Sen. Mike Braun

Maddy summaryThis bill imposes sanctions on foreign individuals, entities, and governments that provide significant financial or material support to Hamas, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, or their affiliates. It requires the President to block transactions with those supporting these groups and to suspend U.S. aid to governments providing material support for their terrorist activities. The bill also mandates regular reports on foreign countries' efforts to disrupt Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad fundraising, financing, and money laundering networks. Specific exceptions include military use and humanitarian aid for medicine and food. The bill includes a sunset provision, terminating either after 3 years or when Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad are no longer designated as terrorist organizations.

Maddy summaryThis bill allows state and local governments to adopt measures divesting public funds from entities engaging in boycotts targeting Israel or businesses in Israeli-controlled territories, while requiring specific procedural safeguards. Key provisions include a 90-day notice period to affected entities, an opportunity for entities to dispute the designation, and verification requirements to prevent erroneous targeting. It explicitly states that such state actions are not preempted by federal law and includes a safe harbor for investment managers adjusting policies. The bill directly affects public pension funds, municipal investments, and government contractors that meet the defined boycott criteria. It does not create new federal mandates but clarifies that states retain authority to implement these measures under their existing legal frameworks.

Maddy summaryS 1641, the USPS Act, requires the Comptroller General to investigate nationwide mail and postal property theft annually for five years. The reports must detail current Postal Service security measures and offer recommendations for improving theft prevention, submitted to the House Oversight Committee and Senate Homeland Security Committee. This bill directly affects the U.S. Postal Service and Congress by mandating regular, detailed oversight of theft patterns. It does not create new security policies but establishes a reporting mechanism to inform future decisions. The focus is on transparency and data collection, not on immediate operational changes.

Maddy summaryThis bill requires the FDIC to reclaim certain compensation paid to executives at failed banks if they were responsible for the institution's failure. It defines "covered compensation" to include salary, bonuses, stock awards, and performance-based pay received within the previous five years. The FDIC would claw back this compensation and deposit the funds into the Deposit Insurance Fund. This directly affects bank executives at institutions that fail, ensuring they bear losses tied to their responsibility for the bank's condition.

Maddy summaryThis bill amends Title 10, U.S. Code, Section 523(b)(3) to explicitly include "licensed behavioral health providers" alongside medical officers. It directly affects military mental health professionals (such as psychologists and social workers) who hold state licenses. The key provision removes a barrier by exempting these licensed providers from numerical "strength limitations" that previously applied only to medical officers. This change allows the military to hire and retain more licensed mental health professionals without hitting specific staffing caps. The policy change streamlines access to care by expanding eligibility for these roles within military medical structures.

Maddy summaryThe Employee Equity Investment Act of 2023 creates a new program to provide financial leverage to companies that invest in small businesses through employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs) or worker-owned cooperatives. The bill sets specific requirements including minimum investment percentages (75% in covered investments, 50% in ESOP-related investments), the need for independent trustees to evaluate transactions, and detailed demographic reporting on plan participants. It also establishes a Protege EEIC program to help new investment companies with guidance from experienced managers, creates an Office of Employee Ownership for education and technical assistance, and modifies procurement rules to help employee-owned businesses access government contracts. The program has a sunset provision, ending 20 years after the first license is approved.

Maddy summaryThis bill creates new authorities for the Department of Homeland Security and Department of Justice to detect, identify, monitor, and mitigate drone threats to designated high-risk facilities including critical infrastructure, government buildings, airports, and other security-sensitive locations. It establishes a 5-year pilot program allowing select state and local law enforcement agencies to use specific drone detection technologies, with strict requirements for privacy protections, training, and coordination with the Federal Aviation Administration. The bill limits the use of technologies that disrupt radio or electronic signals, requires intercepted communications to be maintained for no more than 180 days, and mandates annual congressional reporting on the use of these authorities. It also includes detailed provisions for risk-based assessments, privacy safeguards, and coordination with transportation authorities to ensure national airspace safety.

Maddy summaryThis bill prohibits federal funding - including Medicaid, ACA subsidies, and other federal health programs - from covering gender transition procedures. It specifically bans taxpayer dollars from being used for medical services like hormone therapy, surgery, or puberty-blocking drugs related to gender transition, except for cases involving disorders of sex development or complications from such procedures (as defined in Section 306). The bill also clarifies that ACA premium credits and cost-sharing reductions cannot apply to health plans covering these procedures, though individuals or states may purchase separate non-federal coverage for them. It directly affects federal health programs and beneficiaries relying on government-funded healthcare.

Maddy summaryThis bill prohibits healthcare professionals from performing or referring minors (under 18) for gender transition procedures, including puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, or surgeries like genital or non-genital transition surgeries. It imposes criminal penalties (fines, up to 5 years imprisonment) on providers who violate this prohibition, while protecting minors from prosecution for the procedures. The bill explicitly excludes medical treatments for disorders of sex development or emergencies where surgery is needed to prevent death or serious harm. It defines key terms like "gender transition procedure" and "biological sex" to clarify the scope of the ban. The law does not affect adults or medical care for conditions unrelated to gender transition.

Maddy summaryThe EARN IT Act of 2023 establishes a National Commission on Online Child Sexual Exploitation Prevention to develop voluntary best practices for interactive computer services (such as social media platforms and messaging apps) to prevent, reduce, and respond to online child sexual exploitation. The Commission will create recommended practices considering different platform sizes and business models, including content moderation, reporting systems, and age verification measures. The bill updates federal law to replace the term "child pornography" with "child sexual abuse material" across numerous statutes and technical amendments. These best practices would be voluntary for platforms to adopt, not mandatory requirements, and must be supported by at least 14 of the Commission's 19 members. The Commission's recommendations will be updated every 5 years and published by the Department of Justice.