Tammy Baldwin

Improving Access to Transfusion Care for Hospice Patients Act of 2025

This bill requires the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMMI) to test a model under which blood transfusions furnished to an individual receiving hospice care are paid separately from the hospice all-inclusive per diem payment under Medicare. The CMMI must evaluate the model by comparing patients participating in the model with those outside of the model in relation to specified metrics, such as hospital utilization and days of hospice care before the end of life.

Expanding Access to Palliative Care Act

This bill requires the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMMI) to test a model that provides community-based palliative care and care coordination for high-risk Medicare beneficiaries and that may replace the Medicare Care Choices Model (which ended on December 31, 2021).

Under the new model, multi-disciplinary teams must provide coordinated, palliative care that is available 24-7 for Medicare beneficiaries with serious illnesses or injuries, such as cancer. The CMMI must evaluate the model by comparing patients participating in the model with those outside of the model in relation to specified metrics, including the election and duration of hospice care.

This resolution supports the designation of National Gun Violence Awareness Month and the designation of National Gun Violence Awareness Day.

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.

Innovative Feed Enhancement and Economic Development Act of 2025 or the Innovative FEED Act of 2025

This bill provides for the regulation of zootechnical animal food substances as food additives.

The bill defines zootechnical animal food substance as a substance that is added to the food or drinking water of animals and that affects only the animal's gastrointestinal tract, with the intended purpose of affecting the byproducts of the animal's digestion, reducing foodborne pathogens, or altering the animal's gastrointestinal biome.

The definition does not include substances that are used to treat or prevent diseases in animals, hormones, or active ingredients of animal drugs. Labels for zootechnical animal food substances must include a disclaimer that the substance may not be used to treat or prevent diseases in animals.

Vote at Home Act of 2025

This bill expands voting by mail in federal elections and provides for automatic voter registration through state motor vehicle authorities.

Specifically, the bill prohibits states from imposing additional conditions or requirements on the eligibility of individuals to cast ballots by mail in federal elections, except states may impose a deadline for requesting the ballot and related voting materials and for returning a ballot.

Further, states must mail ballots to individuals registered to vote in a federal election not later than two weeks before the election.

In addition, the U.S. Postal Service must carry ballots for federal elections expeditiously and free of postage.

Finally, the bill provides for automatic voter registration of individuals through state motor vehicle authorities.

Title VIII Nursing Workforce Reauthorization Act of 2026

This bill reauthorizes through FY2031, revises, and establishes programs that support recruitment, education, retention, and advanced practices of nurses and nursing school faculty.

Specifically, the bill reauthorizes programs within the Health Resources and Services Administration that provide grants to support increased enrollment in nursing education (including for individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds), advanced nursing education and specialized training, nurse retention, and enhanced patient care. The bill also reauthorizes programs that support student loan repayment and scholarships for nurses who agree to work at facilities with critical nursing shortages and nursing faculty who work at accredited schools of nursing.

Also, the bill expands certain grants to include (1) training on the use of new technologies such as telehealth and virtual resources, and (2) care for survivors of sexual assault.

Additionally, the bill temporarily establishes (1) grants to nursing schools for supplementing the salaries of eligible faculty for a period of up to three years to enhance faculty recruitment and retention, and (2) grants to state agencies, nonprofits, and nursing schools for establishing nursing workforce centers and collecting data regarding the nursing workforce.

Love Lives On Act of 2025

This bill extends entitlement for various benefit programs and services for surviving spouses of deceased members of the Armed Forces or veterans.

The bill provides that the remarriage of a surviving spouse must not bar the furnishing of dependency and indemnity compensation or special pension benefits to such spouse.

Additionally, the Department of Defense may not terminate the payment of an annuity for a surviving spouse under the Survivor Benefit Plan solely because the surviving spouse remarries.

The bill also expands the definition of a dependent under TRICARE to include a remarried widow or widower whose subsequent marriage has ended due to death, divorce, or annulment.

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.

Supreme Court Ethics, Recusal, and Transparency Act of 2025

This bill makes various changes related to the ethical standards, financial disclosure requirements, and recusal requirements that apply to Supreme Court Justices.

Among the changes, the bill requires the Supreme Court to

• adopt a code of conduct for Justices and establish procedures to receive and investigate complaints of judicial misconduct;

• adopt rules governing the disclosure of gifts, income, or reimbursements received by the Justices and law clerks that are at least as rigorous as the House and Senate disclosure rules; and

• establish procedural rules requiring each party or amicus to disclose any gift, income, or reimbursement provided to Justices.

Additionally, the bill

• expands the circumstances under which a Justice or judge must be disqualified; and

• requires the Supreme Court and the Judicial Conference to establish procedural rules for prohibiting the filing of or striking an amicus brief that would result in the disqualification of a Justice, judge, or magistrate judge.

9/11 Responder and Survivor Health Funding Correction Act of 2025

This bill modifies the World Trade Center Health Program (WTCHP), including by updating the formula for determining the program’s annual funding amounts and authorizing mental health providers to provide certain evaluations under the program.

The WTCHP is a federal health care program (terminating in FY2090) providing responders and survivors with monitoring and treatment of certified medical conditions related to the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001. Under current law, the program’s annual federal funding is determined based on the amount specifically appropriated in the previous fiscal year, adjusted for inflation.

The bill establishes a new federal funding formula for FY2026-FY2090 that is generally based on annual changes in the number of enrollees. The bill also increases the amounts the program may spend annually on medical research and activities relating to data collection. The bill requires the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), which administers the program, to submit a report to Congress on the program’s projected budgetary needs and expenditures.

In addition, the bill authorizes licensed mental health providers to perform initial health evaluations with respect to mental health conditions for purposes of determining eligibility under the WTCHP. NIOSH must issue regulations specifying the categories of mental health providers that may perform these activities.

Safeguarding Transit Operations to Prohibit China Act or the STOP China Act

This bill prohibits federal transportation funds from being used to purchase rolling stock (e.g., rail cars or buses) or fueling or charging infrastructure from entities with ties to China, North Korea, Russia, or Iran (i.e., a covered nation). In general, this replaces a current prohibition on the use of Federal Transportation Administration (FTA) funds for rolling stock from manufacturers owned or controlled by corporations based in certain countries.

Specifically, Department of Transportation (DOT) funds, which include FTA funds, may not be used for the purchase of rolling stock or bus fueling or charging infrastructure from entities with ties to a covered nation. This prohibition also applies to vehicles that incorporate electric power trains from such entities.

The prohibition broadly applies to corporations, joint ventures, individuals, and organizations with ties to covered nations. Examples of applicable entities include an individual whose activities are directed or financed by a covered nation or an entity that is owned or controlled by a covered nation or such an individual.

The United States Trade Representative (USTR) must publish a list of the applicable entities and update the list annually.

The bill includes an exception for motor vehicles or fueling and charging stations used for (1) inspecting or investigating vehicles or equipment; or (2) vehicle safety research, development, or testing.

This resolution recognizes the significance of Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Heritage Month as an important time to celebrate the significant contributions of Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders to the history of the United States.

Lumbee Fairness Act

This bill extends federal recognition to the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina and makes its members eligible for the services and benefits provided to members of federally recognized tribes.

Members of the tribe residing in Robeson, Cumberland, Hoke, and Scotland Counties in North Carolina are deemed to be within the delivery area for such services.

The Department of the Interior and the Department of Health and Human Services must develop, in consultation with the tribe, a determination of needs to provide the services for which members of the tribe are eligible.

Interior may take land into trust for the benefit of the tribe.

Finally, North Carolina must exercise jurisdiction over all criminal offenses committed, and all civil actions that arise, on North Carolina lands owned by, or held in trust for, the Lumbee Tribe or any dependent Indian community of the tribe unless jurisdiction is transferred to the United States pursuant to an agreement between the tribe and the state.