Audit the Pentagon Act of 2021 This bill requires defense spending reductions during any fiscal year after FY2022 where the Comptroller of the Department of Defense (DOD) fails to certify that a department, agency, or other element of DOD has achieved an unqualified opinion on its full financial statements. The amount of any reductions must be deposited in the General Fund of the Department of the Treasury and must be available for deficit reduction. The bill excludes from any reductions accounts related to military personnel, reserve personnel, National Guard personnel, and the Defense Health Program. The President may waive a reduction if the President certifies that a reduction would negatively affect (1) national security or members of the Armed Forces who are deployed in combat zones, or (2) the Defense Health Program account.
End Zuckerbucks Act This bill prohibits tax-exempt charitable organizations from providing direct funding to official election organizations.
Fair Repair Act This bill requires an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) to make diagnostic, maintenance, and repair equipment available to independent repair providers. Specifically, for digital electronic equipment sold or used in the United States, an OEM shall make documentation, parts, and tools available to independent repair providers in a timely manner and on fair and reasonable terms. Further, if an OEM has made an express warranty for digital electronic equipment with a wholesale price of $100 or more, the OEM must provide such items at an equitable price and convenience of delivery to enable the repair of the equipment during the warranty period. The bill provides for enforcement of its provisions by the Federal Trade Commission and state attorneys general.
Rebuilding Communities After Disasters Act This bill requires the Small Business Administration (SBA) to increase the loan limits for the disaster loan program and to communicate certain information about the program following disasters. Specifically, the bill raises from $40,000 to $75,000 the loan amount for repair or replacement of household and personal effects and from $200,000 to $400,000 the loan amount for repair or replacement of a primary residence. Further, the bill requires the SBA to communicate through radio, television, print, and web-based outlets all relevant information needed by disaster loan applicants if a disaster is declared or the SBA declares eligibility for additional disaster assistance. (Currently, the SBA is only required to endeavor to communicate such information.) The SBA must submit a report on the disaster loan program that includes information such as the number and dollar value of program loans and the average estimated dollar value of damage sustained by borrowers.
Restore the Rights of Property Owners under the Eviction Moratorium Issued by the CDC Act of 2021 This bill nullifies beginning on July 1, 2021, the emergency order (and any extensions of the order) issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on September 4, 2020, that restricted residential evictions during the COVID-19 emergency. It also prohibits the order from being reissued unless specifically authorized by law.
Essential Caregivers Act of 2021 This bill requires skilled nursing facilities, nursing facilities, intermediate care facilities for the intellectually disabled, and nearby inpatient rehabilitation facilities to establish an essential caregivers program during a public health emergency. Under the program, facilities must allow each resident to select up to two essential caregivers to provide daily living assistance, emotional support, or companionship during the emergency. Facilities must afford such caregivers 12 hours of access to residents each day (or unlimited access for end-of-life care), and caregivers must agree to follow facility protocols for staff safety. Facilities may deny access to caregivers who violate protocols, subject to certain notification requirements; the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services must establish an appeals process relating to such decisions and may take specified enforcement actions against facilities that violate the bill's requirements.
This resolution supports the designations of National Post-Traumatic Stress Injury Awareness Month and National Post-Traumatic Stress Injury Awareness Day. The resolution supports (1) the education of members of the Armed Forces, veterans, their families, and the public about post-traumatic stress; and (2) efforts by the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Department of Defense to foster cultural change around the issue of post-traumatic stress. The resolution also encourages the leadership of the Armed Forces to support treatment of members of the Armed Forces who suffer from post-traumatic stress.
Save Affordable Housing Act of 2021 This bill revises the low-income housing tax credit to repeal the qualified contract option for a building that received its allocation of housing credit dollar amount before January 1, 2019, or received before that date, a determination from the bond issuer or housing credit agency of its eligibility to receive an allocation of a housing credit dollar amount. Under current law, properties eligible for the low-income housing tax credit are subject to a 30-year affordability period, during which the value of properties is set at a below market rate. The qualified contract option allows property owners, in some cases, to convert to market rate after 15 years.
Affordable Housing Opportunities for Utilization, Sustainment, and Expansion Act of 20 21 or the Affordable HOUSE Act of 2021 This bill modifies the low-income housing tax credit basis limitation rules applicable to the acquisition of buildings in service within the previous 10 years.
Mental Health in Schools Excellence Program Act of 2021 This bill establishes a program to expand the mental health services workforce in schools. Specifically, the bill requires the Department of Education to contract with graduate institutions to pay a share of the cost of attendance for graduate students pursuing careers in the school-based mental health profession (e.g., school counseling).
Pandemic Unemployment Assistance Fraud Protection Act This bill creates several requirements for states to address fraudulent claims for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA), temporarily increases penalties for fraud related to PUA, and requires each state to establish a hotline for victims of unemployment fraud. Specifically, the bill requires states to cross reference PUA claims with federal and state prison records and E-Verify to ensure that claimants are eligible for PUA, submit to the Department of Labor plans to recover fraudulently obtained PUA, develop an anti-fraud task force to investigate and recover fraudulently obtained PUA, make restitution to Labor for the amount of any overpayment of PUA made by the state, and establish a hotline designed to encourage individuals who are victims of unemployment fraud and have received an incorrect statement of unemployment compensation to report that fraud. The bill also temporarily enhances the maximum penalty for fraud related to PUA through December 31, 2021, so that the offense is classified as fraud in relation to a presidentially declared major disaster or emergency and punishable by up to 30 years imprisonment, a fine of up to $1,000,000, or both.
Tax-Free Pell Grant Act This bill excludes from gross income, for income tax purposes, any amount received as a federal Pell Grant. It also expands the definition of qualified tuition and related expenses under the American Opportunity and Lifetime Learning tax credit to include computer or peripheral equipment (up to a maximum of $1,000), child and dependent care expenses, and course materials.
