Intelligence on Nefarious Foreign Leaders Using Education Networks for Corrupt Enrichment Act or the INFLUENCE Act This bill lowers the disclosure threshold regarding gifts or contracts from a foreign source that institutions of higher education (IHEs) must report to the Department of Education (ED). It also requires IHEs to disclose information related to foreign involvement in sensitive projects. Under current law, an IHE is required to disclose to ED a gift or contract that is from a foreign source and is valued at $250,000 or more, considered alone or in combination with all other gifts from or contracts with a foreign source. The bill instead requires the IHE to disclose such a gift or contract that is valued at $50,000 considered alone or $100,000 or more in combination with all other gifts or contracts. Further, ED must update annually on its website a database of the disclosed information, and an IHE that receives a gift or contract from a foreign source must post certain information on its website. Information made publicly available must not include sensitive information. Additionally, the bill requires IHEs to disclose information related to foreign involvement in sensitive projects. It also requires a specific contract provision for a cultural or language program that is funded by the Chinese government to operate at an IHE. Finally, ED must establish a process to notify federal agencies of violations of the bill. ED must also report on foreign and national security issues affecting IHEs.
Earmark Elimination Act of 2021 This bill establishes a point of order in the House of Representatives against considering legislation that contains a congressional earmark, limited tax benefit, or limited tariff benefit. If the point of order is raised and sustained, the congressional earmark, limited tax benefit, or limited tariff benefit shall be deemed to be stricken from the legislation.
Iran Hostages 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 award of a Congressional Gold Medal commemorating the bravery and endurance of the 53 hostages of the Iran Hostage Crisis. Following its award, the medal shall be given to the National Museum of American History of the Smithsonian Institution for display and research. The Department of the Treasury must strike duplicate medals in silver for presentation to a hostage (or the personal representative of a deceased hostage), and Treasury may also strike and sell duplicate medals in bronze.
Accurate Workplace Injury and Illness Records Restoration Act This bill expands the authority of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to cite employers for workplace safety violations and requires OSHA to issue a rule on record keeping related to workplace injuries. Under current law OSHA may cite employers only during the six-month period following a violation. This bill provides that, for a violation that occurs over a period of time, the six-month period does not begin until the violation has ended. The bill also requires OSHA to issue a rule on maintaining records of workplace injuries and illnesses. Congress nullified a similar rule on April 3, 2017. In the rule required by the bill, OSHA must clarify that an employer's duty to make and maintain accurate records is an ongoing obligation, continues for as long as the employer is required to keep records of the recordable injury or illness (typically five years under current OSHA rules), and does not expire solely because the employer fails to create the necessary records when first required to do so.
Improving Confidence in Veterans' Care Act This bill prescribes oversight requirements for the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) regarding health care professionals at VA medical centers. Specifically, the bill requires the VA to ensure each VA medical center consistently compiles, verifies, and reviews specified documentation for each VA health care professional (including contractors). The VA shall ensure that specified health care professionals hold an active Drug Enforcement Administration registration. Each VA medical center must implement (1) monitoring of the performance and quality of the health care delivered by each health care professional at the center, and (2) reviews of such care if an individual notifies the VA of any potential concerns relating to a failure to meet generally accepted standards of clinical practice. The bill imposes notification requirements in situations where the VA substantiates a concern relating to the clinical competency of, or quality of care delivered by, a current or former VA health care professional. The VA is prohibited from entering into a settlement agreement relating to an adverse action against a VA health care professional if such agreement includes terms that require the VA to conceal certain information from the employee's personnel file. Such prohibition does not apply to adverse actions determined to be prohibited personnel practices. The VA must provide mandatory training, at least biannually, to employees of each medical center who are responsible for specified tasks (e.g., those who are responsible for compiling, validating, or reviewing the credentials of VA health care professionals).
Veteran's Choice Accountability Act This bill requires the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to evaluate VA programs that furnish hospital care, medical services, and nursing home care to ensure that the most intensively used specialized care programs are maintained as centers of excellence. The bill also requires the VA to submit an evaluation of the VA's implementation of the VA Budget and Choice Improvement Act.
Barriers and Regulatory Obstacles Avoids Deployment of Broadband Access and Needs Deregulatory Leadership Act or the BROADBAND Leadership Act This bill limits the authority of, and places deadlines on, a state or local government over decisions regarding the placement, construction, and modification of telecommunications service facilities. Specifically, the bill requires that the regulation of the placement, construction, or modification of a telecommunications service facility by any state or local government shall not unreasonably discriminate among providers of functionally equivalent services. Further, any decision to deny a placement, construction, or modification request must be in writing and supported by substantial evidence in a written record. Additionally, a state or local government must grant or deny a complete request for authorization to place, construct, or modify a telecommunications service facility within 90 days of receipt of the request or within 150 days of receipt of a request to take any other action relating to such facility. A state or local government is authorized to charge a reasonable, objective, cost-based fee for (1) review of a request, or (2) use of a right-of-way or a facility in a right-of-way that is owned or managed by the state or local government.
This resolution requests that the President transmit to the House of Representatives documents related to the amount of funding that was provided in specified laws regarding COVID-19 (i.e., coronavirus disease 2019) and is currently unspent. The specified laws include the Coronavirus Preparedness and Response Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2020; the Families First Coronavirus Response Act; the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act); the Paycheck Protection Program and Health Care Enhancement Act; and Division N of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021.
Carried Interest Fairness Act of 2021 This bill modifies the tax treatment of carried interest, which is compensation that is typically received by a partner of a private equity or hedge fund and is based on a share of the fund's profits. (Under current law, carried interest is taxed as investment income rather than at ordinary income tax rates.) This bill includes provisions that set forth a special rule for the inclusion in gross income of partnership interests transferred in connection with the performance of services, treat as ordinary income the net capital gain with respect to an investment services partnership interest except to the extent such gain is attributable to a partner's qualified capital interest, exempt income from investment services partnership interests from treatment as qualifying income of a publicly traded partnership, exempt certain family partnerships from the application of this bill, increase the penalty for underpayments of tax resulting from failure to treat income from an investment services partnership interest as ordinary income, and include income and loss from an investment services partnership interest for purposes of determining net earnings from self-employment and applicable self-employment taxes. The bill defines investment services partnership interest as any interest in a partnership held by a person who provides services to a partnership by (1) advising the partnership about investing in, purchasing, or selling specified assets; (2) managing, acquiring, or disposing of specified assets; or (3) arranging financing with respect to acquiring specified assets.
This resolution impeaches President Donald John Trump for high crimes and misdemeanors. Specifically, the resolution sets forth an article of impeachment stating that President Trump incited an insurrection against the government of the United States. The article states that prior to the joint session of Congress held on January 6, 2021, to count the votes of the electoral college, President Trump repeatedly issued false statements asserting that the presidential election results were fraudulent and should not be accepted by the American people or certified by state or federal officials; shortly before the joint session commenced, President Trump reiterated false claims to a crowd near the White House and willfully made statements to the crowd that encouraged and foreseeably resulted in lawless action at the Capitol; members of the crowd, incited by President Trump, unlawfully breached and vandalized the Capitol and engaged in other violent, destructive, and seditious acts, including the killing of a law enforcement officer; President Trump's conduct on January 6, 2021, followed his prior efforts to subvert and obstruct the certification of the presidential election, which included a threatening phone call to the Secretary of State of Georgia on January 2, 2021; President Trump gravely endangered the security of the United States and its institutions of government, threatened the integrity of the democratic system, interfered with the peaceful transition of power, and imperiled a coequal branch of government; and by such conduct, President Trump warrants impeachment and trial, removal from office, and disqualification to hold U.S. office.
This resolution authorizes the Select Committee on Intelligence to make specified expenditures and employ personnel for the 117th Congress.
No Fencing at the United States Capitol Complex Act This bill prohibits the use of federal funds for permanent fencing around the perimeter of any U.S. Capitol buildings or grounds. On January 7, 2021, in response to the previous day's events, razor wire fencing was erected to secure the perimeter of the U.S. Capitol; the fencing was initially to remain in place for 30 days and has since been kept in place through periodic extensions.
