10/13/2021

PL 117-49, S.848,  

This bill revises the service obligation verification process for the Teacher Education Assistance for College and Higher Education (TEACH) grant program.

For example, the bill provides a process for the Department of Education to reconsider and reverse the conversion of a TEACH grant to a loan. The bill also establishes certain program flexibilities with respect to the service obligations of teachers affected by the COVID-19 (i.e., coronavirus disease 2019) pandemic (Sen. Mike Braun [R-IN]).

PL 117-48, H.R.2278,  This bill designates a trail route, to be known as the September 11th National Memorial Trail Route, to link the National 9/11 Memorial and Museum in New York, New York, the National 9/11 Pentagon Memorial in Arlington, Virginia, and the Flight 93 National Memorial in Somerset County, Pennsylvania.

The September 11th National Memorial Trail Route shall

• provide for a tribute to the family members and loved ones who were victims of the attack and the heroes of September 11th, including the first responders in the days, weeks, and months after the attack;
• be a trail of remembrance to honor the fallen in a tangible way that keeps their memories alive and reaffirms the exceptionalism of our country; and
• be a celebration of our nation's resilience and perseverance since September 11, 2001.

The September 11th National Memorial Trail Route shall be administered by the National Park Service but not be considered to be a unit of the National Park System or a part of the National Trail System (Rep. Gerald E. Connolly [D-VA]).

PL 117-47, S.1917, This bill requires the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) to study the cybersecurity risks facing elementary and secondary schools and develop recommendations that include cybersecurity guidelines designed to assist schools in facing those risks. The use of such recommendations shall be voluntary.

The study must evaluate the challenges that schools face in securing (1) information systems owned, leased, or relied upon by those schools; and (2) sensitive student and employee records.

Further, the bill requires CISA to (1) develop an online training toolkit designed for school officials; and (2) make available on the Department of Homeland Security website the study's findings, the cybersecurity guidelines, and the toolkit (Sen. Gary C. Peters [D-MI]).

PL 117-46, S.1828, 

Helping American Victims Afflicted by Neurological Attacks Act of 2021

This bill specifically authorizes the Central Intelligence Agency, the Department of State, and other agencies to provide payments to agency personnel who incur brain injuries from hostilities while on assignment.

Specifically, the bill allows agency personnel and their families to receive payments for brain injuries that are incurred (1) during a period of assignment to a foreign or domestic duty station; (2) in connection with war, insurgency, hostile acts, terrorist activity, or other agency-designated incidents; and (3) not as the result of willful misconduct.

The bill's authority applies to injuries incurred before, on, or after the date of the bill's enactment. Agencies must submit classified reports on the bill's implementation, including the number of payments made and the amount of each payment.

Since 2016, some intelligence, diplomatic, and other governmental personnel have reported experiencing unusual cognitive and neurological impairments while on assignment (particularly abroad), the source of which is currently under investigation. Symptoms were first reported by personnel stationed in Cuba and have since been collectively referred to as Havana Syndrome (Sen. Susan M. Collins [R-ME]).

PL 117-45, S.189, This bill requires the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to increase the amounts payable for wartime disability compensation, additional compensation for dependents, the clothing allowance for certain disabled veterans, and dependency and indemnity compensation for surviving spouses and children. Specifically, the VA must increase the amounts by the same percentage as the cost-of-living increase in benefits for Social Security recipients that is effective on December 1, 2021. The bill requires the VA to publish the amounts payable, as increased, in the Federal Register.

The VA is authorized to make a similar adjustment to the rates of disability compensation payable to persons who have not received compensation for service-connected disability or death (Sen. John Thune [R-SD]).

PL 117-44, H.R.5434, To provide an extension of Federal-aid highway, highway safety, and transit programs, and for other purposes (Peter A. DeFazio [D-OR]).

PL 117-43, H.R.5305, This bill provides continuing FY2022 appropriations for federal agencies, provides supplemental appropriations, and extends several expiring programs and authorities.

Specifically, the bill provides continuing FY2022 appropriations to federal agencies through the earlier of December 3, 2021, or the enactment of the applicable appropriations act.

It is known as a continuing resolution (CR) and prevents a government shutdown that would otherwise occur if the FY2022 appropriations bills have not been enacted when FY2022 begins on October 1, 2021. The CR funds most programs and activities at the FY2021 levels with several exceptions that provide funding flexibility and additional appropriations for various programs.

In addition, the bill provides supplemental appropriations to several federal agencies for activities related to natural disasters and the evacuees from Afghanistan.

The bill also extends several expiring programs and authorities, including

• the National Flood Insurance Program,
• the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program,
• the National Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality and Integrity,
• the United States Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy,
• the temporary scheduling order issued by the Drug Enforcement Administration to place fentanyl-related substances in Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act, and
• the authority for the Department of Agriculture to waive certain requirements for the school meal programs (Rep. Rosa L. DeLauro [D-CT]).

PL 117-42, H.R.5293, To amend title 38, United States Code, to extend and modify certain authorities and requirements relating to the Department of Veterans Affairs, and for other purposes (Rep. Frank J. Mrvan [D-IN]).

PL 117-41, S.325, This bill extends the deadline, from three years to five years, for the Alyce Spotted Bear and Walter Soboleff Commission on Native Children to submit its report to the President and Congress. The commission was established to conduct a comprehensive study of federal, state, local, and tribal programs that serve Native children and to develop plans for federal policy related to Native children (Sen. Lisa Murkowski [R-AK]).

PL 117-40, S.272, This bill requires federal agencies to make budget justification materials available to the public on a website. The bill also requires the Office of Management and Budget to make certain details regarding the materials available to the public, including a list of the agencies that submit budget justification materials to Congress, the dates that the materials are submitted to Congress and posted online, and links to the materials (Sen. Gary C. Peters [D-MI]).

PL 117-28, H.R.26, This bill prohibits the federal government from using reverse auctions for complex, specialized, or substantial design and construction services. Reverse auctions allow the sellers to bid down the price of a project and typically result in the contractor with the lowest bid winning the contract.

The Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council must define complex, specialized, or substantial design and construction services.

The General Services Administration shall report to specified congressional committees on this bill's effectiveness (Rep. James Comer [R-KY]).

PL 117-27, H.R.1652, This bill adds a new source of revenue for the Crime Victims Fund and makes changes to formula grants supported by the fund.

Specifically, the bill directs revenues collected from deferred prosecution and non-prosecution agreements to be deposited into the Crime Victims Fund. Currently, such revenues are deposited into the general fund of the Treasury.

Additionally, the bill increases the percentage—from 60% to 75%—of state compensation payments to crime victims in the prior fiscal year used to calculate formula grants for state victim compensation programs.

Finally, the bill directs states to waive the matching requirement for recipients of state victim assistance formula grants during and for one year after a pandemic-related national emergency. It also allows states to waive the matching requirement pursuant to a policy established by the state (Rep. Jerrold Nadler [D-NY]).

PL 117-26, S.1340, This bill amends title 28, United States Code, to move portions of four counties encompassing the Fort Bragg Military Reservation and Camp Mackall from the Middle District to the Eastern District of North Carolina (Sen. Thom Tillis [R-NC]).

PL 117-25, S.409, This bill expands the permissible uses of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission Customer Protection Fund to include administrative expenses (Sen. Chuck Grassley [R-IA]).

PL 117-24, S.J.Res.15, This joint resolution nullifies the final rule issued by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency titled National Banks and Federal Savings Associations as Lenders and published on October 30, 2020. The rule requires that to be considered a lender, a national bank or federal saving association must, as of the date of origination of the loan (1) be named as the lender in the loan agreement, or (2) fund the loan (Sen. Chris Van Hollen [D-MD]).

PL 117-23, S.J.Res.14, This joint resolution nullifies the Oil and Natural Gas Sector: Emission Standards for New, Reconstructed, and Modified Sources Review rule published by the Environmental Protection Agency on September 14, 2020. The rule finalized amendments to new source performance standards under the Clean Air Act for the oil and natural gas sector, such as an amendment that removed limitations on methane emissions from such sector (Sen. Martin Heinrich [D-NM]).

PL 117-21, H.R.2441, This bill requires the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), during FY2022, to establish and maintain three new centers of the Rural Access Network for Growth Enhancement (RANGE) Program in areas with interest from personnel and a need for additional mental health care for rural veterans. The RANGE Program serves veterans in rural areas who are experiencing mental illness.

The bill requires the Government Accountability Office to conduct a study and report on whether the VA has sufficient resources to serve rural veterans who need mental health care that is more intensive than traditional outpatient therapy (Rep. Cynthia Axne [D-IA]).