food and beverage purveyors with annual revenues of less than $1.5 million.
United States · United States Congress · 15 June 2020
This resolution expresses the sense of the House of Representatives that Congress supports (1) reducing waste at the Department of Defense (DOD), (2) making cuts to DOD's budget while simultaneously improving support for members of the Armed Forces, (3) exercising aggressive oversight over DOD, (4) eliminating the Overseas Contingency Operations account, and (5) reallocating certain defense funds to instead support U.S. diplomacy and domestic programs. The resolution encourages (1) DOD to complete its full audit before the end of the year and report back to Congress immediately; and (2) the Department of State and other agencies to ensure U.S. safety through diplomacy, foreign assistance, and a strong economy.
United States · United States Congress · 15 June 2020
Prohibiting Law Enforcement Use of Chemical Weapons Act This bill prohibits federal, state, and local law enforcement officers from using chemical weapons in the course of policing activities. It also requires law enforcement agencies to dispose of chemical weapons that were acquired for such use.
United States · United States Congress · 11 June 2020
This joint resolution nullifies a rule published on June 5, 2020, by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency within the Department of the Treasury. The rule generally revises the office's implementation of the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA), which requires banks to serve the credit needs of low- and moderate-income communities. Under the CRA, a bank receives credit, which influences the bank's performance rating, for conducting specified activities related to this requirement in designated assessment areas. Among other things, the rule revises qualifying CRA activities, sets forth new procedures for determining if an activity qualifies under the CRA, and expands designated assessment areas.
United States · United States Congress · 11 June 2020
Law Enforcement Identification Act This bill requires federal law enforcement officers and members of the Armed Forces engaged in crowd control, riot control, or arrest or detainment of individuals engaged in an act of civil disobedience, demonstration, protest, or riot to display clearly visible identifying information.
United States · United States Congress · 11 June 2020
Investing in a New Vision for the Environment and Surface Transportation in America Act or the INVEST in America Act This bill addresses provisions related to federal-aid highway, transit, highway safety, motor carrier, research, hazardous materials, and rail programs of the Department of Transportation (DOT). Among other provisions, the bill extends FY2020 enacted levels through FY2021 for federal-aid highway, transit, and safety programs; reauthorizes for FY2022-FY2025 several surface transportation programs, including the federal-aid highway program, transit programs, highway safety, motor carrier safety, and rail programs; addresses climate change, including strategies to reduce the climate change impacts of the surface transportation system and conduct a vulnerability assessment to identify opportunities to enhance the resilience of the surface transportation system and ensure the efficient use of federal resources; revises Buy America procurement requirements for highways, mass transit, and rail; establishes a rebuild rural grant program to improve the safety, state of good repair, and connectivity of transportation infrastructure in rural communities; implements new safety requirements across all transportation modes; and directs DOT to establish a pilot program to demonstrate a national motor vehicle per-mile user fee to restore and maintain the long-term solvency of the Highway Trust Fund and achieve and maintain a state of good repair in the surface transportation system.
United States · United States Congress · 8 June 2020
Justice in Policing Act of 2020 This bill addresses a wide range of policies and issues regarding policing practices and law enforcement accountability. It includes measures to increase accountability for law enforcement misconduct, to enhance transparency and data collection, and to eliminate discriminatory policing practices. The bill facilitates federal enforcement of constitutional violations (e.g., excessive use of force) by state and local law enforcement. Among other things, it does the following: lowers the criminal intent standard—from willful to knowing or reckless—to convict a law enforcement officer for misconduct in a federal prosecution, limits qualified immunity as a defense to liability in a private civil action against a law enforcement officer or state correctional officer, and authorizes the Department of Justice to issue subpoenas in investigations of police departments for a pattern or practice of discrimination. The bill also creates a national registry—the National Police Misconduct Registry—to compile data on complaints and records of police misconduct. It establishes a framework to prohibit racial profiling at the federal, state, and local levels. The bill establishes new requirements for law enforcement officers and agencies, including to report data on use-of-force incidents, to obtain training on implicit bias and racial profiling, and to wear body cameras.
United States · United States Congress · 8 June 2020
Preserving Leadership Against Nuclear Explosives Testing Act or the PLANET Act This bill prohibits the use of federal funds for FY2021 to conduct or make preparations for any explosive nuclear weapons test that produces any yield.
United States · United States Congress · 8 June 2020
Bend Toward Justice Act of 2020 This bill lowers the criminal intent standard—from willful to reckless—to convict a government official (including a law enforcement officer) for deprivation of rights while acting under color of law.
United States · United States Congress · 8 June 2020
Police Receiving Overly Traumatizing Equipment Changes Today Act or the PROTECT Act This bill provides incentives to encourage states and local governments to return or to not receive transfers from the Department of Defense (DOD) of certain surplus military property (e.g., controlled firearms, ammunition, grenades, and drones) and eliminates the requirement for DOD to give preference to transfers of property that will be used in counterdrug or border security activities. In addition, the bill authorizes grants for programs and training for law enforcement officers such as training on de-escalation techniques.
United States · United States Congress · 4 June 2020
This resolution recognizes racism as a national public health crisis and supports the creation of a truth and reconciliation process to address historic, enduring systemic and structural racism against black people.
United States · United States Congress · 4 June 2020
Great American Outdoors Act This bill establishes the National Parks and Public Land Legacy Restoration Fund to support deferred maintenance projects on federal lands. For FY2021-FY2025, there shall be deposited into the fund an amount equal to 50% of all federal revenues from the development of oil, gas, coal, or alternative or renewable energy on federal lands and waters. Deposited amounts must not exceed $1.9 billion for any fiscal year. The fund must be used for priority deferred maintenance projects in specified systems that are administered by the National Park Service, the Forest Service, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Bureau of Land Management, and the Bureau of Indian Education. The Government Accountability Office must report on the effect of the fund in reducing the backlog of priority deferred maintenance projects for the specified agencies. Additionally, the bill makes funding for the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) permanent. The President shall annually report to Congress specified details regarding the allocation of funds to the LWCF. Congress may provide for alternate allocations using specified procedures.
United States · United States Congress · 4 June 2020
This concurrent resolution (1) affirms, on the 400th anniversary of the arrival of the first slave ship, the U.S. debt of remembrance not only to those who lived through the injustices of slavery but also to their descendants; and (2) proposes a U.S. Commission on Truth, Racial Healing, and Transformation to properly acknowledge, memorialize, and be a catalyst for progress, including toward permanently eliminating persistent racial inequities.
United States · United States Congress · 4 June 2020
This resolution condemns racism and invidious discrimination as evil and antithetical to the U.S. Constitution and declares unconditional war on racism and invidious discrimination in America. The resolution declares that the House of Representatives shall pass legislation establishing a Cabinet-level Department of Reconciliation. The department shall be charged with ending racism and invidious discrimination, developing and coordinating the implementation of a comprehensive national strategy to eliminate racism and invidious discrimination, with a budget the equivalent of at least 10% of the Defense Department's budget. The department shall be headed by a Secretary of Reconciliation, who shall make semi-annual progress reports to Congress.
United States · United States Congress · 4 June 2020
George Floyd Law Enforcement Trust and Integrity Act of 2020 This bill requires the Department of Justice (DOJ) to take specified steps to address accreditation standards, management operations, and misconduct of law enforcement. Specifically, it requires DOJ to develop uniform accreditation standards for law enforcement agencies and adopt policies and procedures to encourage law enforcement agencies to pursue accreditation. It authorizes DOJ to make grants to law enforcement agencies to obtain accreditation from certified organizations. The bill authorizes DOJ to make grants for studying law enforcement agency management and operations standards and developing pilot programs to address law enforcement misconduct. DOJ must study the prevalence and effect of any law, rule, or procedure that allows a law enforcement officer to delay the investigation and prosecution of complaints of law enforcement misconduct. The bill also establishes the Task Force on Law Enforcement Oversight to coordinate the detection and referral of complaints of alleged law enforcement misconduct. Law enforcement agencies must report data regarding practices on traffic violation stops, pedestrian stops, frisk and body searches, and use of deadly force. Finally, DOJ must create a medallion for survivors of each law enforcement officer killed in the line of duty and memorialized on the wall of the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial.
United States · United States Congress · 4 June 2020
Ending Qualified Immunity Act This bill eliminates the defense of qualified immunity in civil actions for deprivation of rights. Qualified immunity is a judicially created doctrine that protects government employees or those acting with state authority from being held personally liable for constitutional violations. The bill provides that under the statute allowing a civil action alleging deprivation of rights under color of law, it shall not be a defense or immunity to any such action that (1) the defendant was acting in good faith or believed that his or her conduct was lawful at the time it was committed; (2) the rights, privileges, or immunities secured by the Constitution or laws were not clearly established at the time of their deprivation; or (3) the state of the law was such that the defendant could not reasonably have been expected to know whether his or her conduct was lawful.
United States · United States Congress · 1 June 2020
VoteSafe Act of 2020 This bill expands vote-by-mail and early in-person voting during the 2020 federal elections. It also directs polling places to follow certain guidance related to COVID-19 (i.e., coronavirus disease 2019) preparedness. Specifically, each state and local jurisdiction must permit no-excuse mail-in absentee voting. Among other things, each state and jurisdiction must (1) provide a mail-in ballot with prepaid return postage to each registered voter who requests such a ballot, (2) allow voters to submit online ballot requests, (3) allow voters to cure certain signature discrepancies, and (4) provide secured drop-off boxes from 45 days before the date of the election. Each state and local jurisdiction must maintain an early in-person voting period of at least 20 days. Additionally, each state must establish a plan to ensure that polling places are implementing guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention related to COVID-19 preparedness. Among other requirements, each plan must (1) keep as many voting locations open as possible, (2) prepare polling locations to implement social distancing protocols, (3) provide sufficient quantities of hygiene and cleaning supplies at polling locations, and (4) provide additional compensation and protective equipment to poll workers. The Election Assistance Commission (EAC) must make a payment, within 30 days, to each state to carry out these requirements. Finally, the EAC must make payments to eligible states to carry out certain activities related to in-person voting, such as ensuring that elections are accessible to individuals with disabilities and implementing curbside voting.
United States · United States Congress · 1 June 2020
This resolution expresses the sense of the House of Representatives that blood donation policies should be grounded in science, minimize deferral periods, and allow donations by all those who can safely make them.
United States · United States Congress · 1 June 2020
This resolution condemns acts of brutality, racial profiling, and the use of excessive force by law enforcement officers. It also calls for the end of militarized policing practices. The resolution supports strengthening efforts to promote accountability for individual law enforcement officers and police departments. Finally, it calls for the adoption of sound and unbiased law enforcement policies at all levels of government.
United States · United States Congress · 1 June 2020
Coronavirus Oversight and Recovery Ethics Act of 2020 or the CORE Act This bill establishes requirements for oversight, accountability, and transparency in the disbursement and supervision of COVID-19 (i.e., coronavirus disease 2019) relief funds. Among other things, the bill prohibits conflicts of interest in the selection or hiring of contractors or advisors and in the distribution of relief grants and loans; allows inspectors general to be fired only for specified reasons; grants the Congressional Oversight Commission, established in the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act), subpoena authority for testimony and documents and expands its jurisdiction to include all COVID-19 relief funding, including the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) of the Small Business Administration (SBA); requires the Department of the Treasury to submit a weekly list of any instances in which the Special Inspector General for Pandemic Relief or the Pandemic Relief Accountability Committee believe the executive branch has unreasonably denied them information; requires lobbyists to make monthly disclosures regarding all lobbying related to COVID-19 relief spending or lending; establishes whistle-blower protections for government contractors and private sector workers who may witness waste, fraud, or abuse or be victims of misconduct; requires the SBA to publicly disclose information about PPP lenders and recipients, including loan amounts; and allows any individual harmed by a company's misuse of industry stabilization funds to seek recourse through the courts.
United States · United States Congress · 27 May 2020
Child Care Is Essential Act This bill establishes and provides $50 billion in appropriations for the Child Care Stabilization Fund to award grants to child care providers during and after the COVID-19 (i.e., coronavirus disease 2019) public health emergency. The bill establishes the fund within the existing Department of Health and Human Services Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) program, and the grants must be administered by the existing CCDBG lead agencies of states, tribes, or territories. Child care providers that are currently open or temporarily closed due to COVID-19 are eligible to receive grant awards, which are based on the provider's operating costs before the COVID-19 public health emergency and adjusted to account for the increased costs of providing child care as a result of COVID-19.
United States · United States Congress · 22 May 2020
This resolution expresses support for a National Day of Mourning and other actions to honor the lives lost due to COVID-19 (i.e., coronavirus disease 2019) once the pandemic has ended.
United States · United States Congress · 22 May 2020
COVID-19 Dependent Care Flexible Spending Arrangement Rollover Act of 2020 This bill directs the Department of the Treasury to issue regulations or other guidance that permit the unused balance as of the end of plan year 2020 of any dependent care flexible spending arrangement to be rolled over to plan year 2021.
United States · United States Congress · 22 May 2020
Small Packer Overtime and Holiday Fee Relief for COVID-19 Act of 2020 This bill requires the Department of Agriculture to reduce the fees charged to small meat, poultry, and egg processing plants for inspections that occur during overtime hours or on holidays. The bill also provides funding to implement the requirements.