Diana Harshbarger

The Dietary Supplement Innovation Act clarifies and expands the rules governing when drugs and biological products can be added to foods and dietary supplements. Currently, the law generally prohibits adding FDA-approved drugs to dietary supplements, but this bill creates several exceptions that would allow ingredients to remain in supplements even if they undergo drug development, as long as they were marketed as food or supplements before drug testing began or if clinical trials have been inactive for at least seven years. The bill also establishes new standards for how the FDA must evaluate whether a substance in a supplement is actually a drug, requiring the agency to consider differences in how the substance is used, its dosage, concentration, and safety profile when added to supplements rather than treating it identically to its pharmaceutical form. Additionally, the legislation allows people to immediately challenge FDA warning letters about drug preclusion in court, and it shifts the burden of proof to the federal government to prove a supplement violates the law rather than requiring companies to prove compliance. The bill does not specify any new funding or implementation timelines beyond immediate applicability of its provisions.

This is a commemorative resolution honoring Dolly Parton following her death on August 25, 2026, at age 80. The resolution celebrates her extraordinary contributions to American music, including iconic songs like "Jolene," "Coat of Many Colors," and "9 to 5," as well as her extensive philanthropic work throughout Tennessee and beyond. It recognizes her major charitable initiatives, including Dollywood theme park, the Imagination Library which distributed over 100 million free books to children, healthcare donations to support pediatric research and women's services, and disaster relief efforts after the 2016 Sevier County wildfires and Hurricane Helene in 2024. The resolution expresses the House's condolences to her family and encourages Americans to honor her legacy by continuing her example of service, kindness, and commitment to community. As a commemorative resolution, this legislation carries no budget or programmatic requirements.

This bill requires the Secretary of Commerce to study how foreign adversaries pose security and economic risks to the U.S. automotive industry. The study will examine business relationships between American car manufacturers and foreign adversaries, including ownership stakes, joint ventures, technology sharing agreements, and investments, with particular focus on companies involved in advanced technologies like artificial intelligence, semiconductors, autonomous driving systems, and electric vehicle batteries. The Secretary must assess whether these relationships harm U.S. national security, economic competitiveness, or intellectual property, and determine if state-controlled entities from foreign adversaries are involved in transferring critical technology. The Secretary has two years from the bill's enactment to submit a report to Congress and publish an unclassified version on the Commerce Department website, though confidential business information and trade secrets will be withheld from the public report.

The Freedom to Home Distill Act would allow individuals to produce distilled spirits at home for personal use without paying federal excise taxes or meeting certain federal regulations currently required for commercial distilleries. Households would be limited to producing either 10 proof gallons per year if there is one adult in the home, or 20 proof gallons per year if there are two or more adults, with the requirement that no distilled spirits be sold or transferred for sale. The bill also establishes safety requirements for home stills, limiting their capacity to 50 gallons and requiring them to have pressure release and vacuum relief valves. Home distillers would be exempt from federal registration and notification requirements for distilling equipment. The changes would take effect on January 1, 2027.

The TRUTH in Coverage Act of 2026 would require group and individual health insurance plans to cover medical treatments addressing complications and health effects from certain gender-affirming procedures, including puberty blockers, hormone therapy, and surgeries. Insurance plans would need to provide this "restorative care" coverage regardless of whether they originally covered the initial procedures, and these treatments must follow the same cost-sharing and coverage rules as other medical benefits without additional restrictions. The bill defines covered harms broadly to include reproductive dysfunction, hormonal issues, psychiatric conditions, and other health complications, while carving out exceptions for treating intersex conditions, infections from previous injuries, life-threatening emergencies, and other specified medical situations. The mandate would take effect for health plans beginning on January 1, 2027, and applies to both group coverage and individual insurance sold under federal health insurance laws.

The SECURED Act of 2026 requires short-term rental platforms like Airbnb and VRBO to screen property owners for registered child sex offenders before publishing their listings. If a property owner discloses they are a registered child sex offender, the platform must display a clear warning to prospective guests with a link to public sex offender registries where they can verify the information independently. Property owners who are registered child sex offenders must respond truthfully to these disclosure requests and cannot provide false information. The Federal Trade Commission will enforce the law as an unfair or deceptive practice, and state attorneys general can also bring civil lawsuits on behalf of their residents for violations. The requirements take effect one year after the bill is enacted.

The Nuclear Advisory Committee Reform Act updates how the Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards operates within the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The bill restructures the committee's membership to a maximum of 15 members appointed based on diverse technical expertise, establishes term limits of two four-year terms with exceptions for compelling circumstances, and clarifies the committee's role in reviewing nuclear reactor license applications and providing safety advice to the Commission. The legislation requires that committee members focus their work on novel, safety-significant issues related to reactor design that haven't been previously addressed, and it directs the Commission to maintain efficient coordination between the committee and its staff. The bill applies these changes to committee members appointed after the legislation's enactment and makes related conforming amendments to the Atomic Energy Act of 1954.

This bill authorizes federal funding for nutrition education and chronic disease prevention programs at federally qualified health centers, which are community health centers that serve low-income and underserved populations. The funding comes from existing money under the Affordable Care Act and can be used to support patient nutrition counseling, train health center staff in nutrition science, hire dietitians and community health workers, create culturally appropriate nutrition materials, and measure the effectiveness of these programs. The legislation prioritizes funding for health centers serving communities with high rates of diet-related diseases, food insecurity, and nutrition-related health disparities. The bill requires the federal government to submit annual reports to Congress through fiscal year 2031 detailing how the funds are used and whether they improve patient health outcomes and reduce costs in federal health programs. The new nutrition initiative must supplement rather than replace existing funding sources at these health centers.

Affordable Innovation for the Grid ActThis bill directs the Department of Energy to assess and report on the use of artificial intelligence and high-performance computing technologies to enhance the capacity, reliable operation, and operational efficiency of the bulk-power system.

This bill expands the federal "Right to Try" law to include investigational individualized medical treatments based on a patient's unique genetic profile, in addition to the experimental drugs already covered. The legislation allows patients diagnosed with life-threatening diseases or severely debilitating illnesses who have exhausted approved treatment options to request access to these personalized genetic treatments through eligible health care facilities, provided they receive informed consent from their physician. Manufacturers of these individualized treatments are permitted but not required to provide them to eligible patients. The bill requires physicians certifying patient eligibility to be in good standing with their licensing board and not compensated by the manufacturer, and it mandates that patients receive detailed written consent explaining their condition, approved treatments, the proposed experimental treatment, and potential outcomes. The legislation makes conforming changes to existing federal regulations to integrate individualized medical treatments into the current Right to Try framework without establishing new funding or implementation timelines.

The PBM Act prohibits pharmacy benefit managers and health insurance companies from owning pharmacies at the same time, aiming to eliminate conflicts of interest in the drug pricing system. Companies currently operating in violation of this rule must divest their pharmacy businesses within one year of the law's enactment. The Federal Trade Commission and Department of Justice will enforce compliance, with penalties including monthly escrow of ten percent of profits for companies that miss divestment milestones. The legislation also allows federal agencies, state attorneys general, and individuals to file civil lawsuits against violators, with successful plaintiffs potentially receiving triple damages, attorney fees, and other relief. Congress cited concerns that major health conglomerates own both pharmacy benefit managers that set drug prices and the pharmacies that dispense drugs, giving them incentives to steer business to their own pharmacies while steering patients away from independent competitors, contributing to thousands of pharmacy closures since 2019.

H.R. 8573, the STOP Act, prohibits gender transition procedures on minors when interstate or foreign commerce is involved, including procedures such as puberty blockers, hormone therapy, and related surgeries, with limited exceptions for treating disorders of sex development and medical emergencies. The bill creates federal penalties of at least $100,000 per violation and allows minors or their parents to sue for damages including medical reversal costs, emotional distress, and punitive damages, with lawsuits permitted up to 25 years after a minor turns 18. Additionally, the legislation establishes a compensation fund financed by collected penalties and creates a federal grant program to fund nonprofit organizations offering counseling, medical referrals, and mental health services to individuals seeking to reverse gender transition procedures. Grantee organizations cannot receive funding if they perform, refer for, or support gender transition procedures or abortions, and grant funds are strictly prohibited from being used for these purposes.

H.R. 7902 would remove federal FDA approval for mifepristone (RU-486, marketed as Mifeprex) when it is used for terminating an intrauterine pregnancy, and it would treat continued interstate distribution as a federal violation after a 14-day delay from enactment. The bill also would require that mifepristone be treated as “misbranded” if its labeling allows for use for intrauterine pregnancy termination or use in combination with another drug for that purpose. In addition, it would create a new federal civil “tort” pathway for people harmed by the drug, allowing lawsuits against manufacturers that make mifepristone for this use, covering both physical injury and certain mental health harms, with potential compensatory and punitive damages plus attorney’s fees. This new lawsuit right would take effect 90 days after enactment, and it would not block or replace other state-law remedies. The bill includes no specific funding amounts, but it establishes the liability framework and timing for when the changes take effect.

Immediate Access for the Terminally Ill ActThis bill permits Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) beneficiaries with specified terminal illnesses to elect expedited payment of benefits in exchange for a reduction in the amount of their monthly benefit. Specifically, the bill requires the Social Security Administration (SSA) to establish a list of medical conditions that qualify an individual for expedited payment. These conditions must have no known cure, must involve a life expectancy of five years or less, and must be present on the most recent Compassionate Allowances list (a list of medical conditions that, by definition, meet the standards for SSDI benefits). The bill directs SSA to update the list every five years. Congress must approve each medical condition added to the list. Under the bill, individuals diagnosed with a specified terminal condition may elect to receive SSDI benefits beginning the month after the onset of disability. Under current law, individuals generally must wait five months after the onset of disability to begin receiving SSDI benefits. Individuals who opt to receive expedited payment must accept a 7% reduction in monthly benefits. Separately, the bill prohibits individuals receiving unemployment benefits from simultaneously receiving SSDI benefits. The bill also permits SSA to collect less than 100% of an overpaid Social Security beneficiary’s monthly benefit, so long as the collection amount is not less than 10% of their monthly benefit.

The DRIVER Act requires car manufacturers to give vehicle owners free, real-time access to data collected by their vehicles—including location information, biometric data, and driving behavior—without restrictions on how owners use it or share it with third parties. Owners would access this data through their vehicle's standard diagnostic ports or wireless connections, and manufacturers cannot charge fees or require special devices to unlock the data. The bill also prevents manufacturers and fleet owners from selling vehicle data without giving owners a clear opportunity to opt out, and completely prohibits the sale of vehicle data to five foreign nations (North Korea, China, Russia, Iran, and Venezuela) for national security reasons. The Federal Trade Commission would enforce these rules as violations of unfair and deceptive trade practices, and the legislation would preempt any state laws that conflict with its requirements. No specific funding or implementation timeline is included in the bill.

The ADAS Functionality and Integrity Act requires the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to create federal guidelines ensuring that advanced driver assistance systems in cars continue working properly after modifications like changing tire size, ride height, or suspension. The bill affects car manufacturers, repair shops, aftermarket businesses, and vehicle owners, particularly those who customize their vehicles. NHTSA has 24 months to develop these guidelines based on empirical testing data, and manufacturers must provide tolerance information to owners and regulators within 30 days of releasing new vehicles. Before developing the full guidelines, NHTSA must complete a feasibility study within 12 months to assess costs and safety needs. Manufacturers that fail to meet the guidelines face civil penalties under existing federal motor vehicle law. The requirements apply to cars from the 2028 model year onward.

The Delivering Support for Hospitals in Tennessee Act would restore and permanently guarantee federal funding to Tennessee hospitals through the Medicaid "disproportionate share hospital" (DSH) program, which helps reimburse hospitals that serve large numbers of low-income and uninsured patients. Starting in fiscal year 2026, Tennessee would receive a DSH allotment equal to what it received in 2015, with annual increases tied to inflation, and would thereafter be treated as a "low DSH state" under Medicaid rules to ensure continued annual funding adjustments. The bill essentially reverses a previous reduction in Tennessee's hospital funding and locks in permanent support going forward. The legislation was introduced by a bipartisan group of Tennessee House members and referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce. While no specific dollar amount is cited in the bill text, the funding would come from existing Medicaid appropriations and would benefit hospitals throughout Tennessee that serve vulnerable patient populations.

This resolution supports the designation of National Rural Health Day.

The Radiology Outpatient Ordering Transmission Act (ROOT Act) modifies how Medicare tracks doctors' use of imaging services like CT scans and X-rays. Beginning January 1, 2026, the bill requires clinical decision support tools to report data to Medicare about which doctors ordered imaging services and whether they followed appropriate use guidelines before ordering. The bill affects doctors who order imaging services and the companies that provide decision support tools, while also creating new exemptions for small practices, rural areas, and preventive screening services like mammograms and lung cancer screenings. The Secretary of Health and Human Services must identify doctors with low compliance rates annually and report to Congress by January 1, 2031, on whether additional measures like prior authorization or payment adjustments are needed to improve compliance. No new funding is allocated in the bill; rather, it establishes new reporting and data collection requirements to help Medicare better understand and potentially improve appropriate use of imaging services.

Drug Shortage Compounding Patient Access Act of 2025This bill relaxes certain requirements for the compounding of drugs facing shortages.Currently, subject to certain requirements, compounded drugs (i.e., drugs altered to meet patient needs) do not require Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval. There are two general categories of compounding: (1) pharmacy compounding, wherein a licensed pharmacist or physician not registered with the FDA compounds in limited quantities for identified patients; and (2) bulk compounding, wherein an FDA-registered outsourcing facility compounds in bulk for use in medical facilities.The bill permits pharmacy compounding in limited quantities for an urgent medical need not involving a specific patient if, among other requirements, the drug appeared on the FDA’s drug shortage list within a specified period. The bill also formally waives limits on pharmacy compounding of drugs that are essentially copies of commercially available drugs if the drug appeared on the shortage list within a specified period.Separately, the bill extends the period during which an outsourcing facility may compound a drug that appeared on the shortage list to 180 days after the drug’s removal from the list.The bill also requires the FDA to publish annual updates on its evaluation of substances for inclusion on the list of bulk drug substances (i.e., active pharmaceutical ingredients) that may be used in bulk compounding of drugs not on the shortage list.Finally, manufacturers of certain drugs, including life-supporting and life-sustaining drugs, must report to the FDA certain surges in demand for such drugs.

The 5G UPGRADE Act streamlines the process for wireless companies to upgrade existing cell towers and antennas by establishing strict timelines for state and local government approval. Under the bill, if a state or local government does not approve or deny an upgrade request within 60 days, the request is automatically approved—though this timeline can be extended if the government requests missing information within 30 days, with specific procedures for follow-up requests. The legislation prevents governments from requiring excessive documentation, banning pre-application meetings and limiting required information to what is publicly posted and directly relevant to determining eligibility. Wireless companies can sue in federal court on an expedited basis if governments violate these rules, and the Federal Communications Commission has 180 days to issue implementing regulations after the bill becomes law. The bill aims to accelerate 5G deployment across the country by removing local regulatory delays while maintaining government oversight through a structured review process.

The Prescription Information Modernization Act of 2025 would allow pharmaceutical manufacturers to deliver FDA-approved prescribing information to doctors and pharmacists primarily through digital means rather than requiring paper copies. The law would apply to most prescription drugs and biological products, but manufacturers must give healthcare professionals the option to continue receiving paper copies or request them at any time at no extra cost. The Health and Human Services Department has one year from enactment to issue final regulations implementing the change and providing instructions on how providers can obtain paper versions, with the new rules designed to minimize economic burdens on prescribers and pharmacies. The digital-first approach would take effect two years after the law passes or when the implementing regulations are finalized, whichever comes first. Additionally, the FDA must hold a public workshop within two years to gather feedback from stakeholders on optimizing the format and accessibility of prescribing information going forward.

Reproductive Empowerment and Support Through Optimal Restoration Act or the RESTORE ACTThis bill explicitly prohibits penalizing health care providers for declining to participate in assisted reproductive technology (e.g., in vitro fertilization). It also modifies services and training relating to reproductive health, especially to support an approach the bill refers to as restorative reproductive medicine. The bill describes restorative reproductive medicine as using methods such as monitoring reproductive health and addressing health conditions that may cause infertility (e.g., endometriosis) to restore reproductive function without using methods such as assisted reproductive technology.The bill prohibits the federal government and entities receiving federal funding from penalizing health care providers that decline to (1) participate in assisted reproductive technology, or (2) facilitate such activities due to religious beliefs or moral convictions.The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) must update the medical codes for classifying infertility treatments to reflect the latest practices for restorative reproductive medicine. Also, HHS must expand the Teen Pregnancy Prevention program to include grants to entities focusing on restorative reproductive medicine. HHS must also deem entities providing or teaching restorative reproductive medicine eligible for certain family planning grants, when otherwise eligible.Additionally, HHS mustissue reports every three years on the standards of care for diagnosing infertility and reproductive health conditions,require the Reproductive Health National Training Center to provide training on restorative reproductive medicine,develop education within HHS programs on treating male infertility, andexpand research on restorative reproductive medicine and reproductive health conditions.

The Pregnancy.Gov Act requires the Department of Health and Human Services to create a public website within one year that serves as a clearinghouse of resources for pregnant women, new mothers, and women parenting young children. The website will allow users to search for services in their ZIP code area by distance (within 1, 5, 10, 50, or 100 miles) and will include categories such as financial assistance, health services, material support, mental health resources, and information about abortion alternatives and risks. States can apply for federal grants (up to $50 million total from 2026-2030) to help identify and aggregate local resources, but the law explicitly excludes from the website any organization that performs, refers for, or supports abortion services. The bill also requires the Secretary to report to Congress within six months on the website's traffic, user feedback, gaps in available resources, and certification that no prohibited entities are listed.

Universal Savings Account Act of 2025This bill establishes Universal Savings Accounts, which are tax-advantaged savings accounts that allow contributions up to a certain amount, exempt earnings and distributions from federal income taxes, and allow distributions to be used for any purpose. (Conditions and exceptions apply.)Specifically, the bill allows cash contributions to a Universal Savings Account of up to $10,000 in 2025 (maximum base contribution), excluding qualified amounts rolled over from another tax-advantaged account (e.g., individual retirement account). The maximum base contribution amount is increased by $500 each year beginning in 2026 and adjusted annually for inflation, up to a total maximum contribution of $25,000 (also adjusted annually for inflation beginning in 2026).Under the bill, earnings and distributions from a Universal Savings Account are excluded from gross income for federal tax purposes and, thus, are not subject to federal income taxes (similar to the federal tax treatment of distributions from a Roth individual retirement account). (Some exceptions apply.)Further, distributions from such accounts are not restricted and may be used for any purpose (unlike other types of tax-advantaged accounts currently available).The bill also imposes a federal excise tax on contributions to a Universal Savings Account in excess of the applicable contribution limit,a federal excise tax on certain transactions involving a Universal Savings Account and disqualified persons,certain reporting requirements on Universal Savings Account trustees, anda federal excise tax for failing to meet such reporting requirements.