Valerie Foushee

H.R. 10778 creates a new tax credit to encourage hospitals, ambulatory surgical centers, and other healthcare facilities to switch from high-emission anesthetic gases to lower-emission alternatives like isoflurane and sevoflurane. The credit provides a percentage of eligible expenditures based on how much a facility reduces its use of high-emission gases like desflurane and nitrous oxide, with credit rates ranging from 15 to 50 percent depending on emission reduction levels achieved. Healthcare facilities can also claim up to $1,500 per machine for retrofitting equipment to use the lower-emission anesthetic gases. The credit becomes effective for expenses incurred after December 31, 2026, and expires after December 31, 2029, making it a temporary four-year incentive program. The Internal Revenue Service will work with the Department of Health and Human Services and Environmental Protection Agency to develop regulations implementing the credit.

The American Tariff Rebate Act creates a one-time federal tax credit for 2026 designed to provide financial relief to American taxpayers and U.S. territories. Eligible individuals will receive $2,000 per person ($4,000 for joint filers) plus $600 per dependent, with an advance payment distributed electronically by the IRS by December 31, 2026, and the amount offset against 2026 tax liability. The bill allocates $1.479 billion in fiscal year 2026 funding to the IRS and Treasury agencies to administer the program, with money remaining available through 2027-2028. Puerto Rico and other U.S. territories will receive compensation for tax revenue losses from the credit, capped at $500,000 per territory or $10 million for Puerto Rico. To help fund the program, the legislation eliminates $91.55 billion in previously appropriated but unspent immigration enforcement funds, including money designated for border infrastructure and detention capacity.

The SAFE Platforms Act establishes comprehensive anti-fraud requirements for large online platforms—those with at least 100,000 monthly active users or $25 million in annual revenue. Covered platforms must implement "Report Scam" buttons with 30-day response requirements, use privacy-protective default settings that limit stranger access to user information, prevent bad actors from creating multiple accounts to evade enforcement, and verify advertiser identities with special scrutiny for high-risk categories like financial services and cryptocurrency. The bill requires platforms to display advertiser information to users, maintain three-year records of advertiser verification, and track repeat offenders to prevent re-registration under false identities. These measures aim to reduce fraud on major social media and online services while protecting user privacy and preventing coordinated deceptive practices.

This bill directs the Food and Drug Administration to conduct a comprehensive study on reprocessing single-use medical devices, which are medical instruments typically designed for one-time use but that could potentially be safely reused after being cleaned and sterilized. The study must prioritize patient safety and infection prevention while examining FDA approval pathways, the role of third-party reprocessing companies versus hospital in-house reprocessing, operational feasibility, and financial and environmental benefits and costs. The FDA must also consult with hospitals, clinicians, infection prevention organizations, and other relevant federal agencies like the CDC and CMS to gather input for the study. Within one year of the bill's enactment, the Secretary of Health and Human Services must report findings to Congress, including which devices could potentially be reprocessed and recommendations for establishing reprocessing programs. The bill does not specify dedicated funding amounts but requires the FDA to complete and report its findings within a one-year timeline.

The Seizure Safe Schools Act of 2026 requires the Secretary of Education, working with the Secretary of Health and Human Services, to issue guidance within six months on how elementary and secondary schools can create a safe environment for students with epilepsy and other seizure disorders. The guidance will cover how schools can provide appropriate services and accommodations under Section 504 plans or individualized education programs (IEPs) to support students with seizure conditions. The bill affects all public and private elementary and secondary schools across the country, as well as students with seizure disorders and their families. The Secretary of Education may update the guidance as needed in the future to reflect new best practices or information. No specific funding amount is allocated in the bill.

This bill requires the federal Bureau of Prisons to cap commissary prices—goods inmates can purchase—at fair market value, meaning the average retail price charged to the general public in that state. The law affects all federal prison facilities and the inmates who buy supplies through prison commissaries. The Bureau of Prisons must use competitive bidding when contracting for commissary goods, cannot enter into contracts with revenue-sharing arrangements, and must review prices monthly to ensure compliance. The legislation requires annual reports to Congress listing all commissary items and prices at each facility, and mandates that the Comptroller General conduct yearly audits to verify the Bureau is following the pricing requirements. The bill takes effect upon enactment with no specific sunset date or additional funding authorization mentioned.

This resolution expresses congressional support for designating August 1 as "National Woman Astronomers Day" to recognize the achievements of women in astronomy and promote the field's future. The resolution highlights the contributions of fourteen pioneering female astronomers, including Maria Mitchell, the first American woman to discover a comet, and Dr. Andrea Ghez, the only woman to win a Nobel Prize for astronomy research. The bill notes that women currently represent only 30 percent of the astronomical workforce and argues that increasing female participation will help maintain a competitive scientific program while bringing diverse perspectives to problem-solving. This is a symbolic resolution with no direct funding or implementation required, simply urging Americans to observe the designated day with appropriate programs and affirming Congress's commitment to ensuring equal opportunity for women in astronomy.

The Slow Down Act would require states to include programs targeting repeat and severe speeders as part of their highway safety initiatives. Under the bill, individuals with records of repeatedly exceeding speed limits would be required to install and use intelligent speed assistance technology in their vehicles that automatically prevents the vehicle from exceeding the applicable speed limit. The legislation also establishes penalties for drivers who fail to comply with these installation and usage requirements. This bill amends federal highway safety law to give states a new tool for addressing dangerous speeding behavior, with a focus on drivers with established patterns of violating speed limits. The bill does not specify particular funding amounts or implementation timelines in the text provided.

This bill requires the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development to establish a new housing assistance program for graduate and professional students within one year of enactment. The program would provide tenant-based assistance vouchers covering 80 percent of fair market rental costs for eligible graduate students. To qualify, students must be enrolled in a graduate or professional degree program and meet income limits based on their dependency status: dependent students with one parent can earn up to $40,000 annually, those with two parents up to $80,000, and independent students follow similar thresholds. The Secretary is authorized to adjust these income limits to account for cost of living changes over time. The legislation does not specify total funding amounts for the program.

The People-First Chatbot Act requires the Federal Trade Commission to develop detailed regulations within 12 months that govern how chatbot providers disclose their use of artificial intelligence, assess risks to minors, and restrict certain design features for users under 18. The bill creates multiple enforcement pathways, allowing the FTC to pursue violations as unfair or deceptive practices, enabling states to sue on behalf of their residents, and permitting individuals to bring lawsuits for actual damages, statutory damages ranging from $10,000 to $250,000 or more, and attorney's fees. Willful violations can result in treble damages, and users can sue for any injury caused by a chatbot regardless of how carefully the provider operated. The act does not prevent states from enacting their own chatbot regulations, as long as state protections are at least as protective as the federal standards established by this bill.

This bill directs the Government Accountability Office (GAO), the congressional watchdog agency, to study how artificial intelligence has affected American workers. The study must be completed within one year and will examine job losses and job creation resulting from AI technology, as well as how AI is being used to monitor and alter existing jobs, covering the period from November 2022 through the bill's enactment. The GAO will break down its findings by geographic location, industry, occupation, and worker demographics including race and sex to show how AI's workforce impact varies across different groups. The bill also requires the GAO to assess whether the federal government currently collects enough data and uses adequate methods to measure AI's effects on employment. This legislation does not specify direct funding amounts but tasks an existing government agency with producing a comprehensive report to help Congress understand the scope and distribution of AI's workplace impacts.

This bill directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to require public colleges and universities that receive federal grants under the Medical Student Education program to include menopause training in their medical school curricula. The requirement would apply to all public institutions receiving these grants and is intended to ensure that physicians across different medical specialties are better prepared to treat and manage menopause-related health issues in their patients. The bill does not specify new funding amounts or implementation timelines, instead making the menopause training curriculum requirement a condition of existing grant funding. This change would primarily affect medical schools and their students by expanding educational requirements, ultimately benefiting the general public through improved physician knowledge about menopause care.

This bill directs the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to create a publicly accessible online database of research on gun violence in the United States within one year of the law's enactment. The database will compile peer-reviewed studies and government-issued research that meet specific standards for data quality, methodology, and transparency, including disclosure of funding sources and authorship. The database will incorporate existing government health data sources such as mortality statistics, emergency department visits, and youth risk behavior surveys, and must be updated every six months. The bill also clarifies that federal health agencies can use their existing funding to conduct gun violence research. The legislation authorizes $5 million per year from 2026 through 2030 to establish and maintain the database and support related research efforts.

This bill establishes a federal grant program to help state and local governments modernize their technology systems and improve public services. The Commerce Department's Assistant Secretary for Communications and Information would administer the program, distributing $500 million annually from 2027 through 2030 to states based on population and assessed technology modernization needs. States would receive the grants through their technology departments, with at least 70 percent required to flow directly to local governments and political subdivisions for uses such as purchasing new technology, upgrading cybersecurity, hiring IT staff, implementing artificial intelligence systems, and transitioning to post-quantum cryptography. The Assistant Secretary would survey states within one year to assess their technology needs and whether they meet certain requirements including having a Chief Data Officer, implementing data privacy systems, and complying with national cybersecurity standards. The program includes technical assistance to grantees on data security and privacy, requires notification when government AI systems interact with the public, and mandates a congressional briefing four years after enactment on the program's impact and effectiveness.

Protecting Consumers from Deceptive AI ActThis bill requires the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to establish task forces to support the development of technical standards and guidelines for identifying content created using artificial intelligence (AI).Specifically, the task forces must address (1) identifying and labeling audio, visual, or text-based content created or substantially modified using generative AI; and (2) providing content provenance metadata, watermarking, digital fingerprinting, and other relevant technical measures. (Content provenance is information about the origin and history of digital content.)The task forces must consider issuing guidance for online platforms on storing and displaying content provenance data and metadata in a manner that preserves privacy (e.g., by informing users when they are sharing content that contains content provenance data or metadata).To the extent possible, the output of these task forces should inform the development of technical standards by private, consensus organizations.The task forces must report to NIST within a specified period with recommendations related to relevant technical standards and guidance. They must also periodically report to Congress on their activities.

This concurrent resolution directs the President to remove U.S. Armed Forces from hostilities against Iran or any part of its government or military unless a declaration of war or authorization to use military force for such purpose has been enacted.The resolution specifies that it shall not be construed to prevent the United States from defending itself, its Armed Forces, its diplomatic facilities, or allied states from imminent attack.

This bill would put the Optional Practical Training program into federal law for the first time. Currently, the program operates under regulatory authority rather than as a statutory requirement. The legislation allows foreign students on F-1 visas to work in the United States for up to 24 months after completing their studies if the job relates to their field of study. Students who graduate with degrees in science, technology, engineering, or mathematics fields would be eligible for an extended 24-month period, allowing up to 48 months of total practical training. The bill also directs the Department of Homeland Security to classify nursing as a science, technology, engineering, or mathematics field, making nursing graduates eligible for the longer training period. By codifying this program in statute, Congress would lock in these work authorization provisions and make them more difficult to change through administrative action alone.

The RECON Act would allow Social Security claimants to skip the mandatory reconsideration review step and go directly to a hearing if they disagree with an initial benefits decision. Currently, people denied Social Security benefits or Supplemental Security Income must request reconsideration before they can request a hearing before a judge, which adds time and complexity to the appeals process. This bill would make reconsideration optional rather than required for both Social Security retirement and disability claims and for supplemental security income cases. The changes would take effect one year after the bill becomes law and would apply to any initial benefit decisions made after that date. No new funding is specified in the legislation.

# Summary of H.R. 8479: Protecting Consumers from Deceptive AI Act This bill requires the National Institute of Standards and Technology to establish task forces within 90 days to develop technical standards and guidelines for identifying AI-generated audio, video, and text content. These standards should focus on methods like watermarking, digital fingerprinting, and content metadata that can help consumers and platforms detect deepfakes and other artificially created media. The bill mandates that companies offering generative AI applications must embed machine-readable disclosures in AI-created or substantially modified audio and visual content to acknowledge its artificial origin and prevent removal of these disclosures. Social media platforms and other major online services must clearly display this information to users. The Federal Trade Commission will enforce these requirements through regulations to be issued within two years, treating violations as unfair or deceptive practices under existing consumer protection law. Companies can comply through either meeting the direct requirements or following FTC-approved self-regulatory guidelines. The rules apply to platforms generating at least $50 million annually or with 25 million monthly active users. The legislation addresses growing concerns about deepfakes being used in product scams, political misinformation, and national security threats, with the goal of ensuring consumers and voters can distinguish real content from AI-generated material.

H.Res. 1136 is a symbolic resolution supporting Long COVID Awareness Month in March, expressing the House's commitment to raising awareness about the condition and promoting medical research. The resolution acknowledges that long COVID—a serious multi-organ illness that can persist for months or years after initial COVID-19 infection—affects over 400 million people worldwide and disproportionately impacts women, Hispanic/Latine, Black, transgender, and disabled individuals. The bill highlights the substantial economic burden, projecting that long COVID could cost the U.S. economy $3.7 trillion over five years through lost work productivity, reduced quality of life, and increased medical expenses. The resolution calls for increased medical research into long COVID's causes and treatments, noting that no specific treatment currently exists and that repeated COVID infections increase the risk of developing the condition even among vaccinated individuals. Since this is a resolution rather than legislation, it carries no binding requirements or funding allocations—it is primarily a symbolic statement of congressional support for awareness and research efforts.

The HBCU AI Research Leadership Act amends existing federal law to require that at least 10 percent of funding awarded for artificial intelligence research institutes goes to Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). The bill affects HBCUs and their potential partners by guaranteeing them a meaningful share of federal AI research funding that was previously discretionary. This requirement applies to financial assistance distributed through the National Artificial Intelligence Initiative, which the Department of Energy and other agencies administer. The legislation does not specify new funding amounts but rather redirects a minimum portion of existing appropriated funds toward eligible HBCUs, which can apply independently or as part of consortia with other institutions. The bill was introduced in March 2026 and referred to the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology for consideration.

This bill requires the Bureau of Prisons to employ at least one full-time obstetrician-gynecologist at every federal prison facility that houses female inmates. Female prisoners must receive an initial gynecological exam within 14 days of incarceration, and the employed doctors must provide comprehensive services including menstrual health care, contraceptive counseling, cancer screenings, prenatal and postpartum care, and mental health screening for postpartum depression. The bill guarantees prisoners rights such as informed consent for exams, the ability to refuse non-emergency care, communication in their preferred language, and trauma-informed care standards. Any vacant OB-GYN position must be filled within 42 days, and medical specialists cannot be denied based on cost or staffing shortages. Starting one year after passage and annually thereafter, the Bureau of Prisons must report to Congress on which facilities have OB-GYNs, any vacant positions, and detailed statistics on prisoner visits, pregnancies, and pregnancy-related deaths.

The Military Family Diaper Partnership Act directs the Department of Defense to provide $1 million annually from 2027 through 2030 to the National Diaper Bank Network to establish a fund that distributes diapers and diapering supplies to military families in need. The program will benefit military families struggling with the cost of basic childcare supplies, working through local diaper banks already operating near military installations. The legislation requires the National Diaper Bank Network to match the federal funding with equal contributions from private sources and only work with established partner organizations that have been serving areas within 20 miles of military bases for at least five years. The funds can be used both to provide actual diapers and supplies to eligible military families and to cover administrative costs for technical assistance and program evaluation. The National Diaper Bank Network must submit annual reports to the Defense Secretary documenting how the money was spent and the impact of the program.

The Second Chance Mental Health Access Act of 2026 requires state Medicaid programs to cover 12 mental health telehealth visits per calendar year for individuals who were recently incarcerated and are currently under home confinement as part of their judicial sentence. This bill targets formerly incarcerated people during their transition back into the community, recognizing that mental health support is critical during this vulnerable period. The coverage applies to individuals released from public institutions on or after the bill's enactment date, and the visits would be conducted remotely via telehealth technology. The legislation does not specify new federal funding appropriations, instead requiring states to incorporate these telehealth visits as a Medicaid benefit. This represents a modest expansion of mental health coverage aimed at reducing recidivism and supporting reentry for this population.

The Empowering Young Readers Act of 2026 directs the Secretary of Education to establish a pilot grant program that funds nonprofit and nongovernmental organizations to improve children's access to books and promote early literacy. Eligible organizations can use grants of up to $200,000 over two years for activities such as purchasing and distributing books to children, donating books to public libraries, and hosting literacy programs like book fairs and reading events. The bill authorizes $10 million in funding for fiscal years 2026 and 2027, with the Secretary required to establish the program within 180 days of the bill's enactment and to evaluate its effectiveness based on the number of books distributed and changes in child literacy rates. The legislation ensures grants are awarded based on viewpoint-neutral criteria and requires a progress report to Congress within six months after the final grant period ends.