United States · United States Congress · 28 January 2021
Special Districts Provide Essential Services Act This bill makes special districts eligible for the Coronavirus Relief Fund and the Municipal Liquidity Facility program. Specifically, the bill makes special districts eligible for payments from amounts paid to states from any new appropriations to the fund. A special district must submit a request for payment to the state with information demonstrating that the special district has experienced or is likely to experience during the COVID-19 (i.e., coronavirus disease 2019) emergency reduced revenue or operational funding derived from provided services, taxes, fees, or other sources of revenue; reduced indirect funding from the federal government, the state, or a unit of general government below the state level; or as a result of the COVID-19 emergency, increased expenditures necessary to continue operations. The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System shall include special districts as eligible issuers in the Municipal Liquidity Facility program, which was created in response to the COVID-19 emergency to buy municipal securities.
United States · United States Congress · 28 January 2021
Support And Value Expectant Moms and Babies Act of 2021 or the SAVE Moms and Babies Act of 2021 This bill prohibits the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) from approving any new drug (either as a brand-name drug or a generic) intended to terminate a pregnancy and imposes additional restrictions on such drugs that are already approved. Under the bill, an already-approved drug intended to terminate a pregnancy may be dispensed to a patient only with a prescription. Furthermore, the FDA may not approve any labeling change that would authorize (1) using the drug after 70 days of gestation, or (2) dispensing the drug by any means other than in-person administration by the prescribing health care practitioner. The FDA must also impose additional restrictions on such already-approved drugs, including by (1) requiring the prescribing health care practitioner to receive a special certification, (2) prohibiting the practitioner to also act as the dispensing pharmacist, and (3) requiring the practitioner to have the ability to provide surgical intervention to the patient. The bill also rescinds any investigational use exemption already granted to such a drug if the bill would have prohibited the FDA from granting the exemption. (Currently, the FDA may grant an exemption to certain market approval requirements if a drug is intended solely for use in safety and effectiveness investigations.)
United States · United States Congress · 28 January 2021
Abby Honold Act This bill directs the Office on Violence Against Women within the Department of Justice to make competitive grants to law enforcement agencies and victim services organizations to implement evidence-based, trauma-informed approaches in responding to and investigating domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, or stalking.
United States · United States Congress · 28 January 2021
No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion and Abortion Insurance Full Disclosure Act of 2021 This bill modifies provisions relating to federal funding for, and health insurance coverage of, abortions. Specifically, the bill prohibits the use of federal funds for abortions or for health coverage that includes abortions. Such restrictions extend to the use of funds in the budget of the District of Columbia. Additionally, abortions may not be provided in a federal health care facility or by a federal employee. Historically, language has been included in annual appropriations bills for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) that prohibits the use of federal funds for abortions—such language is commonly referred to as the Hyde Amendment. Similar language is also frequently included in appropriations bills for other federal agencies and the District of Columbia. The bill makes these restrictions permanent and extends the restrictions to all federal funds (rather than specific agencies). The bill's restrictions regarding the use of federal funds do not apply in cases of rape, incest, or where a physical disorder, injury, or illness endangers a woman's life unless an abortion is performed. The Hyde Amendment provides the same exceptions. The bill also prohibits qualified health plans from including coverage for abortions. Currently, qualified health plans may cover abortion, but the portion of the premium attributable to abortion coverage is not eligible for subsidies.
United States · United States Congress · 28 January 2021
Sarah's Law This bill requires U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to detain an alien who is unlawfully present in the United States and has been charged with a crime that resulted in the death or serious bodily injury of another person. ICE shall make reasonable efforts to obtain information about the identity of any victims of the crimes for which such alien was charged or convicted. ICE shall provide the victim, or a relative or guardian of a deceased victim, with information about such alien, including name, date of birth, nationality, immigration status, criminal history, and a description of any related removal efforts.
United States · United States Congress · 28 January 2021
Prenatal Nondiscrimination Act or PRENDA This bill creates new federal crimes related to the performance of sex-selection abortions (i.e., abortions based on the sex or gender of an unborn child). It subjects a violator to criminal penalties—a fine, a prison term of up to five years, or both. It also authorizes civil remedies, including damages and injunctive relief. A woman who undergoes a sex-selection abortion may not be prosecuted or held civilly liable.
United States · United States Congress · 28 January 2021
Protecting Life in Foreign Assistance Act This bill prohibits the use of federal funds for purposes outside the United States related to abortion. Specifically, the bill prohibits funding to certain foreign or domestic organizations that perform or promote abortions, furnish or develop items intended to procure abortions, or provide financial support for an entity that conducts such activities. Current U.S. policy prohibits the provision of federal funds to a foreign nongovernmental organization unless it agrees to not perform or actively promote abortions.
United States · United States Congress · 27 January 2021
Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act This bill imposes importation limits on goods produced using forced labor in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in China and imposes sanctions related to such forced labor. The Department of Homeland Security shall report to Congress a strategy for preventing the importation of goods produced in Xinjiang using forced labor. The strategy must contain certain information, including a list of entities working with the government in Xinjiang to move forced labor or Uyghurs, Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, or members of other persecuted groups out of Xinjiang. The U.S. Customs and Border Protection shall generally presume that goods produced by these entities are barred from importation into the United States. The bill also expands existing asset- and visa-blocking sanctions related to Xinjiang to cover foreign individuals and entities responsible for serious human rights abuses in connection with forced labor. The Department of State shall report to Congress (1) an assessment of whether human rights abuses committed by China's government against persecuted groups in Xinjiang constitute genocide under U.S. law, and (2) a strategy to enhance international awareness of forced labor in Xinjiang and to address such forced labor.
United States · United States Congress · 27 January 2021
Conservation Funding Protection Act This bill requires the Department of the Interior to hold at least two region-wide oil and gas lease sales per year in the Gulf of Mexico. Each lease sale must include areas in the Central Gulf of Mexico Planning Area and the Western Gulf of Mexico Planning Area. In addition, the bill establishes deadlines for completing environmental reviews of the lease sales.
United States · United States Congress · 27 January 2021
Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act This bill establishes a new criminal offense for performing or attempting to perform an abortion if the probable post-fertilization age of the fetus is 20 weeks or more. A violator is subject to criminal penalties—a fine, a prison term of up to five years, or both. The bill provides exceptions for an abortion (1) that is necessary to save the life of the pregnant woman, or (2) when the pregnancy is the result of rape or incest. A physician who performs or attempts to perform an abortion under an exception must comply with specified requirements. A woman who undergoes a prohibited abortion may not be prosecuted for violating or conspiring to violate the provisions of this bill.
United States · United States Congress · 27 January 2021
This resolution expresses the sense of the Senate that (1) clean water is a national priority, and (2) the 2020 final rule titled The Navigable Waters Protection Rule: Definition of "Waters of the United States" should not be withdrawn or vacated.
United States · United States Congress · 27 January 2021
National Guard Cybersecurity Support Act This bill authorizes members of the National Guard to perform, at the request of a state and in connection with training or other duty, cybersecurity operations or missions to protect critical infrastructure.
United States · United States Congress · 26 January 2021
Stop Dangerous Sanctuary Cities Act This bill prohibits a sanctuary jurisdiction from receiving grants under certain Economic Development Assistance Programs and the Community Development Block Grant Program. Under the bill, a sanctuary jurisdiction is a state or local government that has in effect a statute, policy, or practice that prohibits or restricts (1) information sharing with another government entity about an individual's immigration status, or (2) compliance with a lawfully issued Department of Homeland Security (DHS) detainer request or notification of release request. When complying with a DHS-issued detainer, a state or local government shall be deemed to be acting as an agent of DHS with all authority available to DHS officers and employees. The bill also limits the legal liability of a state or local government for complying with a detainer.
United States · United States Congress · 25 January 2021
Preventing Future Pandemics Act of 2021 This bill establishes measures to address global public health risks posed by wildlife markets, which are commercial markets that sell or slaughter wildlife for human consumption as food or medicine in communities where alternative nutritional or protein sources are available. Specifically, the bill prohibits importing, exporting, purchasing, or selling live wild animals in the United States for human consumption as food or medicine. The Department of the Interior must hire, train, and deploy at least 50 new U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service law enforcement attachés around the world, and the U.S. Agency for International Development must increase specified activities to address the threats and causes of zoonotic (animal-to-human transmission) disease outbreaks. Additionally, the United States must work with other United Nations member states to urge a global ban on commercial wildlife markets and enforcement of laws to end wildlife trafficking. Further, the President may impose sanctions against a foreign country or foreign nationals that the Department of State has determined are taking certain actions that enable or facilitate commercial wildlife markets. Among other reports required by the bill, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine must conduct a study and submit a report that includes an evaluation of (1) the impact that consumption of terrestrial wildlife as food or medicine has on the transmission of novel viral and other pathogens, (2) the role of consuming terrestrial wildlife as food or medicine in the transmission of microbes from animals to humans, and (3) the conditions at live wildlife markets that lead to this transmission.
United States · United States Congress · 22 January 2021
See Something, Say Something Online Act of 2021 This bill requires an interactive computer service (e.g., a social media company) that detects a suspicious transmission to submit a suspicious transmission activity report (STAR) describing the suspicious transmission. A suspicious transmission is any post, message, comment, tag, or other user-generated content or transmission that commits, facilitates, incites, promotes, or otherwise assists the commission of a major crime. Each STAR must be submitted to the Department of Justice and contain (1) the name, location, and other identification information submitted by the user; (2) the date and nature of the user-generated content or transmission detected for suspicious activity; and (3) any relevant text, information, and metadata related to the suspicious transmission. Any provider of an interactive computer service that fails to report a known suspicious transmission shall not be immune from liability for such transmission and may be held liable as a publisher for the related suspicious transmission.
United States · United States Congress · 22 January 2021
FEMA Empowering Essential Deliveries Act or the FEED Act This bill authorizes the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to approve state, local, and Indian tribal government plans to partner with small and mid-size restaurants and nonprofit organizations to provide nutritious meals to individuals in need. Specifically, during the period following the President's emergency declaration of March 13, 2020, and under any subsequent major disaster declaration that supersedes it, FEMA may approve plans from state, local, and Indian tribal governments that (1) establish contracts with small and mid-sized restaurants and nonprofits, including faith-based organizations and soup kitchens, to prepare healthy meals for people in need; and (2) provide for partnerships with nonprofit organizations to purchase directly from food producers and farmers. FEMA shall waive federal matching requirements under the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act during such period.
United States · United States Congress · 19 January 2021
This resolution honors the memory of U.S. Capitol Police Officer Brian D. Sicknick for sacrificing his life in the line of duty on January 6, 2021, and it calls for justice to be brought to those responsible for the attack on the Capitol and the death of Officer Sicknick.
United States · United States Congress · 20 December 2020
Children's Hospital Protection Act This bill specifically bases the methodology for determining limitations on Medicaid disproportionate-share hospital payments on the costs and payments for individuals for whom Medicaid is the primary payer.
United States · United States Congress · 16 December 2020
Bankruptcy Venue Reform Act of 2020 This bill limits where a non-individual debtor (e.g., a corporate debtor) may file for bankruptcy. Specifically, these debtors must file in the district court for the district in which the principal place of business or principal assets of the debtor are located. Such a debtor may also file in a district where there is a pending bankruptcy case concerning an affiliate that has a certain level of control or ownership of the debtor (e.g., if the affiliate is a controlling shareholder of the debtor), if that pending case is in a proper venue under this bill. Under current law, these debtors may also file where they are domiciled (i.e., incorporated) or where there is a bankruptcy case pending concerning an affiliate, general partner, or partnership. For certain debtors who are issuers of securities, their principal place of business is defined in the bill as the address of the entity's principal executive office as provided in specified Securities and Exchange Commission filings.
United States · United States Congress · 14 December 2020
This concurrent resolution directs the Secretary of the Senate to make corrections in the enrollment of S. 3312 (Crisis Stabilization and Community Reentry Act of 2020), which authorizes the Department of Justice to award grants to provide clinical services for individuals with serious mental illness and substance use disorders who need post-release mental health services. The resolution expands the entities that are eligible for grants to include Indian tribes, units of local government, and community-based nonprofit organizations.
United States · United States Congress · 8 December 2020
This bill provides statutory authority for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the Department of State to compensate employees and certain family members for qualifying brain injuries sustained while stationed in a foreign country. Under the bill, the CIA and the State Department may provide compensation for a covered individual who has a partial or total disability resulting from a qualifying brain injury for which the individual is not receiving disability payments from the United States. Existing requirements and limitations related to compensation for injuries sustained by CIA and State Department employees shall apply to compensation provided under the bill. The bill shall apply to qualifying injuries sustained before or after the bill's enactment.
United States · United States Congress · 8 December 2020
Creating Helpful Incentives for Producing Semiconductors for America and Foundries Act This bill establishes measures to incentivize semiconductor and microelectronics manufacturing. These measures include creating (1) a financial assistance program for investment in semiconductor facilities and equipment, (2) a public-private partnership with the Department of Defense to ensure the development and production of secure microelectronics, and (3) a Multilateral Semiconductors Security Fund to support the development and adoption of secure semiconductors and semiconductor supply chains.
United States · United States Congress · 8 December 2020
This resolution mourns the death of former Senator Paul Spyros Sarbanes and requests that an enrolled copy of this resolution be transmitted to the family of the Senator.
United States · United States Congress · 2 December 2020
Conservation Funding Protection Act This bill requires the Department of the Interior to hold at least two region-wide oil and gas lease sales per year in the Gulf of Mexico. Each lease sale must include areas in the Central Gulf of Mexico Planning Area and the Western Gulf of Mexico Planning Area. In addition, the bill establishes deadlines for completing environmental reviews of the lease sales.
United States · United States Congress · 30 November 2020
Funding for Infrastructure at Ports of Entry Extension Act This bill extends certain port of entry donation authorities through December 16, 2021. This allows the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to accept donations of real and personal property, including monetary donations, from federal and nonfederal entities to establish or improve CBP facilities at ports of entry.
United States · United States Congress · 30 November 2020
Educating for Democracy Act of 2020 This bill authorizes the Department of Education to award grants to states, qualified nonprofit organizations, institutions of higher education, and qualified researchers to support and expand access to civics and history education. It also requires the National Assessment of Educational Progress in civics and history to be administered every two years to certain grade levels.
United States · United States Congress · 18 November 2020
Military Domestic Violence Prevention Act This bill requires the Department of Defense to take various actions and implement programs related to the prevention of and response to domestic violence and child abuse and neglect among military families, including by ensuring information sharing among the Armed Forces about incidents reported to the Family Advocacy Programs of the Armed Forces.
United States · United States Congress · 17 November 2020
This resolution designates September 30, 2020, as Impact Aid Recognition Day to recognize the 70th anniversary of the Impact Aid Program. The program provides funding to local educational agencies that have lost property tax revenue due to the presence of tax-exempt federal property or to those that have experienced increased expenditures due to enrollment of federally connected children (e.g., children living on Indian lands or military bases).
United States · United States Congress · 12 November 2020
This resolution expresses the sorrow of the Senate upon the death of former Senator Mark Andrews and requests that an enrolled copy of this resolution be transmitted to the family of the Senator.
United States · United States Congress · 26 October 2020
This resolution declares that the violence perpetrated by China against Uyghurs, ethnic Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, and members of other Muslim minority groups constitutes genocide. The resolution demands that China cease its persecution of the aforementioned groups and urges the United States, as well as the international community, to take measures to prevent the continuation of atrocities in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.
United States · United States Congress · 23 October 2020
Designates the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 1305 U.S. Highway 90 West in Castroville, Texas, as the "Lance Corporal Rhonald Dain Rairdan Post Office."
United States · United States Congress · 23 October 2020
Designates the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 3519 East Walnut Street in Pearland, Texas, as the "Tom Reid Post Office Building."
United States · United States Congress · 23 October 2020
Designates the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 315 Addicks Howell Road in Houston, Texas, as the "Deputy Sandeep Singh Dhaliwal Post Office Building."
United States · United States Congress · 22 October 2020
This resolution expresses support for the designation of a national day of remembrance on October 23, 2020, for members of the U.S. Armed Forces who were killed or injured by the terrorist attack on the Marine Corps barracks in Beirut, Lebanon, on October 23, 1983.
United States · United States Congress · 21 October 2020
This bill authorizes members of the National Guard to perform, at the request of a state and in connection with training or other duty, cybersecurity operations or missions to protect critical infrastructure.
United States · United States Congress · 21 October 2020
Suicide and Crisis Outreach Prevention Enhancement Act This bill extends funding through FY2025 for, and expands data collection and other activities of, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline.
United States · United States Congress · 19 October 2020
This bill creates a point of order against considering legislation in the Senate that modifies the total number of Justices of the U.S. Supreme Court. The bill allows the point of order to be waived by a vote of two-thirds of the Senate.
United States · United States Congress · 1 October 2020
Eliminate the Digital Divide Act of 2020 This bill requires the Federal Communications Commission to establish a program to provide funding to states for expanding access to broadband service in unserved areas. States must distribute these funds to certain broadband service providers for projects that offer a low-cost broadband service option for low-income subscribers.
United States · United States Congress · 30 September 2020
Strategic Acquisition and Floodplain Efficiency Reform Act or the SAFER Act This bill requires the Department of Housing and Urban Development to establish a pilot program to evaluate the cost-effectiveness and efficiency of allowing private entities to carry out pre-disaster mitigation activities, such as property acquisition and relocation, under the Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery program.
United States · United States Congress · 30 September 2020
This resolution supports the designation of the week of September 20, 2020, as National Small Business Week in celebration of the entrepreneurial spirit of small business owners and the invaluable contribution small businesses make to the United States.
United States · United States Congress · 30 September 2020
This resolution (1) expresses support for the designation of the week of September 21-September 25, 2020, as National Family Service Learning Week, (2) recognizes the importance of family service learning in cultivating civic engagement and community investment, and (3) encourages the public to support family service learning and community development programs. Family service learning is a multigenerational problem-solving approach that utilizes active participation to meet community needs and develop the skillsets of children and families.
United States · United States Congress · 29 September 2020
See Something, Say Something Online Act of 2020 This bill requires an interactive computer service (e.g., a social media company) that detects a suspicious transmission to submit a suspicious transmission activity report (STAR) describing the suspicious transmission. A suspicious transmission is any post, message, comment, tag, or other user-generated content or transmission that commits, facilitates, incites, promotes, or otherwise assists the commission of a major crime. Each STAR must be submitted to the Department of Justice and contain (1) the name, location, and other identification information submitted by the user; (2) the date and nature of the user-generated content or transmission detected for suspicious activity; and (3) any relevant text, information, and metadata related to the suspicious transmission. Any provider of an interactive computer service that fails to report a known suspicious transmission shall not be immune from liability for such transmission and may be held liable as a publisher for the related suspicious transmission.
United States · United States Congress · 29 September 2020
Preventing Future Pandemics Act of 2020 This bill establishes measures to address global public health risks posed by wildlife markets, which are commercial markets that sell or slaughter wildlife for human consumption as food or medicine in communities where alternative nutritional or protein sources are available. Specifically, the bill prohibits importing, exporting, purchasing, or selling live wild animals in the United States for human consumption as food or medicine. The Department of the Interior must hire, train, and deploy at least 50 new U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service law enforcement attachés around the world, and the U.S. Agency for International Development must increase specified activities to address the threats and causes of zoonotic (animal-to-human transmission) disease outbreaks. Additionally, the United States must work with other United Nations member states to urge a global ban on commercial wildlife markets and enforcement of laws to end wildlife trafficking. Further, the President may impose sanctions against a foreign country or foreign nationals that the Department of State has determined are taking certain actions that enable or facilitate commercial wildlife markets. Among other reports required by the bill, the State Department must conduct a study and submit a report that includes an evaluation of (1) the impact that consumption of terrestrial wildlife as food or medicine has on the transmission of novel viral and other pathogens, (2) the role of consuming terrestrial wildlife as food or medicine in the transmission of microbes from animals to humans, and (3) the conditions at live wildlife markets that lead to this transmission.
United States · United States Congress · 24 September 2020
Improving Cybersecurity of Small Organizations Act of 2020 This bill requires the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) to maintain and promote cybersecurity guidance for use by small organizations. Specifically, the bill requires CISA to maintain cybersecurity guidance that documents and promotes evidence-based cybersecurity policies and controls for use by small organizations to improve their cybersecurity. This guidance must be publicly available at no cost, and CISA, the Small Business Administration (SBA), and the Department of Commerce must promote the guidance through relevant resources that are regularly used by small organizations. Commerce must report on methods of incentivizing small organizations to improve their cybersecurity, including through the adoption of policies, controls, products, and services that have been demonstrated to reduce cybersecurity risk. Every two years, the SBA must submit and make publicly available specified data on the state of small businesses' cybersecurity.
United States · United States Congress · 24 September 2020
Russian Suspension Agreement Extension Act of 2020 This bill extends limits on the importation of Russian low-enriched uranium, a fuel for nuclear reactors, and contains other related provisions. (These limits stem from a 1992 agreement with Russia to end a Department of Commerce antidumping investigation into Russian uranium imports.) The bill extends these limits, which are currently set to expire in 2020, to 2040. The bill also specifies the maximum amounts of qualifying uranium that may be imported each year for 2021-2040. The Department of Commerce shall (1) administer these import limitations, and (2) periodically review U.S. demand for uranium for nuclear reactors and adjust the limits accordingly. Currently, qualifying uranium imported for the Department of Energy inventory do not count against these limits. The bill eliminates this exception but maintains two other exceptions for uranium imported for use in the initial core of a new reactor or for reprocessing and reexportation.
![Official portrait of Sen. Cornyn, John [R-TX]](https://www.congress.gov/img/member/c001056_200.jpg)