Medicare Patient Empowerment Act of 2021 This bill allows any Medicare beneficiary to enter into a contract with an eligible professional, regardless of whether the professional is a participating or non-participating physician or practitioner, for any item or service covered by Medicare. Such beneficiaries may submit a claim for Medicare payment in the amount that would otherwise apply, except that, where the professional is considered to be non-participating, payment shall be paid as if the professional were participating. An eligible professional is a physician, physician assistant, nurse practitioner, clinical nurse specialist, certified registered nurse anesthetist, certified nurse-midwife, clinical social worker, clinical psychologist, registered dietitian or nutrition professional, physical or occupational therapist, qualified speech-language pathologist, or qualified audiologist. A Medicare beneficiary must agree in writing in such a contract to (1) pay the eligible professional for a Medicare-covered item or service; and (2) submit, in lieu of the eligible professional, a claim for Medicare payment. However, a beneficiary may negotiate, as a term of the contract, for the eligible professional to file such claims on the beneficiary's behalf. The bill preempts state laws from limiting the amount of charges for physician and practitioner services for which Medicare payment is made.
Sponsored bills
Davis-Bacon Repeal Act This bill repeals the Davis-Bacon Act, which requires that the locally prevailing wage rate be paid to various classes of laborers and mechanics working under federally-financed or federally-assisted contracts for construction, alteration, and repair of public buildings or public works. References in any law to a requirement under the Davis-Bacon Act shall be null and void.
CBO Show Your Work Act This bill requires the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) to make available to Congress and the public each fiscal model, policy model, and data preparation routine that the CBO uses to estimate the costs and other fiscal, social, or economic effects of legislation. For each estimate of the costs and other fiscal effects of legislation, the CBO must also disclose, in a manner sufficient to permit replication by individuals not employed by the CBO, the data, programs, models, assumptions, and other details of the computations used to prepare the estimate. For data that may not be disclosed, the CBO must make available to Congress and the public a complete list of all data variables for the data; descriptive statistics for all data variables for the data, to the extent that the descriptive statistics do not violate the rule against disclosure; a reference to the statute requiring that the data not be disclosed; and contact information for the individual or entity who has unrestricted access to the data.
Promoting Access to Diabetic Shoes Act This bill allows a nurse practitioner or physician assistant to fulfill documentation requirements for coverage, under Medicare, of special shoes for diabetic individuals. Under current law, such requirements may be satisfied only by a physician.
Cost Openness and Spending Transparency Act of 2021 or the COST Act This bill requires recipients of federal funds to disclose financing information relating to programs, projects, or activities carried out using such funds. Specifically, such a recipient (including a state or local government or a recipient of a federal research grant) must clearly state in any press release, request for proposals, bid solicitation, or other document describing the activity the amount and percentage of federal funding and the amount and percentage of nongovernmental funding. If the Office of Management and Budget determines that a recipient is failing to comply, it may direct each agency providing federal funds to withhold up to 25% of the funds until the recipient complies.
NEPA Accountability and Enforcement Act This bills establishes (1) deadlines for federal agencies to complete reviews of the environmental effects of proposed major federal actions, and (2) penalties for agencies that do not comply with these deadlines.
Mens Rea Reform Act of 2021 This bill establishes a default mens rea standard (i.e., state of mind requirement) for federal criminal offenses—statutory and regulatory—that lack an explicit standard. The government must generally prove that a defendant acted willfully with respect to each element of an offense for which the text does not specify a state of mind.
Fuel Choice and Deregulation Act of 2021 This bill revises requirements governing the use of alternative fuels in vehicles. Among other things, the bill revises requirements on aftermarket vehicle conversions that enable older vehicles to use alternative fuels. Under current law, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) must certify such conversions. This bill removes such certification requirements. The bill also bans the EPA from prohibiting or controlling biomass fuel. In addition, the bill revises the Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards for certain vehicles that are able to operate on something other than petroleum-based fuel, such as electric vehicles. Finally, the bill revises the Reid Vapor Pressure (RVP) requirements to provide for the year-round sale of ethanol-gasoline fuel blends that contain more than 10% denatured anhydrous ethanol. RVP is a metric of gasoline volatility (i.e., how quickly fuel evaporates into the atmosphere). Current law prohibits the sale of gasoline that exceed certain RVP limits during the high ozone season (i.e., the summer months). However, current law provides waivers from this requirement, including a waiver that gives certain ethanol-gasoline fuel blends containing 10% denatured anhydrous ethanol a higher RVP limit under certain conditions. This bill expands the waiver to include ethanol-gasoline fuel blends containing more than 10% of such ethanol, thus allowing year-round sales of such fuel blends.
This bill sets a minimum tonnage requirement for the Army Corps of Engineers to use when considering whether to dredge small ports.
Support Children Having Open Opportunities for Learning Act of 2021 or the SCHOOL Act of 2021 This bill allows certain federal funds for elementary and secondary education to follow the student to the school that they attend (i.e., public, private, or home school), regardless of whether the student is learning in person or remotely. These funds may be used for educational and instructional materials, tutoring, tuition for private school, and extracurricular activities.