United States · United States Congress · 11 June 2018
United States Transportation Command Infrastructure Assessment Act of 2018 This bill requires the United States Transportation Command, in coordination with the Department of Transportation (DOT), to make available to congressional Appropriations, Armed Services, and Transportation committees a description and assessment of the condition of the defense transportation sector functions, systems, assets, and dependencies as they relate to supporting Department of Defense operational capabilities and assets, including any related Transportation Engineering Agency Infrastructure Assessments. In coordination with DOT, the Command shall identify and submit to those committees consolidated and prioritized resource requirements for transportation infrastructure at the same time the President submits to Congress the budget for the next fiscal year.
United States · United States Congress · 7 June 2018
Tribal School Federal Insurance Parity Act This bill amends the Indian Health Care Improvement Act to allow tribes or tribal organizations that receive grants under the Tribally Controlled Schools Act of 1988 to participate in the Federal Employee Health Benefits program.
United States · United States Congress · 6 June 2018
National Cybersecurity Exercise Act of 2018 This bill requires the U.S. Cyber Command, the U.S. Northern Command, and other Department of Defense commands or components, consistent with the recommendations made by a Government Accountability Office report, to conduct a tier 1 exercise of support to civil authorities for a cyber incident.
United States · United States Congress · 24 May 2018
Victims of Child Abuse Act Reauthorization Act of 2018 (Sec. 2) This bill reauthorizes for FY2019-FY2023 grants for local and regional children's advocacy centers (CACs), as well as for technical assistance and training. CACs coordinate a multidisciplinary response to child abuse. The bill adds a new finding specifying the need for state chapters of CAC networks (1) to help local communities coordinate their multidisciplinary services, and (2) to provide oversight of, and training and technical assistance in, the effective delivery of evidence-informed programming. It modifies grants for regional CACs, including to add, as a new program objective, collaboration with state chapters; and to require regional CACs to assist local CACs, multidisciplinary teams, and state chapters, in addition to communities. It also modifies grants for local CACs, including to add, as a new grant purpose, promoting the effective delivery of the evidence-informed Children's Advocacy Model and the multidisciplinary response to child abuse; to allow grants to support direct services for victims of human trafficking, in addition to victims of child pornography; and to require a portion of grants to be distributed to state chapters. The Department of Justice must report annually on efforts to monitor and evaluate the program activities of regional CACs and the extent to which both urban and rural populations are served by the regional CAC program. (Sec. 3) The bill provides immunity from civil and criminal liability under federal, state, and local law for people who make good-faith reports of child abuse or neglect or who provide related information or assistance.
United States · United States Congress · 23 May 2018
Tribal Employment and Jobs Protection Act This bill amends the Internal Revenue Code to exclude from the definition of "applicable large employer" for purposes of the employer health care mandate under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA): (1) any Indian tribal government or subdivision, (2) any tribal organization, or (3) any corporation or partnership if more than 50% of the equity interest of such an entity is owned by an Indian tribal government or tribal organization. An applicable large employer is defined by PPACA as an employer who employs 50 or more full-time employees who provide services on average at least 30 hours per week.
United States · United States Congress · 23 May 2018
Transporting Livestock Across America Safely Act This bill requires the Department of Transportation to amend regulations on hours of service for commercial drivers who transport livestock or insects within a 300 air-mile radius from where the on-duty time of the driver begins.The regulations must: (1) exclude from the driver's on-duty time certain activities, such as loading or unloading a commercial motor vehicle; (2) change the driving time requirement to a maximum of not less than 15, and not more than 18, hours within a 24-hour period; (3) permit the driver to take one or more rest periods during the trip, which shall not be included in the calculation of the driving time; (4) require the driver, after completion of the trip, to take a rest break for a period that is five hours less than the maximum driving time; (5) exclude from the calculation of the driving time any additional driving to the point of delivery if the driver is within 150 air-miles of the point of delivery; and (6) make inapplicable the requirement that the driver take a 10-hour rest period before driving.
United States · United States Congress · 22 May 2018
Rural Health Liaison Act of 2018 This bill amends the Department of Agriculture Reorganization Act of 1994 to establish a Rural Health Liaison within the Department of Agriculture to coordinate the role of the department with respect to rural health; provide expertise, guidance, and technical assistance; and perform other specified advocacy, communications, and consulting duties.
United States · United States Congress · 16 May 2018
National Law Enforcement Museum Commemorative Coin Act This bill directs the Department of the Treasury to mint and issue up to 50,000 $5 gold coins, 400,000 $1 silver coins, and 750,000 half-dollar clad coins that are emblematic of the National Law Enforcement Museum in Washington, DC, and the service and sacrifice of law enforcement officers throughout the history of the United States. All sales of such coins shall include specified surcharges, which shall be distributed to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund, Inc., for educational and outreach programs and exhibits.
United States · United States Congress · 15 May 2018
Department of Defense Training Ranges Strategic Planning Improvement Act of 2018 This bill requires the Department of Defense (DOD) to develop and implement a comprehensive strategic plan to identify and address deficits in the capabilities of DOD training ranges to support current and anticipated readiness requirements to execute the National Defense Strategy.
United States · United States Congress · 14 May 2018
Protecting Rational Incentives in Newsprint Trade Act of 2018 or the PRINT Act This bill directs the Department of Commerce to conduct a study of, and to report to Congress regarding, the economic well-being, health, and vitality of the newsprint industry and the local newspaper publishing industry in the United States, including an assessment of: the trends in demand for newsprint and traditional printed newspapers, in demand for digital or online consumption of news, and in the U.S. pulp and paper industry and the effect of declining demand for newsprint on the health of such industry; measures undertaken by printers and newspaper publishers to reduce costs in response to increased costs for newsprint in the United States, and whether such measures have harmed local news coverage or reduced employment in the newspaper and publishing industries; whether measures undertaken by publishers and printers to reduce costs have harmed local businesses that advertise in local newspapers; and the global production capacity for newsprint in light of the declining demand for newsprint. Commerce and the U.S. International Trade Commission may not give effect to an affirmative determination in an antidumping or countervailing duty investigation relating to imports of uncoated groundwood paper until the President certifies that he has received the report and has concluded that giving effect to the determination is in the economic interest of the United States. Until such time as the President issues the certification, the administering authority shall order a rate of zero for deposits posted in such an investigation.
United States · United States Congress · 10 May 2018
Music Modernization Act This bill makes various changes to copyright law related to sound recordings, including providing protection for sound recordings fixed before February 15, 1972, creating a system for paying royalties to producers and sound engineers, and establishing a statutory blanket license for digital music services. The blanket license allows music services to distribute sound recordings covered by the license without negotiating for the rights for each individual recording, as long as the music service complies with the license's requirements, such as paying the required royalties.
United States · United States Congress · 10 May 2018
New Markets for State-Inspected Meat and Poultry Act of 2018 This bill allows meat and poultry products inspected by State Meat and Poultry Inspection programs to be sold in interstate commerce. (Under the inspection programs, the Department of Agriculture Food Safety and Inspection Service allows states that meet certain requirements to inspect meat and poultry. The state-inspected products are currently limited to intrastate commerce, unless a state opts into a separate Cooperative Interstate Shipment Program.)
United States · United States Congress · 8 May 2018
Department of Defense Transition Assistance Program Oversight Improvement Act of 2018 This bill directs the Department of Defense to submit to the congressional armed services committees an annual report on the participation of members of the Armed Forces in the Transition Assistance Program during the preceding year.
United States · United States Congress · 8 May 2018
Defense Officer Personnel Pay Reform Act of 2018 This bill directs the Department of Defense to submit to Congress a proposal for a pay table for commissioned officers of the Armed Forces that uses steps in grade for each pay grade based on time of service within such pay grade rather than on time of service in the Armed Forces as a whole.
United States · United States Congress · 26 April 2018
Supports: (1) the designation of the week of April 29-May 5, 2018, as National Small Business Week, and (2) increasing consumer awareness of the value and opportunity that small businesses bring to their local communities. Celebrates: (1) the entrepreneurial spirit of small business owners of the United States, and (2) the invaluable contributions that small businesses make to the United States as the backbone of the economy. Recognizes the importance of creating a small business climate that allows for sustained entrepreneurial success.
United States · United States Congress · 25 April 2018
Better Access to Technical Training, Learning, and Entrepreneurship for Servicemembers Act or the BATTLE for Servicemembers Act This bill directs the Department of Defense and the Department of Homeland Security to waive additional training under the Transition Assistance Program (TAP) under certain circumstances. The TAP provides information and training to service members and their spouses to assist them in the transition to civilian life by pursuing additional education, finding a job in the public or private sector, or starting their own business. Under the bill, service members must participate in TAP training programs unless they choose to opt out of such programs.
United States · United States Congress · 24 April 2018
Calls for the international community to demand that North Korea dismantle its labor camp system and for North Korea to cease human rights abuses and release political prisoners.
United States · United States Congress · 19 April 2018
PFAS Registry Act This bill directs the Department of Veterans Affairs to establish a registry for current or past members of the U.S. Armed Forces who may have been exposed to per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances due to the environmental release of aqueous film-forming foam at a military installation or other Department of Defense location.
United States · United States Congress · 18 April 2018
Business of Insurance Regulatory Reform Act of 2018 This bill amends the Consumer Financial Protection Act of 2010 to revise the authority of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) over activities regulated by a state insurance regulator. The CFPB may not enforce the Act against any person regulated by a state insurance regulator and offering a consumer financial product or service, to the extent that person is engaged in the business of insurance. If a person engaged in the business of insurance is regulated by a state insurance regulator but otherwise subject to the Act, the CFPB must construe its authority narrowly.
United States · United States Congress · 18 April 2018
Declares that the Senate has heard with profound sorrow and deep regret the announcement of the death of the Honorable John Melcher, Senator from Montana. Declares that when the Senate adjourns April 18, 2018, it stands adjourned as a further mark of respect to the memory of the deceased Senator Melcher.
United States · United States Congress · 11 April 2018
Stephen Michael Gleason Congressional Gold Medal Act This bill directs the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the President pro tempore of the Senate to arrange for the award of a Congressional Gold Medal to Stephen Michael Gleason.
United States · United States Congress · 10 April 2018
Declares that the Senate has heard with profound sorrow and deep regret the announcement of the death of the Honorable Daniel K. Akaka, Senator from Hawaii. Declares that when the Senate adjourns April 10, 2018, it stands adjourned as a further mark of respect to the memory of the deceased Senator.
United States · United States Congress · 10 April 2018
Extends deepest condolences and gratitude to the family of Zell Bryan Miller, the former governor and Senator of Georgia. Honors his legacy and life, his commitment to the people of Georgia and the United States, and his service to the Senate. Declares that when the Senate adjourns April 10, 2018, it stands adjourned as a further mark of respect to the memory of the late Senator Miller.
United States · United States Congress · 22 March 2018
This joint resolution nullifies the rule submitted by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and printed in the Congressional Record on December 6, 2017, relating to indirect auto lending and compliance with the Equal Credit Opportunity Act. The rule provides guidance for compliance with fair lending requirements for third-party auto lenders.
United States · United States Congress · 22 March 2018
Secure Elections Act This bill gives the Department of Homeland Security primary responsibility within the federal government for sharing information about election cybersecurity incidents, threats, and vulnerabilities with federal entities and election agencies. The Election Assistance Commission (EAC) shall establish an advisory panel of independent experts to develop guidelines on election cybersecurity, including standards for procuring, maintaining, testing, auditing, operating, and updating election systems. The EAC shall award election system cybersecurity and modernization grants to states and election agencies to implement the advisory panel's guidelines. Grants shall be awarded to: (1) remediate vulnerabilities identified by a cybersecurity evaluation, (2) replace electronic voting systems that are not optical scanners that read paper ballots, and (3) reimburse states for statistical audits of ballots in close federal elections.
United States · United States Congress · 8 March 2018
First Amendment Defense Act This bill prohibits the federal government from taking discriminatory action against a person on the basis that such person speaks or acts in accordance with a religious belief or moral conviction that: (1) marriage is or should be recognized as the union of one man and one woman or two individuals as recognized under federal law, or (2) sexual relations outside marriage are improper. The bill defines "person" as any person regardless of religious affiliation, except publicly traded for-profit entities; federal employees acting within the scope of their employment; federal for-profit contractors acting within the scope of their contract; or hospitals and other health care entities with respect to visitation, recognition of a designated representative for health care decisions, or refusal to provide medical treatment necessary to cure an illness or injury.
United States · United States Congress · 7 March 2018
This bill authorizes the Federal Aviation Administration to carry out a pilot program to provide grants to support the education and recruitment of aviation maintenance technical workers and the development of the aviation maintenance industry workforce.
United States · United States Congress · 5 March 2018
United States-Israel Security Assistance Authorization Act of 2018 This bill extends security assistance to Israel. Specifically, it extends: foreign military financing assistance to Israel through FY2028, loan guarantees through FY2023, and authority for the war reserves stockpile through FY2023. The President may: enter into a cooperative agreement with Israel for research and joint production of anti-drone defense articles; conduct a joint assessment with Israel regarding which precision guided munitions Israel needs in a sustained armed confrontation with Hezbollah, Hamas, or other groups; and transfer precision guided munitions and defense articles to such stockpile. The bill directs the Department of Defense to provide for the rapid acquisition and deployment of precision guided munitions for U.S. counterterrorism missions or to assist an ally under missile threat from a terrorist organization or a country that supports international terrorism. The President shall report to Congress describing the steps taken to include Israel in the list of countries eligible for the strategic trade authorization exception. Such exception allows a controlled item to be exported without a transaction-specific license. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration shall continue to work with the Israel Space Agency to pursue peaceful space exploration and science initiatives. The bill also requires the periodic reports on Israel's qualitative military edge to include information about Israel's ability to defend itself from regional state and non-state actors and from drone, cyber, and asymmetric threats.
United States · United States Congress · 5 March 2018
Student, Teachers, and Officers Preventing School Violence Act of 2018 or the STOP School Violence Act of 2018 This bill amends the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 to revise and reauthorize through FY2028 the Secure Our Schools grant program.
United States · United States Congress · 27 February 2018
Jobs and Childcare for Military Families Act of 2018 This bill amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow a work opportunity tax credit for hiring a qualified military spouse. A "qualified military spouse" is the spouse or domestic partner (as recognized under state law or by the Armed Forces) of a member of the Armed Forces. The bill also requires the Department of Defense and the Department of Homeland Security (with respect to the Coast Guard) to implement flexible spending arrangements that permit members of the Armed Forces to use basic pay and compensation to pay for childcare services for their dependent children on a pre-tax basis.
United States · United States Congress · 14 February 2018
Families of Fallen Servicemembers First Act This bill provides a permanent appropriation for the payment of death gratuities and related benefits to survivors of deceased members of the uniformed services during a period of lapsed appropriations. The bill provides the appropriations at the rate and under the conditions provided for the most recent fiscal year for which an Act making appropriations for the uniformed services has been enacted. The appropriations are provided during a period of lapsed appropriations, in which appropriations are unavailable due to the absence of the timely enactment of an Act or joint resolution providing appropriations or continuing appropriations for the death gratuity and related benefits.
United States · United States Congress · 13 February 2018
Fair Agricultural Reporting Method Act or the FARM Act This bill amends the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 to exempt air emissions from animal waste at a farm from specified release notification requirements, recordkeeping requirements, and associated penalties.
United States · United States Congress · 12 February 2018
National Guard and Reserves Benefits Parity Act This bill makes reserve component members who are deployed to support pre-planned operations of a combatant command eligible for: (1) non-reduction in pay while serving in the uniformed services or National Guard, (2) consideration of active duty service to reduce the age for retired pay , and (3) the high-deployment allowance for lengthy or numerous deployments and frequent mobilizations.
United States · United States Congress · 7 February 2018
This bill treats activities relating to the training and readiness of the reserve components of the Armed Forces (including the National Guard and the Reserves) during a lapse in appropriations as constituting voluntary services that may be accepted by the United States.
United States · United States Congress · 6 February 2018
Access Business Credit Act of 2018 This bill amends the Internal Revenue Code to exclude from the gross income of certain banks interest received on small business loans of up to $5 million. The bill applies to loans that are: (1) secured by land situated in the United States that is used or held by the small business in connection with the active conduct of a farming business, or (2) incurred in the ordinary course of the trade or business of the small business. To be eligible for the exclusion, the bank must have less than $50 billion in assets at the closing of the preceding taxable year.
United States · United States Congress · 24 January 2018
Guides and Outfitters Act or the GO Act This bill amends the Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement Act to specify the circumstances under which the Department of the Interior and the Department of Agriculture (USDA) may: (1) issue special recreation permits for federal recreational lands and waters, and (2) change a special recreation permit fee. Interior and USDA may issue special recreation permits: for specialized individual and group use of federal facilities and federal recreational lands and waters; to recreation service providers who conduct outfitting, guiding, and other recreation services on federal recreational lands and waters; and to recreation service providers who conduct recreation or competitive events, which may involve incidental sales on federal recreational lands and waters. USDA and Interior shall implement a program that authorizes temporary permits for new recreational uses of federal recreational lands and waters managed by the Forest Service or the BLM, respectively. Interior and USDA shall revise certain: special land use and special recreation permit regulations to streamline the processes for the issuance and renewal of outfitter and guide special use permits, and cost recovery fee regulations to reduce costs and minimize the burden of cost recovery on small businesses and adverse impacts of cost recovery on jobs in the outfitting and guiding industry and on rural economies.
United States · United States Congress · 18 January 2018
Small Business Credit Availability Act This bill amends the Investment Company Act of 1940 to reduce the required asset-coverage ratio applicable to a Business Development Company (BDC) from 200% to 150% if: (1) the BDC makes specified disclosures on its website and to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC); and (2) the modified asset-coverage ratio is approved by the required majority of the BDC's directors, general partners, or shareholders (as applicable). The SEC must allow BDCs to use securities offering and proxy rules that are available to other issuers.
United States · United States Congress · 16 January 2018
Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act This bill amends the federal criminal code to make it a crime for any person to perform or attempt 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, up to five years in prison, 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 · 11 January 2018
Custer County Airport Conveyance Act This bill directs the Forest Service, if Custer County in South Dakota offers to acquire approximately 65.7 acres of National Forest System land in the county for market value, to convey such land to the county.
United States · United States Congress · 4 January 2018
Condemns the government of Iran for: (1) funding terrorist organizations and activities; (2) oppression of its citizens; and (3) suppression of communication through interference with internet applications such as Instagram, Facebook, Telegram, and Twitter. Reaffirms: (1) the U.S. commitment to promoting the freedoms of speech and assembly as universal rights, and (2) U.S. support for the citizens of Iran to establish a freely elected democratic system.
United States · United States Congress · 21 December 2017
Mitigating the Methamphetamine Epidemic and Promoting Tribal Health Act or the Mitigating METH Act This bill amends the 21st Century Cures Act to make Indian tribes eligible for funding under the opioid grant program for states. In addition, the bill expands the grant program to allow states and tribes to use grants for the prevention and treatment of the use of other substances, such as methamphetamine, that have a substantial public health impact on states or tribes.
United States · United States Congress · 14 December 2017
Military Reserve Jobs Act of 2017 This bill establishes tiered hiring preferences for members of the reserve components of the Armed Forces. The bill grants: (1) a 2-point preference to current members of a reserve component who have completed at least 6 years of service in a reserve component and were credited with at least 50 retirement points in each year of service, and (2) a 3-point preference to current members of a reserve component who have completed a least 10 years of service and were credited with at least 50 retirement points in each year of service. The bill also requires the Government Accountability Office to report to Congress on federal employment opportunities for members of a reserve component and the impact of this bill on the hiring of reservists and veterans by the federal government.
![Official portrait of Sen. Rounds, Mike [R-SD]](https://www.congress.gov/img/member/r000605_200.jpg)