Rep. Brandon Williams

Maddy summaryHR 5820, the Technology for Energy Security Act, extends a federal tax credit for businesses installing qualified fuel cell technology. It amends the tax code to change the expiration date for this credit from January 1, 2025, to January 1, 2033. This extension provides businesses with a longer timeframe to claim the credit for eligible fuel cell property investments. The bill directly affects companies deploying fuel cell energy systems by making the tax incentive available for an additional decade.

Maddy summaryHR 5641, the Pay Our Troops Act, ensures military personnel and their support staff continue receiving pay during fiscal year 2024 if Congress fails to pass regular budget appropriations. It appropriates existing Treasury funds to cover pay and allowances for active-duty troops, reserve components, and civilian employees or contractors supporting military operations. The bill automatically terminates on January 1, 2025, or earlier if Congress enacts a regular budget or continuing resolution. This provision directly affects service members, Department of Defense staff, and Coast Guard personnel (when not under the Navy) during budget implementation gaps.

Maddy summaryH.J. Res. 93 proposes a constitutional amendment to withhold pay from U.S. Representatives and Senators during any government shutdown. A shutdown is defined as a period when federal agencies lack funding due to Congress failing to pass a regular budget or temporary spending bill. The amendment would require Congress to pass implementing legislation to enforce this pay restriction during shutdowns. This directly affects all members of Congress by temporarily halting their salaries when federal operations cease due to funding gaps.

Maddy summaryThe Alice Cogswell and Anne Sullivan Macy Act amends the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act to better serve children and youth who are deaf, hard of hearing, deafdisabled, blind, visually impaired, or deafblind. It requires states to identify and provide appropriate services to these students regardless of how they're classified in disability categories, ensures access to language instruction in the student's primary language (including American Sign Language), and mandates improved data collection about these students. The bill establishes the Anne Sullivan Macy Center on Visual Disability and Educational Excellence to support research, training, and program development for blind and visually impaired students. These changes aim to improve educational outcomes by addressing the unique language, communication, and learning needs of students with sensory disabilities through concrete policy changes to IDEA.

Maddy summaryThis bill extends existing aviation programs and tax authorities through December 2023. It modifies deadlines for airport improvement grants (extending $842 million in funding for Q4 2023), unmanned aircraft regulations, FAA operations, and key tax collections like fuel and ticket taxes. These changes maintain current funding levels for airports, airlines, and FAA programs relying on the Airport and Airway Trust Fund. The bill does not create new programs but ensures continuity of existing authorizations. It directly affects airports receiving federal grants, airlines paying aviation taxes, and FAA operational activities.

Pay Our Border Patrol and Customs Agents Act This bill provides FY2024 appropriations for the salaries and expenses of certain U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) employees who are required to work during a lapse in appropriations (i.e., government shutdown) in FY2024. Specifically, the bill provides appropriations to CBP for the salaries and expenses of agents of the U.S. Border Patrol and officers of the Office of Field Operations who are excepted from furlough (i.e., required to work) during a lapse in discretionary appropriations in FY2024.

Maddy summaryThis bill requires retailers to label beef as "United States origin" only if the entire production process - from birth to slaughter to packaging - occurred in the U.S. It directly affects beef retailers and importers selling beef in the U.S. market. The law increases penalties for non-compliant beef labeling to $5,000 per pound (up from $1,000 for other products) and mandates a report to Congress on false labeling of foreign beef as U.S.-origin. The report must assess how much falsely labeled beef was sold since 2013, identify offending packers, and estimate economic losses for U.S. ranchers.

Maddy summaryThe FACTS Act (HR 5625) creates a pilot program to fund partnerships between schools and public health agencies to prevent synthetic opioid misuse among students. It authorizes $50 million annually to support evidence-based prevention programs, including professional development for school staff, student workshops, and community outreach. The bill requires schools to collect data on synthetic opioid prevalence and mandates that school health centers stock naloxone. It also amends national surveys to track youth opioid use patterns and establishes an interagency task force to coordinate prevention efforts. These provisions aim to address the growing crisis of synthetic opioid misuse among young people through education, data collection, and prevention programs.

Maddy summaryHR 5659 prohibits U.S. federal research agencies from funding or collaborating with governments or entities from specific countries without new congressional approval. It directly affects federal research agencies (like the National Science Foundation) by blocking activities with China, Russia, Iran, North Korea, Cuba, and Venezuela. The bill requires any future research collaboration with these "countries of concern" to be explicitly authorized by a new Act of Congress. This changes existing policy by creating a blanket ban on such activities unless Congress passes specific new legislation allowing them.

Maddy summaryThis bill creates a new program to incentivize SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) recipients to purchase "naturally nutrient-rich dairy" like fluid milk, yogurt, and cheese at checkout. It allocates $10 million annually to fund competitive grants for state/local governments and nonprofits to implement projects that provide point-of-sale incentives for qualifying dairy products. Projects must use electronic systems to apply incentives only toward eligible dairy purchases and undergo independent evaluations using rigorous methods to measure impact on consumption. The program replaces an existing dairy incentive initiative under the 2018 farm bill, with a transition period ensuring no disruption to current projects.