This week, the House will consider 37 bills, ranging from human rights to the budget.
Legislation under consideration this week includes:
Cabin Fee Act of 2011 (H.R. 3397): requires authorized owners of a privately built and owned recreational cabin located on National Forest System land to pay an annual fee to the federal government.
Billfish Conservation Act of 2011 (H.R. 2706): prohibits the sale of Pacific billfish (excluding swordfish) or products containing Pacific billfish, punishable by a maximum civil penalty of $100,000.
North Texas Zebra Mussel Barrier Act of 2012 (H.R. 6007): exempts the transfer of water from Lake Texoma – which is currently infested with Zebra mussels, an invasive species – to Lake Lavon from the Lacey Act, which is used to prevent the spread of invasive species.
American Battlefield Protection Program Amendments Act of 2012 (H.R. 2489): amends the American Battlefield Protection Act to allow the federal government to purchase, from willing sellers, historical sites associated with battles of the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812.
Lions Club International Century of Service Commemorative Coin Act (H.R. 2139): directs the Treasury Department to mint and issue $1 coins in commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Lions Clubs International, the world’s largest service club organization, in 2017.
H.R. 6186: requires the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to study and report to Congress on voluntary, community-based flood insurance options and how such options could be incorporated into the National Flood Insurance Program.
FHA Emergency Fiscal Solvency Act of 2012 (H.R. 4264): increases premiums for Federal Housing Administration mortgage insurance and holds lenders accountable for the loans they make in order to ensure the FHA’s viability.
H.R. 6122: authorizes the librarian of Congress to accept gifts of securities, personal property valued at $25,000 or personal services – including information technology equipment, audiovisual equipment, and volunteer services.
H.R. 406: permits candidates in federal elections to designate an individual who will be authorized to disburse funds of the candidate’s campaign committees in the event of the candidate’s death.
H.Con.Res. 132: authorizes the printing of the updated version of House Documents 103-299, “Hispanic Americans in Congress,” with the cost of printing copies capped at $700,000.
H.R. 6336: directs the Joint Committee on the Library of Congress to accept a donated statue of Frederick Douglass to be placed in Emancipation Hall of the Capitol Visitor Center.
Government Spending Accountability Act (H.R. 4631): sets new limits for federal agency spending on travel and conferences, and requires quarterly reports on agency conferences and meetings.
Government Customer Service Improvement Act (H.R. 538): requires the Office of Management and Budget to develop performance measures and standards to determine whether federal agencies are providing high-quality customer service and improving service delivery to agency customers.
Improving Transparency of Education Opportunities for Veterans Act of 2012 (H.R. 4057): requires the Department of Veterans Affairs to provide information on educational institutions to veterans and servicemembers; requires states to consider a veterans’ military experience when reviewing applications for commercial drivers’ licenses and certain health professional certifications; and establishes a registry to track servicemembers who may have been exposed to toxic chemicals caused by open burn pits.
Child and Elderly Missing Alert Program (H.R. 4305): authorizes the Department of Justice to make grants to nonprofit organizations to establish an alert system to assist law enforcement agencies in recovering missing children, elderly and disabled individuals.
H.R. 6215: amends the Trademark Act of 1946, which provides for the registration and protection of trademarks used in Congress, to clarify that federal registration of a trademark only constitutes a complete bar to a state claim based on dilution (the use of a similar mark by others which diminishes the trademark’s uniqueness).
Local Courthouse Safety Act of 2012 (H.R. 6185): authorizes a training and technical assistance program to teach employees of local law enforcement agencies how to anticipate, survive and respond to acts of violence at state and local courthouses.
Stolen Valor Act of 2011 (H.R. 1775): narrows the scope of the Stolen Valor Act – a law prohibiting the unauthorized wear, manufacture, or sale of any military decorations and medals, which was recently struck down by the Supreme Court for being overly broad – to clarify that the objective of the law is to target and punish those who misrepresent their military service with the intent of profiting personally or financially.
H.R. 6080: makes various technical changes to title 41 of the U.S. Code, which contains public contracts law.
H.R. 2800: reauthorizes the Department of Justice’s Missing Alzheimer’s Disease Patient Alert Program, which awards grants to nonprofit organizations to assist in paying for the costs of planning, designing, establishing, and operating locally-based programs to locate missing patients with Alzheimer’s disease.
H.R. 6189: eliminates reporting requirements for certain Department of Justice grants and programs which have not been funded in years.
S. 3245: reauthorizes a number of expiring immigration and visa programs for a period of three years, including the EB-5 Regional Center program, the E-Verify Program, the Special Immigrant Non-minister Religious Worker Program, and J-1 Visa Waiver Program.
H.R. 6131: extends the Undertaking Spam, Spyware, and Fraud Enforcement with Enforcers beyond Borders (US SAFE WEB) Act until September 30, 2020. This law authorizes the FTC to share information involving cross-border fraud with foreign consumer protection agencies, pursue legal action against fraud-based activity involving foreign commerce within the United States, and make criminal referrals for cross-border criminal activity.
Hazardous Waste Electronic Manifest Establishment Act (S. 710): requires the EPA to establish an electronic manifest system to track cradle-to-grave management of hazardous waste.
American Manufacturing Competitiveness Act of 2012 (H.R. 5865): requires the president in 2014 and 2018 to publish a national manufacturing strategy to promote growth, sustainability and competitiveness in the nation’s manufacturing sector, and establishes the American Manufacturing Competitiveness Board.
Public Transit Security and Local Law Enforcement Support Act (H.R. 3857): authorizes $400 million for each of fiscal years 2012 and 2013 for the Transit Security Grant Program, which provides funding to owners and operators of transit systems to protect critical surface transportation infrastructure from acts of terrorism and increase the resilience of transit infrastructure.
No-Hassle Flying Act of 2012 (H.R. 6028): authorizes the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) to modify screening requirements for checked baggage arriving from certain foreign airports (where the bags were already screened), thereby allowing those passengers to continue their travels without re-screening their bags upon arrival in the United States.
Vietnam Human Rights Act of 2011 (H.R. 1410): caps future U.S. assistance to Vietnam at FY 2011 levels (excluding humanitarian assistance, such as disaster relief, food, medicine, refugee aid, and HIV prevention assistance) until the president certifies that Vietnam has made substantial progress in respecting religious freedom, property rights and human rights.
H.Res. 484: condemns the continued and worsening crackdown in the Socialist Republic of Vietnam against community organizers, bloggers and democracy activists, and calls on the government to release its political prisoners.
North Korean Refugee Adoption Act of 2011 (H.R. 1464): directs the Secretary of State to develop a comprehensive strategy for facilitating the adoption of North Korean children by U.S. citizens.
H.Res. 177: urges international action toward accountability for the violation of human rights in Sri Lanka during the recent civil war.
S.Con.Res. 17: expresses the sense of Congress that Taiwan should be accorded observer status in the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), which aims to meet the world’s needs for safe, efficient, and economical air transportation.
H.R. 5544: directs the Department of Agriculture to exchange unspecified federal lands with the state of Minnesota for roughly 90,000 acres of state-held lands within the Boundary Waters Canoe Area.
FISA Amendments Act Reauthorization Act of 2012 (H.R. 5949): reauthorizes the 2008 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) Amendments, which authorizes the Attorney General and Director of National Intelligence to jointly authorize warrantless wiretapping for investigations in order to track possible links to al Qaeda, through 2017.
H.Res. __: makes stopgap appropriations for the first six months of Fiscal Year 2013, beginning October 1, in order to prevent a government shutdown. While this bill has not yet been introduced, it is expected that funding will be based on the $1.047 trillion cap on discretionary spending set in the Budget Control Act of 2011 (debt ceiling compromise of August 2011).
H.R. __: prevents the defense cuts agreed to in last year’s debt-limit deal from taking effect, thereby eliminating the hammers designed to force the GOP to the table to negotiate a long-term deficit reduction plan. In doing so, it would place the full burden of deficit reduction on other areas of the federal budget like roads, schools, and programs to help the poor and disabled. Meanwhile, the bill does nothing to reduce the so-called “fiscal cliff.”
H.R. 6213: limits the authority of the Department of Energy to issue loan guarantees to innovative clean energy technologies of renewable energy systems.