Sen. Elissa Slotkin

This bill requires the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment of the Department of Defense (DOD) to brief Congress on the feasibility of expanding the cooperation between DOD and allies and partners of the United States regarding critical minerals. Additionally, DOD must submit a strategy for expanding the collaboration between DOD and allies and partners of the United States to strengthen the supply chains for critical minerals and address the risks to such supply chains.

This bill authorizes the Department of Defense (DOD), in addressing specified elements of the national defense strategy (i.e., priority missions and the assumed strategic environment), to seek the advice and views of the congressional defense committees, through the chair and ranking members of the committees. Any advice and views may be submitted to DOD in writing and must be published as an annex to the national defense strategy.

This bill requires the Department of Defense (DOD) to submit, at the same time the President submits the budget to Congress, a report containing specified elements on the programs and activities of DOD that received funding through the National Defense Authorization Act for FY2023 or the Defense Appropriations Act, FY2023, in an amount that exceeded the amount requested for the activity or program in the budget submitted by the President for FY2023.

This bill updates the planning and reporting requirements related to reducing reliance on services, supplies, or materials obtained from covered countries (i.e., North Korea, China, Russia, and Iran). Specifically, the Department of Defense must submit a report describing the plan to reduce such reliance that includes specified elements and must review and update the plan every two years.

This bill requires that the Department of Defense's national security strategy for the national technology and industrial base includes objectives to provide for the research and development of sustainable and secure food sources (e.g., alternative protein development).

This bill requires the Department of the Navy to implement a three-year pilot program to offer plant-based protein options at not fewer than two naval facilities, prioritizing facilities where livestock-based protein options may be costly to obtain or store.

Patient Advocate Tracker Act This act requires the Office of Patient Advocacy within the Veterans Health Administration to establish an information technology system that allows veterans or their representatives to electronically file a complaint with a patient advocate and review the status of a filed complaint.

Peace and Tolerance in Palestinian Education Act This bill requires the Department of State to report on the curriculum used in schools in areas controlled by the Palestinian Authority or located in Gaza and controlled by any other entity. Among other topics, the report must address (1) whether the materials used encourage violence or intolerance toward other nations or ethnic groups, (2) the steps the Palestinian Authority is taking to reform such materials, and (3) whether U.S. foreign assistance is used to fund the dissemination of the offending materials. The State Department must make such reports publicly available.

Supporting Medicare Providers Act of 2022 This bill extends a payment increase under Medicare's physician fee schedule through the end of 2023 (currently set to expire at the end of 2022).

Healthcare Cybersecurity Act of 2022 This bill requires the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) to undertake activities to improve the cybersecurity of the health care and public health sector. Specifically, CISA must collaborate with the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to improve cybersecurity in that sector. This includes making resources, including cyber-threat indicators and appropriate defense measures, available to federal and nonfederal entities that receive information through HHS programs. In addition, CISA must provide training on cybersecurity risks and mitigation strategies to owners of assets in the health care and public health sector. CISA must also conduct a study on cybersecurity risks in the health care and public health sector. The study must address, among other topics, the impact of the risks on rural entities and small- and medium-sized entities, cybersecurity workforce shortages in the sector, and challenges related to the COVID-19 emergency.