Original Living Wage Act This bill increases the federal minimum wage to the minimum hourly wage sufficient for a person working for 40 hours per week, 52 weeks per year, to earn an annual income 25.5% higher than the federal poverty threshold for a four-person household, with two children under age 18, and living in the 48 contiguous states. (Under current poverty thresholds, the national minimum wage would be set at approximately $15.64 per hour.) The Department of Labor must determine the minimum wage rate by June 1, 2023, and review it every four years. Labor may not adjust the minimum wage to a lower rate.
Ending Common Core and Expanding School Choice Act This bill revises requirements related to federal education funding for disadvantaged children. Specifically, the bill (1) eliminates the standards, assessments, and academic accountability requirements for state and local educational agencies that receive federal funds for the education of disadvantaged children; (2) requires such funds to be allocated based on the number of children residing in each state who are living in poverty; and (3) allows educational agencies to distribute per-pupil amounts from such funds to parents for qualified elementary and secondary education expenses. The bill prohibits federal officers or employees from mandating academic standards, assessments, curricula, or accountability systems.
Permitting for Mining Needs Act of 2023 This bill expedites the review of mining projects on federal lands and limits judicial review of mining projects. For example, the bill expands the federal permitting and review processes under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act for critical minerals. Under the act, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the U.S. Forest Service, to the maximum extent practicable, must complete the federal permitting and review processes related to critical mineral mines on federal lands with maximum efficiency and effectiveness. This bill expands this process to include all minerals as defined by the bill, not only critical minerals. The bill also establishes deadlines for completing the review of mining projects under the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969. In addition, the bill also expands the meaning of covered projects under the Fixing America's Surface Transportation (FAST) Act to include (1) certain mineral production projects, and (2) certain actions taken by the Department of Defense. Such projects qualify for expedited environmental review. It also establishes requirements to expedite the review or authorization of certain mineral projects, such as (1) mineral exploration activities with a surface disturbance of no more than five acres of public lands, (2) ancillary mining activities, and (3) uranium projects. Finally, the bill limits judicial review of a permit, license, or approval issued by a lead agency for a mining project by requiring the filing of claims within a certain time period.
Public Land Renewable Energy Development Act of 2023This bill sets forth provisions regarding development of geothermal, solar, or wind energy on public lands. The Department of the Interior shall establish priority areas on its land for geothermal, solar, and wind energy projects, consistent with the principles of multiple use and the renewable energy permitting goal. Among applications for a given renewable energy source, proposed projects located in priority areas for that renewable energy source shall be given the highest priority for incentivizing deployment, and be offered the opportunity to participate in any regional mitigation plan developed for the relevant priority areas. The bill provides for the disposition of revenues from the development of wind or solar energy. The bill establishes the Renewable Energy Resource Conservation Fund to make funds available to federal, state, and tribal agencies for distribution in regions in which renewable energy projects are located on federal land for (1) restoring and protecting natural water bodies and fish and wildlife habitat and corridors, and (2) preserving and improving recreational access to federal land and water in an affected region.
World Deserves To Know Act This bill requires sanctions on certain members of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and officials of Chinese health agencies. It also addresses related issues. The President must impose visa- and property-blocking sanctions on any foreign person who is a CCP official and who is knowingly responsible for or complicit in (1) the disappearances of whistleblowers and citizen journalists in China relating to COVID-19, or (2) limiting free speech and academic freedom in China relating to COVID-19. The President must also impose such sanctions on specified individuals who have leadership positions in China's Center for Disease Control and Prevention and China's National Health Commission (NHC). The authority to impose such sanctions shall end when the President certifies to Congress that an independent and unimpeded investigation into the potential origin of COVID-19 from the Wuhan Institute of Virology has taken place. The bill also bars federal funds and certain federal student assistance from going to institutions of higher education that enter into a contract with any element or China-based affiliate of the NHC. Federal funding to the National Academy of Sciences may not be used to enter into a contract with any element or China-based affiliate of the NHC. The Government Accountability Office must report to Congress a review of all funds that the National Institutes of Health have made available to the NHC since FY2010. This report must also be publicly available.
No Pro-Abortion Task Force Act This bill prohibits federal funding of the Reproductive Healthcare Access Task Force. The Department of Health and Human Services launched the task force on January 21, 2022, to identify and coordinate departmental activities related to accessing sexual and reproductive health care.
Making and concerning certain supplemental appropriations for fiscal year 2025 and appropriations for fiscal years 2026 and 2027 for various state agencies.
Making and concerning certain supplemental appropriations for fiscal year 2025 and appropriations for fiscal years 2026 and 2027 for various state agencies.
Medicare Dental, Vision, and Hearing Benefit Act of 2023 This bill provides for Medicare coverage of dental, vision, and hearing care. Coverage includes (1) routine dental cleanings and exams, basic and major dental services, emergency dental care, and dentures; (2) routine eye exams, eyeglasses, and contact lenses; and (3) routine hearing exams, hearing aids, and exams for hearing aids. With respect to such care, the bill establishes special payment rules, limitations, and coinsurance requirements.
States' Education Reclamation Act of 2023 This bill abolishes the Department of Education (ED) and repeals any program for which it has administrative responsibility. The Department of the Treasury shall provide grants to states, for FY2023-FY2031, for elementary, secondary, and postsecondary education purposes permitted by state law. The level of funding is set at the amount provided to states for federal elementary and secondary education programs and the amount provided for federal postsecondary education programs, respectively, for FY2023, minus the funding provided for education programs that the bill transfers to other federal agencies. States must contract for an annual audit of their expenditures or transfers of grant funds. Program administrative responsibility and delegation of authority are transferred as follows: ED's job training programs to the Department of Labor, each special education grant program under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), ED's Indian education programs to the Department of the Interior, each Impact Aid program under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to the Department of Defense, the Federal Pell Grant program and each federal student loan program to Treasury, and programs under the jurisdiction of the Institute of Education Sciences or the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program to HHS.