Rep. Jodey C. Arrington

Maddy summaryHR 4076 establishes a joint U.S.-Israel program to fund health technology development, authorizing $4 million annually (2024-2026) through the U.S. Health and Human Services Department. It requires Israel to match U.S. funding and focuses on collaborative projects in artificial intelligence, vaccines, telemedicine, diagnostic tests, and data-driven personalized medicine for emerging infectious diseases. The program can either build on an existing U.S.-Israel agreement or create a new one under a 2008 science cooperation framework. This bill directly affects U.S. federal health agencies and the Israeli government, with funds restricted to joint projects meeting specific technological and health priorities.

Maddy summaryThis bill (HR 4145) requires U.S. colleges and universities to disclose foreign gifts or contracts meeting specific thresholds to the Department of Education. Institutions must report gifts/contracts of $250,000 or more from foreign sources not tied to "covered nations" (as defined in 10 U.S.C. §4872(d)(2)), or *any* amount from covered nations. Within 10 days of receiving such reports, the Education Secretary must forward them to the FBI and National Intelligence Director. The law aims to increase transparency around foreign funding in higher education by mandating these disclosures and automatic intelligence sharing.

Maddy summaryHR 3996 would impose a 60% tax on the purchase of U.S. agricultural interests (including farmland and livestock production land) by individuals or entities from designated "countries of concern," such as China, Russia, Iran, North Korea, Cuba, and Venezuela. It requires transaction closers (like title companies or attorneys) to report buyer details to the IRS and request an affidavit confirming the buyer is not a disqualified person. If a disqualified person fails to provide the affidavit, the closing entity must inform them of the tax obligation, and the buyer would owe 60% of the purchase price. The tax does not apply to U.S. citizens, lawful permanent residents, or U.S. public companies not controlled by disqualified persons.

Maddy summaryHJRES 29 is a procedural resolution seeking congressional disapproval of a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) rule that designated the northern lesser prairie-chicken population as "threatened" and the southern population as "endangered" under the Endangered Species Act. If passed, this resolution would prevent the FWS rule from taking effect, meaning the southern population would not be officially listed as endangered and the northern population would not be listed as threatened. The bill directly affects landowners, ranchers, and developers in states like Texas, Oklahoma, and New Mexico where the prairie-chicken habitat overlaps with agricultural or energy development. It uses the Congressional Review Act (Chapter 8 of Title 5, U.S. Code) to block implementation of the FWS rule without changing wildlife protection laws.

Maddy summaryHR 3792 extends U.S. security funding for Israel through 2028 (Section 3) and expands energy cooperation to include advanced nuclear technologies and carbon capture (Section 5). It requires annual reports on regional security partnerships involving Israel (Section 6) and ensures countries in the Abraham Accords can access U.S. development programs (Section 8). The bill also mandates reports on diplomatic efforts against ICC investigations targeting the U.S. and Israel (Section 10) and encourages people-to-people programs to strengthen the Abraham Accords (Sections 7, 9). These provisions directly affect Israel’s diplomatic engagement, security partnerships, and economic cooperation in the Middle East.

Maddy summaryThis bill requires the Treasury Secretary to report quarterly on foreign countries imposing "extraterritorial" or "discriminatory" taxes targeting U.S. businesses. It mandates progressively higher tax rates (starting at 5% and increasing to 20% over time) on income and payments from foreign individuals and corporations in those countries. The U.S. government can also restrict federal procurement from such entities and consider these taxes in trade negotiations. These measures directly affect foreign businesses operating in the U.S. or conducting transactions with U.S. entities. The policy aims to counter foreign tax policies that the U.S. views as unfair under international tax norms.

Maddy summaryHR 3328 (Protecting Children From Experimentation Act of 2023) prohibits healthcare professionals from performing or referring for gender transition procedures on minors under 18. The bill defines "gender transition procedures" to include puberty-blocking drugs, cross-sex hormones, and surgeries (like genital or non-genital procedures) aimed at altering physical characteristics to match a gender different from a minor’s biological sex. It excludes care for minors with medically verified disorders of sex development or conditions requiring urgent medical treatment. Violations could result in fines, up to 5 years in prison, or both for providers, while minors receiving such care cannot be prosecuted.

Processing Revival and Intrastate Meat Exemption Act or the PRIME Act This bill exempts from federal inspection requirements animals and meats that are slaughtered and prepared at custom animal slaughter facilities for distribution within the state. Under current law, a custom slaughter exemption applies if the meat is slaughtered exclusively for personal, household, guest, or employee uses. Specifically, the bill expands the federal inspection exemption to include the slaughter of animals or the preparation of carcasses, meat, and meat food products that are slaughtered and prepared at a custom slaughter facility in accordance with the laws of the state where the facility is located; and prepared exclusively for distribution to household consumers in the state or restaurants, hotels, boarding houses, grocery stores, or other establishments in the state that either prepare meals served directly to consumers or offer meat and food products for sale directly to consumers in the state. The bill does not preempt any state law concerning (1) the slaughter of animals or the preparation of carcasses, meat, and meat food products at a custom slaughter facility; or (2) the sale of meat or meat food products.

Maddy summaryHR 3210, the Book Minimum Tax Repeal Act, repeals the corporate alternative minimum tax (AMT) for businesses. It eliminates the requirement for corporations to pay this tax by treating them as having a zero "tentative minimum tax" amount under the Internal Revenue Code. The change applies to taxable years beginning after December 31, 2022. This directly affects corporations that would have been subject to the corporate AMT under prior law.

Maddy summaryThe Protecting Taxpayers and Victims of Unemployment Fraud Act allows states to retain 25% of funds recovered from fraudulent unemployment claims (for pandemic-related benefits) to improve fraud prevention systems. States can use these retained funds to modernize unemployment systems, hire fraud investigators, reimburse administrative costs, or conduct other fraud prevention activities. The bill requires states to use specific data matching systems like the National Directory of New Hires to detect fraud more effectively. It modifies federal rules to ensure states can use recovered funds without violating deposit requirements. This legislation aims to reduce unemployment fraud while protecting taxpayers and victims of fraud.