Burgess Owens

Major Richard Star Act

This bill allows a veteran with a combat-related disability to receive retirement pay, without reduction, concurrently with their disability compensation. This includes veterans with a combat-related disability and fewer than 20 years of creditable service. (Currently, veterans who receive combat-related special compensation and retirement pay are subject to an offset in retirement pay for concurrent receipt of such benefits.)

Crucial Communism Teaching Act

This bill directs the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation to develop a civic education curriculum and oral history resources for high school students to promote understanding of certain political ideologies (e.g., communism and totalitarianism) that conflict with principles of U.S. democracy.

TAP Promotion Act

This bill requires that pre-separation counseling under the Transition Assistance Program include a presentation that promotes the benefits available to veterans from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). The bill also requires the VA to annually report on the presentation to (1) identify veterans service organizations that participate, (2) provide the number of members of the Armed Forces who attend, and (3) provide any recommendations for changes to the presentation.

Give Kids a Chance Act of 2025

This bill expands the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA’s) authority with respect to research on rare pediatric diseases, including by permitting the FDA to take enforcement action against drug sponsors that fail to satisfy pediatric study requirements and by reauthorizing programs that support pediatric research.

Specifically, the bill

• modifies requirements relating to molecularly targeted pediatric cancer investigations to permit research on new drugs in combination with active ingredients that have already been approved, provided certain conditions are met;

• permits the FDA to take enforcement action against drug sponsors that fail to comply with pediatric study requirements, if such sponsors demonstrated a lack of due diligence in satisfying the requirement;

• renews the FDA’s authority to award priority review vouchers to sponsors of new products intended to treat rare pediatric diseases through September 30, 2029; and

• reauthorizes through FY2027 certain funding for the National Institutes of Health to support priority pediatric research.

The bill also provides statutory authority for the FDA’s interpretation of the orphan drug exclusivity period. The bill specifies, consistent with FDA regulations, that the seven-year market exclusivity period for drugs for rare diseases or conditions (i.e., orphan drugs) prohibits the approval of the same drug for the same approved use or indication with respect to the disease or condition. (In Catalyst Pharmaceuticals, Inc. v. Becerra, a court rejected the FDA’s interpretation and held that orphan drug exclusivity extends to all uses or indications for the disease or condition.)

Anti-CBDC Surveillance State Act

This bill prohibits a Federal Reserve bank from offering products or services directly to an individual, maintaining an account on behalf of an individual, or issuing a central bank digital currency (i.e., a digital dollar). Further, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System is prohibited from using a central bank digital currency to implement monetary policy or from testing, studying, creating, or implementing a central bank digital currency, with exceptions as provided by the bill.

This resolution censures Representative Al Green.

Guard and Reserve GI Bill Parity Act of 2025

This bill expands eligibility for Post-9/11 educational assistance for members of the reserve components of the Armed Forces and members of the National Guard. Specifically, the bill expands the types of activities that count towards Post-9/11 GI Bill eligibility to include active duty, inactive-duty training, annual training duty, and full-time National Guard duty or active duty. (Generally, under current law, only federal active duty counts towards educational assistance eligibility.)

This bill prohibits using federal funds to finalize, implement, administer, or enforce the proposed determination and proposed rule on Salmonella in raw poultry products. The Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) proposed the rule and the determination in the proposed Salmonella Framework for Raw Poultry Products that was published on August 7, 2024.

The FSIS's proposed determination declares raw chicken carcasses, chicken parts, ground chicken, and ground turkey products that contain certain types and levels of Salmonella as adulterated, thus prohibiting these products from entering commerce.

The FSIS's proposed rule would revise the current regulations on how poultry slaughter establishments monitor and document microbial contamination throughout the slaughter and dressing operation. This includes new requirements for microbial monitoring programs, increased sampling and testing, and additional recordkeeping.

Federal Firearms Licensee Protection Act of 2025

This bill modifies criminal penalties for an offense involving the theft of a firearm from a licensed importer, manufacturer, or dealer, or from their business premises.

Specifically, the bill does the following:

• increases from 10 to 20 years the maximum prison term, and

• creates a 3- or 5-year mandatory minimum prison term for an offense that occurs during the commission of a burglary or robbery.

An attempt to commit an offense is subject to the same penalties as a substantive offense.

Enhanced Iran Sanctions Act of 2025

This bill imposes sanctions on certain foreign persons (individuals and entities) that are involved in Iran's petroleum sector as well as certain associated persons. The bill also requires or authorizes actions to facilitate the enforcement of sanctions on Iran.

Specifically, the bill requires the President to impose visa- and property-blocking sanctions on any foreign person that, after the bill's enactment, knowingly engages in any transaction related to the processing, export, or sale of oil, condensates, gas, liquefied natural gas, or other petrochemical products in whole or in part from Iran. The President must also impose sanctions on certain foreign persons associated with a sanctioned individual or entity. For example, the President must sanction the subsidiaries and corporate officers of a sanctioned business.

The bill provides certain exceptions to these sanctions, including specifying that sanctions do not apply to the importation of goods or to conducting or facilitating transactions for humanitarian assistance.

The Department of State must establish an interagency working group that shall seek to establish a multilateral contact group to coordinate international efforts to enforce sanctions on Iran.

The bill expands the State Department rewards program to authorize a reward payment to any individual who furnishes information leading to the identification of a person (1) subject to sanctions under this bill, or (2) that has attempted or is attempting to evade sanctions under this bill.

This bill directs the Bureau of Reclamation and the Western Area Power Administration, in consultation with the Glen Canyon Dam Adaptive Management Work Group, to enter into a memorandum of understanding to explore and address the impact that the 2024 record of decision entitled Supplement to the 2016 Glen Canyon Dam Long-Term Experimental and Management Plan Record of Decision has on the Upper Colorado River Basin Fund. The memorandum of understanding must include a plan to (1) address the effects that the decision may have on the fund's obligations, (2) address the impact that the decision has on hydropower production at Glen Canyon Dam, and (3) identify impacts that the decision has had on species listed as threatened or endangered species.

By way of background, Reclamation published a Final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS) under the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 for the Glen Canyon Dam Long-Term Experimental and Management Plan (LTEMP) in 2024. The SEIS revises the 2016 LTEMP Record of Decision to address two issues: (1) responding to the threat of the invasive smallmouth bass below Glen Canyon Dam, and (2) incorporating the latest sediment science to assess when high-flow experiments should be conducted in order to protect the endangered humpback chub.

This resolution expresses condolences to the families, friends, and loved ones of the victims of the crash of American Eagle Flight 5342 and the U.S. Army helicopter flying under the call sign PAT 25 near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport on January 29, 2025.

The resolution also commends the heroic actions of the first responders, emergency services personnel, and all those who aided in the recovery efforts.

Stop the Censorship Act

This bill limits the federal liability protection afforded to providers and users of interactive computer services (e.g., social media companies) for their efforts to screen and block objectionable content. This liability protection is often referred to as Section 230 protection.

Specifically, the bill eliminates the existing liability protection for providers and users that take voluntary, good faith action to screen and block material they deem obscene, lewd, lascivious, excessively violent, harassing, or otherwise objectionable (or that make available the technical means to screen and block such content).

The bill instead provides liability protection to providers and users (1) that take voluntary, good faith action to screen and block unlawful material (or that make available the technical means to do so), or (2) that provide users with the option to screen or block any other material.

Falun Gong Protection Act

This bill requires the President to impose visa- and property-blocking sanctions on foreign persons that have knowingly and directly engaged in or facilitated the involuntary harvesting of organs in China.

Sanctions may not be imposed on the importation of goods or with respect to specified transactions related to humanitarian assistance.

The authority to impose sanctions under this bill expires five years after enactment.

Disengaging Entirely From the United Nations Debacle Act of 2025 or the DEFUND Act of 2025

This bill directs the President to terminate U.S. membership in the United Nations (U.N.) and all formally affiliated bodies. It also ends U.S. participation in all U.N. conventions and agreements.

Funds may be appropriated to facilitate U.S. withdrawal from the U.N. No funds may be made available for contributions or payments to any U.N. body.

The bill prohibits U.S. participation in any U.N. peacekeeping operation.

The bill also repeals diplomatic immunity for officers and employees of the U.N. and for officers and employees of foreign government missions to the U.N.

The bill repeals various acts related to the U.N., including the United Nations Participation Act of 1945, the United Nations Headquarters Agreement Act, and a joint resolution establishing U.S. membership in the World Health Organization.

The United States may not rejoin the U.N. or any formally affiliated body without the advice and consent of the Senate. Any agreement to rejoin the U.N. or a formally affiliated body must include the right of the United States to withdraw from the agreement.

Veterans 2nd Amendment Protection Act

This bill prohibits the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) from transmitting certain information to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) utilized by licensed importers or dealers of firearms.

Specifically, the bill prohibits the VA from transmitting personally identifying information of a veteran or a beneficiary to the NICS solely on the basis that such veteran or beneficiary has an appointed fiduciary to manage their benefits, unless there is an order or finding of a judicial authority that such veteran or beneficiary is a danger to themselves or others.

This resolution designates the House of Representatives Press Gallery (rooms H-315, H-316, H-317, H-318, and H-319) as the Frederick Douglass Press Gallery.

Medicare Patient Access and Practice Stabilization Act of 2025

This bill increases certain payment adjustments under the Medicare physician fee schedule for services furnished between April 1, 2025, and January 1, 2026.