Small Business Taxpayer Bill of Rights Act of 2021 This bill modifies various tax enforcement procedures and requirements that affect small businesses and other taxpayers. The bill modifies requirements regarding awarding costs and fees to small businesses for administrative and court proceedings, the amounts of damages and penalties that are allowed for violating various tax laws, dispute resolution and appeal procedures, enforcing liens against principal residences, terminating Internal Revenue Service (IRS) employees for misconduct, reviews by the Department of the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, and the release of an IRS levy due to economic hardship for business taxpayers. The bill also allows a tax deduction for a portion of a taxpayer's expenses for certain audits, prohibits ex parte communications between officers in the IRS Independent Office of Appeals and other IRS employees with respect to matters pending before the officers, establishes a 10-year term for the National Taxpayer Advocate, and repeals the requirement to submit a partial payment with an offer-in-compromise to settle a tax liability.
Sponsored bills
This resolution designates the week of May 9-May 15, 2021, as National Police Week.
Protect Women's and Girls' Rights in Afghanistan Act of 2021 This bill requires the Department of State to periodically report to Congress on the conditions of women and girls in Afghan civil society following the departure of U.S. and NATO forces. The reports shall also assess the status of assurances made by the Taliban related to preserving the rights of women and girls in Afghanistan.
Save Local Business Act This bill provides that a person may be considered a joint employer in relation to an employee under federal labor law 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. Such control may by demonstrated by hiring and 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.
Probation Officer Protection Act of 2021 This bill authorizes a probation officer to arrest a person other than the probationer without a warrant if there is probable cause to believe the person forcibly assaulted or obstructed a probation officer engaged in the performance of official duties.
Back the Blue Act of 2021 This bill establishes new criminal offenses for killing, assaulting, and fleeing to avoid prosecution for killing a judge, law enforcement officer, or public safety officer. Additionally, the bill expands the list of statutory aggravating factors in death penalty determinations to also include the killing or attempted killing of a law enforcement officer, judge, prosecutor, or firefighter or other first responder; broadens the authority of federal law enforcement officers to carry firearms; and limits federal court review of challenges to state court convictions for killing a public safety officer or judge. Finally, it directs the Department of Justice to make grants to law enforcement agencies and nongovernmental organizations to promote trust and improve relations between law enforcement agencies and the communities they serve.
Summer Meals Alternative Relief and Transportation Act of 2021 or the SMART Act of 2021 This bill expands the Summer Food Service Program, which provides meals to children and teens in low-income areas during the summer months when school is not in session, to include a home-delivery option in certain states. Qualifying states must have areas in which meals are inaccessible at program sites and in which electronic benefit transfer funds are not able to be fully used (e.g., due to the distance of eligible retailers). The Department of Agriculture must borrow from similar demonstration projects in its administration of the expanded program (e.g., the Meals-To-You Demonstration Project).
Transnational Repression Accountability and Prevention Act of 2021 or the TRAP Act of 2021 This bill establishes requirements related to U.S. cooperation with International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL) communications. No U.S. agency or department may arrest an individual based solely on an INTERPOL notice without (1) prior verification of the individual's eligibility for extradition, (2) a valid request for arrest from the requesting country, and (3) an arrest warrant. A U.S. agency or department may not use an INTERPOL communication from an INTERPOL member country as the sole basis for certain actions, such as detaining an individual or denying an individual a visa, without independent credible evidence supporting the communication. The bill requires reports on countries that abuse INTERPOL communications for political motives and other unlawful purposes.
Get Americans Back To Work Act This bill makes an individual ineligible for federal pandemic unemployment compensation (FPUC) after June 30, 2021. It also reduces the amount of FPUC to $150.00 for weeks of unemployment ending after May 31, 2021, and ending on or before June 30, 2021. Under current law, an individual is eligible for FPUC for weeks of employment ending on or before September 6, 2021 in the amount of $300.
This resolution condemns all manifestations of expressions of racism and anti-Asian and Pacific Islander or ethnic intolerance and calls for specified actions by the Senate Judiciary Committee, the Department of Justice (DOJ), and federal law enforcement. The resolution (1) calls on the Senate Judiciary Committee to consider holding a hearing related to the surge in violence against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, and (2) applauds DOJ's commitment to conducting a 30-day review of violence against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. The resolution calls on federal law enforcement officials, working with state and local officials, to expeditiously and vigorously investigate all reports of hate crimes against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in the United States, work to improve the reporting of such hate crimes, and hold the perpetrators of those crimes accountable and bring the perpetrators to justice.