Rep. Steve Cohen

Maddy summaryThe Stop Corporate Capture Act requires agencies to disclose conflicts of interest when industry-funded studies or research are submitted for rulemaking consideration. It mandates that such studies be made publicly available and requires agencies to assess the social equity impacts of proposed rules. The bill creates an Office of the Public Advocate to help improve public participation in rulemaking, particularly for historically excluded groups. These provisions aim to increase transparency in regulatory decision-making and ensure rulemaking considers broader public interests beyond corporate interests.

Maddy summaryHR 1483 repeals multiple tax provisions benefiting oil and gas companies, effective for taxable years beginning after December 31, 2022. It eliminates credits for marginal wells, enhanced oil recovery, and intangible drilling costs; ends percentage depletion allowances for oil/gas; and prohibits LIFO accounting for major integrated oil producers (defined as companies with >500,000 barrels daily crude production). The bill also removes deductions for tertiary injectants, special passive loss rules, and qualified business income deductions for oil/gas activities. These changes directly affect oil and gas producers by reducing their tax advantages, without creating new taxes or subsidies.

Maddy summaryThis bill requires the Transportation Secretary to submit annual reports to Congress and the public on aviation consumer complaints involving passengers with disabilities. The reports must detail complaint volumes, specific issues (like service animal handling, accessibility equipment mishandling, or communication barriers), resolution times, and enforcement actions taken under existing laws like the Air Carrier Access Act. It mandates consistent data collection over five years for transparency, including how often complaints led to formal enforcement or referrals to agencies like the DOJ or TSA. The bill directly affects airlines, airports, and government agencies by standardizing accountability for disability-related service failures in air travel.

This resolution supports the goals of a feminist foreign policy (i.e., a foreign policy that requires analysis of and challenges to power structures and inequalities that are based on systems of discrimination). The resolution also supports the adoption of policies that promote gender equity and the participation of women and girls in public life.

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.

Maddy summaryThe WRCR Act of 2023 would expand the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) to include more low-income workers and students, lowering the minimum age requirement from 25 to 18 and allowing students receiving Federal Pell Grants or meeting specific income requirements to qualify. It would create a new program for monthly advance payments of the credit instead of a single annual payment, with taxpayers needing to report changes in circumstances to avoid overpayment. The bill also modifies income thresholds and credit percentages to increase access for more workers, with these changes taking effect for tax years beginning after December 31, 2022.

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.

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.