Reserve Employers Comprehensive Relief and Uniform Incentives on Taxes Act of 2021 or the RECRUIT Act of 2021 This bill allows employers with less than 500 employees a new tax credit for 40% of the wages paid to a member of the National Guard or a reserve component of the Armed Forces. The employer may elect to claim a payroll tax credit for wages paid to such service members.
Clean Energy Hydrogen Innovation Act This bill expands the types of hydrogen projects that are eligible for loan guarantees from the Department of Energy.
Rent and Mortgage Cancellation Act of 2021 This bill provides housing assistance during the COVID-19 public health emergency. Specifically, the bill suspends rental and mortgage payments for primary residences through April 1, 2022. The bill also forgives rental and mortgage debt accrued from March 13, 2020, through April 1, 2022. The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) must establish funds to reimburse lessors and lenders for payments suspended or forgiven under the bill. In addition, HUD must establish an Affordable Housing Acquisition Fund to support the acquisition of multifamily housing projects by nonprofit organizations, public housing agencies, cooperative housing associations, community land trusts, and state and local governments. For a five-year period, entities that are approved for such assistance shall be provided the first right of purchase with respect to these projects.
Sister City Transparency Act This bill requires the Government Accountability Office to study the activities of sister city partnerships involving foreign communities in countries that received a score of 45 or less on Transparency International's 2019 Corruption Perceptions Index. A sister city partnership is a formal agreement between a U.S. community and a foreign community that is recognized by Sister Cities International and that is operating within the United States. Among other elements, the required study must (1) identify oversight practices that U.S communities implement to mitigate the risks of foreign espionage and economic coercion within sister city partnerships, (2) assess the extent to which U.S. communities ensure transparency regarding sister city partnership contracts and activities, and (3) review the range of activities conducted within sister city partnerships.
Responsible Additions and Increases to Sustain Employee Health Benefits Act of 2021 This bill modifies the tax exclusion for distributions from health flexible spending arrangements provided to employees under a cafeteria plan to (1) increase the annual limit on employee salary reduction contributions to $5,000, with an additional $500 for each additional employee dependent above two dependents that has not been taken into account by another person for the year; (2) revise the adjustment for inflation after 2021; and (3) allow a carryforward into the next year for unused amounts in such plans.
Jenna Quinn Law This bill allows the Department of Health and Human Services to provide grants for evidence-informed child sexual abuse awareness and prevention programs. The grants may be awarded for a period of up to five years.
Stop Tax Haven Abuse Act This bill authorizes the Department of the Treasury to impose restrictions on foreign jurisdictions or financial institutions to counter money laundering and efforts to significantly impede U.S. tax enforcement. Among other provisions, the bill expands reporting requirements for certain foreign investments and accounts held by U.S. persons, establishes a rebuttable presumption against the validity of transactions by institutions that do not comply with reporting requirements under the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, treats certain foreign corporations managed and controlled primarily in the United States as domestic corporations for tax purposes, treats swap payments sent offshore as taxable U.S. source income, requires corporations to disclose certain financial information on a country-by-country basis, imposes penalties for failing to disclose offshore holdings, modifies the base erosion anti-abuse tax to lower the gross receipts applicability threshold from $500 million to $100 million, makes investment advisers and persons engaged in forming new business entities subject to new anti-money laundering requirements, requires reporting of U. S. beneficial owners of foreign-owned financial accounts, and imposes additional requirements for third party summonses used to obtain information in tax investigations that do not identify the person with respect to whose liability the summons is issued (i.e., John Doe summons).
QUEST Act of 2021 This bill directs the Department of Energy to establish and carry out a program (to be known as the Quantum User Expansion for Science and Technology program or the QUEST program) to encourage and facilitate access to U.S. quantum computing hardware and quantum computing clouds for research purposes in order to (1) enhance the quantum research enterprise of the United States, (2) educate the future quantum computing workforce, and (3) accelerate the advancement of U.S. quantum computing capabilities.
COVID Community Care Act This bill provides FY2021 supplemental appropriations for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to prevent, prepare for, and respond to COVID-19 (i.e., coronavirus disease 2019). Specifically, the bill provides appropriations to the HHS Public Health and Social Services Emergency Fund and the Indian Health Service for implementing programs to prevent, prepare for, and respond to COVID-19 in medically underserved communities and among tribal populations, respectively. The bill designates the funding as emergency spending, which is exempt from discretionary spending limits.
Quantum Network Infrastructure Act of 2021 This bill directs the Department of Energy (DOE) to carry out a research, development, and demonstration program to accelerate innovation in quantum network infrastructure in order to (1) facilitate the advancement of distributed quantum computing systems through the internet and intranet, (2) improve the precision of measurements of scientific phenomena and physical imaging technologies, and (3) develop secure national quantum communications technologies and strategies. DOE shall submit to Congress a four-year research plan that identifies and prioritizes basic research needs relating to quantum network infrastructure.
Guard Reimbursement for Unhealthy Bites Act or the GRUB Act This bill requires the Department of Defense to pay National Guard members a per diem for each day they performed duty between January 26, 2021, and March 15, 2021, in response to the attacks on January 6, 2021, on the U.S. Capitol building and grounds. The per diem rate must be equal to the proportional meal rate determined by the Defense Travel Management Office for the National Capital Region.
No Tax Breaks for Outsourcing Act This bill modifies the tax treatment of the foreign source income of domestic corporations. The bill includes provisions that modify calculations of the gross income of U.S. shareholders to include net CFC tested income in the current taxable year, apply limitations on the foreign tax credit on a country-by-country basis, limit the tax deduction for the interest expense of a U.S. corporation that is a member of a financial reporting group (i.e., a group that prepares consolidated financial statements according to generally accepted accounting principles or international financial reporting standards), modify the rules for the taxation of inverted corporations (i.e., U.S. corporations that acquire foreign companies to reincorporate in a foreign jurisdiction with income tax rates lower than the United States), and treat certain foreign corporations managed and controlled primarily in the United States as domestic corporations for tax purposes.
