Helping American Victims Afflicted by Neurological Attacks Act of 2021 or the HAVANA Act of 2021 This bill specifically authorizes the Central Intelligence Agency, the Department of State, and other agencies to provide payments to agency personnel who incur brain injuries from hostilities while on assignment. Specifically, the bill allows agency personnel and their families to receive payments for brain injuries that are incurred (1) during a period of assignment to a foreign duty station; (2) in connection with war, insurgency, hostile acts, terrorist activity, or other agency-designated incidents; and (3) not as the result of willful misconduct. The bill's authority applies to injuries incurred before, on, or after the date of the bill's enactment. Agencies must submit classified reports on the bill's implementation, including the number of payments made and the amount of each payment. Since 2016, some intelligence, diplomatic, and other governmental personnel have reported experiencing unusual cognitive and neurological impairments while on assignment (particularly abroad), the source of which is currently under investigation. Symptoms were first reported by personnel stationed in Cuba and have since been collectively referred to as Havana Syndrome .
Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act for Airports This bill makes certain airport projects eligible for funding under the transportation infrastructure finance and innovation program of the Department of Transportation (DOT), including projects for airport noise capability planning and for constructing gates and related areas at which passengers board or exit aircraft. DOT may provide funding for these projects only if all steel and manufactured goods used in the projects are produced in the United States, with specified exceptions.
Filipino Veterans Family Reunification Act of 2021 This bill exempts from worldwide or numerical limitations certain family-sponsored immigrant visas for the sons and daughters of Filipino World War II veterans who were naturalized under certain laws providing for naturalization for service during World War II.
Birth Access Benefiting Improved Essential Facility Services Act or the BABIES Act This bill requires the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to establish a Medicaid demonstration program to improve freestanding birth center services for women with low-risk pregnancies. Among other things, the CMS must (1) publish criteria for freestanding birth centers to participate in the program, including specified accreditation, licensure, and service requirements; (2) publish guidance for states to establish prospective payment systems under Medicaid for program participants; and (3) award planning grants for states to develop program proposals. The CMS may choose up to six states to participate in the program.
Enhanced Whistleblower Engagement Act This bill modifies requirements with respect to whistleblower protections for employees of an office of inspector general (OIG). The bill specifies that the whistleblower protection coordinator in each OIG shall educate that office's employees on specified matters, including prohibitions against retaliation for protected disclosures and rights and remedies against such retaliation. The bill also specifies that best practices developed by the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency shall include best practices for the handling and consideration of protected disclosures and allegations of reprisal that are internal to an OIG.
Helping American Victims Afflicted by Neurological Attacks Act of 2021 or the HAVANA Act of 2021 This bill specifically authorizes the Central Intelligence Agency, the Department of State, and other agencies to provide payments to agency personnel who incur brain injuries from hostilities while on assignment. Specifically, the bill allows agency personnel and their families to receive payments for brain injuries that are incurred (1) during a period of assignment to a foreign duty station; (2) in connection with war, insurgency, hostile acts, terrorist activity, or other agency-designated incidents; and (3) not as the result of willful misconduct. The bill's authority applies to injuries incurred before, on, or after the date of the bill's enactment. Agencies must submit classified reports on the bill's implementation, including the number of payments made and the amount of each payment. Since 2016, some intelligence, diplomatic, and other governmental personnel have reported experiencing unusual cognitive and neurological impairments while on assignment (particularly abroad), the source of which is currently under investigation. Symptoms were first reported by personnel stationed in Cuba and have since been collectively referred to as Havana Syndrome .
Youth Workforce Readiness Act of 2021 This bill requires the Department of Labor to award grants to certain national youth-serving organizations for comprehensive workforce readiness programs provided to youth that take place before or after school, during summer vacation or holiday, or on the weekend (i.e., out-of-school-time programs). Such grants must be used to develop and implement youth workforce readiness programs, including for activities such as on-the-job and leadership opportunities, internships, and other supportive services. The bill also requires local workforce development boards to establish youth councils as subgroups of the boards.
This bill revises the emergency relief program of the Department of Transportation to require that a project for the permanent repair or construction of a repeatedly damaged facility includes feasible and economically justifiable betterments (including protective features) to increase the resiliency of such facility. The emergency relief program provides funds for emergency and permanent repairs on federal-aid highways and roads that have suffered serious damage because of a natural disaster or catastrophic failure from an external cause.
Promoting Service in Transportation Act This bill directs the Department of Transportation to establish and administer a transportation workforce outreach program to (1) increase awareness of transportation career opportunities; and (2) increase diversity such as race, gender, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status of professionals in the transportation sector.
This bill requires the Department of Energy to establish a pilot program to award grants to nonprofit organizations for energy-efficiency materials to install in nonprofit buildings.
Real Education and Access for Healthy Youth Act of 2021 This bill requires the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to establish grants to support sex education and sexual health services for young people (ages 10 through 29) and repeals requirements that apply to certain federally funded sex education programs. HHS must award grants, in coordination with the Department of Education, to (1) provide sex education to young people through elementary and secondary schools, institutions of higher education, and youth-serving organizations; and (2) train education professionals to effectively teach, and otherwise support, sex education. Sex education refers to high quality teaching and learning that follows, to the maximum extent practicable, specified educational standards; covers a variety of topics concerning sex and sexuality; explores values and beliefs about those topics; and helps young people gain skills to navigate relationships and manage sexual health. Additionally, HHS must award grants for the provision of sexual health services to marginalized youth to youth-serving organizations and health care entities that are eligible to receive covered outpatient drugs at reduced prices through the 340B drug discount program. Recipients of any of these grants must comply with certain nondiscrimination requirements. In addition, they may not use funds for sex education programs or sexual health services that provide incomplete or inaccurate medical information or fail to address specified issues. The bill also eliminates prohibitions regarding the content of specified federally funded sexual health education and information programs and repeals the Abstinence Only Until Marriage program.
Manufacturing Abilities Determine Economies in The Americas Act or the MADE in The Americas Act This bill establishes certain manufacturing incentives to increase trade between the United States and other countries in the Western Hemisphere. Specifically, the bill requires the President to develop a strategy to reduce reliance on concentrated supply chains for covered articles (including those essential to U.S. critical infrastructure) and protect against any threats from countries of concern relating to supply chains for these articles. Additionally, the bill establishes within the Executive Office of the President the Manufacturing Security and Resilience Council. The functions of the council include (1) implementing the President's strategy, (2) establishing and maintaining a database of information on manufacturing companies that manufacture a covered article or maintain facilities that may be converted to manufacture covered articles during an emergency, and (3) establishing and carrying out a manufacturing resilience grant program. An eligible manufacturing company may use grant funds to relocate manufacturing facilities and operations out of a country of concern into the United States or another country in the Western Hemisphere. The bill authorizes the President to provide duty-free treatment to any eligible article from any beneficiary Western Hemisphere country. This treatment shall apply to any article (1) that is the growth, product, or manufacture of a beneficiary Western Hemisphere country; and (2) that is needed to support the critical infrastructure of the United States. The bill also includes certain tax incentives, including by establishing an American security product tax credit.
