Faster Payments to Veterans' Survivors Act of 2022 This act modifies policies and procedures related to the payment of benefits under certain life insurance programs administered by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). If a primary beneficiary has not made a claim for payment within one year (currently two years) after the death of the insured under the National Service Life Insurance (NSLI) program or the United States Government Life Insurance (USGLI) program, the VA is authorized to make payment to another designated beneficiary as if the primary beneficiary had predeceased the insured. If no designated beneficiary makes a claim within two years (currently four years) after the death of the insured, the VA is authorized to make a payment to a person the VA deems to be equitably entitled to such benefit. The act also modifies the beneficiary designation process under NSLI and USGLI. Specifically, if a person does not designate a beneficiary for insurance, or if the designated beneficiary predeceases the insured person, the VA must determine the beneficiary in a specified order of succession. Additionally, the act requires the VA to improve its processes and procedures with respect to identifying, locating, and paying hard-to-find beneficiaries of life insurance policies, including by improving its website search tools.
Rep. Madison Cawthorn
Sponsored bills
American Choice and Innovation Online Act This bill prohibits certain large online platforms from engaging in specified acts, including giving preference to their own products on the platform, excluding or disadvantaging competing products from another business on the platform, or discriminating among similarly situated users. Further, a platform may not materially restrict or impede the capacity of a competing business user to access or interoperate with the same platform, operating system, or hardware or software features. The bill also restricts the platform's use of nonpublic data obtained from or generated on the platform and prohibits the platform from restricting access to platform data generated by the activity of a competing business user. The bill also provides additional restrictions related to installing or uninstalling software, search or ranking functionality, and retaliation for contact with law enforcement regarding actual or potential violations of law. The bill establishes affirmative defenses for the prohibited conduct. The Federal Trade Commission or the Department of Justice must designate whether an entity is a platform covered by the bill, and both must carry out enforcement activities. The bill also provides for civil penalties, injunctions, conflicts of interest, a private right of action, and the forfeit of profits for repeat offenders.
This act directs the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the President pro tempore of the Senate to arrange for the posthumous award of a Congressional Gold Medal to commemorate Glen Doherty, Tyrone Woods, J. Christopher Stevens, and Sean Smith, four Americans killed in the September 11, 2012, attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya. (Stevens was the U.S. Ambassador to Libya at the time, Smith was an officer in the Foreign Service, and Doherty and Woods were both government contractors and former Navy SEALs.) After the medal has been awarded, it shall be given to the Central Intelligence Agency Museum.
This act designates the community-based outpatient clinic of the Department of Veterans Affairs in Forest City, North Carolina, as the Master Sergeant Jerry K. Crump VA Clinic.
Free Speech Defense Act This bill addresses issues relating to the federal government and social media. For example, the bill (1) terminates the Disinformation Governance Board; and (2) prohibits the federal government from encouraging a social media company to remove a user or label content as misinformation, with certain exceptions.
Camp Lejeune Veterans and Families Protection Act This bill limits attorney's fees for claims involving individuals who were exposed to contaminated water at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, between August 1, 1953, and December 31, 1987.
Long-Term Care Veterans Choice Act This bill authorizes the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to enter into contracts to pay for specified veterans (i.e., certain veterans who have service-connected disabilities and require nursing home care) to be placed in medical foster homes at their request. A medical foster home is a home designed to provide non-institutional, long-term, supportive care for veterans who are unable to live independently and prefer a family setting. Veterans receiving such care must agree, as a condition of payment for their care, to accept home health services furnished by the VA. Under the bill, no more than a daily average of 900 veterans may have their care in a medical foster home covered by the VA. The VA must create a monitoring system to assess its workload in carrying out the medical foster home payments. Additionally, the Government Accountability Office must submit to Congress reports that assess the implementation of this program and provide recommendations for improvements. The bill also extends certain loan fee rates through February 15, 2031, under the VA's home loan program.
Lymphedema Treatment Act This bill provides for Medicare coverage of lymphedema compression treatment items. Specifically, the bill provides for coverage of standard and custom fitted gradient compression garments and other approved items that are prescribed by a physician or other specified health care professional to treat lymphedema.
This resolution reinstates the Holman Rule (allowing amendments to appropriations legislation that would reduce the salary of, or eliminate, specific federal employees or cut a specific program).
This bill requires the Department of Labor to study a process for allowing states or businesses to apply for exemptions from occupational safety and health standards that cause significant economic hardship. The study must include recommendations for legislative and other actions necessary to implement such a process.