Marsha Blackburn

Safeguarding Medicaid Act

This bill requires states and territories to implement asset verification programs to determine an individual's Medicaid eligibility.

Currently, states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico are required to have asset verification programs to determine an individual's eligibility for Medicaid if the individual is age 65 or older, blind, or disabled. The bill applies this requirement to all states and territories and to all individuals seeking Medicaid eligibility.

The bill also requires state Medicaid programs to implement resource tests to determine an individual's Medicaid eligibility (currently, such tests are prohibited except for those age 65 or older or who are blind or disabled). The resource test must conform with the resource test for determining an individual's eligibility for Supplemental Security Income, unless the state specifies a different threshold.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) must create a system to track any federal savings due to implementation of the required asset verification programs.

States that do not comply with federal requirements regarding Medicaid eligibility determinations must submit corrective action plans to the CMS.

Safe and Secure Transportation of American Energy Act

This bill expands the types of activities that are subject to criminal penalties related to damaging or destroying an interstate gas or hazardous liquid pipeline facility.

Under current law, a person who knowingly and willfully damages or destroys a pipeline facility is subject to criminal penalties, including a fine, a prison term of up to 20 years, or both. If a death results from the offense, the person may be imprisoned for any term of years or life.

Under the bill, these criminal penalties also apply to a person who knowingly and willfully

• vandalizes,

• tampers with, or

• disrupts or prevents the operation or construction of the facility.

Security and Oversight for International Landholdings Act of 2025 or the SOIL Act of 2025

This bill establishes and expands requirements for reviewing and disclosing transactions regarding foreign investments in agricultural land.

The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) must review certain investments in agricultural land held by a person (i.e., individual or entity) that is a national of, or subject to the jurisdiction of, a country (1) designated as a nonmarket economy, or (2) identified as posing a risk to the national security of the United States. Under current law, CFIUS reviews the national security implications of certain foreign investments in U.S. businesses or real estate, including critical infrastructure or technologies.

CFIUS must also review certain real estate acquisitions or transfers of an interest, other than a security, for nonresidential properties that are located within 50 miles of a military installation.

The bill also prohibits federal assistance, including subsidies, from being provided to a person for an agricultural real estate holding which is owned by any of the foreign persons specified above.

The bill requires any foreign person who enters into a leasing agreement for agricultural land that is longer than five years to report the lease to the Department of Agriculture (USDA). Current requirements only apply to agriculture land acquired or transferred.

Further, USDA must prepare and make publicly available an annual report describing agricultural land holdings by foreign persons, including specific information related to foreign persons from China and Russia.

Space National Guard Establishment Act of 2025

This bill establishes a Space National Guard as the reserve component of the U.S. Space Force, specifically in Alaska, California, Colorado, Florida, Hawaii, New York, and Ohio. The Space National Guard consists of specified units of the Air National Guard and must use existing facilities, infrastructure, and installations.

Boosting Innovation, Technology, and Competitiveness through Optimized Investment Nationwide Act of 2025 or the BITCOIN Act of 2025

This bill provides for the acquisition and storage of the cryptocurrency Bitcoin by the U.S. government.

The Department of the Treasury must purchase one million Bitcoins over a five-year period and hold the Bitcoins in trust for the United States. The bill also allows for additional acquisitions through specified transfers, forfeitures, and gifts. All Bitcoins acquired by the United States and placed into the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve must be held for at least 20 years. At the end of this period and upon the recommendation of Treasury, a percentage of the holdings may be sold to reduce the national debt. The bill also establishes exceptions to this holding period for specified Bitcoin asset distributions and splits.

The bill directs Treasury to establish a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve for the secure storage of U.S. Bitcoins. The reserve must be a decentralized network of secure facilities across the United States. Existing U.S. Bitcoin holdings must be transferred to the reserve. States may voluntarily store Bitcoin holdings in the reserve in segregated accounts.

The bill also reduces the total amount of U.S. dollars Federal Reserve banks may hold in surplus and requires Federal Reserve banks to remit a certain amount of net earnings annually to the purchase of Bitcoins.

The bill also allows the use of Treasury’s Exchange Stabilization Fund to carry out purchases made under this bill.

Veterans' Assuring Critical Care Expansions to Support Servicemembers (ACCESS) Act of 2025

This bill addresses the administration of the Veterans Community Care Program (VCCP) and other Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) health care matters.

Among other provisions regarding the VCCP, the bill

• establishes in statute access standards that determine when a veteran is eligible to receive non-VA care through the VCCP,

• requires the VA to notify veterans regarding their eligibility for care within two business days after the VA is aware the veteran is seeking care, and

• extends the deadline for the submittal of claims under the VCCP by health care entities and providers.

The VA must address its mental health treatment programs by

• establishing a standardized screening process to determine whether a veteran satisfies criteria for priority or routine admission to a mental health residential rehabilitation treatment program or a program for residential care for mental health and substance abuse disorders,

• tracking the performance of medical facilities and Veterans Integrated Service Networks in meeting the requirements for mental health treatment screenings and timely admission to treatment programs under such screenings, and

• establishing an appeal process for when a veteran is denied admission to a covered treatment program or is accepted into a program but not offered bed placement in a timely manner.

Additionally, the VA must establish an online self-service module for veterans to request and manage appointments, track referrals, and appeal and track decisions related to requests for care.

Ensuring Pathways to Innovative Cures Act of 2025 or the EPIC Act of 2025

This bill lengthens the amount of time for which drug products must have market approval in order for the products to qualify for negotiation under the Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Program.

The Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Program requires the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to negotiate the prices of certain prescription drugs under Medicare beginning in 2026. Among other requirements, drugs must have had market approval for at least 7 years (for drug products) or 11 years (for biologics) to qualify for negotiation.

The bill modifies these provisions so as to require drug products to also have had at least 11 years of market approval in order to qualify for negotiation beginning in 2028.

Fighting Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Act of 2025

This bill requires the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services within the Department of Justice (DOJ) to report on one or more proposed programs for providing mental health care to public safety officers and related personnel.

Under the bill, a proposed program must be administered by DOJ and must make treatment and preventative care available to public safety officers and public safety telecommunicators for job-related post-traumatic stress disorder or acute stress disorder.

The bill requires the report to also include draft legislative language related to each proposed program, as well as the estimated cost for administering each proposed program.

Ensuring Accountability and Dignity in Government Contracting Act of 2025

This bill expands executive agency requirements to counter human trafficking connected to recipients of federal contracts, grants, or cooperative agreements.

Federal law currently prohibits an executive agency from entering into a grant, contract, or cooperative agreement if the estimated value of the services to be performed outside the United States exceeds $500,000 unless a designated representative of the recipient certifies that the recipient has taken certain actions, including implementing a plan to prevent human trafficking.

This bill requires that the recipient provide a copy of such plan to the contracting or grant office at the time of certification.

The designated representative of the recipient must report to the contracting or grant office if the recipient or the recipient's subcontractor, subgrantee, or agent engages in trafficking activities. The report must include the circumstances surrounding such activities and any remedial actions taken. The agency's office of the inspector general must conduct an investigation of the reported activities and remedial actions and must also notify the agency head office and the agency suspension and debarment office if an investigation was not completed because the recipient acknowledged the activity and took appropriate remedial action.

Additionally, the bill specifies that (1) the recipient's failure to take appropriate remedial action constitutes grounds for imposing certain penalties, and (2) the agency must suspend grant, contract, or cooperative agreement payments to the recipient until the recipient takes appropriate remedial action (under current law, suspending payments is optional).

Guarding Readiness Resources Act

This bill modifies the treatment of funds received by the National Guard Bureau as a reimbursement from a state or other U.S. territory (e.g., Guam) for the use of military property.

Specifically, the funds must be credited to (1) the appropriation, fund, or account used in incurring the obligation; or (2) an appropriation, fund, or account currently available for the purposes of which the expenditures were made. Further, the funds may only be used by the Department of Defense for the repair, maintenance, replacement, or other similar functions related directly to assets used by National Guard units while operating under state active duty status.

Book Minimum Tax Repeal Act

This bill repeals the corporate alternative minimum tax (CAMT) and makes related modifications to the general business tax credit.

Under current law, a 15% CAMT is imposed on a corporation with adjusted financial statement income (also known as book income) exceeding an average of $1 billion for a consecutive three-year period (or an average of $100 million for a U.S. corporation that is part of a foreign parent multinational group if the adjusted financial statement income of such group exceeds an average of $1 billion for a consecutive three-year period). Adjusted financial statement income generally is the net income or loss reported on the corporation’s applicable financial statement for a tax year, with adjustments for specific items.

The bill repeals the CAMT and modifies a related limit on the amount of general business tax credits allowed for a corporation.

LEOSA Reform Act

This bill broadens the authority for certain individuals to carry concealed firearms in school zones and across state lines.

Specifically, the bill exempts the following categories of individuals from the federal prohibition on possessing (or discharging) a firearm in a school zone:

• certain active and retired law enforcement officers who are authorized to carry concealed firearms under federal law, and

• individuals who are allowed to carry concealed firearms under the law of a state.

Additionally, the bill allows qualified active and retired law enforcement officers to carry concealed firearms and ammunition (including magazines) in national parks; on state, local, or private property that is open to the public; and in certain federal facilities that are open to the public.

Finally, the bill permits states to reduce the frequency with which retired law enforcement officers must meet certain qualification standards.

Accelerating Kids’ Access to Care Act

This bill requires states to establish a process through which qualifying out-of-state providers may temporarily treat children under Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) without undergoing additional screening requirements.

Specifically, states must establish a process through which qualifying out-of-state providers may enroll for five years as participating providers to treat individuals under the age of 21 without undergoing additional screening requirements.

A qualifying out-of-state provider (1) must not have been excluded or terminated from participating in a federal health care program or state Medicaid program; and (2) must have been successfully enrolled in Medicare or a state Medicaid program based on a determination that the provider posed a limited risk of fraud, waste, or abuse.

The bill’s changes take effect three years after enactment.

Dangerous Viral Gain of Function Research Moratorium Act

This bill prohibits institutions of higher education or other research institutes that are conducting gain-of-function research from receiving federal research grants. Gain-of-function research means research that (1) involves the genetic alteration of specified viruses, agents, and toxins (e.g., coronavirus) to change or enhance their functions, such as their ability to cause or spread disease; or (2) may reasonably be anticipated to give new traits to such organisms that enhance such functions or otherwise threaten public health or national security.

This joint resolution nullifies the Environmental Protection Agency rule titled National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants: Rubber Tire Manufacturing (89 Fed. Reg. 94886) and published on November 29, 2024. The rule addresses the decision in Louisiana Environmental Action Network v. EPA (D.C. Cir. 2020) by implementing emissions standards for the rubber processing subcategory of the rubber tire manufacturing industry to ensure all emissions of hazardous air pollutants from sources in the source category are regulated.

Enhancing First Response Act

This bill requires the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to report on certain activations of the Disaster Information Reporting System (DIRS). DIRS is a reporting system that is activated during severe weather and other events impacting communications service and enables communications providers to report outages and other degradations to service.

If the system was activated for at least seven days, the FCC must issue a preliminary report that includes information about the number, duration, and nature of all associated outages. The FCC must also hold at least one public field hearing in the area affected by the event, and it must issue a final report that includes recommendations for improving the resiliency of affected networks or recovery efforts.

Separately, the FCC must publish a general report on (1) the volume and nature of 9-1-1 outages that are not required to be reported under current outage notification rules, and (2) the value to public safety agencies of the inclusion of visual information in outage notifications from communications providers.

The bill also requires the Office of Management and Budget, by 30 days after the bill's enactment, to categorize public safety telecommunicators as a protective service occupation under the Standard Occupational Classification System.

Finally, the Office of the Inspector General of the FCC is directed to publish a report on the implementation of Kari’s Law, which requires multiline telephone systems to be preconfigured to allow users to dial 9-1-1 directly from any phone without dialing any additional code or prefix.

Broadband Buildout Accountability Act

This bill makes actions or decisions of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration concerning the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment Program subject to the Freedom of Information Act, which governs the release of federal documents.