United States · United States Congress · 25 July 2018
Funding Attorneys for Indigent Removal (FAIR) Proceedings Act This bill amends the Immigration and Nationality Act to authorize the appointment of counsel, at government expense, for aliens in immigration proceedings and to automatically provide to such aliens a complete copy of the their immigration file in the possession of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). DHS must also facilitate access to counsel and legal orientation programs for all aliens in DHS detention facilities. The bill also establishes the Immigration Counsel Account to collect fees for providing access to counsel when required or authorized by this bill.
United States · United States Congress · 25 July 2018
Higher Education Dream Act of 2018 This bill prohibits institutions of higher education that receive federal student aid from discriminating or taking adverse action against students based on their immigration status, including charging out-of-state tuition to students who would qualify as a resident of the state.
United States · United States Congress · 25 July 2018
Medicare Negotiation and Competitive Licensing Act of 2018 This bill requires the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to negotiate with pharmaceutical companies regarding prices for drugs covered under the Medicare prescription drug benefit. (Current law prohibits the CMS from doing so.) The CMS must take certain factors into account during negotiations, including the clinical- and cost-effectiveness of the drug, the financial burden on patients, and unmet patient needs. If the CMS is unable to negotiate the price of a drug, such drug is subject to competitive licensing in order to further its sale under Medicare, notwithstanding existing government-granted exclusivities. Additionally, for one year after a drug is provided under a competitive license, such drug is also subject to specified price limitations; if the drug is not offered at such prices, the drug is subject to additional licensing that furthers its sale under any federal program (e.g., Medicaid).
United States · United States Congress · 25 July 2018
Miranda Vargas School Bus Driver Red Flag Act or Miranda's Law This bill directs the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration to issue a final regulation requiring the implementation of a national employer notification service that states may access. The term "employer notification service" means a service that automatically provides a report to an employer (with notice to the employee involved) on the change in the status of the driving record or license of an employee who has a commercial driver's license due to a conviction, license suspension or revocation, or any other action taken against the driving privilege.
United States · United States Congress · 25 July 2018
Education Department Civil Rights Transparency Act This bill amends the Department of Education Organization Act to require the Office for Civil Rights of the Department of Education (ED) to include in an annual report to ED, the President, and Congress specified information regarding federal civil rights violations by educational institutions.
United States · United States Congress · 25 July 2018
Urges the President to promote the health and welfare of children and their mothers by supporting international efforts to improve breastfeeding practices globally.
United States · United States Congress · 25 July 2018
Authorizes specified committees of the House of Representatives to intervene on behalf of the House in the case of Texas v. United States in order to defend the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Authorizes the Office of General Counsel of the House, under the supervision of such committees, to represent them in the intervention.
United States · United States Congress · 24 July 2018
Marijuana Data Collection Act This bill requires the Department of Health and Human Services, in coordination with the Department of Justice, the Department of Labor, and relevant state agencies, to enter into an arrangement with the National Academy of Sciences in order to study the effects of marijuana legalization in states that have legalized marijuana for medicinal or non-medicinal use.
United States · United States Congress · 23 July 2018
Integration of Baseball Commemorative Coin Act This bill directs the Department of the Treasury to mint and issue $5 gold coins, $1 silver coins, and half-dollar clad coins in recognition and celebration of the 75th anniversary of the integration of the game of baseball. All sales of such coins shall include specified surcharges. All surcharges received by Treasury shall be distributed to the National Baseball Hall of Fame, with the understanding that the Hall of Fame shall work with the Jackie Robinson Foundation to develop and operate education programs about the integration of the game of baseball and to preserve artifacts related to the integration of the game.
United States · United States Congress · 23 July 2018
Affirms U.S. commitment to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Expresses agreement with the intelligence community's assessment concerning Russia's interference in the 2016 presidential election, and condemns President Trump for his efforts to undermine such assessment and for his failure to fulfill his duty to place U.S. interests first.
United States · United States Congress · 19 July 2018
National Urban Search and Rescue Response System Reauthorization Act This bill amends the Post-Katrina Emergency Management Reform Act of 2006 to reauthorize for FY2018-FY2022 the Urban Search and Rescue Response System.
United States · United States Congress · 19 July 2018
Protect Election Systems from Foreign Control Act This bill amends the Help America Vote Act of 2002 to require state and local governments to ensure that vendors who provide, support, or maintain any component of a voting system used in a federal election are solely owned and controlled by citizens, unless the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) grants the vendor a waiver. Vendors must disclose any sourcing of parts from outside the United States or material changes in ownership or control. The Federal Election Commission and DHS shall publish cybersecurity best practices for vendors. Voting systems and vendor information technology infrastructure must be developed and maintained in a manner consistent with the best practices. Vendors must report suspected security incidents.
United States · United States Congress · 19 July 2018
Organ Donation Clarification Act of 2018 This bill specifies that certain payments and pilot programs relating to organ donation do not violate the National Organ Transplant Act, which prohibits the exchange of valuable consideration for human organs.
United States · United States Congress · 19 July 2018
Secure America from Russian Interference Act of 2018 This bill sets forth provisions for countering specified subversive activities by the government of the Russian Federation against the United States and U.S. allies.
United States · United States Congress · 19 July 2018
Expresses support for the goals and ideals of National Clinicians HIV/AIDS Testing and Awareness Day. Encourages: (1) clinicians to become actively involved in HIV/AIDS awareness, testing, treatment, and referral services; (2) the media to observe this day by educating clinicians about the important role they play in providing access to HIV/AIDS services and by educating clinicians and the public about the benefits of HIV testing; and (3) individuals to get tested for HIV and educate themselves about the prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDS.
United States · United States Congress · 18 July 2018
Election Vendor Security Act This bill prohibits state and local governmental entities that are responsible for administering an election for federal office from entering into an agreement with a vendor who is a foreign national or who fails to meet current best practices for cybersecurity established by the U.S. Election Assistance Commission and the Department of Homeland Security. Before each regularly scheduled general election for federal office (beginning with the November 2018 election), each state shall submit to the commission a list of all vendors who will be providing, supporting, or maintaining any components of an election system in such state.
United States · United States Congress · 18 July 2018
CPR for Russian Civil Society Act This bill directs the Department of State to: (1) conduct a study on streamlining visa procedures for Russian students and persons involved in professional and cultural exchanges, and (2) enhance screening of certain senior Russian political figures and oligarchs and others associated with President Vladimir Putin. The bill requires reports to Congress regarding: (1) efforts to strengthen strategic stability with Russia, (2) cultural exchange and educational programs with Russia, and (3) Russian proxies. The Department of State shall convene a meeting of U.S. technology companies that sell or license tools that allow the Russian government to suppress civil society activists. The meeting shall focus on developing a code of conduct to restrain U.S. companies from aiding such efforts. Additional funds are provided to increase the International Broadcasting Operations Fund's Russian language programming. The State Department shall compile and make public a list of Russian-based persons who recruited or facilitated the transfer of Russian personnel for the Donbass war in Ukraine or the targeting of civilians in Syria. Such persons shall be prohibited from entering the United States.
United States · United States Congress · 18 July 2018
Punishing Continued Occupation of Ukraine Act This bill directs the President to periodically determine whether Russia is in compliance with the Minsk agreement to halt the war in eastern Ukraine. If Russia is not in compliance with the agreement the President shall block and prohibit all transactions of U.S.-sited or -controlled property and property interests of at least three Russian financial institutions that are substantially affiliated with the Putin regime. (One of the financial institutions to be sanctioned is Vnesheconombank.) The President may terminate the application of sanctions upon submission to Congress of notice and justification for the termination.
United States · United States Congress · 18 July 2018
Faster Treatments and Cures for Eye Diseases Act This bill requires the Department of Health and Human Services to establish a pilot program through which vision impairment research projects are funded by specified bonds.
United States · United States Congress · 17 July 2018
America's Natural Treasures of Immeasurable Quality Unite, Inspire, and Together Improve the Economies of States Act of 2018 or the ANTIQUITIES Act of 2018. This bill directs the National Park Service, Bureau of Land Management (BLM), U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Forest Service, and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to administer each specified national monument under their joint or exclusive jurisdiction, including the Bears Ears, Grand Staircase-Escalante, Gold Butte, Cascade-Siskiyou National Monuments and the Rose Atoll and Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monuments in accordance with: (1) the one or more presidential proclamations that apply to the applicable covered monument; (2) any Act of Congress enacted before December 4, 2017, that provides for an adjustment to the boundary or administration of such monument; and (3) this bill. The bill establishes the National Monument Enhancement Fund to furnish funding: (1) to such federal agencies to develop management plans for their national monuments that were designated under current federal law, (2) for federal acquisition and development of certain land and other areas, and (3) to develop and enhance recreational infrastructure on such designated lands. The bill designates: (1) specified BLM lands within the Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks and Rio Grande del Norte National Monuments in New Mexico and in the Gold Butte National Conservation Area in Nevada as wilderness and as components of the National Wilderness Preservation System; and (2) approximately 100 acres of BLM land in New Mexico as a potential wilderness area and, when specified conditions have been met, for incorporation into the Robledo Mountains Wilderness.
United States · United States Congress · 16 July 2018
Expresses the sense of the House of Representatives that Congress should take all appropriate measures to ensure that the U.S. Postal Service remains an independent establishment of the federal government and is not subject to privatization.
United States · United States Congress · 12 July 2018
Gay and Trans Panic Defense Prohibition Act of 2018 This bill generally prohibits a federal criminal defendant from asserting, as a defense, that the nonviolent sexual advance of an individual or a perception or belief of the gender, gender identify or expression, or sexual orientation of an individual excuses or justifies conduct or mitigates the severity of an offense.
United States · United States Congress · 11 July 2018
Condemns the Attorney General's decision in Matter of A-B- seeking to declare domestic violence and gang violence as invalid grounds for seeking asylum.
United States · United States Congress · 11 July 2018
This bill amends the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 to require congressional approval for a presidential adjustment of an import due to a national security threat. Specifically, the bill requires the President to submit a proposal to Congress, which Congress may approve by a joint resolution. Under current law, the President determines whether any adjustment of an import is necessary, and must submit to Congress the reasons for any action taken or not taken. The bill retroactively applies to any proposed action made two years before enactment of this bill. In general, any rate of duty modification occurring in the time period two years before enactment of this bill and the date before enactment of this bill must revert to the previous rate.
United States · United States Congress · 28 June 2018
Animal Violence Exposes Real Threat of Future Gun Violence Act of 2018 or the AVERT Future Gun Violence Act of 2018 The bill expands the categories of persons who are prohibited from receiving or possessing a firearm. Specifically, it prohibits firearm sale or transfer to and receipt or possession by an individual who has been convicted in any court of a misdemeanor crime of animal cruelty.
United States · United States Congress · 28 June 2018
By the People Resolution Expresses the sense of the House of Representatives that Congress should enact various reforms with respect to voter registration and protection, campaign-finance contribution limits and violations, and political advertisements.
United States · United States Congress · 28 June 2018
United States Army Rangers Veterans of World War II Congressional Gold Medal Act This bill directs the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives to arrange for the award of a single gold medal to the U.S. Army Ranger veterans of World War II in recognition of their dedicated wartime service. Following its award, the gold medal shall be given to the Smithsonian Institution where it shall be available for display and research.
United States · United States Congress · 28 June 2018
Recognizes the contributions of African Americans to the musical heritage of the United States. Recognizes that Black History Month and African-American Music Appreciation Month is an important time to celebrate this impact and to encourage greater access to music education.
United States · United States Congress · 27 June 2018
Family Unity Rights and Protection Act This bill requires the Departments of Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, State, and Defense to ensure that alien children (i.e., children under the age of 18 removed from their parents or legal guardians at or near a port of entry or within 100 miles of the U.S. border pursuant to a zero tolerance policy for criminal illegal reentry) are reunited at the earliest possible date with their parents and guardians from whom they were separated. It also requires notification of parents and guardians of procedures for reuniting with such children and for the location of such children. The bill requires the creation of an electronic registry for information used to locate such alien children and their parents and guardians. The information in such registry may only be used for locating such children and may not be used in any criminal prosecution or other immigration proceeding. The bill also sets forth conditions on the termination of parental rights in immigration proceedings and requires the consolidation of asylum and immigration proceedings involving alien children.
United States · United States Congress · 27 June 2018
Puerto Rico Admission Act of 2018 This bill establishes a process to enable the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico to be admitted into the Union as a state.
United States · United States Congress · 27 June 2018
Democracy Is Strengthened by Casting Light On Spending in Elections Act of 2018 or the DISCLOSE Act of 2018 This bill expands the ban on election contributions by foreign nationals to include corporations subject to specified levels of ownership or control by foreign nationals. The bill also expands (1) reporting requirements related to campaign contributions, and (2) disclosure requirements related to the funding sources of political advertisements.
United States · United States Congress · 27 June 2018
Public Service Freedom to Negotiate Act of 2018 This bill requires the Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA) to make a determination as to whether a state substantially provides for certain rights and responsibilities applicable to public employees, such as granting such employees the right to form or join a labor organization and to bargain collectively, and if the state does not substantially provide for such rights and responsibilities, then such state shall be subject to nationwide standards prescribed by the FLRA to protect public employee rights. No employer, emergency services employee, or law enforcement officer may engage in a lockout, strike, or any other organized job action of which a reasonably probable result is a measurable disruption of the delivery of emergency or public safety services. No labor organization may violate or attempt to violate this prohibition.
United States · United States Congress · 26 June 2018
Preventing Family Separation for Immigrants with Disabilities Act This bill prohibits an agent or officer of the Departments of Homeland Security, Justice, or Health and Human Services from removing a protected individual (i.e., an individual with a developmental disability and no permanent immigration status) from a family member at or near the port of entry or within 100 miles of the U.S. border unless a state court or state or county welfare agency determines that removal is in the best interest of such individual. The Chief Patrol Agent or the Area Port Director may also authorize removal upon a finding that the protected individual is a victim of trafficking or is at significant risk of being a victim of trafficking, there is a strong likelihood that the adult is not a family member of the protected individual, or the protected individual is in danger of abuse or neglect. A protected individual may not be removed from a family member solely for the policy goal of deterring individuals from migrating to the United States or for promoting compliance with civil immigration laws. DHS must provide the family member of a protected individual who was separated with information about the activities of such individual and certain other information on a monthly basis.
United States · United States Congress · 26 June 2018
Fairness for Farm Workers Act This bill amends the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 with respect to agricultural workers. The bill requires employers, beginning in 2019, to compensate agricultural workers for hours worked in excess of their regular hours (i.e., 55 hours in 2019, 50 hours in 2020, 45 hours in 2021, and 40 hours in 2022) at not less than one and one-half times the employee's regular rate. For employers with 25 or fewer employees, the overtime pay requirements begin in 2022. These overtime pay requirements do not apply, as in current law, to employees who are the parent, spouse, child, or other member of the employer's immediate family. The bill also repeals the exemption from overtime pay requirements for employers in various agriculture-related industries, including certain small farms, irrigation projects, sugar processing, and cotton ginning and compressing.
United States · United States Congress · 25 June 2018
Democratic Republic of the Congo Democracy and Accountability Act of 2018 This bill (1) urges the President to support efforts at the United Nations with respect to the humanitarian and political crisis in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, (2) provides statutory authority for specified sanctions related to the Congo, and (3) requires the Department of State to report on human rights abuses and corruption there.
United States · United States Congress · 22 June 2018
Rescuing Animals With Rewards Act of 2018 or the RAWR Act This bill amends the State Department Basic Authorities Act of 1956 to authorize Department of State rewards for a person who assists in the arrest or conviction of wildlife traffickers. Wildlife trafficking is the poaching or other illegal taking of protected or managed species and the illegal trade in wildlife and their related parts and products.
United States · United States Congress · 22 June 2018
Central America Family Protection and Reunification Act This bill states that it shall be: (1) U.S. policy to not separate immigrant families as a deterrent and to reunite families that were separated due to the criminal prosecution of parents for illegal entry, and (2) Department of State policy to prioritize supporting governments and citizens to facilitate reunification of such families. The State Department shall submit to Congress: reports concerning gender-based violence in the Northern Triangle (the region encompassing Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador); reports concerning gang and organized-crime related violence in the Northern Triangle; strategies to use portions of funds for the U.S. Strategy for Engagement in Central America to combat gender-based violence in the Northern Triangle, as well as to address the damage to the health and well-being of children and caregivers caused by separating children from their families at the U.S.-Mexico border. The State Department shall establish an office to study serious crimes committed against aliens who were removed from the United States and against U.S. citizens who left the United States because of having an alien parent who was removed from the United States.
United States · United States Congress · 21 June 2018
Mental Health Care for Children Inhumanely Separated from Parents by the Federal Government Act of 2018 This bill requires the federal government to ensure that children who are separated from their parents at the border by the Department of Homeland Security receive mental health services for free, including a mental health assessment within 24 hours of such separation and annually thereafter. Children who have already been separated (since April 6, 2018) must receive a mental health assessment within 24 hours after enactment of this bill.
United States · United States Congress · 21 June 2018
Reunite Children With Their Parents Act This bill directs the Department of Homeland Security to reunite an alien who entered the United States with the alien's minor child (under the age of 18) who was separated from the child pending prosecution for improper entry or the adjudication of an asylum application.
United States · United States Congress · 21 June 2018
Nationally Enhancing the Wellbeing of Babies through Outreach and Research Now Act or the NEWBORN Act This bill requires the Health Resources and Services Administration to support pilot programs that address infant mortality. Specifically, grants must be awarded to local and tribal health departments in areas with the highest rates of infant mortality to establish pilot programs that address specified issues, including birth defects, premature births, and sudden infant death syndrome.
United States · United States Congress · 19 June 2018
Keep Families Together Act This bill prohibits an agent or contractor of the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Justice, or the Department of Health and Human Services from removing a child who is under the age of 18 and has no permanent immigration status from his or her parent or legal guardian at or near the port of entry or within 100 miles of the U.S. border unless: an authorized state court determines that it is in the child's best interests to be removed; a state or county child welfare official with expertise in child trauma and development determines that it is in the child's best interests to be removed because of abuse or neglect; or the Chief Patrol Agent or the Area Port Director authorizes separation based on a documented finding that the child is a trafficking victim or is at significant risk of becoming a victim, a strong likelihood exists that the adult is not the parent or legal guardian, or the child is in danger of abuse or neglect. A child may not be removed from a parent or guardian unless an independent licensed child welfare expert authorizes the separation within 48 hours of such removal. An agency may not remove a child from a parent or legal guardian solely for the policy goals of deterring migration to the United States or of promoting immigration law compliance. The bill sets forth presumptions: (1) in favor of family and sibling unity and parental rights, and (2) that detention is not in the best interests of families and children. The bill limits the prosecution of asylum seekers.
United States · United States Congress · 19 June 2018
Know the Lowest Price Act of 2018 This bill prohibits a health-benefits plan or pharmacy-benefits manager under Medicare or Medicare Advantage from restricting a pharmacy from informing an enrollee of any difference between the price of a drug under the plan and the price of the drug without health-insurance coverage.
United States · United States Congress · 19 June 2018
Patient Right to Know Drug Prices Act This bill prohibits a health insurance plan or pharmacy benefits manager from restricting a pharmacy from informing an enrollee of any difference between the cost of a drug under the plan and the cost of the drug without health insurance coverage. (Such restrictions are commonly referred to as gag clauses.)
United States · United States Congress · 19 June 2018
Recognizes the historical significance and supports the continued celebration of Juneteenth Independence Day, which commemorates the end of slavery in the United States.
United States · United States Congress · 15 June 2018
Pet Emergency Transparency and Accountability in Disasters Act or the PET AID Act This bill amends the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act to require a governmental entity that receives assistance under such Act to maintain for a specified period, and make available to the public, records on activities relating to the intake, care, and disposition of animals funded with such assistance.
United States · United States Congress · 13 June 2018
This bill specifies that an offense involving lynching is a hate crime act. A violator is subject to criminal penalties—a prison term, a fine, or both.
United States · United States Congress · 12 June 2018
Expresses the sense of the House of Representatives that the War on Drugs has failed to achieve its goal of reducing drug use. Apologizes to those harmed through the War on Drugs.
United States · United States Congress · 12 June 2018
Rodchenkov Anti-Doping Act of 2018 This bill prohibits certain conduct to facilitate doping fraud (i.e., the use of a performance-enhancing drug to gain an unfair competitive advantage) at a major international competition. Specifically, the bill makes it unlawful to knowingly and intentionally: participate in doping fraud; administer a performance-enhancing drug; manufacture, distribute, dispense, or possess a performance-enhancing drug with the intent to commit or attempt to commit doping fraud; or retaliate against an individual who discloses evidence of doping fraud. The bill sets forth civil remedies and criminal penalties—a fine and a prison term of up to five years—with respect to a violation.
United States · United States Congress · 8 June 2018
Recognizes the 85th anniversary of the Ukrainian Famine (Holodomor) of 1932-1933 and extends sympathies to the victims, survivors, and families of that tragedy. Condemns the systematic violations of human rights of the Ukrainian people by the Soviet government and recognizes the 1988 findings of the Commission on the Ukraine Famine that Joseph Stalin committed genocide against the Ukrainians in 1932-1933.
United States · United States Congress · 8 June 2018
Requests the President and directs the Attorney General to transmit to the House of Representatives copies of any document, record, audio recording, memorandum, correspondence, or other communication in their possession, or any portion of any such communication, that refers or relates to: any pardon issued by the President on or after January 20, 2017; any pardon under consideration, including for Michael Cohen, Paul Manafort, Richard Gates, Michael Flynn, George Papadopoulos, or Alex van der Zwaan; any consideration of the President's power to pardon himself; and the President's decision to issue pardons without first consulting the Office of the Pardon Attorney of the Department of Justice.