United States · United States Congress · 14 March 2018
Global Trade Accountability Act of 2018 This bill amends the Trade Act of 1974 to require congressional approval of unilateral trade actions. Such actions may take effect without congressional approval for one 90-day period if the President: determines that it is necessary because of a national emergency, because of an imminent threat to health or safety, for the enforcement of criminal laws, or for national security; and submits written notice of the determination to Congress.
United States · United States Congress · 14 March 2018
Federal Employee Bonus Disclosure Act This bill requires federal agencies to report to the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) information about each performance bonus awarded to an employee. The OPM must publish such information.
United States · United States Congress · 7 March 2018
Education Savings Accounts for Military Families Act of 2018 This bill amends the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to direct the Department of Education to establish a program to provide children with parents on active duty in the uniformed services with funds for specified educational purposes. Children of active duty service members who reside in a local education agency that receives payments under the Impact Aid Program or who reside within the boundaries of a federal military installation are eligible to receive funds.
United States · United States Congress · 1 March 2018
Searchable Legislation Act of 2018 This bill requires Congress to ensure that all congressional documents and all votes cast in Congress and congressional committees are created, transmitted, and published in searchable electronic formats, consistent with data standards recommended by such advisory bodies as Congress may establish. The Clerk of the House of Representatives and the Secretary of the Senate, acting jointly, shall establish the Congressional Data Task Force (an advisory body) to recommend data standards for the creation, transmission, and publication of information and congressional documents, including bills, resolutions, amendments, reports, laws, and records, in such formats for purposes of this bill.
United States · United States Congress · 1 March 2018
Readable Legislation Act of 2018 This bill requires every bill or joint resolution that amends an existing section of any Act to do so by setting forth the entire section and showing the omissions and insertions proposed by appropriate typographical devices. A measure may not revise or amend any section of an Act by a mere reference to it.
United States · United States Congress · 15 February 2018
Shellfish Aquaculture Improvement Act of 2018 This bill limits recovery for certain injuries sustained by an aquaculture worker if state workers' compensation is available to such individual. (An aquaculture worker is an individual employed by commercial enterprises involved in the controlled cultivation and harvest of aquatic plants and animals, including the cleaning, processing or canning of fish and fish products, the cultivation and harvesting of shellfish, and the controlled growing and harvesting of other aquatic species.)
United States · United States Congress · 5 February 2018
This bill prohibits Department of State or the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) funds from being made available as assistance to the government of Pakistan. The State Department and USAID shall transfer specified FY2018 funds, upon receipt, to the Highway Trust Fund.
United States · United States Congress · 30 January 2018
Recognizes the 50th anniversary of the 1968 Memphis sanitation workers strike. Honors the perseverance of the members of Union Local 1733 and the contribution of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., in resolving the labor dispute.
United States · United States Congress · 29 January 2018
Release the Memo Resolution Expresses the sense of the House of Representatives that the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence should immediately hold a recorded vote on making public a memo alleging improper conduct in the use of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Department of Justice that was prepared by members of the committee, as well as ancillary information. Urges the quick release of the memo and information to the public if the committee votes to make such documents available.
United States · United States Congress · 25 January 2018
Defending Elections from Threats by Establishing Redlines Act of 2018 This bill requires the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI), no more than 30 days after a U.S. election, to determine whether a foreign government interfered with the election and report on that determination. If the DNI reports that there was not interference and subsequently determines that there was interference, the DNI shall report on the subsequent determination. If the DNI determines that Russia interfered with an election, the President shall impose specified sanctions. The President shall brief Congress on any foreign government the President determines interfered with, or is likely to interfere with, an election.
United States · United States Congress · 19 January 2018
Pay Our Protectors Not Our Politicians Act of 2018 This bill provides FY2018 appropriations for military pay during any period in which interim or full-year appropriations for FY2018 are not in effect. The appropriations provided by this bill are available until the earlier of: (1) the enactment into law of specified appropriations legislation, or (2) January 1, 2019. The bill provides continuing appropriations for pay and allowances of: members of the Armed Forces, including reserve components, who perform active service; members of the reserve components of the Armed Forces who perform inactive-duty training; civilian personnel or contractors of the Department of Defense (and the Department of Homeland Security [DHS] in the case of the Coast Guard) who are providing support to members of the Armed Forces; and DHS employees who are performing national security activities. It also provides continuing appropriations for payments related to: death gratuities, funeral and burial expenses, authorized funeral travel and travel related to the dignified transfer of remains and unit memorial services, and the temporary continuation of a basic allowance of housing for dependents of members dying on active duty. The bill also prohibits Members of Congress from being paid when a government shutdown is in effect during the 116th and succeeding Congresses. During the 115th Congress, congressional pay must be withheld during a government shutdown and released at the end of the Congress.
United States · United States Congress · 18 January 2018
Defending Economic Livelihoods and Threatened Animals Act or the DELTA Act This bill directs the Department of State and the U.S. Agency for International Development to work with Angola, Botswana, and Namibia, and in partnership with donors, the private sector, and local, regional, and nongovernmental entities, to develop a strategy to: (1) promote sustainable natural resource and wildlife management practices in the greater Okavango River Basin, (2) protect migration routes of elephants and other threatened wildlife species, (3) combat wildlife poaching and trafficking, (4) address local health needs, and (5) catalyze economic growth.
United States · United States Congress · 10 January 2018
Securing America's Future Act of 2018 This bill amends the Immigration and Nationality Act to revise immigrant visa allocation provisions, including family-related visas. A nonimmigrant classification for parents of adult U.S. citizens is created. The diversity visa program is eliminated. Annual immigration levels are revised. The limit on the worldwide level of employment-based immigrants is increased. The H-2C visa temporary agricultural worker program is revised. A trust fund is established to provide incentives for such workers to return to their country of origin. DNA testing to establish family relationships is authorized. Employment eligibility verification provisions are revised. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) shall establish an employment verification system. No federal, state, or local government entity or individual may prohibit or restrict a federal, state, or local government entity or official from complying with the immigration laws or assisting related federal law enforcement activities. The bill revises provisions regarding: (1) detention of aliens in removal proceedings; (2) illegal entry and reentry; (3) inadmissibility and deportability of criminal aliens, gang members, drunk drivers, and sex offenders; (4) repatriation; (5) asylum and asylum fraud; (6) unaccompanied alien children; (7) foreign students; and (8) visa fraud. The bill: (1) transfers authority for strengthening the southern border from the Department of Justice to DHS; (2) revises border security provisions; (3) provides for additional border security personnel; (4) authorizes new ports of entry along the northern border and southern borders; (5) authorizes National Guard border security activities; (6) provides contingent nonimmigrant status for certain aliens who entered the United States as minors; (7) authorizes appropriations for specified border barriers and infrastructure; and (8) establishes Operation Stonegarden to make border security grants to law enforcement agencies. DHS shall: (1) submit a southern border threat analysis, (2) establish the Integrated Border Enforcement Team program, (3) implement the Border Security Deployment Program, (4) review social media activities of visa applicants, and (5) establish a biometric exit data system.
United States · United States Congress · 21 December 2017
Truth in Spending Act of 2017 This bill requires the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to submit to the President, for inclusion in the President's annual budget submission, specified reports regarding the difference between the actual costs of direct spending legislation and the costs that were estimated by the Congressional Budget Office and the OMB. (Direct spending, also known as mandatory spending, is spending provided by laws other than appropriations Acts.) If the actual total cost of the direct spending legislation exceeds the estimated total cost, the report must also include proposed legislative language to eliminate the excess cost. Within seven days of receiving a report from the OMB, the President must submit to Congress any proposed legislative language included in the report. Congress must then consider the proposed legislation using specified expedited legislative procedures. The budgetary effects of legislation considered pursuant to this bill may not be entered on the Pay-As-You-Go (PAYGO) scorecards maintained under the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2010.
United States · United States Congress · 30 November 2017
Congressional Accountability and Hush Fund Elimination Act This bill amends the Congressional Accountability Act of 1995 (CAA) to (1) prohibit the use of public funds for payments of awards and settlements resulting from violation of certain CAA rights and protections if the violation consists of sexual harassment or sexual assault, (2) prohibit an imposition of a nondisclosure agreement as a prerequisite for CAA procedures to consider the violation, and (3) permit an individual to publicize any information relating to such a prior award or settlement if it was conditioned on a nondisclosure agreement.
United States · United States Congress · 8 November 2017
Designates the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 201 Tom Hall Street in Fort Mill, South Carolina, as the "J. Elliott Williams Post Office Building."
United States · United States Congress · 7 November 2017
Higher Education Reform and Opportunity Act of 2017 This bill amends the Higher Education Act of 1965 to make postsecondary education courses and programs, such as apprenticeship programs, that provide credits toward a postsecondary certification, credential, or degree eligible for federal student aid funding if the programs and courses are accredited by a state that has an alternative accreditation agreement with the Department of Education. The bill terminates loan forgiveness for borrowers under the income contingent repayment options for new loans made under the William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan Program. An institution that receives federal student aid funding must pay a default rate fine that is based on the default rate of loans made to its students.
United States · United States Congress · 7 November 2017
Sugar Policy Modernization Act of 2017 This bill amends the Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform Act of 1996 and other agricultural laws to modify the Department of Agriculture (USDA) sugar program. The bill modifies the sugar program to: reduce the rates for price support loans to processors of domestically grown sugarcane and sugar beets; require USDA to recover the net cost of the program from domestic sugar processors; extend through 2019 and then terminate the Feedstock Flexibility Program under which USDA purchases surplus sugar from domestic processors for resale to ethanol producers; extend through 2020 and then repeal the flexible marketing allotments which limit the amount of sugar that domestic processing companies may sell for domestic human use; require USDA to administer the program to provide adequate supplies of sugar at reasonable prices; require USDA to adjust sugar tariff-rate quota imports to achieve specified ratios of sugar stocks to total sugar use; and allow the transfer of quotas between countries.
United States · United States Congress · 31 October 2017
Preparedness and Risk Management for Extreme Weather Patterns Assuring Resilience and Effectiveness Act of 2017 or the PREPARE Act of 2017 This bill directs the President to establish the Interagency Council on Extreme Weather Resilience, Preparedness, and Risk Identification and Management (council), which shall: (1) establish government-wide goals for extreme weather resilience, preparedness, and risk identification and management (EWR); (2) develop, recommend, coordinate, and track implementation of priority interagency federal government actions related to EWR; (3) provide recommendations to the Council on Environmental Quality, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), and the Department of Homeland Security on how agencies should develop or update agency extreme weather plans, remove barriers to state and local EWR in agency regulations, guidance, and policy, and avoid duplication among federal activities; (4) issue guidance to agencies on developing agency extreme weather plans and agency regulations, guidance, and policies to remove barriers to state and local EWR; and (5) publish biannually an inventory of all regional agency offices, centers, and programs that assist with EWR at the state or local level. OMB shall ensure that each agency provides adequate resources to the council. Each agency shall submit biannually to OMB and to the council a comprehensive plan that integrates consideration of extreme weather into its operations and overall mission objectives. OMB shall consolidate and submit such plans to Congress. Annual agency performance plans shall include the most recent agency extreme weather plan.
United States · United States Congress · 25 October 2017
Uniting and Strengthening America by Reforming and Improving the Government's High-Tech Surveillance Act or the USA RIGHTS Act This bill amends the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 to: require a warrant to collect communications of or about a U.S. person or a person inside the United States; require a warrant when a significant purpose of targeting foreigners is to collect communications of persons in the United States; prohibit the use of communications to or from, or information about, U.S. persons or persons in the United States in any criminal, civil, or administrative proceeding or investigation, with the exception of national security-related crimes; allow individuals who have a reasonable basis to believe their communications will be acquired and who have taken reasonable steps to avoid surveillance to challenge the constitutionality of surveillance in court; and require that all forms of technical assistance demanded by the government of electronic communications service providers be approved by a FISA court. The bill expands the mandate of the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board to include review of all foreign intelligence activities and whistle-blower complaints. The bill extends the FISA Amendments Act of 2008 to September 30, 2021.
United States · United States Congress · 23 October 2017
Constitutional Amendment This joint resolution proposes a constitutional amendment requiring federal expenditures and receipts to be balanced, excluding expenditures for payment of debt and receipts derived from borrowing. The requirement may be met over more than one year to accommodate economic conditions. In emergency situations, two-thirds of the House of Representatives and the Senate may authorize expenditures to exceed receipts for a limited time. Debts from emergency expenditures must be paid as soon as practicable. Congress may enforce the article with legislation, which must require compliance within 10 years of ratification.
United States · United States Congress · 10 October 2017
Affirms that: (1) the Constitution gives Congress power over the nation's debts; (2) limiting the debt is an essential exercise of this authority; and (3) removing limitations on the debt would inappropriately cede this authority, remove a critical check on future increases in deficit spending and the national debt, and potentially exacerbate the already unsustainable fiscal position of the United States and its national security.
United States · United States Congress · 5 October 2017
Puerto Rico Humanitarian Relief Act This bill revises coastwise laws, commonly known as the Jones Act, that govern domestic transportation of merchandise or passengers by vessels. The Jones Act requires vessels transporting merchandise or passengers between Puerto Rico and other U.S. ports be built in the United States, at least 75% owned by U.S. citizens, and mostly crewed by U.S. citizens. The bill exempts for five years vessels transporting merchandise between Puerto Rico and other U.S. ports from Jones Act requirements. The Government Accountability Office must report the economic impact of this bill on Puerto Rico.
United States · United States Congress · 28 September 2017
Waiving Hindrances to Economic Enterprise and Labor Act or the WHEEL Act This bill amends the Fixing America's Surface Transportation Act (FAST Act) to modify the definition of "covered driver" for purposes of a commercial driver pilot program to mean an individual between the ages of 18 and 21 who: (1) holds a valid commercial driver's license; (2) has a driving record without citations, violations, or other safety infractions; and (3) has received a certification of completion of a training program or similar qualification demonstrating skill and aptitude with respect to the operation of a commercial motor vehicle. (Current law limits participation to individuals between such ages who are members or former members of the Armed Forces or reserve components, and who are qualified in a Military Occupational Specialty to operate a commercial motor vehicle or similar vehicle.)
United States · United States Congress · 27 July 2017
Office of Government Ethics Independence Act of 2017 This bill amends the Ethics in Government Act of 1978 to specify that the Director of the Office of Government Ethics may be removed only pursuant to a finding by the President of neglect of duty or malfeasance in office.
United States · United States Congress · 13 July 2017
Disaster Assistance Equity Act of 2017 This bill amends the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act to modify the definition of "private nonprofit facility" to include any facilities (including roads, bridges, sewer systems, and other critical community infrastructure) owned or operated by a common interest community that provide essential services of a governmental nature. The bill also defines additional terms under such Act, including "condominium" and "housing cooperative." "Common interest community" is defined as: (1) any nonprofit mandatory membership organization comprised of owners of real estate (other than a condominium or housing cooperative) described in a declaration or created pursuant to a covenant or other applicable law with respect to which a person, by virtue of the person's ownership of a unit, is obligated to pay for a share of real estate taxes, insurance premiums, maintenance or improvement of, or services or other expenses related to, common elements, other units, or any other real estate other than the unit described in the declaration; and (2) a condominium project that is comprised entirely of detached single family units or that is comprised of four or more multi-unit housing structures and that owns or operates facilities that provide essential services of a governmental nature. The bill amends such Act to provide that for purposes of the provision of federal disaster assistance with respect to residential elements that are the legal responsibility of an association for a condominium or housing cooperative, the terms "individual" or "household" include the association. The President must determine the maximum amount of assistance that any such association may receive under such Act for a single disaster.
United States · United States Congress · 28 June 2017
Fort Sumter and Fort Moultrie National Park Act of 2017 This bill establishes the Fort Sumter and Fort Moultrie National Park in South Carolina for the preservation and interpretation of the nationally significant historical values and cultural resources associated with Fort Sumter, Fort Moultrie, and Sullivan's Island Life Saving Station Historic District. The Department of the Interior shall arrange for the interpretation of historical events and activities that occurred in the vicinity of Fort Sumter and Fort Moultrie, including: the Battle of Sullivan's Island on June 28, 1776; the Siege of Charleston during 1780; and the Civil War, including the bombardment of Fort Sumter by Confederate forces on April 12, 1861; and the development of the coastal defense system of the United States during the period from the Revolutionary War to World War II, including that of Sullivan's Island Life Saving Station. Interior may enter into cooperative agreements with public and private entities and individuals to carry out this bill.
United States · United States Congress · 22 June 2017
21st Century Aviation Innovation, Reform, and Reauthorization Act or the 21st Century AIRR Act This bill reauthorizes and modifies Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) programs. It also establishes the American Air Navigation Services Corporation as a federally chartered, not-for-profit corporation to assume operational control of FAA air traffic services on October 1, 2020. The bill revises requirements for the pilot program for passenger facility charges at nonhub airports and the airport improvement program. The bill extends the authorization for airport development at Midway Island Airport. The Department of Transportation (DOT): shall carry out an environmental mitigation pilot grant program for sponsors of public-use airports; and may make grants to such sponsors for environmental mitigation projects to reduce or mitigate aviation impacts on noise, air quality, or water quality at the airport or within five miles of the airport. DOT shall establish a Safety Oversight and Certification Advisory Committee. The FAA must establish: the FAA Task Force on Flight Standards Reform, a Regulatory Consistency Communications Board, and a safety workforce training strategy. DOT shall take appropriate actions to promote U.S. aerospace standards, products, and services abroad. DOT shall modify regulations regarding flight duty limitations and rest requirements to ensure that: (1) a flight attendant scheduled for a duty period of 14 hours or less is given a scheduled rest period of at least 10 consecutive hours, and (2) the rest period is not reduced under any circumstances. The bill prescribes certain requirements for improving passenger air service. The bill also reauthorizes the essential air service program and the small community air service development program. DOT shall: develop a comprehensive plan to accelerate the integration of civil unmanned aircraft systems (drones) into the national airspace system, establish a regional air transportation pilot program to provide operating assistance and grants to provide and maintain air service to communities not receiving sufficient air service, and establish a remote air traffic control tower pilot program for rural or small communities. The FAA shall initiate a review of its strategic aviation cybersecurity plan.
United States · United States Congress · 22 June 2017
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Reform Act of 2017 This bill amends the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 to modify the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly known as the food stamp program) work requirements that apply to able-bodied adults without dependents (ABAWDs). The bill modifies the work requirements to: terminate the authority of the Department of Agriculture to waive the requirements, upon the request of a state agency, for individuals residing in an area that has an unemployment rate of over 10% or does not have a sufficient number of jobs to provide employment for the individuals; shorten from three months to one month the time limit for receiving benefits in a three-year period without meeting the requirements; decrease from 15% to 5% the portion of ABAWDs that a state may exempt from the requirements; allow participation in a supervised job search to satisfy the requirements; require states receiving SNAP funds to provide ABAWDs with opportunities to participate in a work program, a workfare program, or a supervised job search; and reduce SNAP allotments for states that fail to comply with requirements regarding eligibility disqualifications. The bill also modifies the congressional declaration of policy to specify that the purpose of SNAP is to increase employment, to encourage healthy marriage, and to promote prosperous self-sufficiency (maintaining an income above the poverty level without services and benefits from the federal government).
United States · United States Congress · 15 June 2017
Compassionate Access, Research Expansion, and Respect States Act of 2017 or the CARERS Act of 2017 This bill amends the Controlled Substances Act to provide that the Act's regulatory controls and administrative, civil, and criminal penalties do not apply to a person who produces, possesses, distributes, dispenses, administers, tests, recommends, or delivers medical marijuana in compliance with state law. The bill also: excludes "cannabidiol" (CBD) from the definition of "marijuana"; limits the concentration of delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) in CBD to 0.3 percent on a dry weight basis; and deems marijuana grown or processed to make CBD, in accordance with state law, to comply with the THC concentration limit unless the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) determines state law to be unreasonable. The bill directs the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to terminate the Public Health Service's interdisciplinary review process that is used to evaluate applications for medical marijuana research. The DEA must license manufacturers and distributors of marijuana for medical research; HHS must register practitioners to conduct research; and the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) must authorize VA health care providers to provide recommendations and opinions to veterans regarding participation in their states' marijuana programs.
United States · United States Congress · 8 June 2017
Welfare Reform and Upward Mobility Act This bill requires the President to include in the annual budget proposal the total level of means-tested welfare spending by the federal, state, and local governments for the most recent fiscal year for which such data is available, and estimated levels for the current and 10 ensuing fiscal years. For each of FY2018-FY2028 each state that receives means-tested welfare spending by the federal government shall report annually to the Congressional Budget Office on the total amount of such spending by the state for the fiscal year. The Congressional Budget Act of 1974 is amended to define means-tested welfare spending as spending for any federal program designed specifically to give assistance or benefits exclusively to low-income Americans. The refundable portion of certain tax credits shall also be means-tested welfare spending, as well as the refundable portion of the premium and out-of-pocket health care subsidies to be paid under the Patient Protection and Affordable Health Care Act. The bill revises work eligibility requirements under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. Part A (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families) (TANF) of title IV of the Social Security Act is amended to create the work preparation program for TANF families. The bill eliminates separate participation rate requirements for two-parent families. No federal funds shall be made available to carry out any means-tested housing program, but states may receive grants to fund their own housing programs. The bill prohibits funding for abortions and for health benefits that cover abortion, including certain tax credits, except where the pregnancy results from rape or incest or in certain other health cases.
United States · United States Congress · 25 May 2017
Employee Rights Act This bill amends the National Labor Relations Act to: (1) make it an unlawful labor practice for a labor organization to interfere (currently, restrain or coerce) with the rights of employees to organize and collectively bargain; (2) require union recertification after a turnover in the workforce exceeding 50% of the bargaining unit; (3) require the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to give 14 days advance notice before a hearing investigating an election petition; and (4) require an employer to provide the NLRB with a list consisting only of employee names and addresses of all eligible voters within seven days after an NLRB determination of the appropriate bargaining unit or an agreement on eligible voters. The bill: (1) grants union and nonunion employees the right to vote by secret ballot on whether to ratify a collective bargaining agreement or engage in a strike, (2) prohibits the use of union dues for any purpose not directly related to collective bargaining, (3) prohibits a strike without the consent of a majority of all represented employees determined by secret ballot, and (4) prohibits the use or threat of force or violence to obtain the right to represent employees. .
United States · United States Congress · 25 May 2017
Revamping American Infrastructure Act of 2017 This bill directs the Department of Transportation (DOT) to: (1) identify DOT regulations, guidance, and policies that establish prescriptive requirements for regulated entities and that can be replaced with outcome-based performance standards; (2) submit, and implement within two years, a plan for such replacement; and (3) ensure that regulations, guidance, and policies issued after enactment of this bill are issued as outcome-based performance standards.
United States · United States Congress · 25 May 2017
Processing Revival and Intrastate Meat Exemption Act or the PRIME Act This bill amends the Federal Meat Inspection Act to expand the exemption of custom slaughtering of animals from federal inspection requirements. Under current law, the exemption applies if the meat is slaughtered for personal, household, guest, and employee uses. The bill expands the exemption to include meat that is: slaughtered and prepared at a custom slaughter facility in accordance with the laws of the state where the facility is located; and prepared exclusively for distribution to household consumers in the state or restaurants, hotels, boarding houses, grocery stores, or other establishments in the state that either prepare meals served directly to consumers or offer meat and food products for sale directly to consumers in the state. The bill does not preempt any state law concerning: (1) the slaughter of animals or the preparation of carcasses, parts thereof, meat and meat food products at a custom slaughter facility; or (2) the sale of meat or meat food products.
United States · United States Congress · 19 May 2017
Transparency in All Health Care Pricing Act of 2017 This bill requires entities that offer or furnish health care related products or services to the public, including health insurers and government agencies, to disclose the price for those products and services at the point of purchase and on the Internet. The entities must disclose all prices, including wholesale, retail, and discounted prices, that are accepted as payment in full for products and services furnished to individual consumers. The Department of Health and Human Services may investigate and impose civil penalties on entities that fail to comply with this requirement.
United States · United States Congress · 18 May 2017
South Carolina Peanut Parity Act of 2017 This bill amends the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 to add South Carolina to the Virginia/Carolina peanut producing region for the purpose of appointing members of the Peanut Standards Board. (Under current law, the region includes Virginia and North Carolina. The board advises the Department of Agriculture regarding the establishment of quality and handling standards for domestically produced and imported peanuts.)
United States · United States Congress · 4 May 2017
Right to Try Act This bill requires the federal government to allow unrestricted manufacturing, distribution, prescribing, and dispensing of experimental drugs, biological products, and medical devices that are authorized by state law and intended to treat terminally ill patients. Patients receiving these treatments must be certified by a physician as having exhausted all other treatment options and as being at greater risk from their medical condition than the treatment. The physician must explain the treatment to the patient, including that the treatment is experimental, and the patient, or the patient's legal representative, must acknowledge the explanation. A manufacturer, distributor, prescriber, dispenser, possessor, or user of such a treatment has no liability regarding the treatment. The outcome of manufacture, distribution, prescribing, dispensing, possession, or use of such a treatment may not be used by a federal agency to adversely impact review or approval of the treatment. The treatment must: (1) have successfully completed a phase 1 (initial, small scale) clinical trial; (2) remain under investigation in a clinical trial approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA); and (3) not be approved, licensed, or cleared for sale by the FDA.
United States · United States Congress · 4 May 2017
Highway Restoration Act of 201 7 This bill amends the Internal Revenue Code to provide for a phaseout of the Mass Transit Account by the end of FY2021. Beginning in FY2022, no funds would be transferred to the account from the Highway Trust Fund.
United States · United States Congress · 3 May 2017
This bill directs the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the President pro tempore of the Senate to arrange for the posthumous award of a Congressional Gold Medal in commemoration of Glen Doherty, Tyrone Woods, J. Christopher Stevens, and Sean Smith in recognition of their contributions to the nation.
United States · United States Congress · 28 April 2017
Coastal Economies Protection Act This bill amends the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act to prohibit the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management from offering any tract for oil and gas leasing or preleasing until June 30, 2027, in the following areas: the North Atlantic planning area, the Mid-Atlantic planning area, the South Atlantic planning area, the Straits of Florida planning area, or the Eastern Gulf of Mexico planning area that is within 125 miles of the coastline of Florida.
United States · United States Congress · 27 April 2017
This bill amends the Public Health Service Act, if the American Health Care Act (H.R. 1628) is enacted, to make plans made available by the federal government to Members of Congress and congressional staff subject to state waivers of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) requirement for health insurance to cover the essential health benefits and PPACA restrictions on premium variation by age and health status.
United States · United States Congress · 27 April 2017
Consolidated Authorization for Use of Military Force Resolution of 2017 This joint resolution authorizes the President, for three years, to use all necessary and appropriate force to protect U.S. national security against Al Qaeda, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), the Afghan Taliban, and any associated organized and armed group that is a co-belligerent against the United States. Congress declares that this authorization is intended to constitute specific statutory authorization under the War Powers Resolution and that nothing in this joint resolution supersedes any requirement of such resolution. The President shall: (1) submit to Congress and publish in the Federal Register at least every 90 days a list of entities (including their locations) against which such authority has been exercised. If the President exercises such authority to deploy ground forces in a combat role, the President shall notify Congress at the earliest possible date after such deployment consistent with U.S. national security interests. A joint resolution introduced on or after such notification that provides for modification or repeal of a deployment authority shall be considered to be in accordance with applicable procedures under the War Powers Resolution. Specified prior authorizations for the use of military force are repealed.
United States · United States Congress · 26 April 2017
Atlantic Seismic Airgun Protection Act This bill amends the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act to prohibit conducting geological or geophysical activities in support of oil, gas, or methane hydrate exploration and development on the Atlantic Outer Continental Shelf. The geological and geophysical activities are described in a final programmatic environmental impact statement by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management entitled "Atlantic OCS Proposed Geological and Geophysical Activities, Mid-Atlantic and South Atlantic Planning Areas."
United States · United States Congress · 25 April 2017
Budgetary Accuracy in Scoring Interest Costs Act of 2017 or the BASIC Act This bill amends the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974 to require any cost estimates prepared by the Congressional Budget Office or the Joint Committee on Taxation to include the cost of servicing the public debt.
United States · United States Congress · 6 April 2017
This bill amends the Internal Revenue Code, with respect to tax administration requirements for foreign-source income and assets, to repeal: (1) withholding requirements for payments to foreign financial institutions and other foreign entities, (2) information reporting for foreign financial assets, (3) penalties for underpayments of tax attributable to undisclosed foreign financial assets, (4) reporting requirements for shareholders of a passive foreign investment company and U.S. owners of foreign trusts, and (5) the additional penalty for failure to file required notices and information returns for certain foreign trusts.
United States · United States Congress · 6 April 2017
Strengthen Employment And Seasonal Opportunities Now (SEASON) Act This bill amends the Immigration and Nationality Act to provide, effective as if enacted on January 1, 2017, that a returning H-2B visa alien (temporary nonagricultural worker) who has already been counted toward the applicable numerical limitation during a fiscal year: (1) shall not again be counted toward such limitation during each succeeding consecutive fiscal year in which the alien is issued an H-2B visa or otherwise provided such status, but (2) shall be considered a returning worker. "Other temporary service or labor" for H-2B purposes means that an employer's need for labor will not exceed 1 year and is a seasonal (not to exceed 10 months), peak load, or intermittent need, unless it is a one-time occurrence not exceeding 3 years. An H-2B employer shall file an employee petition with the Department of Homeland Security. Additional filings with the Department of Labor are not required. H-2B employer requirements are set forth regarding: (1) petitions, (2) admissions and maximum stay in status, (3) housing, (4) enforcement, (5) transportation, (6) recruitment, (7) U.S. worker protections, and (8) wages. An H-2B worker shall not be entitled to: (1) tax credit assistance for a qualified health plan, and shall be subject to plan rules applicable to individuals not lawfully present in the United States; (2) the child tax credit; and (3) the earned income tax credit.
United States · United States Congress · 6 April 2017
Federal Budget Accountability Act This bill requires the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to report annually to Congress on the effect of provisions of legislation for the previous congressional session that were enacted to offset or pay for the costs of carrying out the legislation, including provisions that increase revenue, rescind budget authority, or reduce direct spending. The OMB must also establish and report to Congress on a system to track the accuracy of the offsets and pay-fors. (Under the bill, an "offset and pay-for" is an estimate by the Congressional Budget Office for a provision of legislation that reduces spending, increases revenue, or reduces the deficit.)
United States · United States Congress · 5 April 2017
President-Elect Release of Tax Return Act of 2017 This bill requires the President-elect to submit a copy of each federal income tax return filed with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) for the four most recent taxable years to the chairs and ranking minority members of: (1) the House Administration Committee, and (2) the Senate Rules Committee. The returns must be submitted no later than the date of the meeting of the Senate and House of Representatives to count the electoral votes for President and Vice President. The bill amends the Internal Revenue Code to permit the IRS to disclose the required tax returns to the chairs and ranking minority members of the two congressional committees if the President-elect does not submit the returns by the deadline. The President-elect may redact from the returns any: (1) Social Security number, (2) taxpayer identification number, (3) account identification number, and (4) name of any dependent of the taxpayer. The IRS must make the redactions if it discloses the returns. The chairs and ranking members of the two committees may disclose any information contained in a tax return submitted pursuant to this bill.
United States · United States Congress · 30 March 2017
Small Business Tax Equity Act of 201 7 This bill amends the Internal Revenue Code to exempt a trade or business that conducts marijuana sales in compliance with state law from the prohibition against allowing business-related tax credits or deductions for expenditures in connection with trafficking in controlled substances.
![Official portrait of Rep. Sanford, Mark [R-SC-1]](https://www.congress.gov/img/member/s000051_200.jpg)