Rep. Mike Quigley

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 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.

Maddy summaryThis bill requires states to prohibit physicians from performing specific non-emergency surgeries on foster children under age 6 who have variations in sex characteristics (commonly called intersex traits), unless the procedure addresses an immediate life threat. It targets procedures like clitoral reduction, gonadectomy, and vaginoplasty that are often done without consent on infants. States must enforce this through licensing penalties, and it applies only to children in foster care as a condition for receiving federal foster care funding. The bill explicitly states it does not restrict medically necessary surgeries or procedures for transgender youth.

Maddy summaryThis bill requires Medicare Advantage plans to implement electronic prior authorization systems by 2027 and publish detailed data on their approval and denial rates for medical services by 2026. It directly affects Medicare Advantage plans (private insurers offering Medicare coverage) and their enrollees (seniors 65+), mandating transparency about prior authorization decisions, processing times, and appeal outcomes. Key provisions include requiring plans to report annual statistics on request approvals/denials, average processing times, and use of technology, with this data published publicly by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. The bill also sets timelines for plan responses to prior authorization requests and mandates reports to Congress on implementation and impacts.

Maddy summaryHR 7927, the Pink Tariffs Study Act, requires the Treasury Secretary to conduct a study analyzing how U.S. import tariffs impact different consumer groups. The study must examine whether tariffs disproportionately burden basic goods (like mass-market items) versus luxury items, assess potential gender-based tariff biases (such as higher rates on women’s clothing), and break down these effects by gender, household type, and income level. It does not change current tariff rates but mandates a detailed analysis of how tariff costs fall unequally across consumers. The study must be completed within one year of the bill’s enactment and submitted to Congress.

Maddy summaryThis bill requires Medicare to cover falls risk assessments and fall prevention services during annual wellness visits and initial preventive physical exams for seniors aged 65+ who have fallen in the previous year. It directly affects Medicare beneficiaries with recent falls and healthcare providers delivering these services under Medicare. The key mechanism expands existing Medicare benefits to include these specific fall prevention services, effective January 1, 2025. Additionally, it mandates annual reports starting in 2026 tracking falls data for seniors over 65 who received fall-related treatment.

Maddy summaryHR 6417 amends the existing "Ending Importation of Russian Oil Act" to ban imports of energy products (classified under Harmonized Tariff Schedule chapter 27) produced at any refinery using crude oil originating in Russia. This directly affects U.S. importers and companies bringing in such refined petroleum products. The key provision prohibits these imports regardless of where the refinery is located, targeting oil that has been "laundered" through foreign processing. The bill updates the existing law by adding this origin-based import ban as a new section.

Maddy summaryThis bill amends Medicare, Medicaid, and private insurance rules to improve coverage for drugs treating rare diseases (defined as conditions affecting 200,000 or fewer people in the U.S.). It requires coverage for rare disease drug uses supported by peer-reviewed medical literature and not listed as contraindicated in FDA labeling or medical reference guides. Private insurers must provide expedited review processes for denials of such drugs. The changes apply 30 days after enactment, affecting insurers and patients seeking coverage for rare disease treatments.

Maddy summaryThe Climate Resilience Workforce Act establishes a coordinated federal system to build a workforce for climate resilience, directly affecting workers in climate-related sectors and prioritizing frontline communities (low-income, communities of color, Tribal communities) and populations facing employment barriers (undocumented individuals, formerly incarcerated people). Key mechanisms include grant programs for state and local climate resilience planning, job creation grants requiring 40% of jobs to go to frontline communities and populations facing barriers, and minimum labor standards including $15/hour wages (increasing annually), employer-paid health insurance, and protections against discrimination. The bill creates an Office of Climate Resilience, a Climate Resilience Equity Advisory Board, and a Center for the Climate Resilience Workforce to define climate resilience sectors and ensure equitable hiring practices. It also removes employment barriers through immigration status protections, criminal record reforms, and drug testing policy changes for climate resilience workers.

Maddy summaryHR 5663, the ALS Better Care Act, creates a new Medicare payment system to improve reimbursement for specialized care services provided to ALS patients. It establishes a $800 per visit payment rate starting in 2025 for qualified ALS care facilities, with annual increases based on market basket adjustments. The bill requires the Comptroller General to report on appropriate payment amounts and ensures this new payment is in addition to, not replacing, existing Medicare payments for ALS-related services. This aims to reduce wait times, support facilities in rural areas through telehealth access, and address funding challenges for ALS clinical trials.