hyperdemocracy/usc-billstatus huggingface dataset:
A bill to authorize the appropriation of $500,000,000 for fiscal year 2014 to provide grants to States for surface transportation projects of national and regional significance.

Bill: 113-s-823
Sponsor: Sen. Whitehouse, Sheldon [D-RI]
Introduced: 2013-04-25 in the Senate
Policy area: Transportation and Public Works
Subjects: Roads and highways
Transportation programs funding

Summary:
action_date: 2013-04-25
text: 
Amends the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU) to authorize appropriations for FY2014 for grants to states for surface transportation projects of national and regional significance.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2013-04-25
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works.
action_date: 2013-04-25
text: Introduced in Senate
Homeless Veterans Prevention Act of 2013

Bill: 113-s-825
Sponsor: Sen. Sanders, Bernard [I-VT]
Introduced: 2013-04-25 in the Senate
Policy area: Armed Forces and National Security
Subjects: Advisory bodies
Congressional oversight
Dental care
Department of Veterans Affairs
Lawyers and legal services
Long-term, rehabilitative, and terminal care
Mental health
Poverty and welfare assistance
Public-private cooperation
Separation, divorce, custody, support
Social work, volunteer service, charitable organizations
State and local government operations
Veterans' education, employment, rehabilitation
Veterans' loans, housing, homeless programs
Veterans' medical care

Summary:
action_date: 2013-04-25
text: 
Homeless Veterans Prevention Act of 2013 - Requires public or private nonprofit entities that receive grants under the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) comprehensive service programs for homeless veterans to agree to meet the physical, privacy, safety, and security needs of such veterans.
 
Increases the per diem payment for transitional housing assistance for homeless veterans who are placed in housing that will become permanent upon the termination of such assistance to a maximum of 150% of the per diem rate authorized for veterans receiving domiciliary care in state homes.
 
Allows services for which a homeless veteran receives a grant under the comprehensive service programs to include furnishing care for a dependent.
 
Directs the Secretary of Veterans Affairs (Secretary) to: (1) assess and measure the capacity of programs for which entities receive grants or per diem payments to assist homeless veterans, and (2) use such information to ensure that such programs effectively serve the needs of such veterans. Repeals a required annual VA report on activities under such programs.
 
Repeals the September 30, 2013, sunset on the authority of the Secretary and the Secretary of Labor to carry out a program of referral and counseling for veterans who are at risk of homelessness and are transitioning from certain institutions, including penal institutions.
 
Authorizes the Secretary to enter into partnerships with public or private entities to provide legal services to homeless veterans and veterans at risk of homelessness.
 
Revises VA authority to provide dental care to veterans receiving certain other assistance through the VA to include those veterans receiving assistance under the United States Housing Act of 1937.
 
Extends permanently the VA comprehensive service programs for homeless veterans. Extends temporarily various VA authorities and programs affecting homeless veterans.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2013-05-09
text: Committee on Veterans' Affairs. Hearings held. Hearings printed: S.Hrg. 113-203.
action_date: 2013-04-25
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs. (text of measure as introduced: CR S3037-3038)
action_date: 2013-04-25
text: Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR S3036)
action_date: 2013-04-25
text: Introduced in Senate
Big Oil Bailout Prevention Trust Fund Act of 2013

Bill: 113-s-827
Sponsor: Sen. Menendez, Robert [D-NJ]
Introduced: 2013-04-25 in the Senate
Policy area: Environmental Protection
Subjects: Accidents
Administrative law and regulatory procedures
Budget process
Government trust funds
Marine and coastal resources, fisheries
Marine pollution
Oil and gas
Pollution liability
State and local finance
Water quality

Summary:
action_date: 2013-04-25
text: 
Big Oil Bailout Prevention Trust Fund Act of 2013 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to eliminate: (1) the $1 billion per incident limitation on expenditures from the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund for cleanup of oil spills, and (2) the limitation on the borrowing authority of such Trust Fund.
 
Amends the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 to direct the President to promulgate regulations to allow advance payments from the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund to states and localities to prepare for and mitigate substantial threats from the discharge of oil.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2013-04-25
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.
action_date: 2013-04-25
text: Introduced in Senate
Big Oil Bailout Prevention Unlimited Liability Act of 2013

Bill: 113-s-828
Sponsor: Sen. Menendez, Robert [D-NJ]
Introduced: 2013-04-25 in the Senate
Policy area: Environmental Protection
Subjects: Accidents
Marine and coastal resources, fisheries
Marine pollution
Oil and gas
Pollution liability
Water quality

Summary:
action_date: 2013-04-25
text: 
Big Oil Bailout Prevention Unlimited Liability Act of 2013 - Amends the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 to make the party responsible for an offshore facility, except a deepwater port, from which oil is discharged into or upon navigable waters or adjoining shorelines liable for all discharge removal costs and damages for each incident (under current law such party is liable for the total of all removal costs plus $75 million).


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2013-04-25
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works.
action_date: 2013-04-25
text: Introduced in Senate
Financial Literacy for Students Act

Bill: 113-s-829
Sponsor: Sen. Hagan, Kay R. [D-NC]
Introduced: 2013-04-25 in the Senate
Policy area: Education
Subjects: Consumer affairs
Economic theory
Education programs funding
Elementary and secondary education
Financial literacy
Teaching, teachers, curricula

Summary:
action_date: 2013-04-25
text: 
Financial Literacy for Students Act - Amends the Elementary and Secondary Education of 1965 (ESEA) to authorize the Secretary of Education to award matching grants to states to: (1) integrate financial literacy education into each of their public elementary and secondary schools that are eligible for school improvement funds under title I of the ESEA, and (2) train their secondary school financial literacy or entrepreneurship teachers to teach financial literacy in core academic subjects.
 
Prohibits states from using over 20% of their grant funds to train those teachers, develop curricula, and evaluate the impact of financial literacy or personal finance education.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2013-04-25
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
action_date: 2013-04-25
text: Introduced in Senate
EPA Fair Play Act

Bill: 113-s-830
Sponsor: Sen. Manchin, Joe, III [D-WV]
Introduced: 2013-04-25 in the Senate
Policy area: Environmental Protection
Subjects: Administrative remedies
Coal
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
Environmental regulatory procedures
Licensing and registrations
Mining
Navigation, waterways, harbors
Solid waste and recycling
Water quality

Summary:
action_date: 2013-04-25
text: 
EPA Fair Play Act - Amends the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (commonly known as the Clean Water Act) to remove the authority of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to prohibit the specification, or restrict the use, of an area as a disposal site for discharges of dredged or fill materials into waters of the United States once the Army Corps of Engineers has issued a permit for the discharge.
 
Makes this Act effective as of October 18, 1972.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2013-04-25
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works.
action_date: 2013-04-25
text: Introduced in Senate
Coal Miner Employment and Domestic Energy Infrastructure Protection Act of 2013

Bill: 113-s-831
Sponsor: Sen. Coats, Daniel [R-IN]
Introduced: 2013-04-25 in the Senate
Policy area: Public Lands and Natural Resources
Subjects: Administrative law and regulatory procedures
Coal
Department of the Interior
Energy revenues and royalties
Energy storage, supplies, demand
Environmental regulatory procedures
Government liability
Land use and conservation
Mining
Property rights
Unemployment

Summary:
action_date: 2013-04-25
text: 
Coal Miner Employment and Domestic Energy Infrastructure Protection Act of 2013 - Prohibits the Secretary of the Interior, before December 31, 2017, from issuing or approving any proposed or final regulation under the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 that would: (1) adversely impact employment in coal mines in the United States; (2) cause a reduction in revenue received by the federal government or any state, tribal, or local government, by reducing through regulation the quantity of coal in the United States that is available for mining; (3) reduce the quantity of coal available for domestic consumption or for export; (4) designate any area as unsuitable for surface coal mining and reclamation operations; (5) expose the United States to liability for taking the value of privately owned coal through regulation; or (6) cause further time delays to permitting or increase costs.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2013-04-25
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.
action_date: 2013-04-25
text: Introduced in Senate
Improving the Lives of Children with Spina Bifida Act of 2013

Bill: 113-s-832
Sponsor: Sen. Donnelly, Joe [D-IN]
Introduced: 2013-04-25 in the Senate
Policy area: Armed Forces and National Security
Subjects: Asia
Birth defects
Child health
Conflicts and wars
Congressional oversight
Health care coverage and access
Hereditary and development disorders
Long-term, rehabilitative, and terminal care
Neurological disorders
Rural conditions and development
South Korea
Veterans' medical care
Vietnam

Summary:
action_date: 2013-04-25
text: 
Improving the Lives of Children with Spina Bifida Act of 2013 - Directs the Secretary of Veterans Affairs (VA) to carry out a three-year pilot program to assess the feasibility and advisability of providing contracted case management services (services) to individuals entitled to VA benefits as children of Vietnam and Korean War veterans born with spina bifida, and children of women Vietnam veterans born with certain birth defects who live in a rural area and have no access to such services through the VA or otherwise. Authorizes the Secretary to extend the program for an additional two years. Allows the services to include the coordination and management of needed health care, monetary, general care, and transportation services. Requires the Secretary to: (1) notify eligible individuals, and (2) contract with an appropriate entity for the provision of such services.
 
Directs the Secretary to carry out an additional pilot program (for the same period and with the same authorized extension) to assess the feasibility and advisability of providing assisted living, group home care or similar services, and transportation to the individuals described above. Requires the Secretary to: (1) notify eligible individuals, and (2) consider entering into an agreement with the appropriate service providers.
 
Requires preliminary and final reports with respect to, and provides funding for, each pilot program.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2013-05-09
text: Committee on Veterans' Affairs. Hearings held. Hearings printed: S.Hrg. 113-203.
action_date: 2013-04-25
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs.
action_date: 2013-04-25
text: Introduced in Senate
Educational Success for Children and Youth Without Homes Act of 2013

Bill: 113-s-833
Sponsor: Sen. Murray, Patty [D-WA]
Introduced: 2013-04-25 in the Senate
Policy area: Education
Subjects: Academic performance and assessments
Child safety and welfare
Department of Education
Disaster relief and insurance
Education of the disadvantaged
Education programs funding
Elementary and secondary education
Executive agency funding and structure
Homelessness and emergency shelter
Preschool education
Right of privacy
Special education
State and local government operations

Summary:
action_date: 2013-04-25
text: 
Educational Success for Children and Youth Without Homes Act of 2013 - Amends the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act's program of grants to states and, through them, subgrants to local educational agencies (LEAs) for the education of homeless youth to: 
 
 
 raise the minimum allotment for each state; 
 
 elaborate on the functions of each state's Office of the Coordinator for Education of Homeless Children and Youths; 
 
 elaborate on required state procedures for resolving disputes regarding the educational placement of homeless youth; 
 
 ensure that homeless youth do not lose credits earned in other schools and are not segregated into separate schools or programs within schools; 
 
 require states, LEAs, and schools to promote success for homeless youth by holding them to the same achievement standards as other students and removing barriers to their full participation in all classes and school activities; 
 
 list student-centered factors to be considered before an LEA places a homeless youth in a school; 
 
 require such schools to immediately enroll homeless youth despite unpaid fees or missed application or enrollment deadlines; 
 
 protect the privacy of information about a homeless youth's living situation; 
 
 require LEAs to coordinate services provided to homeless and disabled youth; 
 
 add to the duties of, and funding available to, LEA liaisons for homeless youth; 
 
 provide for the enrollment of homeless children in early care and education programs; 
 
 require the Secretary of Education to establish or designate a Federal Office of the Coordinator for Education of Homeless Children and Youths; 
 
 authorize the Secretary to award grants or enter into contracts for evaluation, dissemination, and technical assistance activities for educational programs for homeless youth; and
 
 triple authorized FY2014 appropriations from those authorized for FY2009.
 
 
Establishes a separately funded Emergency Disaster Grant program which distributes funds to LEAs directly or through states to increase LEAs' capacity to respond to major disasters that increase their enrollment of homeless youth.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2013-04-25
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
action_date: 2013-04-25
text: Introduced in Senate
Improving Access to Child Care for Homeless Families Act of 2013

Bill: 113-s-834
Sponsor: Sen. Murray, Patty [D-WA]
Introduced: 2013-04-25 in the Senate
Policy area: Social Welfare
Subjects: Child care and development
Child health
Elementary and secondary education
Family services
Government information and archives
Homelessness and emergency shelter
Preschool education
State and local finance
Veterans' education, employment, rehabilitation
Veterans' loans, housing, homeless programs

Summary:
action_date: 2013-04-25
text: 
Improving Access to Child Care for Homeless Families Act of 2013 - Expresses the sense of Congress that: (1) Congress has enacted successful policies to increase homeless children's access to and stability in public elementary and secondary schools and Head Start Programs; (2) in order to increase homeless families' access to and continuity in care, similar policies should be applied to federal child care programs; and (3) such policies will assist homeless parents in maintaining employment and regaining housing, and will provide critical interventions to support that vulnerable population of children. 
 
Amends the Child Care and Development Block Grant Act of 1990 to require the lead agency to coordinate the provision of services under such Act with social services programs that include: (1) Head Start and Early Head Start programs under the Head Start Act; (2) programs and services of partners that serve vulnerable populations; and (3) programs and services of entities receiving grants to provide homeless veterans with housing, employment-related services, or supportive services. 
 
Revises state plan requirements to require consideration of homeless children in the use of funds for child care services and activities.
 
Requires the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to carry out a pilot program of grants to states to identify and implement best practices for increasing access to and continuity of child care for homeless children.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2013-04-25
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
action_date: 2013-04-25
text: Introduced in Senate
American Opportunity Tax Credit Permanence and Consolidation Act of 2013

Bill: 113-s-835
Sponsor: Sen. Schumer, Charles E. [D-NY]
Introduced: 2013-04-25 in the Senate
Policy area: Taxation
Subjects: Higher education
Income tax credits
Income tax exclusion
Student aid and college costs

Summary:
action_date: 2013-04-25
text: 
American Opportunity Tax Credit Permanence and Consolidation Act of 2013 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to replace the Hope Scholarship and Lifetime Learning tax credits with a new American Opportunity Tax Credit that: (1) allows an income tax credit of up to $3,000 of the qualified tuition and related expenses of a student who is carrying at least one half of a normal course load, (2) increases the income threshold for reductions in the credit amount based upon modified adjusted gross income, (3) allows a lifetime dollar limitation on such credit of $15,000 for all taxable years, and (4) makes 40% of the credit refundable. Allows an exclusion from gross income of any amount received as a Federal Pell Grant. 


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2013-04-25
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.
action_date: 2013-04-25
text: Introduced in Senate
Working Families Tax Relief Act of 2013

Bill: 113-s-836
Sponsor: Sen. Brown, Sherrod [D-OH]
Introduced: 2013-04-25 in the Senate
Policy area: Taxation
Subjects: Income tax credits
Inflation and prices
Marriage and family status
Poverty and welfare assistance
Tax treatment of families
Wages and earnings

Summary:
action_date: 2013-04-25
text: 
Working Families Tax Relief Act of 2013 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code, as amended by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, to: (1) make permanent the reduction in the income threshold (from $10,000 to $3,000) for determining the refundable portion of the child tax credit, (2) eliminate the inflation adjustment to such amount, and (3) allow an annual inflation adjustment after 2012 to the $1,000 maximum credit amount and the adjusted gross income threshold amounts used to reduce the allowable amount of such credit.
 
Modifies the earned income tax credit to: (1) make permanent the increase in the rate of such credit for taxpayers with three or more children, (2) increase the credit for taxpayers with no qualifying children, (3) reduce from 25 to 21 the qualifying age for such credit, (4) revise eligibility rules relating to married individuals living apart and qualifying children claimed by another family member, and (5) repeal the denial of such credit for taxpayers with excess investment income.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2013-04-25
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.
action_date: 2013-04-25
text: Introduced in Senate
Beginning Farmer and Rancher Opportunity Act of 2013

Bill: 113-s-837
Sponsor: Sen. Harkin, Tom [D-IA]
Introduced: 2013-04-25 in the Senate
Policy area: Agriculture and Food
Subjects: Agricultural conservation and pollution
Agricultural education
Agricultural insurance
Agricultural marketing and promotion
Agricultural prices, subsidies, credit
Agricultural research
Air quality
Business education
Department of Agriculture
Employment and training programs
Executive agency funding and structure
Farmland
Foreign labor
Government lending and loan guarantees
Minority and disadvantaged businesses
Rural conditions and development
Small business
Soil pollution
Veterans' education, employment, rehabilitation
Veterans' loans, housing, homeless programs
Water quality
Wetlands

Summary:
action_date: 2013-04-25
text: 
Beginning Farmer and Rancher Opportunity Act of 2013 - Amends the Food Security Act of 1985 to extend: (1) the conservation reserve and related programs, and (2) assistance to disadvantaged or beginning farmers or ranchers for access to the environmental quality incentives and the conservation stewardship programs. 
 
Permits conservation reserve contract modification to facilitate transfers from retiring owners to limited resource farmers or ranchers.
 
Amends the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act to: (1) reduce the number of operating years required for a beginning farmer or rancher to qualify for a direct real estate loan; (2) extend conservation loan and loan guarantee authority, and reserve specified amounts for beginning farmers and ranchers; (3) extend the beginning farmer and rancher individual development accounts pilot program; (4) authorize micro loans for beginning farmers or ranchers; and (5) make the direct operating loan set-aside for beginning farmers and ranchers permanent. 
 
Amends the Agricultural Risk Protection Act of 2000 to extend the value-added agricultural product market development grant program.
 
Amends the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 to extend the beginning farmer and rancher development program. Provides assistance for agricultural rehabilitation and vocational training for veterans.
 
Amends the Competitive, Special, and Facilities Research Grant Act to extend the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative. Provides priority assistance for new farming opportunities, including young, beginning, socially disadvantaged, and immigrant issues, as well as farm entry, transition, and transfer issues.
 
Amends the Federal Crop Insurance Act to provide for risk management programs targeted at beginning, socially disadvantaged, transitioning, or legal immigrant farmers and ranchers.
 
Amends the Department of Agriculture Reorganization Act of 1994 to establish in the Department of Agriculture (USDA) the position of Military Veterans Agricultural Liaison.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2013-04-25
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry.
action_date: 2013-04-25
text: Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR S3038-3039)
action_date: 2013-04-25
text: Introduced in Senate
Vested Employee Pension Benefit Protection Act

Bill: 113-s-838
Sponsor: Sen. McCaskill, Claire [D-MO]
Introduced: 2013-04-25 in the Senate
Policy area: Taxation
Subjects: Building construction
Employee benefits and pensions
Income tax deferral

Summary:
action_date: 2013-04-25
text: 
Vested Employee Pension Benefit Protection Act - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow employees in the building and construction industry to make distributions from their tax-exempt employer pension plans at age 55 if they are not separated from service at the time of such distributions and were participants in such plan on or before April 30, 2013.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2013-04-25
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.
action_date: 2013-04-25
text: Introduced in Senate