August Pfluger

Trade Transparency Unit Strategy Act

This bill requires a strategy and report related to the expansion of trade transparency units. Trade transparency units examine trade anomalies and financial irregularities associated with trade-based money laundering, customs fraud, contraband smuggling, and tax evasion.

Specifically, the Department of Homeland Security must coordinate with the Departments of State, Commerce, and the Treasury to submit a strategy to Congress. This strategy must (1) expand information sharing between U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Homeland Security Investigations of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, appropriate elements of the Department of Commerce, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network of the Department of the Treasury, and appropriate counterparts of foreign customs agencies through trade transparency units; and (2) improve intra-agency, interagency, and other multilateral information sharing with respect to these units.

The Government Accountability Office must submit a report to Congress that includes an assessment of the strategy.

Conflict-free Leaving Employment and Activity Restrictions Path Act or the CLEAR Path Act

This bill bans former presidential appointees in the executive branch from knowingly representing, aiding, or advising a foreign country of concern (e.g., China, Iran, North Korea, or Russia) with the intent to influence a decision of U.S. government officials.

Under the bill, the ban applies to former presidential appointees who served (1) as head or deputy head of an executive branch department or agency, or (2) in any other Senate-confirmed position in an executive branch department or agency.

The ban applies to those who are appointed to their positions on or after the date of this bill's enactment. The ban expires five years after the date of this bill's enactment.

The bill also establishes a process that authorizes the Department of State to propose and Congress to enact changes to the list of foreign countries of concern.

Licensing Aerospace Units to New Commercial Heights Act or the LAUNCH Act

This bill makes changes to, and requires certain evaluations of, regulatory processes for licensing commercial space launch and reentry activities and private remote sensing systems.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Office of Commercial Space Transportation regulates the launch and reentry of commercial spacecraft. In 2020, the FAA consolidated launch and reentry licensing requirements for all types of space vehicles into a single set of regulations, known as Part 450.

The bill requires the FAA to evaluate and report on the implementation of Part 450 and its impacts on the commercial spaceflight industry, including whether the rule has resulted in uncertainty or operational delays. The FAA must also continue an aerospace rulemaking committee comprised of launch and reentry service providers.

Further, the FAA must develop a digital system to accept commercial space launch and reentry applications and provide status information and notifications to applicants.

The bill elevates the Office of Commercial Space Transportation to a modal administration reporting directly to the Department of Transportation (DOT). The administration must exercise all of DOT’s authorities related to commercial space launch and reentry.

Finally, the bill revises the licensing process for private remote sensing systems and requires the Government Accountability Office to report on the Department of Commerce’s regulation of the private remote sensing industry. (Remote sensing generally refers to the collection of data by instruments in Earth’s orbit, such as satellites, that can be processed into imagery of Earth’s surface.)

This bill designates the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 4551 East 52nd Street in Odessa, Texas, as the "Mary Granados Memorial Post Office Building".