Michael Baumgartner

Improving Seniors' Timely Access to Care Act of 2025

This bill establishes several requirements and standards relating to prior authorization processes under Medicare Advantage (MA) plans.

Specifically, MA plans must (1) establish an electronic prior authorization program that meets specified standards; (2) annually submit to the CMS for publication specified prior authorization information, including the percentage of requests approved and the average response time; and (3) meet other standards, as set by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), relating to the quality and timeliness of prior authorization determinations.

The CMS and the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology must publish on the CMS' website a report that analyzes the information received from MA plans, the feasibility of implementing real-time decision making with respect to prior authorization requests, and the impact of decisions that are made using artificial intelligence on patient access.

This bill specifies a legal standard for determining whether an individual is considered an independent contractor rather than an employee for the purposes of federal labor laws that address issues such as the federal minimum wage, overtime compensation, and collective bargaining. The rights and protections provided by these laws exclusively apply to employees.

Under the bill, an individual is considered an independent contractor if (1) another individual or entity does not exercise significant control over the details of how the individual's work is performed, without regard to any control the other individual or entity may exercise over the final result of the work performed; and (2) while performing such work, the individual has opportunities and risks inherent with entrepreneurship (for example, the discretion to exercise professional judgment).

The bill also sets forth factors that may not be used to determine whether an individual is an employee. Specifically, factors such as whether another individual or entity requires the individual to meet certain legal, health and safety, insurance, or performance requirements may not be used to make such a determination.

Pet and Livestock Protection Act of 2025

This bill directs the Department of the Interior to remove protections for the gray wolf under the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (ESA). Specifically, the bill requires Interior to reissue the final rule titled Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Removing the Gray Wolf (Canis lupus) From the List of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and published on November 3, 2020.

The rule removed the gray wolf in the lower 48 United States, except for the Mexican wolf (C. l. baileyi) subspecies, from the endangered and threatened species list. However, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California vacated the rule on February 10, 2022. As a result, the gray wolf reattained the protection status it had prior to the rule's promulgation.

The bill also prohibits the reissuance of the rule from being subject to judicial review.

Resident Education Deferred Interest Act or the REDI Act

This bill allows borrowers in medical or dental internships or residency programs to defer student loan payments until the completion of their programs.

Energy Choice Act

This bill prohibits a state or local government from banning or limiting the connection, reconnection, modification, installation, transportation, distribution, expansion, or access to an energy service based on the type or source of energy (e.g., natural gas) that is sold.

Freedom to Invest in Tomorrow’s Workforce Act

This bill expands the expenses eligible for tax-free withdrawals from a qualified tuition program (known as a 529 plan) to include tuition, fees (including test fees), books, supplies, equipment, and other expenses related to the enrollment or attendance in a recognized postsecondary credentialing program.

Under the bill, a recognized postsecondary credentialing program includes certain programs identified by a state as providing training services, a program listed in the Web Enabled Approval Management System (WEAMS) maintained by the Department of Veterans Affairs, certain examinations required to obtain or maintain a credential, and other reputable credentialing programs.

Further, under the bill, such programs must be designed for an individual to obtain

• an industry-recognized postsecondary employment credential (e.g., project management professional certificate, advanced emergency medical technician certificate, and welding supervisor certificate),

• a certificate of completion of a registered and certified apprenticeship,

• an occupational or professional license issued or recognized by a state or the federal government (and any certification required for obtaining such license), or

• an associate or baccalaureate degree.

Fentanyl Awareness for Children and Teens in Schools Act or the FACTS Act

This bill establishes grant programs and requires strategies and studies to address the misuse of synthetic opioids (i.e., laboratory-derived substances such as fentanyl and its derivatives) among youth.

The bill requires the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to award grants to partnerships between educational and health organizations for prevention, treatment, and recovery efforts related to the use of synthetic opioids by middle and high school-aged children. It also allows school-based health centers to use existing HHS grants to purchase naloxone to reverse the effects of opioid overdoses and to establish programs to address misuse of synthetic opioids.

Also, the bill authorizes state educational agencies to use certain Department of Education (ED) grant funds to provide training to school personnel on addressing students’ misuse of synthetic opioids. State and local educational agencies must also address such misuse in their educational plans in order to qualify for certain ED grants.

Finally, the bill (1) establishes an interagency taskforce to coordinate federal efforts to address synthetic opioid misuse among youth, (2) requires an evaluation of the State Unintentional Drug Overdose Reporting System’s effectiveness in identifying the specific synthetic opioids causing youth overdoses, (3) expands the data reported by the National Center for Education Statistics to include information about the use of synthetic opioids in schools, and (4) requires two recurring HHS surveys to include questions on youth exposure to synthetic opioids.

Conrad State 30 and Physician Access Reauthorization Act

This bill modifies the Conrad 30 Waiver program, which incentivizes qualified foreign physicians to serve in underserved communities. It also extends statutory authority for the program for three years from this bill's enactment.

Individuals coming to the United States under a J-1 nonimmigrant visa to receive medical training typically must leave the country and reside for two years abroad before being eligible to apply for an immigrant visa or permanent residence. The Conrad program waives this requirement for individuals who meet certain qualifications, including serving for a number of years at a health care facility in an underserved area.

The bill increases the number of waivers that a state may obtain each fiscal year from 30 to 35 if a certain number of waivers were used the previous year, and provides for further adjustments depending on demand.

A physician may be employed at an academic medical center to meet the Conrad program's employment requirements if the physician's work is in the public interest, even if the medical center is not in an underserved area.

Employment contracts for physicians under the Conrad program shall contain certain information, such as the maximum number of on-call hours per week the physician shall have to work.

Certain physicians (along with the physician's spouse and children) shall be exempt from the direct annual numerical limits on immigration, including those physicians that have met certain requirements related to visas for physicians to serve in underserved areas.

American Ownership and Resilience Act

This bill creates an investment facility to support the conversion of private businesses into employee-owned businesses.

Specifically, the Department of Commerce must establish an investment facility that provides leverage to ownership investment companies (OICs) licensed by Commerce.

Under the bill, OICs

• manage capital for the purpose of financing the sale of a private business to an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) or eligible worker-owned cooperative,

• have the authority to borrow money and issue securities or other obligations to finance the sale, and

• have the full faith and credit of the United States to guarantee the payment of all such amounts.

In a sale to an ESOP, an independent trustee must be appointed to obtain a fairness opinion on the investment from an independent financial advisor.

New OICs may be mentored by other OICs through the Protégé OIC program established by the bill.

The bill also establishes private capital requirements, third-party debt limitations, and enforcement provisions.

United States-Israel Defense Partnership Act of 2025

This bill requires or authorizes certain actions to increase defense-related cooperation between the United States and Israel.

Specifically, the bill requires the Department of Defense (DOD) to

• establish a cooperative program, with the concurrence of Israel's Ministry of Defense (MOD), to develop and deploy advanced technologies for countering unmanned systems that threaten the United States and Israel;

• establish in Israel an office of the Defense Innovation Unit (an organization that focuses on rapidly fielding and scaling commercial technology across the U.S. military); and

• seek to engage Israel's MOD on the ascension of Israel into the national technology and industrial base (currently defined in law as the persons and organizations engaged in research, development, production, integration, services, or information technology activities conducted within the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada).

The bill authorizes DOD, upon request of Israel's MOD, to jointly conduct research, development, test, and evaluation (RDT&E) of emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence and robotics to meet defense challenges.

Additionally, the bill extends the authority for DOD to (1) carry out RDT&E on a joint basis with Israel to establish anti-tunnel and counter unmanned aerial systems capabilities through 2028, and (2) transfer defense articles intended for use as reserve stocks for Israel through January 1, 2029.

Antisemitism Awareness Act of 2025

This bill provides statutory authority for the requirement that the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights take into consideration the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance's (IHRA's) working definition of antisemitism when reviewing or investigating complaints of discrimination based on race, color, or national origin in programs or activities that receive federal financial assistance. According to the IHRA's working definition, antisemitism is a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews.

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.

The bill's changes apply retroactively.