Us Congress 2023-2024 Regular Session

Us Congress House Bill HB271 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1	I
2	2	118THCONGRESS
3	3	1
4	4	STSESSION H. R. 271
5	5	To provide for greater accountability with respect to Federal activities and
6	6	expenditures relating to COVID–19, and for other purposes.
7	7	IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
8	8	JANUARY11, 2023
9	9	Mr. E
10	10	STESintroduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee
11	11	on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committees on Edu-
12	12	cation and the Workforce, the Judiciary, Armed Services, and Oversight
13	13	and Accountability, for a period to be subsequently determined by the
14	14	Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within
15	15	the jurisdiction of the committee concerned
16	16	A BILL
17	17	To provide for greater accountability with respect to Federal
18	18	activities and expenditures relating to COVID–19, and
19	19	for other purposes.
20	20	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
21	21	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
22	22	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
23	23	This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Restoring Normalcy 4
24	24	in America Act’’. 5
25	25	SEC. 2. HHS COVID–19 STUDY. 6
26	26	(a) I
27	27	NGENERAL.—The Secretary of Health and 7
28	28	Human Services shall conduct a study on— 8
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31	31	•HR 271 IH
32	32	(1) the effectiveness of vaccines licensed under 1
33	33	section 351 of the Public Health Service Act (42 2
34	34	U.S.C. 262) or authorized for emergency use under 3
35	35	section 564 of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cos-4
36	36	metic Act (21 U.S.C. 360bbb–3) in providing immu-5
37	37	nization against COVID–19 (including any addi-6
38	38	tional doses of such a vaccine to be administered 7
39	39	after the primary series of doses); 8
40	40	(2) the effectiveness of treatments approved 9
41	41	under section 505 of the Federal Food, Drug, and 10
42	42	Cosmetic Act (21 U.S.C. 355), licensed under sec-11
43	43	tion 351 of the Public Health Service Act (42 12
44	44	U.S.C. 262), or authorized for emergency use under 13
45	45	section 564 of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cos-14
46	46	metic Act (21 U.S.C. 360bbb–3) to treat COVID– 15
47	47	19; 16
48	48	(3) the rate of transmission of SARS–CoV–2 17
49	49	throughout the United States, beginning on the first 18
50	50	day of the emergency period (as defined in section 19
51	51	1135(g)(1)(B) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 20
52	52	1320b–5(g)(1)(B))); 21
53	53	(4) the level of preparedness of the United 22
54	54	States for future pandemics; and 23
55	55	(5) the cause and origins of the COVID–19 24
56	56	pandemic. 25
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60	60	(b) REPORT.—Not later than one year after the date 1
61	61	of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall submit 2
62	62	to the Congress a report on the findings of the study con-3
63	63	ducted under subsection (a). 4
64	64	(c) F
65	65	UNDING.—Of the amounts made available to the 5
66	66	Secretary of Health and Human Services in appropria-6
67	67	tions Acts that remain unobligated as of the date of the 7
68	68	enactment of this Act, the Secretary may use not more 8
69	69	than 3 percent of such funds to carry out this section. 9
70	70	SEC. 3. TERMINATION OF EMERGENCY USE AUTHORITY 10
71	71	FOR COVID–19 PREVENTION AND TREAT-11
72	72	MENT. 12
73	73	Effective on the date of the enactment of this Act, 13
74	74	the Secretary of Health and Human Services, acting 14
75	75	through the Commissioner of Food and Drugs, may not 15
76	76	authorize under section 564 of the Federal Food, Drug, 16
77	77	and Cosmetic Act (21 U.S.C. 360bbb–3) for emergency 17
78	78	use any drug, biological product, or device for use in the 18
79	79	prevention or treatment of COVID–19. 19
80	80	SEC. 4. COVID–19 FUNDING AUDIT. 20
81	81	(a) I
82	82	NGENERAL.—The Comptroller General of the 21
83	83	United States shall conduct an audit of all Federal fund-22
84	84	ing made available to the Secretary of Health and Human 23
85	85	Services, the Commissioner of Food and Drugs, and the 24
86	86	Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Preven-25
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89	89	•HR 271 IH
90	90	tion for programs and activities relating to COVID–19. 1
91	91	Such audit shall include— 2
92	92	(1) an accounting of the amount of such funds 3
93	93	that have been obligated or expended, disaggregated 4
94	94	by agency and activity; and 5
95	95	(2) an accounting of any such funds that re-6
96	96	main unobligated and available for rescission. 7
97	97	(b) R
98	98	EPORT.—Not later than one year after the date 8
99	99	of the enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General of 9
100	100	the United States shall submit to the Congress a report 10
101	101	on the findings of the audit conducted under subsection 11
102	102	(a). 12
103	103	SEC. 5. UNLAWFUL EMPLOYMENT PRACTICE UNDER TITLE 13
104	104	VII OF THE CIVIL RIGHTS ACT OF 1964 FOR 14
105	105	FAILURE TO OFFER RE-EMPLOYMENT TO EM-15
106	106	PLOYEES DISCHARGED FOR FAILURE TO RE-16
107	107	CEIVE A VACCINATION AGAINST COVID–19. 17
108	108	For purposes of section 703(a) of title VII of the Civil 18
109	109	Rights Act of 1964 (42 U.S.C. 2003–2(a)), it shall be an 19
110	110	unlawful employment practice for an employer to fail to 20
111	111	give on request full consideration for, and to offer a posi-21
112	112	tion at the pay and level equal to the applicable pre-dis-22
113	113	charge pay and level, of employment to an individual pre-23
114	114	viously discharged from employment by such employer 24
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117	117	•HR 271 IH
118	118	based on such individual’s failure to receive a vaccination 1
119	119	against COVID–19. 2
120	120	SEC. 6. COVID–19 VACCINATION STATUS AND PLACES OF 3
121	121	PUBLIC ACCOMMODATION. 4
122	122	Title II of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (42 U.S.C. 5
123	123	2000a et seq.) is amended as follows: 6
124	124	(1) In section 201, by inserting after ‘‘on the 7
125	125	ground of race, color, religion,’’ the following: ‘‘fail-8
126	126	ure to receive a vaccination against COVID–19,’’. 9
127	127	(2) In section 202, by inserting after ‘‘on the 10
128	128	ground of race, color, religion,’’ the following: ‘‘fail-11
129	129	ure to receive a vaccination against COVID–19,’’. 12
130	130	SEC. 7. COVID–19 VACCINATION STATUS AND FEDERALLY 13
131	131	ASSISTED PROGRAMS. 14
132	132	Section 601 of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (42 15
133	133	U.S.C. 2000d) is amended by inserting ‘‘failure to receive 16
134	134	a vaccination against COVID–19,’’ before ‘‘race, color,’’. 17
135	135	SEC. 8. COVID–19 VACCINATION STATUS AND EMPLOY-18
136	136	MENT. 19
137	137	(a) R
138	138	EINSTATEMENT OF MEMBERS OF THE ARMED 20
139	139	F
140	140	ORCESINVOLUNTARILYSEPARATED FORREFUSINGTO 21
141	141	R
142	142	ECEIVE AVACCINATIONAGAINSTCOVID–19.— 22
143	143	(1) R
144	144	EINSTATEMENT.—At the request of a cov-23
145	145	ered individual, the Secretary concerned shall— 24
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148	148	•HR 271 IH
149	149	(A) reinstate the covered individual as a 1
150	150	member of the Armed Force concerned, in the 2
151	151	same rank and grade the covered individual 3
152	152	held at the time of separation from the Armed 4
153	153	Force concerned; and 5
154	154	(B) expunge from the military service 6
155	155	record of the covered individual any reference to 7
156	156	adverse action against the covered individual 8
157	157	solely on the basis of the refusal of the covered 9
158	158	individual to receive a vaccination against 10
159	159	COVID–19. 11
160	160	(2) D
161	161	EFINITIONS.—In this section: 12
162	162	(A) The term ‘‘adverse action’’ includes in-13
163	163	voluntary separation, demotion, and discipline. 14
164	164	(B) The term ‘‘covered individual’’ means 15
165	165	an individual who was involuntarily separated 16
166	166	from an Armed Force solely on the basis of the 17
167	167	refusal of such individual to receive a vaccina-18
168	168	tion against COVID–19. 19
169	169	(C) The term ‘‘Secretary concerned’’ has 20
170	170	the meaning given such term in section 101 of 21
171	171	title 10, United States Code. 22
172	172	(b) R
173	173	EINSTATEMENT OF FEDERALEMPLOYEESIN-23
174	174	VOLUNTARILYSEPARATED FOR REFUSINGTORECEIVE 24
175	175	COVID–19 V
176	176	ACCINE.— 25
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180	180	(1) IN GENERAL.—Any individual removed from 1
181	181	the civil service (as that term is defined in section 2
182	182	2101 of title 5, United States Code) solely on the 3
183	183	basis of the refusal of the individual to receive a vac-4
184	184	cination against COVID–19 may, at the discretion 5
185	185	of the individual, be reinstated to a civil service posi-6
186	186	tion at the same grade or level, and same rate of 7
187	187	pay, as the position from which the individual was 8
188	188	so removed. 9
189	189	(2) O
190	190	THER MATTERS.—Any notation of an ad-10
191	191	verse action with respect to such removal in the per-11
192	192	sonnel record file of such an individual shall be re-12
193	193	moved. 13
194	194	(c) U
195	195	NLAWFULEMPLOYMENT PRACTICEUNDER 14
196	196	T
197	197	ITLEVII OF THECIVILRIGHTSACT OF1964 FORFAIL-15
198	198	URETORECEIVE AVACCINATIONAGAINSTCOVID–19.— 16
199	199	For purposes of section 703 of title VII of the Civil Rights 17
200	200	Act of 1964 (42 U.S.C. 2003–2), it shall be an unlawful 18
201	201	employment practice for an employer— 19
202	202	(1) to fail or refuse to hire or to discharge any 20
203	203	individual, or otherwise to discriminate against any 21
204	204	individual with respect to his compensation, terms, 22
205	205	conditions, or privileges of employment, based on 23
206	206	such individual’s failure to receive a vaccination 24
207	207	against COVID–19; or 25
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211	211	(2) to limit, segregate, or classify his employees 1
212	212	or applicants for employment in any way which 2
213	213	would deprive or tend to deprive any individual of 3
214	214	employment opportunities or otherwise adversely af-4
215	215	fect his status as an employee, based on such indi-5
216	216	vidual’s failure to receive a vaccination against 6
217	217	COVID–19. 7
218	218	Æ
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