Protecting Individuals with Down Syndrome Act This bill creates new federal crimes related to the performance of an abortion on an unborn child who has Down syndrome. It subjects a violator to criminal penalties—a fine, a prison term of up to five years, or both. It also authorizes civil remedies, including damages and injunctive relief. A woman who undergoes such an abortion may not be prosecuted or held civilly liable.
Child Care Workforce and Facilities Act of 2021 This bill requires the Department of Health and Human Services to provide states and tribal entities with grants to increase access to licensed child care services. The grants may be used to develop and expand the child care workforce or child care facilities in locations with insufficient available child care. Specifically, grants cover 50% of the cost of programs to support the education and training of caregivers or projects to build, expand, or renovate child care facilities in these areas.
Prenatal Nondiscrimination Act or PRENDA This bill creates new federal crimes related to the performance of sex-selection abortions (i.e., abortions based on the sex or gender of an unborn child). It subjects a violator to criminal penalties—a fine, a prison term of up to five years, or both. It also authorizes civil remedies, including damages and injunctive relief. A woman who undergoes a sex-selection abortion may not be prosecuted or held civilly liable.
This bill makes permanent several tax provisions for individual taxpayers that were enacted by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 and are scheduled to expire at the end of 2025. These provisions include reduction of individual income tax rates, increase in the child tax credit, limitations on the tax deduction for state and local taxes and the mortgage interest deduction, and increase in the exemption amount for estate and gift taxes.
This bill authorizes the use of the Capitol rotunda on February 3, 2021, for a memorial service honoring Officer Brian Sicknick of the U.S. Capitol Police. The memorial service shall include Officer Sicknick's lying in honor in the rotunda, and the Architect of the Capitol shall place a plaque in honor of Officer Sicknick near the Capitol steps. The Sergeant at Arms of the House of Representatives and the Sergeant at Arms and Doorkeeper of the Senate must make arrangements for funeral services in the Capitol for Officer Sicknick, including payments for travel expenses of immediate family members and the attendance of Members of Congress. The bill also requires that any funds received by the Capitol Police Board in response to the attack on the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, be deposited into the United States Capitol Police Memorial Fund.
Student Empowerment Act This bill allows tax-exempt distributions from qualified tuition programs (known as 529 plans) to be used for additional educational expenses in connection with enrollment or attendance at an elementary or secondary school. (Under current law, distributions in connection with an elementary or secondary school are limited to tuition for a public, private, or religious school.) The bill allows the distributions to be used for additional educational expenses, including curriculum and curricular materials, books or other instructional materials, online educational materials, tutoring or educational classes outside the home, testing fees, fees for dual enrollment in an institution of higher education, and educational therapies for students with disabilities. Distributions may also be used for tuition and the purposes above in connection with a homeschool (whether treated as a homeschool or a private school under state law).
Protecting Life in Foreign Assistance Act This bill prohibits the use of federal funds for purposes outside the United States related to abortion. Specifically, the bill prohibits funding to certain foreign or domestic organizations that perform or promote abortions, furnish or develop items intended to procure abortions, or provide financial support for an entity that conducts such activities. Current U.S. policy prohibits the provision of federal funds to a foreign nongovernmental organization unless it agrees to not perform or actively promote abortions.
Officer Brian D. Sicknick Congressional Gold Medal Act This bill requires the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the President pro tempore of the Senate to arrange for the presentation of a Congressional Gold Medal commemorating Officer Brian D. Sicknick for giving his life to protect the Capitol and Members and staff of Congress on January 6, 2021. Following its award, the medal shall be given to Officer Sicknick's parents, Charles and Gladys Sicknick.
This bill requires the Department of State to establish the Unit to Audit US Contributions to Multilateral and International Organizations to audit and report on the contributions to those organizations during the preceding fiscal year.
Raise the Wage Act of 2021 This bill increases the federal minimum wage for regular employees over a 5-year period, for tipped employees, and for newly hired employees who are less than 20 years old. The bill sets forth a schedule of annual increases in the federal minimum wage for individuals with disabilities. The Department of Labor shall no longer issue special certificates for the payment of subminimum wages to such individuals after the final wage increase under this bill for such individuals takes effect. Labor shall provide, upon request, technical assistance and information to employers to (1) help them transition their practices to comply with wage increases and other requirements under this bill for individuals with disabilities, and (2) ensure continuing employment opportunities for such individuals. The bill eliminates the separate minimum wage requirements for tipped, newly hired, and disabled employees. After a specified period, these employees shall be paid the same minimum wage as regular employees. Labor must publish any increase in the minimum wage in the Federal Register and on its website 60 days before it takes effect.
This resolution expresses the sense of the Senate that (1) clean water is a national priority, and (2) the 2020 final rule titled The Navigable Waters Protection Rule: Definition of "Waters of the United States" should not be withdrawn or vacated.
Advancing Connectivity during the Coronavirus to Ensure Support for Seniors Act or the ACCESS Act This bill provides funding to increase access to telehealth services and virtual visits in skilled and other nursing facilities during the COVID-19 (i.e., coronavirus disease 2019) emergency. The bill designates the funding as emergency spending, which is exempt from discretionary spending limits. Specifically, the bill provides additional funding for FY2021, to remain available through FY2022, to the Telehealth Resource Center Program to address barriers to telehealth faced by skilled and other nursing facilities. The Office for the Advancement of Telehealth within the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy in the Health Resources and Services Administration manages this program. In addition, the bill provides funding for FY2021, to remain available through one month after the emergency period ends, to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) for grants to nursing facilities to support virtual visits for residents during the COVID-19 emergency. HHS must develop relevant guidance for these grants within 15 days. HHS must also coordinate with the Federal Communications Commission on these grants.
