Rep. David Rouzer

Maddy summaryHR 976, the TCJA Permanency Act, makes permanent many tax provisions from the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) that were scheduled to expire after 2025. The bill affects individual taxpayers by keeping lower tax rates, higher standard deductions, increased child tax credits, and other key changes permanently. Key provisions include permanent modifications to income tax brackets, repeal of personal exemptions, limits on state and local tax deductions, and increased estate and gift tax exemptions. These changes would prevent the tax code from reverting to pre-TCJA rates and rules for millions of taxpayers.

Maddy summaryThe Saracini Enhanced Aviation Safety Act of 2023 requires the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to mandate secondary cockpit barriers on all commercial passenger aircraft operating under standard airline regulations. Specifically, it directs the FAA to issue an order requiring installation of these barriers within 18 months of the law's enactment. This applies to most major airlines operating scheduled passenger flights in the U.S. The key provision is the new safety requirement for barriers to prevent unauthorized cockpit access during flights. The law directly affects commercial airlines and their aircraft, focusing on a concrete operational safety change without specifying cost or implementation details.

Maddy summaryHR 621, the PART Act, requires catalytic converters on vehicles to be stamped with a visible vehicle identification number (VIN) using special high-visibility paint to deter theft. It creates a federal grant program to help auto dealers, repair shops, and law enforcement implement this stamping at no cost to vehicle owners. The bill also mandates that sellers of catalytic converters retain buyer identification and vehicle details for two years, and adds new federal criminal penalties for stealing or trafficking in catalytic converters.

Maddy summaryHR 936, the Tanning Tax Repeal Act of 2023, repeals a 10% federal excise tax on indoor tanning services that was originally enacted under the Affordable Care Act. This bill directly affects tanning salons and businesses providing indoor tanning services by eliminating their obligation to pay this tax on customer services. The repeal applies to services performed after the bill's enactment date, removing the tax provision from the Internal Revenue Code. The bill does not create new requirements or alter other tax policies, solely removing this specific tax.

Make Russia Pay Act This bill requires the Department of the Treasury to liquidate all Russian assets seized by the United States and deposit the resulting funds into a Ukrainian Humanitarian Aid Fund established by the bill. Treasury may use the funds to provide assistance to Ukraine, including by providing funding to Ukraine's government for humanitarian and security assistance.

Felony Murder for Deadly Fentanyl Distribution Act of 2023 This bill makes the distribution of fentanyl resulting in death a first degree murder. An individual who is guilty of first degree murder by distributing fentanyl is subject to death or life in prison.

Maddy summaryHJRES 31 is a procedural resolution seeking congressional disapproval of a specific rule issued by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) concerning reproductive health services. It targets the VA's September 2022 rule (published in the Federal Register as 87 Fed. Reg. 55287), which established policies for reproductive health care access for veterans. If passed, this resolution would nullify the VA rule, preventing it from taking effect under the Congressional Review Act (Chapter 8 of Title 5, U.S. Code). The bill directly affects the VA’s ability to implement its reproductive health services policy for veterans.

This resolution condemns Iranian state-sponsored terrorist attacks against U.S. citizens and officials and Iranian dissidents. The resolution also expresses support for the people of Iran who are legitimately defending their rights for freedom against repression and condemns the killing of Iranian protesters by the Iranian regime.

Maddy summaryHCONRES 13 is a concurrent resolution expressing Congress's support for maintaining the current policy that prohibits imposing new fees on local radio stations for playing music. It states that Congress should not impose any performance fee, tax, royalty, or charge on local radio stations for broadcasting sound recordings over the air, or on businesses like bars and restaurants that play music publicly. The resolution argues that such fees would harm local radio stations - critical sources for emergency information and community programming - and jeopardize the economic model that has supported both radio and the music industry for decades. This resolution does not create new law but formally opposes potential legislative changes to the existing fee structure.

Freight Rail Assistance and Investment to Launch Coronavirus-Era Activity and Recovery Act of 2023 or the Freight RAILCAR Act of 2023 This bill provides a new tax credit through 2025 for 10% of freight railcar fleet modernization expenses (i.e., railcar replacement and modernization expenses for meeting fuel efficiency and performance standards). The bill provides that no more than 2,000 freight railcars per taxpayer may be taken into account for purposes of determining the credit in a taxable year. The Department of the Treasury must report to Congress on the credit to provide information on the number of times the credit was claimed and the number of railcars scrapped or built as a result of the credit.