This resolution supports the designation of National Health Care Awareness Month.
Helping Seniors Afford Health Care Act This bill alters eligibility standards and related processes for several programs that provide premium and cost-sharing assistance to low-income Medicare beneficiaries. Among other things, the bill expands income eligibility for the Qualified Medicare Beneficiary Program and the Specified Low-Income Medicare Beneficiary Program to up to 135% and 200% of the federal poverty level (FPL), respectively, and provides an enhanced Federal Medical Assistance Percentage (i.e., federal matching rate) to state Medicaid programs for expenditures related to the expansion. The bill also repeals the Qualifying Individual Program (which currently provides premium assistance to beneficiaries with incomes between 120% and 135% of the FPL).
National Commission to Combat Workplace Sexual Harassment Act This bill establishes the National Commission to Combat Workplace Sexual Harassment to investigate and report on sexual harassment, sexual assault, and other sexual misconduct in the workplace. This includes the causes of such conduct and whether certain personal characteristics or types of employment make individuals more vulnerable to such conduct.
Federal Disaster Housing Stability Act of 2021 This bill imposes limits on foreclosures and evictions in areas affected by a declared disaster or emergency. A servicer of certain federally backed residential mortgages for a property in such an area may not initiate the foreclosure process or take other foreclosure-related actions relating to that property unless the property is vacant or abandoned. These restrictions shall be in place for six months after the disaster or emergency is declared. Similarly, the landlord of a dwelling in such an area may not (1) initiate eviction proceedings against a tenant in that dwelling for nonpayment of rent or fees; (2) charge that tenant a penalty for nonpayment of rent; (3) increase the rent; (4) prevent a tenant who has temporarily relocated from returning; or (5) otherwise require the tenant to vacate the dwelling. Landlords must also provide notice to tenants regarding available federal assistance. These restrictions shall be in place for 90 days beginning (1) when the disaster or emergency is declared; or (2) in the case of a dwelling eligible for assistance, when such assistance is received or when eligibility for such assistance has expired.
Language Access for Medicare Beneficiaries Act of 2021 This bill requires the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to translate the annual explanation of Medicare benefits for enrollees into multiple languages, besides English and Spanish. The CMS must prioritize languages into which Social Security documents are translated or that are most frequently requested for purposes of Social Security benefits applications.
Choose Medicare Act This bill requires the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to establish public health insurance plans and addresses health insurance costs. Such public plans must be offered on health insurance exchanges and (1) meet the requirements of a qualified health plan; (2) cover benefits at the gold plan level; and (3) cover reproductive services, including abortions. Additionally, the bill makes a series of changes related to health insurance costs, including requiring employers to refer employees to health care navigators to assist with enrollment, establishing an annual limit on out-of-pocket costs for services under Medicare, providing HHS with the authority to negotiate prices under the Medicare prescription drug benefit program, expanding the premium-assistance credit by benchmarking the credit amount to the second-lowest cost gold plan and increasing the income threshold for eligibility, requiring qualified health plans to reduce cost sharing for low-income plan holders, providing funding for states to provide reinsurance to health insurance issuers and to assist individuals with out-of-pocket costs for plans offered through health insurance exchanges, applying the premium rate-setting requirements to large group health plans, and requiring HHS or states to take corrective actions to address unreasonable premium rates set by insurance issuers.
Migratory Bird Protection Act of 2021 This bill prohibits the incidental taking (e.g., capturing or killing) of migratory birds by commercial activities unless the activity is authorized under a permit or is identified as posing de minimis risk to migratory birds. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) must regulate such incidental taking, including by (1) issuing general permits for certain industries, (2) creating a mitigation fee for any incidental taking of migratory birds, and (3) identifying categories of de minimis risk activities that are exempt from liability for the taking of migratory birds. In addition, the USFWS must establish and maintain a research program (1) to evaluate the impacts of commercial activities on birds, (2) to evaluate the effectiveness of best management practices and technologies to avoid or minimize such impacts, and (3) to develop new or improved best management practices and technologies.
This resolution supports (1) fair and equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines, and (2) investments in the vaccine supply chain and other efforts to meet global needs for vaccines.
This resolution urges the United States to protect the human rights of unhoused individuals, to establish regulations and enforcement tools to protect unhoused individuals from violations of civil and human rights, and to establish blanket legal protections for third parties providing goods or services to unhoused individuals. The resolution also urges the United States to establish a process to award appropriate damages, attorney's fees, and costs to a prevailing plaintiff in an action alleging a violation of the human and civil rights of unhoused individuals. Relatedly, the resolution urges the United States to allow the court in such an action to consider housing status and apply leniency in compiling records, receipts, and documentation from those plaintiffs. The resolution also expresses the intention of the House of Representatives to address the unhoused crisis in the United States by providing funding and imposing requirements on the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Department of Health and Human Services.
Creative Economy Revitalization Act This bill requires the Department of Labor to award grants to government and nonprofit agencies to provide programs that employ individuals and provide public access to art or arts programming.
Fiscal Analysis by Income and Race Scoring Act or the FAIR Scoring Act This bill requires the Congressional Budget Office's (CBO's) cost estimates for legislation to include a distributional analysis by race and income if the legislation will have a gross budgetary effect of at least 0.1% of gross domestic product in any fiscal year during the 10-year budget window. CBO's analysis must show the transfers that would result by race and income level, and the effects must be shown both in dollars and as a percent change in after-tax-and-transfer-income. The bill also requires CBO to report to Congress on methods for conducting such a distributional analysis by gender.
Shift Back to Society Act of 2021 This bill directs the Department of Education to establish a pilot program that awards matching grants to historically Black colleges and universities to provide educational programs for eligible offenders to facilitate reentry into the community. An eligible offender is a convicted criminal offender who has been released from incarceration for not longer than one year or who is scheduled to be released from incarceration within one year. The Government Accountability Office must report to Congress on the results of the pilot program.
