Rep. Jackie Walorski

Student Loan Accountability Act This bill generally prohibits the Departments of Education, Justice, or the Treasury from taking any action to cancel or forgive the outstanding balances, or portion of balances, of covered loans. Covered loans refer to Federal Family Education Loans, Federal Direct Loans, Federal Perkins Loans, and loans under the Health Education Assistance Loan Program. The prohibition does not apply to targeted federal student loan forgiveness, cancellation, or repayment programs carried out under the Higher Education Act of 1965. Additionally, the bill repeals the temporary tax-free treatment of discharged student loan debt. It also prohibits tax return information from being shared for the purpose of administering a student loan cancellation plan.

Stop Iranian Drones Act This bill expands existing provisions requiring sanctions against individuals or entities that provide certain types of weapons to Iran. Specifically, the bill modifies the provisions by adding unmanned combat aerial vehicles to the list of weapons covered by the sanctions. The bill also requires the Department of State to periodically report to Congress on the identities of any Iranian entity that has attacked a U.S. citizen using an unmanned combat aerial vehicle. The President must designate any such entity as a foreign terrorist organization.

Freight Rail Assistance and Investment to Launch Coronavirus-Era Activity and Recovery Act of 2022 or the Freight RAILCAR Act of 2022 This bill provides a new tax credit through 2024 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.

Prohibition of Agricultural Land for the People's Republic of China Act This bill requires the President to prohibit nonresident aliens, foreign businesses, and agents associated with China's government from (1) purchasing agricultural (including ranching) real estate located in the United States, or (2) participating in Department of Agriculture programs that are unrelated to food and safety regulatory requirements.

This concurrent resolution declares that a state of emergency exists due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. It also states that such emergency justifies a waiver of the minimum tonnage requirements for the transport of equipment, materials, or commodities related to humanitarian operations resulting from the invasion. Such requirements apply to cargoes that are transported on ocean vessels and that are procured, furnished, or financed by the United States.

Babies Need More Formula Now Act of 2022 This bill addresses the regulation of infant formula, including by authorizing the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to waive certain requirements related to importation. The FDA may waive labeling requirements related to the importation (or distribution or sale) of infant formula from a country with requirements that provide a similar assurance of safety as U.S. requirements. The FDA must, when appropriate, enter into arrangements to harmonize U.S. regulatory requirements pertaining to infant formula with the requirements of other nations. The bill imposes time lines for the FDA to respond to submissions for market approval for new infant formula. The FDA must also issue guidance as to what types of changes in the ingredients of infant formula, if any, may not require a new growth study to meet FDA requirements. The bill also authorizes a person to import, without prior notice to the FDA, up to a three-month supply of infant formula for personal use from a country with formula safety standards similar to U.S. standards, such as Canada. Before recommending or requiring a recall of infant formula due exclusively to a labeling deficiency, the FDA must ensure that the recall will not negatively affect the supply of formula in the United States. The bill also requires the FDA to (1) notify Congress no later than 24 hours after initiating a formula recall, and (2) provide certain information to formula manufacturers about restarting production after an inspection of a manufacturing facility impacted by a recall.

Commonsense Reporting Act of 2022 This bill addresses the eligibility verification process for the premium assistance tax credit and cost-sharing subsidy under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA). It requires the Department of the Treasury to develop and implement a reporting system that allows employers to voluntarily report information about their health plans for the current plan year prior to the beginning of open enrollment. The bill also allows electronic transmission of employee and enrollee statements and permits Treasury to accept full names and dates of birth in lieu of dependents' and spouses' Social Security account numbers. The bill also allows certain large employers who do not offer their employees minimum health care coverage 90 days to appeal an assessment for not providing such coverage. The Government Accountability Office must evaluate (1) for the period beginning on January 1, 2015, and ending on December 31, 2020, the notification of employers by PPACA exchanges of the eligibility of employees for advance payments of the premium assistance tax credit or cost-sharing subsidies; and (2) for calendar year 2023, the functionality of the prospective reporting system established by this bill, including the accuracy of information collected.

Building America's Health Care Workforce Act This bill extends certain flexibilities relating to training and competency requirements for nurse aides in Medicare skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) and Medicaid nursing facilities (NFs). Generally, SNFs and NFs may not hire nurse aides for longer than four months unless they meet certain training and certification requirements. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services waived some of these requirements during the COVID-19 emergency period so as to allow facilities to maintain adequate staffing levels; the waiver ends in June 2022. The bill extends these flexibilities for at least two years after the bill's enactment and specifies that (1) any time worked by a nurse aide during the emergency period counts toward the 75 hours required for initial training, and (2) a competency evaluation may be conducted at the SNF or NF where the nurse aide is employed if the state does not offer such an evaluation at least once a week.

Benjamin Berell Ferencz Congressional Gold Medal Act This bill provides for the award of a Congressional Gold Medal to Benjamin Berell Ferencz in recognition of his service to the United States and the international community during the post-World War II Nuremberg trials and his lifelong advocacy for international criminal justice and the rule of law.

Protecting Free Speech Act This bill terminates the Disinformation Governance Board of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and prohibits using DHS funding for the activities of any other entity that is substantially similar to the board.