Rep. James P. McGovern

Maddy summaryHR 1447 prevents employers from ending health insurance coverage for workers during a lawful strike or a lockout (when an employer stops work to pressure union demands). It directly affects unionized workers participating in strikes or facing lockouts, ensuring they maintain healthcare coverage during these labor disputes. The bill adds penalties: employers violating this rule face up to $75,000 per violation for lockouts ($150,000 for repeat offenses or serious harm) and up to $50,000 per violation for strikes ($100,000 for repeat offenses or serious harm). These penalties apply to employers who cut healthcare during strikes or lockouts, with the National Labor Relations Board enforcing the fines.

This resolution expresses the sense that the federal government should adopt a global health solidarity strategy to end medically avertable deaths and respond to the full burden of disease in poor countries; the federal government should use laws and diplomatic influence to stop ongoing economic harms to the global South; and it is the duty of the federal government to issue reparations, including for slavery and colonialism.

Philippine Human Rights Act This bill imposes limitations on providing assistance to the police or military of the Philippines. No federal funds may be used to provide such assistance until the Philippines government has taken certain actions, including (1) investigating and successfully prosecuting members of its military and police forces who have violated human rights; (2) withdrawing the military from domestic policing activities; and (3) establishing that it effectively protects the rights of journalists, civil society activists, and certain other groups. The President shall also direct U.S. representatives at multilateral development banks to vote against providing loans to the police or military of the Philippines.

Equal Citizenship for Children Act of 2023 This bill expands the application of automatic acquisition of citizenship for certain children born outside of the United States. Specifically, the bill provides citizenship retroactively to such a child who, while under the age of 18, (1) resided in the United States as a lawful permanent resident (or had a pending application for such status), and (2) was in the legal custody of the child's citizen parent. It also eliminates the physical custody requirement for the automatic acquisition of citizenship. The bill applies to a child meeting these requirements who was born after noon on January 9, 1941, but who turned 18 prior to February 27, 2001 (the effective date of the Child Citizenship Act of 2000).

Maddy summaryHR 1404, the Facial Recognition and Biometric Technology Moratorium Act of 2023, bans U.S. federal agencies and officials from using facial recognition, voice recognition, or other remote biometric surveillance systems (like gait analysis) for law enforcement or surveillance in the United States. It directly affects federal law enforcement agencies and state/local governments receiving Byrne grant funding, which they would lose if they don’t adopt similar bans. Key provisions prohibit federal acquisition or use of these systems (except for narrowly defined congressional authorizations), ban federal funding for such systems, and make illegally obtained biometric data inadmissible in court. The bill also allows individuals to sue the federal government for violations and requires states receiving federal funds to implement comparable restrictions.

Maddy summaryHR 1388 authorizes the minting of commemorative coins to honor the 1865 Sultana steamboat disaster, the deadliest maritime tragedy in U.S. history. It specifies three coin types ($5 gold, $1 silver, and half-dollar) with defined weights and compositions, to be sold at face value plus surcharges ($35, $10, and $5 per coin, respectively). All surcharges collected will fund the Sultana Historical Preservation Society for museum development, including exhibits, artifact preservation, and facility construction. The coins are legal tender but intended for collectors, with sales limited to a one-year period starting January 2023.

Maddy summaryThe Farm System Reform Act of 2023 establishes a moratorium on new large concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) and requires existing large CAFOs to cease operations by January 1, 2040. It creates a voluntary debt forgiveness and transition assistance program to help AFO owners pay off construction and operational debts while transitioning to alternative agricultural activities. The bill also amends the Packers and Stockyards Act to require packers to purchase 50% of livestock through spot market sales from nonaffiliated producers and prohibits certain unfair pricing practices. Additionally, it restores mandatory country of origin labeling for beef and pork and expands labeling requirements to include dairy products, requiring "Product of U.S.A." labels only when meat is exclusively derived from animals born, raised, and slaughtered in the United States.

Maddy summaryThis bill establishes requirements for large industrial agricultural operations (defined as those owning or controlling significant numbers of livestock) to create disaster mitigation plans, register with a new Office of High-Risk AFO Disaster Mitigation and Enforcement, and report depopulation activities. It prohibits certain inhumane depopulation methods like ventilation shutdown and sodium nitrite poisoning, and requires covered operators to cover costs of depopulation, disposal, and compensation for workers and neighboring communities affected by disasters. The bill also sets new labor standards including health insurance coverage and severance pay for workers involved in disaster mitigation events, improves transport standards for livestock, and requires humane treatment of nonambulatory animals. It includes funding for additional OSHA and FSIS inspectors to enforce these requirements, directly affecting large industrial agricultural operators, their workers, and neighboring communities.

Maddy summaryHR 1369, the "Peace on the Korean Peninsula Act," directs the U.S. State Department to review restrictions on Americans traveling to North Korea, particularly for humanitarian reasons like family reunions (affecting approximately 100,000 Americans with relatives there). It also requires the State Department to create a diplomatic roadmap for ending the Korean War through formal negotiations with North and South Korea, including establishing liaison offices. The bill mandates reports to Congress within 180 days detailing these reviews and strategies, without changing existing military deployments or U.S. policy on North Korea's nuclear program. It focuses on diplomatic engagement to replace the 1953 armistice with a permanent peace agreement.

Maddy summaryThe Protecting America's Meatpacking Workers Act of 2023 establishes new safety standards for meat and poultry processing facilities to protect workers from injuries and unsafe conditions. The bill prohibits "no fault attendance policies" that penalize workers for taking legally protected leave and requires employers to provide adequate toilet facilities without punishment. It mandates new ergonomic standards to prevent musculoskeletal injuries, increases OSHA inspection resources through $60 million in annual funding, and requires facilities to report infections and deaths during pandemics. The bill directly affects meat and poultry processing workers, their employers, and federal agencies overseeing workplace safety through concrete policy changes to improve working conditions.