Rep. Doug LaMalfa

Accelerating Access to Critical Therapies for ALS Act This bill establishes grant programs to address neurodegenerative diseases, such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (also known as ALS or Lou Gehrig's disease), and contains other related provisions. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) shall award grants to eligible entities for scientific research utilizing data from expanded access to investigational ALS treatments for individuals who are not otherwise eligible for clinical trials.  The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) shall award grants to public and private entities to cover the costs of research and development of drugs that diagnose or treat ALS and other rare neurodegenerative diseases. HHS shall also establish the Public-Private Partnership for Neurodegenerative Diseases between the National Institutes of Health, the FDA, and at least one eligible entity (generally, an institution of higher education or a nonprofit organization). The partnership shall support the development and regulatory review of drugs that address ALS and other rare neurodegenerative diseases. The FDA shall publish on its website a five-year action plan for fostering the development of drugs that improve or extend the lives of people living with rare neurodegenerative diseases. The Government Accountability Office must report to Congress about the grants provided under this bill, including an analysis of the impact of such grants on research and development of treatments for ALS.

This bill posthumously provides for the award of a Congressional Gold Medal in commemoration of the 13 service members who died on August 26, 2021, while stationed at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Afghanistan.

Maddy summaryHRES 855 is a symbolic resolution passed by the U.S. House of Representatives to support designating the first week of December 2022 as "National United States Miners Week." It does not create new laws or policies but formally recognizes miners' contributions to the economy and supply chains. The resolution highlights miners' role in providing critical minerals and coal, supporting over 500,000 jobs, and securing domestic resources for everyday products. It directly affects miners and their communities by offering a formal, non-binding acknowledgment of their work. This is a procedural resolution with no concrete policy changes or funding implications.

This resolution recognizes the importance of Christmas symbols and traditions. The resolution (1) disapproves of attempts to ban references to Christmas, and (2) supports the use of these symbols and traditions by those who celebrate Christmas.

Designates the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 3045 Sacramento Street in Placerville, California, as the "Deputy Sheriff Brian Ishmael Post Office."

Preserving Rights Of Tenants by Ensuring Compliance To the Second Amendment Act or the PROTECT the Second Amendment Act This bill establishes a right for a resident of covered federally assisted rental housing to lawfully possess a firearm within the residential dwelling unit occupied by the resident and any common area of the federally assisted rental housing in which the resident resides in the course of entering or exiting the rental housing.

Cattle Contract Library Act of 2021 This bill directs the Department of Agriculture (USDA) to establish and maintain a library or catalog of each type of contract offered by packers to producers for the purchase of all or part of the production of fed cattle (including cattle that are purchased or committed for delivery), including any schedules of premiums or discounts associated with the contract. USDA must make the library or catalog publicly available in a user-friendly format and provide weekly or monthly reports as applicable. The bill makes it unlawful for any packer to willfully fail or refuse to provide USDA with accurate contractual information or to comply with any other requirements under the bill. The Agricultural Marketing Service must provide competitive grants to state agricultural experiment stations, universities, national laboratories, and other entities for producer outreach and education efforts on best uses of cattle market information, including information made available through the livestock mandatory reporting program and the library or catalog.

Ocean Shipping Reform Act of 2021 This bill revises provisions related to ocean shipping policies and is designed to support the growth and development of U.S. exports and promote reciprocal trade in the common carriage of goods by water in the foreign commerce of the United States. Among other provisions, the bill sets forth requirements for operating a shipping exchange involving ocean transportation in the foreign commerce of the United States; requires ocean common carriers to report to the Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) each calendar quarter on total import and export tonnage and the total loaded and empty 20-foot equivalent units per vessel that makes port in the United States; requires the FMC to publish and annually update all its findings of false certifications by ocean common carriers or marine terminal operators and all penalties assessed against such carriers or operators; revises annual reporting requirements for the FMC on foreign laws and practices to include practices by ocean common carriers; prohibits ocean common carriers and marine terminal operators from retaliating or discriminating against shippers because such shippers have patronized another carrier, or filed a complaint; directs the FMC to establish rules prohibiting ocean common carriers and marine terminal operators from adopting and applying unjust and unreasonable demurrage and detention fees; authorizes the FMC to initiate investigations of an ocean common carrier's fees or charges and apply enforcement measures, as appropriate; directs the Department of Transportation to seek to enter into an agreement with the National Academy of Sciences to study the U.S. supply chain industry, including data constraints that impede the flow of maritime cargo and add to supply chain inefficiencies; and provides authority for the FMC to issue an emergency order requiring ocean common carriers or marine terminal operators to share directly with relevant shippers, rail carriers, or motor carriers information relating to cargo throughput and availability.

National Forest Restoration and Remediation Act This bill modifies the treatment of monies collected by the United States arising out of certain Forest Service activities. The bill directs the Department of the Treasury to invest in interest-bearing obligations all monies that were previously collected by the United States in forfeitures, judgments, compromises, or settlements related to Forest Service activities, provided the amounts are not required to meet current withdrawals. The bill makes available the interest earned to cover the costs of work rendered necessary by the action which led to the forfeiture, judgment, compromise, or settlement.

Opioid Prescription Verification Act of 2021 This bill modifies overdose prevention activities carried out by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Specifically, HHS must update pharmacist training materials to include information about how to verify the identity of patients who are prescribed medications. In addition, the CDC may give preference, in awarding grants for overdose prevention, to states that maintain a prescription drug monitoring program that mandates the collection of specified information, require prescribers of certain potentially addictive medications to issue prescriptions electronically (subject to some exceptions), and require dispensers of certain potentially addictive medications to enter particular information about the purchase of such medications into their state's prescription drug monitoring program.