United States · United States Congress · 30 November 2017
Recognizes the importance of Christmas symbols and traditions. Disapproves of attempts to ban references to Christmas. Expresses support for the use of these symbols and traditions by those who celebrate Christmas.
United States · United States Congress · 29 November 2017
Savanna's Act This bill requires the Department of Justice (DOJ) to update the online data entry format for federal databases relevant to cases of missing and murdered Indians to include a new data field for users to input the victim's tribal enrollment information or affiliation. In addition, DOJ must: make standardized law enforcement and justice protocols that serve as guidelines for law enforcement agencies with respect to missing and murdered Indians, develop protocols to investigate those cases that are guided by the standardized protocols, meet certain requirements to consult with Indian tribes, and provide tribes and law enforcement agencies with training and technical assistance relating to the development and implementation of the law enforcement and justice protocols. Federal law enforcement agencies that investigate and prosecute crimes related to missing and murdered Indians must modify their law enforcement and justice protocols to comply with the standardized protocols.
United States · United States Congress · 16 November 2017
Urban Indian Health Parity Act This bill applies a Federal Medical Assistance Percentage (i.e., the federal matching rate under Medicaid) of 100% with respect to amounts expended as medical assistance for services received through an Urban Indian organization under a grant or contract with the Indian Health Service.
United States · United States Congress · 9 November 2017
Supports providing members of the Armed Forces the opportunity to receive vocational trade training and credentialing opportunities for no cost. Recognizes that: (1) such training promotes members' success in their post military career and life and will likely lead to a reduction in unemployment costs borne by the Department of Defense, and (2) veterans and employers benefit directly from ensuring that newly transitioned veterans are trained for growing career fields. Celebrates the contribution well-trained veterans provide to the American workforce and economy.
United States · United States Congress · 9 November 2017
Hear Our Heroes Act of 2017 This bill establishes a presumption of service-connection for veterans with permanent hearing loss, tinnitus, or both, who served on active duty in combat or in a military occupational specialty in which they were exposed to a high level of acoustic trauma.
United States · United States Congress · 8 November 2017
Admiral Lloyd R. "Joe" Vasey Pacific War Commemorative Display Establishment Act This bill authorizes the Pacific Historic Parks to establish and maintain a commemorative display to honor the members of the U.S. Armed Forces and Allies who served in the Pacific Theater during World War II. Federal funds may not be used to design, procure, prepare, install, or maintain the commemorative display, but the National Park Service may accept and expend contributions of nonfederal funds and resources for such purposes.
United States · United States Congress · 8 November 2017
Clear Law Enforcement for Criminal Alien Removal Act of 2017 or the CLEAR Act of 2017 This bill reaffirms the existing inherent authority of states and localities to assist in the enforcement of immigration laws by detaining or transferring aliens to federal custody. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) shall provide the National Crime Information Center of the Department of Justice with information about aliens in violation of immigration laws. States and localities must provide DHS with specified information about such aliens. DHS shall: (1) provide grants to states and localities to assist them in enforcing immigration laws, (2) construct or acquire increased space for detention facilities, (3) take illegal aliens into custody within 48 hours after receiving a request from a state or locality, (4) establish a training manual for state and local law enforcement on the enforcement of immigration laws, and (5) continue and expand the Institutional Removal Program for identifying removable criminal aliens in federal and state correctional facilities.
United States · United States Congress · 6 November 2017
Building Our Largest Dementia Infrastructure for Alzheimer's Act or the BOLD Infrastructure for Alzheimer's Act This bill requires the Department of Health and Human Services to award cooperative agreements to state and local health departments to expand activities related to Alzheimer's disease, including activities involving early detection, support for caregivers, and public awareness.
United States · United States Congress · 2 November 2017
Protecting Home Oxygen & Medical Equipment Access Act of 2017 or the Protecting HOME Access Act of 2017 This bill: (1) requires the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to delay by one year the full implementation of new Medicare payment rates for durable medical equipment, and (2) revises a Medicare budget-neutrality requirement related to oxygen. Under current law, the CMS may establish separate payment classes under Medicare for items of oxygen and related equipment only if doing so does not result in increased program expenditures. The bill provides an exception to this budget-neutrality requirement with respect to such items that are included in a competitive acquisition program.
United States · United States Congress · 2 November 2017
Kevin and Avonte's Law of 2017 Missing Americans Alert Program Act of 2017 This bill amends the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 to revise, rename, and reauthorize through FY2022 the Missing Alzheimer's Disease Patient Alert Program. It directs the Department of Justice's (DOJ's) Bureau of Justice Assistance to award grants: to develop or operate programs to prevent wandering and locate missing individuals with dementia or children with developmental disabilities, and to develop tracking technology programs to locate missing individuals with dementia or children with developmental disabilities. The bill amends the Missing Children's Assistance Act to specify that, with respect to training and technical assistance provided by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, cases involving missing and exploited children include cases involving children with developmental disabilities such as autism. DOJ must establish and certain grant recipients must comply with standards and best practices related to the use of tracking technology to locate missing individuals with dementia or developmental disabilities. The bill prohibits the use of data from tracking devices to create a federal database. It also prohibits construing this bill to require a parent or guardian to use a tracking device.
United States · United States Congress · 24 October 2017
USS Indianapolis Congressional Gold Medal Act This bill requires the House of Representatives and the Senate to make appropriate arrangements for the award, on behalf of Congress, of a single gold medal of appropriate design to the crew of the USS Indianapolis, in recognition of their perseverance, bravery, and service. Following the award of the gold medal, it shall be given to the Indiana War Museum in Indianapolis, Indiana, where it will be displayed and made available for research. The bill expresses the sense of Congress that the Indiana War Memorial Museum should make the gold medal available for display elsewhere, particularly at other locations and events associated with the USS Indianapolis.
United States · United States Congress · 24 October 2017
This bill provides that the Department of Veterans Affairs per diem payment calculation for an entity receiving homeless veterans shelter grants for a homeless veteran who has care of a minor dependent while receiving services from such entity shall be the sum of the daily cost of care for the veteran plus, for each minor dependent, an amount that equals 50% of the veteran's daily cost of care.
United States · United States Congress · 12 October 2017
Securing All Livestock Equitably Act of 2017 or the SALE Act of 2017 This bill amends the Packers and Stockyards Act, 1921 to require all livestock purchased by a dealer in cash sales and all inventories of, or receivables or proceeds from, such livestock to be held by the dealer in a trust until all unpaid cash sellers of the livestock have been paid. The bill exempts from the requirement any dealer whose average annual purchases of livestock do not exceed $500,000.
United States · United States Congress · 12 October 2017
75th Anniversary of the End of World War II Commemorative Coin Act This bill directs the Department of the Treasury to mint and issue up to 50,000 $5 coins, 500,000 $1 coins, and 750,000 half-dollar coins in commemoration of the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II. The coins shall be emblematic of the sacrifices made by millions of people of the United States 75 years ago in bringing an end to World War II. The design on each coin shall represent the World War II Victory Medal, which was awarded to all 16 million U.S. military personnel who served from December 7, 1941, to December 31, 1946. The bill requires all sales of such coins include specified surcharges, which shall be paid by Treasury to the congressionally designated National WWII Museum to fund its educational mission of telling the story of the U.S. experience in World War II.
United States · United States Congress · 12 October 2017
Locality Pay Equity Act This bill: (1) prohibits the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) from defining more than one local wage area for prevailing rate employees within a pay locality, except with respect to the pay locality designated as "Rest of United States"; and (2) requires the OPM to ensure that this bill shall not have the effect of reducing any rate of basic pay for any individual who is serving as a prevailing rate employee.
United States · United States Congress · 11 October 2017
Smithsonian National Zoological Park Central Parking Facility Authorization Act This bill authorizes the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution to plan, design, and construct a central parking facility on National Zoological Park property in Washington, DC, using funds from nonappropriated sources.
United States · United States Congress · 11 October 2017
Reach Every Mother and Child Act of 2017 This bill directs the President to establish a five-year strategy to accelerate progress toward ending preventable child and maternal deaths within a generation and ensure healthy and productive lives for women and children. The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) shall: (1) identify target countries with the greatest need and the highest burden of preventable child and maternal deaths, and (2) designate a current USAID employee serving in the Senior Executive Service or at the level of a Deputy Assistant Administrator or higher to serve concurrently as the Senior Coordinator for Child and Maternal Survival.
United States · United States Congress · 11 October 2017
This bill amends the Export-Import Bank Act of 1945 to revise the quorum requirement for the Board of Directors of the Export-Import Bank of the United States to require the lesser of three members or the number of members holding office on the board (currently, at least three members) for there to be a quorum.
United States · United States Congress · 28 September 2017
Native American Housing Assistance and Self-Determination Reauthorization Act of 2017 This bill provides federal housing assistance to Indians, including Alaska Natives, and Native Hawaiians, including by: amending the Native American Housing Assistance and Self-Determination Act of 1996 (NAHASDA) to reauthorize through FY2022 and revise the Indian Housing Block Grant and the Native Hawaiian Housing Block Grant; amending the United States Housing Act of 1937 to authorize the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to implement a supportive housing and rental assistance program for the benefit of Native American, including Alaska Natives, veterans who are homeless, or at risk of homelessness, and who are eligible to receive block grants under NAHASDA; amending the Housing and Community Development Act of 1992 to authorize HUD through FY2022 to guarantee housing loans for Native Americans and Native Hawaiians; extending from 50 years to 99 years the limit on the lease of Native American trust or restricted lands for housing purposes; and establishing a demonstration program that requires a participating Native American tribe, with an investor partner, to develop and implement a HUD-approved plan to address the tribe's housing needs.
United States · United States Congress · 27 September 2017
Yurok Lands Act This bill gives the Yurok Tribe the option to expand its role in the environmental review process under the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 with respect to major federal actions within: (1) the Revised Yurok Reservation, and (2) specified areas within the Klamath and Redwood Creek Watersheds. The Department of the Interior must enter into a cooperative agreement with the tribe for protecting the natural resources of Redwood National Park. The bill confirms the 2006 "Cooperative Agreement between the Department of the Interior and the Yurok Tribe for the Cooperative Management of Tribal and Federal Lands and Resources in the Klamath River Basin of California" and authorizes Interior to implement the agreement. The Forest Service must transfer 1,229 acres in the Yurok Experimental Forest to Interior. That land must be held in trust for the benefit of the tribe and be managed by the tribe for conservation and research purposes. The trust land may not be: (1) used for gaming activity, and (2) subject to old growth logging. Interior must revise the boundary of the reservation as depicted on the map titled "Revised Yurok Reservation Boundary" and dated December 7, 2016. National Forest System land and National Park System land within the revised reservation must be administered by the Forest Service and the National Park Service, respectively. The bill designates the Bald Hills Road, which runs from U.S. Highway 101 to the Klamath River, as the "Yurok Scenic Byway." The bill ratifies and confirms the tribe's governing documents.
United States · United States Congress · 26 September 2017
Professional Pell Education Learning or the PROPEL Act This bill amends the Higher Education Act of 1965 to allow federal Pell Grants to be utilized at educational programs that consist of vocational or technical training, flight training, apprenticeship, or other on-job training. In addition, the bill modifies the eligibility requirements under the Federal Pell Grant program for the vocational and training programs, including allowing such programs to be unaccredited.
United States · United States Congress · 14 September 2017
Save American Workers Act of 2017 This bill amends the Internal Revenue Code to change the definition of "full-time employee" for purposes of the employer mandate to provide minimum essential health care coverage under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act from an employee who is employed on average at least 30 hours of service a week to an employee who is employed on average at least 40 hours of service a week.
United States · United States Congress · 14 September 2017
Common Sense Opportunities Act This bill amends the Higher Education Act of 1965 to require the Department of Education (ED) to inform each entity operating programs under the federal TRIO programs (programs designed to identify and provide services for students from disadvantaged backgrounds) of the status of their application for continued funding at least four months (currently eight) prior to the expiration of the funding. The bill establishes a process for applicants to resubmit an application for a grant or contract for higher education resources or student assistance when the application contains a technical error. The bill prohibits ED from rejecting an application solely because it contains a technical error, unless ED notifies the applicant of the error and the applicant does not correct it by the resubmission deadline. ED must submit an annual report that: (1) identifies each entity that received a grant or contract for higher education resources or student assistance and indicates the amount of the grant or contract; and (2) identifies each entity that applied for, but did not receive, such grant or contract and indicates the reason for the rejection of the application. ED must set forth the information separately for each state and local educational agency in the report.
United States · United States Congress · 13 September 2017
Carbon Capture Act This bill amends the Internal Revenue Code to extend and modify the tax credit for carbon dioxide (CO2) sequestration. The bill modifies the credit to: allow certain new industrial or direct air capture facilities to qualify for the credit if construction begins before 2024; allow qualified projects to claim the credit for 15 years, beginning on the date the equipment was originally placed in service; increase the credit amounts for certain projects placed in service upon or after the enactment of this bill; expand the purposes for which captured CO2 may be used; modify the requirements for the amount of CO2 that must be captured; specify that the 75 million metric ton cap on the CO2 that may qualify for the credit applies only to projects placed in service before the enactment of this bill; allow the credit to be transferred from the entity that owns and uses the capture equipment to the entity that disposes of or uses the CO2; and allow certain facilities that were placed in service after 2015 and have not previously claimed the credit to be treated as placed in service on the date of the enactment of this bill.
United States · United States Congress · 11 September 2017
This bill amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to prohibit the application of Medicare competitive acquisition rates to complex, rehabilitative, manual wheelchairs and accessories. (A competitive bidding program has replaced the use of established fee schedule amounts to determine payments under Medicare for certain durable medical equipment such as wheelchairs.)
United States · United States Congress · 8 September 2017
Legal Workforce Act This bill amends the Immigration and Nationality Act to direct the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to establish an employment eligibility verification system (EEVS), patterned after the E-Verify system. An employer shall attest, during the verification period and under penalty of perjury, that the employer has verified that an individual is not an unauthorized alien. An individual shall attest that he or she is a U.S. citizen or national, a lawful permanent resident, or an alien authorized to work in the United States. The bill establishes a phased-in EEVS participation deadline for different categories of employers, including agricultural employers. The bill requires reverification of certain groups of workers who have not been verified under E-verify. An employer may voluntarily reverify employees. Employment recruitment and referral are included within the scope of EEVS. The bill sets forth provisions regarding: (1) an employer utilizing a good faith defense, (2) preemption of state or local law, (3) employer penalties, and (4) worker remedies for EEVS errors. DHS shall establish programs to: (1) block the use of misused social security numbers, (2) suspend or limit the use of social security account numbers of identity fraud victims, and (3) permit parents or legal guardians to suspend or limit the use of a minor's social security account number or other identifying information. DHS shall establish at least two Identity Authentication Employment Eligibility Verification pilot programs using distinct technologies to provide employers with identity authentication and employment verification of enrolled new employees.
United States · United States Congress · 8 September 2017
Major General Tim Lowenberg National Guard Cyber Defenders Act This bill allows certain military reserve components, including a reserve assigned or attached to a reserve component cyber civil support team, to perform duties to prepare for or respond to any emergency involving an attack or natural disaster impacting a computer, electronic, or cyber network. By September 30, 2022, each state, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Virgin Islands shall have an operational reserve component cyber civil support team composed of reserve component members of the Armed Forces.
United States · United States Congress · 5 September 2017
Sets forth the rule for consideration of the bill (H.R. 3354) making appropriations for the Department of the Interior, environment, and related agencies for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2018, and for other purposes; providing for consideration of motions to suspend the rules; and waiving a requirement of clause 6(a) of rule XIII with respect to consideration of certain resolutions reported from the Committee on Rules.
United States · United States Congress · 4 August 2017
Free File Permanence Act of 2017 This bill requires the Department of the Treasury to continue to operate the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Free File Program. The program must work with state government agencies to enhance and expand the use of the program, while continuing to: provide free commercial-type online individual income tax preparation and electronic filing services to the lowest 70% of taxpayers by income; provide all taxpayers (regardless of income) with a basic, online electronic fillable forms utility; and work with the private sector to provide the free tax preparation and electronic filing services. Treasury must work with the private sector through the program to identify and implement innovative new program features to improve and simplify the taxpayer's experience with completing and filing individual income tax returns. The IRS and members of the tax software and electronic industry involved in the program must support and promote improvements within the program by mutually testing, piloting, and offering innovative solutions to: simplify the tax system, reduce compliance and reporting burdens, increase tax return accuracy through financial data authentication, strengthen the tax system against fraud through cybersecurity collaboration, avoid duplication, and maximize the use of electronic technology. The Electronic Tax Administration Advisory Committee must report annually to Congress regarding the program, including website statistics, cybersecurity standards, demographic information, marketing and education efforts, simplifications and innovations, and state and local participation.
United States · United States Congress · 28 July 2017
Promoting Affordable Childcare for Everyone Act or the PACE Act This bill amends the Internal Revenue Code, with respect to the tax credit for expenses for household and dependent care services necessary for gainful employment (known as the Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit), to: (1) make the credit refundable, (2) increase the rate for the credit, and (3) require the dollar amounts for such credit to be adjusted for inflation after 2017. The bill also increases the amount of employer-provided dependent care assistance which may be excluded from the gross income of an employee and requires the increased exclusion amount to be adjusted for inflation after 2018.
United States · United States Congress · 28 July 2017
Officer Sean Collier Campus Police Recognition Act of 2017 This bill amends the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 to expand the definition of public safety officer for purposes of the Public Safety Officers' Benefits Program to include a campus police officer who is employed by an institution of higher education and authorized to enforce criminal laws. Specifically, the bill extends death, disability, or education benefits to a campus police officer or survivors of a campus police officer who dies or becomes disabled as a result of an injury sustained in the line of duty on or after April 15, 2013.
United States · United States Congress · 28 July 2017
Tribal Coastal Resiliency Act This bill amends the Coastal Zone Management Act of 1972 to authorize the Department of Commerce to award grants to Indian tribes to further achievement of any of the following tribal coastal zone objectives: protecting, restoring, or preserving areas in the zone that hold important ecological, cultural, or sacred significance for the tribes, or traditional, historic, and esthetic values essential to the tribes; preparing and implementing a special area management plan and technical planning for important coastal areas; and implementing any coastal or shoreline stabilization measure for the purpose of public safety, public access, or cultural or historical preservation.
United States · United States Congress · 27 July 2017
Modernization of Medical Records Access for Veterans Act of 2017 This bill directs the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to carry out in at least one Veterans Integrated Services Network a pilot program for at least a 12-month period during which veterans enrolled in the VA's patient enrollment system will use a portable medical records storage system to store and share with VA health care providers and community health care providers records of their individual medical histories. The VA shall seek to enter into a contract, using competitive procedures, with an appropriate entity to furnish such storage system. The bill specifies system requirements, including: (1) the capability to store at least four gigabytes of electronic health records on a physical device no larger than a credit card, and (2) the capability to be used by substantially all electronic health records systems certified by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT on or before January 1, 2017.
United States · United States Congress · 27 July 2017
Save Local Business Act This bill amends the National Labor Relations Act and the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to provide that a person may be considered a joint employer in relation to an employee only if such person directly, actually, and immediately, and not in a limited and routine manner, exercises significant control over the essential terms and conditions of employment (including hiring employees, discharging employees, determining individual employee rates of pay and benefits, day-to-day supervision of employees, assigning individual work schedules, positions, and tasks, and administering employee discipline).
United States · United States Congress · 27 July 2017
Native American Suicide Prevention Act of 2017 This bill amends the Public Health Service Act to require a state or state-designated entity receiving support from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration for development and implementation of a statewide youth suicide early intervention and prevention strategy to agree to collaborate with each of the state's federally recognized Indian tribes, tribal organizations, and urban Indian organizations regarding the strategy.
United States · United States Congress · 26 July 2017
Social Security Commission Act of 2017 This bill temporarily establishes, within the legislative branch, the Commission on Long Term Social Security Solvency. The commission must submit to Congress recommendations and proposed legislation for achieving, for a period of at least 75 years, solvency in both of the Social Security trust funds. The bill provides for expedited consideration of proposed legislation recommended by the commission.
United States · United States Congress · 25 July 2017
Teaching Health Centers Graduate Medical Education Extension Act of 2017 This bill amends the Public Health Service Act to extend and expand funding through FY2020 for graduate medical education programs at teaching centers (which train medical residents in primary care specialties). The bill allows funds to be used for maintaining, expanding, and establishing graduate medical residency programs.
United States · United States Congress · 25 July 2017
Ensuring Access to Air Ambulance Services Act of 2017 This bill makes a series of changes relating to payment of air ambulance services under Medicare, including by establishing certain cost-reporting requirements for providers.
United States · United States Congress · 25 July 2017
Sets forth the rule for consideration of the bill (H.R. 3219) making appropriations for the Department of Defense for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2018.
United States · United States Congress · 24 July 2017
Expresses the sense of Congress that: child safety is the first priority of custody and parenting adjudications, and courts should resolve safety risks and claims of family violence before assessing other best interest factors; quasi-scientific evidence should be admitted by courts only when it meets admissibility standards for scientific evidence; evidence from court-affiliated or appointed fee-paid professionals regarding adult or child abuse allegations in custody cases should be considered only when the professional possesses documented expertise and experience in the relevant types of abuse, trauma, and the behaviors of victims and perpetrators; states should define required standards of expertise and experience for appointed fee-paid professionals who provide evidence to the court on behaviors of abuse victims and perpetrators, specify requirements for the contents of such professional reports, and require courts to find that any appointed professionals meet those standards; states should consider models under which court-appointed professionals are paid directly by the courts, with potential reimbursement by the parties after due consideration of the parties' financial circumstances; and Congress should schedule hearings on family courts' practices with regard to children's safety and civil rights.
United States · United States Congress · 24 July 2017
Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2018 Provides FY2018 appropriations to the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education; and related agencies. Department of Labor Appropriations Act, 2018 Provides appropriations to the Department of Labor for: the Employment and Training Administration, the Employee Benefits Security Administration, the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, the Wage and Hour Division, the Office of Labor-Management Standards, the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs, the Office of Workers' Compensation Programs, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the Mine Safety and Health Administration, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Office of Disability Employment Policy, and Departmental Management. Department of Health and Human Services Appropriations Act, 2018 Provides appropriations to the Department of Health and Human Services for: the Health Resources and Services Administration, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Institutes of Health, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the Administration for Children and Families, the Administration for Community Living, and the Office of the Secretary. Department of Education Appropriations Act, 2018 Provides appropriations to the Department of Education for: Education for the Disadvantaged; Impact Aid; School Improvement Programs; Indian Education; Innovation and Improvement; Safe Schools and Citizenship Education; English Language Acquisition; Special Education; Rehabilitation Services; Special Institutions for Persons with Disabilities; Career, Technical, and Adult Education; Student Financial Assistance; Student Aid Administration; Higher Education; Howard University; the College Housing and Academic Facilities Loan Program; the Historically Black College and University Capital Financing Program Account; the Institute of Education Sciences; and Departmental Management. Provides appropriations to Related Agencies, including: the Committee for Purchase From People Who Are Blind or Severely Disabled, the Corporation for National and Community Service, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, the Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission, the Institute of Museum and Library Services, the Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission, the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission, the National Council on Disability, the National Labor Relations Board, the National Mediation Board, the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission, the Railroad Retirement Board, and the Social Security Administration. Sets forth permissible and prohibited uses for funds provided by this and other appropriations Acts. Conscience Protection Act of 2017 Amends the Public Health Service Act to codify the prohibition against the federal government and state and local governments that receive federal financial assistance for health-related activities penalizing or discriminating against a health care provider based on the provider's refusal to be involved in, or provide coverage for, abortion.
United States · United States Congress · 20 July 2017
Hizballah International Financing Prevention Amendments Act of 2017 This bill amends the Hizballah International Financing Prevention Act of 2015 to impose specified sanctions on: (1) foreign persons that knowingly assist in or provide support for fund raising or recruitment activities for Hizballah; (2) agencies of foreign governments that provide Hizballah with financial support, arms, or other assistance (export license requirements are included in addition to sanctions if such government is a state sponsor of terrorism); and (3) Hizballah, including by reason of Hizballah's significant transnational criminal activities. The bill expresses the sense of Congress that sanctions should be placed on financial institutions that serve Lebanese government officials affiliated with Hizballah. The Comprehensive Iran Sanctions, Accountability, and Divestment Act of 2010 is amended to sanction foreign financial institutions that facilitate efforts by Iran or the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to aid Hizballah. The bill prescribes reporting requirements or reporting modifications with respect to: (1) foreign persons that knowingly assist or provide significant financial, material, or technological support for foreign persons assisting Hizballah; (2) financial institutions that are owned or organized under the laws of state sponsors of terrorism; (3) Hizballah's racketeering activities; (4) combating illicit tobacco trafficking networks used by Hizballah and other foreign terrorist organizations to finance their operations; (5) the estimated net worth of senior Hizballah officials and how these funds were acquired and used; and (6) countries that support Hizballah or in which Hizballah maintains important logistics networks or financial networks and steps such countries are taking to disrupt such networks.
United States · United States Congress · 20 July 2017
Ensuring Quality in the Unemployment Insurance Program (EQUIP) Act This bill allows states to enact unemployment compensation laws that require an applicant for unemployment compensation, before receiving any such compensation, to: (1) complete a substance abuse risk assessment, and (2) test negative for controlled substances within one week after the results of such assessment if determined to be high-risk. It prescribes retesting requirements and payment suspensions for applicants who test positive.
United States · United States Congress · 20 July 2017
Affirms U.S. leadership and commitment to improving access to quality education for the poorest and most marginalized children and youth worldwide. Supports the mission and goals of the Global Partnership for Education (GPE) to mobilize global and national efforts to contribute to the achievement of equitable, quality education and learning. Recognizes that U.S. investments in bilateral basic education are complemented by GPE's education systems approach and convening authority. Encourages continued commitment and investments by the U.S. government, international donors, private foundations, and private sector donors through the GPE to the global effort to promote children and youth attending school.
United States · United States Congress · 17 July 2017
President John F. Kennedy Commemorative Coin Act This bill directs the Department of the Treasury to mint and issue not more than 500,000 $1 silver coins in commemoration of President John F. Kennedy. The bill requires all sales of such coins to include a surcharge of $10 per coin, which shall be paid by Treasury to the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation to support the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum.
United States · United States Congress · 13 July 2017
Voting Rights Amendment Act of 2017 This bill amends various provisions of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, including by: (1) expanding the types of actions that would justify a court retaining jurisdiction to prevent a state or political subdivision from using new devices to limit the right to vote; and (2) imposing notice requirements on a state or political subdivision that makes changes to voting procedures, polling-place resources, or district boundaries. The bill also changes the calculation for determining whether a state or political subdivision is subject to preclearance requirements (i.e., requirements for certain jurisdictions to receive preapproval from the Department of Justice or the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia before making legal changes that would affect voting rights).
United States · United States Congress · 13 July 2017
Ambulance Medicare Budget and Operations Act of 2017 This bill modifies Medicare payment rules and reporting requirements with respect to ground-ambulance services.
United States · United States Congress · 10 July 2017
CHampioning Apprenticeships for New Careers and Employees in TECHnology Act or the CHANCE in TECH Act This bill requires the Department of Labor to enter into competitive contracts with industry intermediaries to promote the development of and access to apprenticeships in the technology sector. The Department of Education may issue CHANCE in TECH Awards for 21st Century Schools to secondary schools or junior or community colleges that demonstrate high achievement in providing students necessary skills to compete in the 21st century workforce.