Restaurant Revitalization Fund Replenishment Act of 2021 This bill provides an additional $60 billion in FY2021 for the Restaurant Revitalization Fund, which was established to support restaurants and other food and beverage purveyors in response to COVID-19.
Save Our Future Act This bill imposes a fee on certain fossil fuels, including coal, petroleum products, and natural gas. It also imposes fees on fluorinated greenhouse gases imported into the United States and on facilities that emit greenhouse gases from processes other than fossil fuel combustion. The bill provides rebates to middle- and low-income taxpayers equal to $800 ($1,600 for joint returns), plus $300 times the number of taxpayer dependents. The bill directs the Department of the Treasury to provide cost mitigation grants to states and Indian tribes to assist with the transition to a low-carbon economy, assist rural households in reducing energy expenses, and for assistance to displaced coal industry workers. The bill creates an Office of Energy Veterans Assistance. It also provides funds through FY2032 for community assistance programs, including the Appalachian Regional Commission Revitalization Initiative and the Coal Communities Assistance Initiative. The bill provides funds for each fiscal year after FY2022 for assistance to environmental justice communities (i.e., communities most impacted by environmental harms and risks).
This resolution designates June 19, 2021, as Juneteenth Independence Day to commemorate the end of slavery in the United States.
Partnerships for Affordability and Student Success Act This bill commits states to maintaining support for affordable higher education, and it authorizes federal-state partnerships to provide for higher education access, affordability, and completion. Specifically, the bill requires states to maintain support for institutions of higher education (IHEs) and for student financial aid at levels that are equal to or greater than the average levels of such support for the three most recent academic years. The bill also requires the Department of Education, after entering into an agreement with states, to award incentive grants to states to (1) provide grants to eligible students attending IHEs or participating in accredited study abroad programs, (2) reduce the cost of attendance at public IHEs, and (3) provide subgrants to eligible IHEs to reduce student costs and improve outcomes for students and graduates. Each state that receives such grant funds shall report annually on its progress in meeting its public postsecondary education goals and comprehensive plan for public higher education. Private, nonprofit IHEs may voluntarily elect to participate in a state's efforts under its comprehensive plan for postsecondary education.
This resolution condemns the recent rise in anti-Semitic violence and harassment targeting Jewish Americans. The resolution (1) recommits to combating anti-Semitism in all forms; and (2) calls on elected officials, faith leaders, and civil society leaders to denounce and combat all manifestations of anti-Semitism. The resolution urges the President to continue the leadership role of the United States in combating anti-Semitism internationally, advance accurate Holocaust education and counter Holocaust denial and distortion, ensure the physical security of Jewish institutions and organizations, and produce an analysis that accounts for the level and scope of the threat that anti-Semitism poses to the people of the United States. The resolution urges law enforcement agencies to fully participate in the data collection process of the Federal Bureau of Investigation to improve anti-Semitic hate crime data collection.
Children Don't Belong on Tobacco Farms Act This bill prohibits as a form of oppressive child labor the employment of any employee under age 18 who has direct contact with tobacco plants or dried tobacco leaves.
This bill prohibits smoking on the premises of any Veterans Health Administration facility. The bill defines smoking as the use of cigarettes, cigars, and pipes (i.e., the heating or combustion of tobacco), as well as the use of any electronic nicotine delivery system.
Refund Equality Act of 2021 This bill permits legally married same sex couples to amend their tax returns to file as married filing jointly for returns outside of the statute of limitations.
COVID-19 Vaccine Developers Gold Medal Act This bill provides for the award of a Congressional Gold Medal to recognize all those whose efforts led to the development of COVID-19 vaccines that received emergency use authorizations.
Afghan Allies Protection Act of 2021 This bill modifies a program providing special immigrant visas to eligible citizens or nationals of Afghanistan who assisted U.S. efforts there and addresses related issues. The bill extends the program through 2023 and increases the number of visas available. An individual may become eligible for a visa after assisting U.S. efforts in Afghanistan for one year, whereas currently some individuals must have served for two years. Furthermore, for an applicant qualifying for a visa by performing duties with a NATO mission in Afghanistan, the bill eliminates a requirement that the duties performed qualify as sensitive and trusted duties. The bill removes a requirement that the individual has experienced or is facing an ongoing serious threat due to their assistance to the United States or NATO. The Department of State or the Department of Homeland Security may postpone the program's medical examination requirement. An individual who received a postponement must undergo a medical exam within 90 days of admission into the United States. The bill also expands surviving family member benefits for the Afghanistan program (and a similar program for Iraq) to a surviving spouse or child of an individual who submitted an application to the Chief of Mission that would have been approved but for the individual's death. Currently, such survivor benefits only apply if the deceased individual's petition was approved.
