Sen. Mike Braun

Maddy summaryThe ALIGN Act (S 1117) permanently allows businesses to immediately deduct the full cost of qualified property (like equipment or machinery) purchased and placed in service after September 27, 2017, instead of depreciating it over time. This tax provision directly affects businesses that invest in qualifying assets, reducing their taxable income in the year of purchase. The bill amends the Internal Revenue Code to set a 100% "applicable percentage" for these deductions, making the change permanent. Conforming updates to related tax code sections ensure the provision works with existing rules, effective as if included in prior legislation.

Maddy summaryThe Health Care PRICE Transparency Act requires hospitals to publicly disclose detailed pricing for at least 300 healthcare services that consumers can schedule in advance (including 70 Medicare-specified services) in plain language and machine-readable format. This includes showing gross charges, negotiated rates with insurers, discounted cash prices, and billing codes for each service, all accessible free of charge on hospital websites. Health insurers must also provide consumers with an online tool and paper option to see cost-sharing estimates for in-network and out-of-network care, including historical drug prices and out-of-network allowed amounts. Non-compliance by hospitals could result in daily civil penalties of up to $300.

Guardianship Grant Flexibility Act This bill allows recipients of demonstration grants for preventing and detecting elder abuse to use the grants for state court programs that use clinics supervised by a licensed attorney to recruit and train law students to represent individuals in guardianship cases and serve as guardians ad litem. (Guardians ad litem are court-appointed representatives for individuals who are unable to represent their own interests, typically because they are minors or declared legally incompetent.)

Maddy summaryThis bill (S 1159) extends compliance timelines for small lenders under the Equal Credit Opportunity Act. It requires the Bureau to grant a 3-year period for lenders to meet new data reporting rules, followed by a 2-year safe harbor where lenders aren't penalized for non-compliance during that time. The bill defines "small business" as entities with under $1 million in annual revenue and "financial institution" as lenders originating at least 500 small business loans annually over the prior two years. It directly affects small lenders (those meeting the 500-loan threshold) and small businesses (under $1M revenue), reducing immediate regulatory pressure through phased implementation.

Maddy summaryThis bill restricts U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) funding for colleges and universities that maintain relationships with Confucius Institutes or specific Chinese entities linked to China's military or defense sectors. It defines "Chinese entities of concern" as institutions involved in military-civil fusion, defense industry work, or receiving funding from China's military leadership. Starting 12 months after enactment, schools with such relationships would lose eligibility for DHS funds unless they terminate those ties. The bill directly affects higher education institutions hosting Confucius Institutes or partnering with the defined Chinese entities.

Maddy summaryThis bill creates a legal process allowing generic drug manufacturers to challenge inaccurate patent listings by brand-name drug companies. Specifically, it permits generic applicants to file lawsuits seeking court orders to correct or delete misleading "use codes" in patent records related to a drug's method of use. This directly affects generic drug makers and brand-name sponsors who list patents for drug applications under FDA approval pathways. The key mechanism requires courts to address listings that don't match actual patents, cover unrelated uses, or are overly broad, aiming to clear patent-related barriers for generic competition.

Maddy summaryThis bill modifies several IRS reporting and enforcement provisions. It raises the gross receipts threshold requiring organizations to report to $50,000 (from $5,000), reducing reporting burdens for many small organizations. The bill also increases penalties for unauthorized disclosure of taxpayer information to $250,000, restricts IRS enforcement funding until new tax gap projections are published, and establishes a fellowship program to recruit private sector tax experts for IRS audit task forces. Additionally, it requires the IRS to set annual targets for reducing improper tax payments and publish annual reports on these efforts.

Maddy summaryS 1134, the Creating Efficiency in Foreign Facility Inspections Act, changes how the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) conducts drug facility inspections outside the United States. It requires the FDA to generally avoid notifying foreign drug manufacturers in advance of inspections, unless required by the host country's law or needed to protect public health. The bill also limits advance notice to the minimum necessary time and requires manufacturers to waive host country advance-notice requirements if they prevent inspections. This directly affects FDA inspection practices and foreign drug manufacturers operating in countries with inspection notification laws. The changes apply to routine surveillance inspections but exclude preapproval or for-cause inspections.

Maddy summaryS 1092, the Making Education Affordable and Accessible Act of 2023, creates federal grants to expand dual enrollment and early college high school programs. It directly affects high school students, particularly those from low-income families, rural communities, and first-generation college students, by enabling them to earn college credits while still in high school. The bill authorizes grants for institutions of higher education partnering with local school districts to cover tuition, fees, books, and up to 20% of costs for transportation. Grantees must develop partnerships, design curricula, and provide outreach to increase access, with evaluations required to measure program effectiveness.

Maddy summaryThe Taxpayer Receipt Act (S 1106) requires the Treasury Secretary to send every individual who files a federal income tax return a one-page summary of the previous fiscal year's budget. This summary must include four specific items: total federal spending, total federal revenue collected, the annual deficit or surplus, and the total federal debt held by the public. The bill directly affects all U.S. taxpayers who file federal income tax returns. It creates a new administrative requirement for the Treasury to provide this standardized budget snapshot annually with tax filings.