Rep. A. Drew Ferguson IV

Maddy summaryThis bill designates the U.S. Postal Service facility at 119 Main Street in Plains, Georgia, as the "Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter Post Office." It requires all federal references in laws, documents, or records to use this new name instead of the previous designation. The bill directly affects the postal facility and federal administrative records, but does not alter postal services, funding, or operations. This is a ceremonial naming resolution honoring former President Jimmy Carter and his wife, Rosalynn Carter.

Maddy summaryThis bill designates the U.S. Postal Service facility at 151 Highway 74 South in Peachtree City, Georgia, as the "SFC Shawn McCloskey Post Office." It requires all federal references to this location - including in laws, maps, regulations, and official documents - to be updated to the new name. This is a ceremonial naming resolution with no impact on postal services, operations, or funding.

Maddy summaryThis bill names the U.S. Postal Service facility at 15 South Valdosta Road in Lakeland, Georgia, as the "Nell Patten Roquemore Post Office." It updates all official U.S. government references - such as maps, documents, and records - to use this new name for the location. The bill does not create new policies or affect services; it only changes the facility's official designation. The name honors Nell Patten Roquemore, though the bill itself does not detail her contributions.

Maddy summaryThis bill modifies how private colleges calculate a tax on investment income by excluding certain students from the tax threshold calculation. Specifically, it prevents colleges from counting students who don't meet eligibility requirements under the Higher Education Act (20 U.S.C. 1091(a)(5)) when determining if they owe the tax. Private colleges subject to this tax must also report both the pre-exclusion and post-exclusion student counts on their tax returns. The changes apply to tax years beginning after December 31, 2024.

Maddy summaryThis bill creates a 4-year transitional coverage period for Medicare to automatically cover "breakthrough medical devices" - new FDA-prioritized devices approved after March 2021 - as "reasonable and necessary" for treatment. During this period, these devices qualify for additional payments under Medicare's hospital and outpatient payment systems without requiring separate approval. After the 4-year period, Medicare must develop regular coverage based on additional data, with automatic coverage for all approved uses if no action is taken within two years. The bill requires Medicare to assign unique codes for these devices within three months of FDA approval and to update payment systems regularly. It also includes special provisions for "specified breakthrough devices" that lack existing Medicare benefit categories, requiring reports on their impact and cost to Congress.

Maddy summaryThis bill, HR 1097 (Everett Alvarez, Jr. Congressional Gold Medal Act of 2023), authorizes the award of a Congressional Gold Medal to Everett Alvarez, Jr., in recognition of his service as a U.S. Navy pilot and Vietnam War prisoner of war. It directly honors Alvarez, who was the first U.S. pilot shot down in the Vietnam War, spent over 8.5 years in captivity, and later served in the Peace Corps and Veterans Administration. The bill’s key mechanism is directing the U.S. Mint to strike a gold medal bearing his name and image, with bronze duplicates available for sale to cover costs. It does not create new policies or affect any group beyond the honoree.

Maddy summaryHR 8505, the Household Goods Shipping Consumer Protection Act, requires household goods motor carriers, brokers, and freight forwarders to designate a "principal place of business" and disclose recent ownership relationships during registration. It gives states the option to use federal grant funds to enforce federal household goods shipping regulations for both interstate and intrastate transport, if state laws align with federal rules. The bill also ensures states retain fines and penalties collected from shipping companies for violations, rather than forwarding them to the federal government. These changes aim to improve regulatory oversight and accountability in the household goods shipping industry.

Maddy summaryThis bill allows Medicaid programs to enter into value-based purchasing (VBP) arrangements with drug manufacturers for innovative treatments like gene therapies. It codifies these arrangements by requiring states to report pricing structures based on patient outcomes and best prices for drugs sold under these agreements. The bill enables payments to be tied to treatment effectiveness, potentially reducing long-term healthcare costs by decreasing hospitalizations and other medical expenses. It also creates a requirement for a GAO study to evaluate how these arrangements impact patient access, outcomes, and healthcare system costs. The bill will sunset after 5 years, though existing VBP arrangements will continue beyond that date.

Maddy summaryThe MERIT Act amends Medicare's coverage rules to require individual drug reviews for research purposes. It changes how Medicare determines if a drug is "reasonable and necessary" under Section 1142 research programs, mandating separate evaluations for each drug instead of class-based decisions. This directly affects Medicare beneficiaries and drug manufacturers participating in research under Section 1142. The key provision specifies that coverage determinations must apply to each specific drug or biological involved in the research, not to groups of similar drugs. This policy change alters the Medicare national coverage determination process for research-related treatments.

Maddy summaryHR 3269, the Law Enforcement Innovate to De-Escalate Act, exempts specific less-than-lethal projectile devices from federal firearm taxes and National Firearms Act restrictions. The bill defines these devices as those firing projectiles at under 500 feet per second and designed not to cause death or serious injury. This directly affects law enforcement agencies using such devices and manufacturers producing them, by removing tax burdens and registration requirements. The key change is creating a clear legal exemption for these devices under federal law, streamlining their use for de-escalation purposes.