State, Local, Tribal, and Territorial Fiscal Recovery, Infrastructure, and Disaster Relief Flexibility Act This bill allows states, tribes, territories, and localities to use certain COVID-19 relief funds for new categories of spending, including for natural disasters and infrastructure projects. It also makes changes to expenditure deadlines and other aspects of this funding. Specifically, recipients may use funds for emergency relief from natural disasters and associated negative economic impacts of natural disasters. In addition, recipients may use a portion of their COVID-19 relief funds for designated infrastructure projects, such as nationally significant freight and highway projects. Furthermore, the bill allows recipients to expend COVID-19 relief funds on these types of infrastructure projects until September 30, 2026. Under current law, recipients must expend the funds by December 31, 2024. Other changes in the bill include (1) modifying eligibility and allocation requirements for funding set aside for counties and Indian tribes that are near public lands, (2) allowing Indian tribes an additional year to expend their COVID-19 relief funds, and (3) establishing a process for government entities to decline COVID-19 relief funds and requiring any declined funds to be used to reduce the federal deficit.
Sponsored bills
This resolution designates the week beginning on October 10, 2021, as National Wildlife Refuge Week. The resolution acknowledges the importance of national wildlife refuges for their recreational opportunities and contribution to local economies. Finally, the resolution reaffirms the support of the Senate for wildlife conservation and the National Wildlife Refuge System.
FDA Modernization Act of 2021 This bill allows an applicant for market approval for a new drug to use methods other than animal testing to establish the drug's safety and effectiveness. Under this bill, these alternative methods may include cell-based assays, organ chips and microphysiological systems, computer modeling, and other human biology-based test methods.
Better Enforcement of Grievous Offenses by unNaturalized Emigrants or the BE GONE Act This bill expands, for immigration purposes, the definition of aggravated felony to include sexual assault and aggravated sexual violence. (Under current law, a conviction for an aggravated felony is grounds for deportation and may bar an individual from other immigration-related benefits.)
This bill extends the authority of the Department of the Interior to provide any assistance to the Atchafalaya Trace Commission for the Atchafalaya National Heritage Area in Louisiana for another 15-year period.
This resolution (1) supports the designation of the week of September 11-September 17 as Patriot Week; and (2) recognizes that each generation should renew the spirit of the nation based on the first principles, historical figures, founding documents, and symbols of the United States.
National Treasures Act of 2021 This bill prohibits the National Archives and Records Administration from including content warnings alongside items associated with the founding fathers of the United States. Content warning is defined as any message preceding or attached to the document labeling it as dangerous, harmful, anachronistic, or any other terms implying harm associated with the documents; disparaging the documents; assuming malicious intent on the part of the authors; or discouraging potential readers from reading the documents. Founding father means any individual who signed the Declaration of Independence, served as an officer in the Revolutionary War, attended the Second Continental Congress, attended the Constitutional Convention, or was granted a charter for one of the original 13 colonies of the United States.
Unclaimed Savings Bond Act of 2021 This bill establishes requirements and procedures for the Department of the Treasury to transfer ownership of certain matured, unredeemed savings bonds and related records to states.
Afghanistan Counterterrorism, Oversight, and Accountability Act of 2021 This bill imposes sanctions involving Afghanistan and addresses related issues. The President must impose, with certain exceptions, visa- and property-blocking sanctions on any foreign individual or entity that (1) provides support to any terrorist group in Afghanistan, (2) is responsible for or complicit in serious human rights abuses in Afghanistan, or (3) plays a significant role in international narcotics trafficking centered in Afghanistan. The President may also impose such sanctions on any foreign individual or entity that provides certain support for (1) the Taliban or any Taliban member, or (2) any agency of the Taliban-controlled government of Afghanistan. Additionally, the Department of State must (1) require U.S. representatives to the United Nations to advocate and vote to maintain sanctions against the Taliban, and (2) encourage allies and partner countries to impose sanctions against the Taliban. The State Department may suspend the sanctions imposed under this bill upon certifying to Congress that the Taliban has taken certain actions, such as breaking all ties with other terrorist groups. The State Department must establish a task force to (1) implement a strategy relating to the evacuation of Afghanistan, and (2) identify individuals in Afghanistan who have sought admission into the United States as a refugee or humanitarian parolee. The bill requires various reports, including on (1) a revised strategy for engagement with South and Central Asian countries after the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, (2) a counterterrorism strategy for Afghanistan, and (3) the extent of Taliban human rights abuses.
This resolution honors the life of Robert Dove, Parliamentarian Emeritus of the Senate, and offers the condolences of the Senate regarding his death.