This week, the House is expected to consider five bills, ranging from veterans’ tuitions to public land management.
Legislation up for consideration this week includes:
Medical Preparedness Allowable Use Act (H.R. 1791): amends the 2002 Homeland Security Act to allow the use of funding from the Urban Area Security Initiative and State Homeland Security Grant Program for enhancing medical preparedness. Grant funds could be used for the development and maintenance of an initial pharmaceutical stockpile, including medical kits, and diagnostics sufficient to protect first-responders, their families, immediate victims and vulnerable populations from a chemical or biological event.
GI Bill Tuition Fairness Act of 2013 (H.R. 357): makes a number of changes to existing Veterans Affairs Department (VA) education and benefits programs, including by limiting the tuition and fees that public institutions of higher learning may charge certain non-resident veterans, extending the work-study program, lengthening the duration of vocational rehabilitation and training aid, and expanding the number of homeless veterans eligible to receive job training and placement.
H.R. 3590: sets numerous policies to promote and preserve hunting and shooting on public lands. This includes requiring the Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Forest Service to open public lands under their jurisdiction for recreational hunting, fishing, and shooting; allowing individuals to carry firearms at Army Corps of engineers recreational areas; and limiting the authority of the EPA to regulate bullets, angling lures, and other hunting equipment.
H.R. 3964: modifies the Central Valley Project Improvement Act and repeals the San Joaquin River Settlement in order to facilitate increased water access for agricultural and municipal use in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Valley. It also limits the enforcement or consideration of environmental rules and regulations under the National Environmental Policy Act and the Endangered Species Act.
H.R. 2954: constitutes a collection of provisions dealing with public land access, public land restoration and land conveyances. This includes increasing the term of new grazing permits on federal lands from 10 years to 20 years and allowing expired or transferred permits to remain in effect until new ones are issued; authorizing the sale of dead, damaged or downed timber that resulted from the 2013 Rim Fire in California's Sierra Nevada Mountains; requiring the preparation of a comprehensive budget and management plan for all federal and state efforts to restore the Chesapeake Bay watershed; and preventing the Bureau of Land Management from acquiring additional lands until it publicly identifies existing lands that could be disposed of.