Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman Jamie Raskin (MD-08)
Rep. Raskin’s On-Demand Webinar on Trump-Musk Attacks on the LGBTQIA+ Community | Press Releases | Congressman Jamie Raskin
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Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman Hakeem Jeffries (8th District of New York)
Know Your Immigration Rights
If you or a loved one encounter immigration enforcement officials, it is essential that you know your rights and have prepared your household for all possible outcomes.
Ask for a warrant: The Fourth Amendment of the Constitution protects you from unreasonable search and seizure. You do not have to open your door until you see a valid warrant to enter your home or search your belongings.
Your right to remain silent: The Fifth Amendment protects your right to remain silent and not incriminate yourself. You are not required to share any personal information such as your place of birth, immigration status or criminal history.
Always consult an attorney: You have a right to speak with an attorney. You do not have to sign anything or hand officials any documents without speaking to an attorney. Try to identify and consult one in advance.
The New York City Office of Civil Justice and the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs (MOIA) support a variety of free immigration legal services through local nonprofit legal organizations. To access these resources, dial 311 and say “Action NYC,” call the MOIA Immigration Legal Support Hotline at 800-354-0365 Monday through Friday from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. or visit MOIA’s website.
Learn more here: KNOW YOUR IMMIGRATION RIGHTS – Congressman Hakeem Jeffries
Source: United States House of Representatives – Representative Mike Kelly (R-PA)
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, U.S. Rep. Mike Kelly (R-PA), along with Reps. Yvette Clarke (D-NY), Neal Dunn, M.D. (R-FL), Danny Davis (D-IL), John Joyce, M.D. (R-PA), and Raul Ruiz (D-CA) announced the reintroduction of the Restore Protections for Dialysis Patients Act, bipartisan legislation which aims to ensure that individuals with End Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) continue to have equitable access to private healthcare and to provide protection of the Medicare Trust Fund.
The legislation follows a 2022 Supreme Court ruling that has allowed private health plans to prematurely force ESRD patients onto Medicare, creating disruption in coverage for patients and their families and shifting a significant financial burden onto taxpayers.
“This legislation is critical for Americans living with End Stage Renal Disease and who rely on dialysis,” said Rep. Kelly. “Patients deserve to know their benefits will be in place when they need them. This legislation will improve both patient care and patient outcomes. I want to thank my House colleagues for joining me on this vital legislation.”
“The tens of millions of Americans across our nation today who are fighting kidney disease should not face the danger of a disruption in coverage due to reasons beyond their control. It’s clear these individuals – who disproportionately belong to communities of color – are relying on Congress to stand up for them and protect their equitable access to necessary healthcare. I’m proud to support this bipartisan solution to ensure every American on dialysis has the care they need to live the lives they deserve,” said Congresswoman Clarke.
“ESRD patients should not be concerned that they will be forced off their health insurance plan while seeking lifesaving dialysis treatments,” said Congressman Dunn. “I am proud to support this legislation to ensure that patients who depend on dialysis can focus on their treatment without worrying about their health insurance coverage.”
“The hundreds of thousands of patients throughout the country who rely on regular dialysis treatments should never be in fear of losing their access to care,” said Rep. Joyce, M.D. “The Restore Protections for Dialysis Patients Act would ensure that patients with End Stage Renal Disease have access to the treatments they need.”
“I thank members of Congress for introducing the Restore Protections for Dialysis Patients Act, which will ensure insurance plans provide life-sustaining care to dialysis patients,” said LaVarne Burton, President & CEO of the American Kidney Fund (AKF). “This critical legislation will ensure that the Medicare Secondary Payer Act (MSPA) is working for the benefit of those it was intended to protect.”
“MSPA effectively protected patients with the option to stay on their private insurance plan as they navigated their life-altering diagnosis of kidney failure, but we’ve unfortunately seen that protection upended,” said Mahesh Krishnan, MD, MPH, MBA, Chair of Kidney Care Partners. “Now, we encourage all lawmakers to work together to restore critical protections for patients with kidney failure by passing the Restore Protections for Dialysis Patients Act without delay.”
Rep. Kelly first introduced this legislation in December 2023.
You can read the bill text here.
BACKGROUND
Source: United States House of Representatives – Representative Mike Kelly (R-PA)
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, U.S. Reps. Mike Kelly (R-PA) and Greg Murphy, M.D. (R-NC), members of the Ways & Means Subcommittee on Health, and Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) announced the introduction of the Health Care Sharing Ministry Tax Parity Act. The legislation would allow American taxpayers who are members of the Health Care Sharing Ministries (HCSMs) to deduct payments made as part of their ministry membership in their taxes by classifying regular HCSM expenses as eligible medical care expenses.
“Americans should have choices when it comes to their health care. For many families, traditional insurance is a great option. For some, however, particularly people of faith, alternative options such as Health Care Sharing Ministries more closely align with their values,” said Rep. Kelly. “This legislation preserves that choice for families by allowing them to deduct payments made as part of their ministry membership in their taxes by classifying regular ministry expenses as medical care expenses. It’s time we focus on initiatives that reintroduce freedom and dignity back to our health care system.”
“Expanding options for Americans to cover health care costs is essential to consumer freedom and creating competition in the marketplace,” said Congressman Greg Murphy, M.D. “Individuals who opt to utilize health care sharing ministries deserve the same tax benefits those who have traditional health insurance enjoy. I am grateful for Chairman Kelly’s leadership on this issue and support the Health Care Sharing Ministry Tax Parity Act.”
“Unfairly, Americans have been historically penalized by the tax code when they chose to use faith-based health care sharing ministries to meet their healthcare needs. The Health Care Sharing Ministry Tax Parity Act will remedy this problem, ensuring Americans are no longer disadvantaged by the tax code for their religious beliefs,” said Rep. Smith.
Learn more about the bill here.
BACKGROUND
Health Care Sharing Ministries (HCSM) are tax-exempt, faith-based charities that help facilitate payments for medical care bills. Members of the Ministry agree to make sharing contributions that are used to pay for the medical expenses of members. Ministries have a variety of sharing guidelines and operational processes, including processes that help members pay fair and equitable prices for healthcare services in accordance with their religious and ethical beliefs.
Health Care Sharing Ministries are an important option for consumers and an estimated 1.3 million Americans are members of Health Care Sharing Ministries and assist with the sharing of over $1 billion in medical expenses a year. Under current law, they are not entitled to certain benefits, including deducting HCSM membership expenses as medical expenses on their tax returns. This bill will solve this issue by enabling HCSM members to include ministry expenses as part of their medical expenses.
Source: United States House of Representatives – Representative Mike Kelly (R-PA)
WASHINGTON, D.C. — On Wednesday, Congressional Friends of Ireland Caucus Co-Chairs U.S. Representatives Mike Kelly (R-PA) and Richard Neal (D-MA) joined Speaker Mike Johnson to welcome President Donald Trump to Capitol Hill for the annual Friends of Ireland Luncheon.
American leaders held the luncheon in honor of His Excellency Micheál Martin, Taoiseach of Ireland, who is visiting Washington this week ahead of the St. Patrick’s Day holiday on March 17.
“It is an honor to welcome President Trump and The Taoiseach to Capitol Hill to further strengthen our diplomatic relations between the United States and Ireland, which date back a century,” Rep. Kelly said. “The Congressional Friends of Ireland Caucus will continue to play a critical role in upholding the diplomatic principles between our two nations.”
Last month, Chairmen Kelly and Neal formally announced the relaunch of the Congressional Friends of Ireland Caucus in the 119th Congress. This bipartisan caucus leads diplomatic relations between the U.S. House of Representatives and Irish leaders.
In 2024, Rep. Kelly was honored by The Ireland Funds 32nd Annual National Gala for his career in public service. The Ireland Funds was co-founded by former U.S. Ambassador to Ireland and Pittsburgh Steelers owner, the late Dan Rooney.
Source: United States House of Representatives – Representative Mike Kelly (R-PA)
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, U.S. Reps. Mike Kelly (R-PA), a member of the Ways & Means Subcommittee on Health, and Bill Foster (D-IL) introduced the Patient Matching and Transparency in Certified Health IT (MATCH IT) Act of 2025, bipartisan legislation that would improve patient safety and privacy by decreasing patient misidentification and promoting interoperability, all without increasing burdens to providers and health systems. This would improve standardization of patients’ demographic elements entered into certified health IT products, and create an anonymous, voluntary system to measure patient match rates across the healthcare ecosystem.
In previous Congressional sessions, Reps. Kelly and Foster introduced amendments similar to the MATCH IT Act, which were passed by voice vote in the House of Representatives.
You can read the full bill HERE.
“For too long, patient misidentification has put Americans within the U.S. health care system at risk. Patient matching errors has led to unnecessary expenses, medical mistakes, and even patient deaths,” said Rep. Kelly. “This bipartisan legislation works to improve interoperability between health care systems and decrease these fixable matching errors, all while protecting patient privacy. I want to thank Rep. Foster for joining me on this critical legislation that will improve both patient care and patient outcomes.”
“I’m proud to introduce this legislation to help reduce instances of patient misidentification that cause thousands of unnecessary deaths every year in the United States. This legislation would promote the interoperability of patient matching systems, which would protect patients and decrease burdens on health care providers,” said Rep. Foster. “I also look forward to continuing to work with Congressman Kelly to eliminate barriers to unique patient identifiers so we can prevent medical errors and ensure patients receive the correct treatment.”
“The American Health Information Management Association® (AHIMA®) commends Representatives Mike Kelly and Bill Foster for once again leading the charge to protect patient safety and improve patient matching,” said AHIMA President and Board Chair, Maria Caban Alizondo, PhD, RHIT, FAHIMA. “The MATCH IT Act would decrease rates of patient misidentification, improve patient privacy and care, and bring down costs within the healthcare ecosystem associated with mismatched patient records. AHIMA looks forward to the passage of this critical legislation.”
“CHIME applauds the reintroduction of the MATCH IT Act, a critical step toward establishing patient matching standards that enhance patient safety, privacy, and healthcare efficiency. As the industry embraces innovative technologies, ensuring accurate patient identification has never been more urgent. The MATCH IT Act will provide a much-needed framework to improve interoperability, reduce errors, and uphold the integrity of the American healthcare system. We stand in strong support of this bipartisan effort to drive meaningful progress in patient care and health IT,” said Russ Branzell, President and Chief Executive Officer, College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME).
“Intermountain Health is proud to support the MATCH IT Act and applauds Representatives Kelly and Foster for their leadership. Ensuring that patients are accurately and consistently connected to their electronic health data is foundational to patient safety and privacy. While Congress has rightly prioritized interoperability and digital health data exchange, progress toward these national priorities is inhibited by patient matching and identification issues. In addition, movement toward a value-based payment system in which care is coordinated across disparate providers of care is impeded because of difficulties in accurately identifying patients at the point of care and linking their prior care records. Intermountain Health is committed to advancing this vital legislation,” said Ryan Smith, Chief Digital and Information Officer, Intermountain Health.
BACKGROUND
Patient misidentification within the U.S. health care system has long been a threat to patient safety, patient privacy, and a driver of unnecessary costs to patients and providers. The inability of clinicians to ensure patients are accurately matched with their medical record has caused medical errors, and even patient deaths. Patient misidentification has been named a recurrent patient safety challenge in multiple years by ECRI. Patients must undergo unnecessary repeated medical tests because of the inability to ensure accurate matches to their medical record. Further, the expense of repeated medical care due to duplicate records costs an average of $1,950 per patient inpatient stay, and more than $1,700 per emergency department visit. Thirty-five percent of all denied claims result from inaccurate patient identification, costing the average hospital $2.5 million and the US health care system more than $6.7 billion annually.
The current system of matching patients to their records also leads to increased privacy violations. Overlaid records, caused by merging multiple patients’ data into one medical record, may result in unauthorized disclosures under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), as well as the risk of a patient receiving treatment for another patient’s condition.
The MATCH It Act would create an industry standard definition for the term “patient match rate.”
Organizations that have endorsed the MATCH IT Act for the 119th Congress:
Source: United States House of Representatives – Representative Mike Kelly (R-PA)
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, U.S. Rep. Mike Kelly (R-PA) announced the opening of the 2025 Congressional Art Competition The competition is open to high school students in Erie, Crawford, Mercer, Lawrence, and Butler counties, plus a portion of Venango County. You can find the map of the 16th Congressional District here.
“The Congressional Art Competition is a great opportunity for students to showcase their talents and to have their work displayed in the halls of the U.S. Capitol,” Kelly said. “In 2024, we saw a record number of students participate in the competition. We have so many wonderful and talented students across our Congressional district. I look forward to seeing all of the submissions this year!”
Artwork must be submitted to one of Representative Kelly’s district offices in Erie, Sharon, and Butler no later than April 18, 2025. An awards ceremony for this year’s winners will be held later this year.
Teachers, students, and parents can learn more about the rules and regulations for the contest on Rep. Kelly’s website here.
In 2024, Braiden Douds of Mercer Area High School won the Congressional Art Competition. Rep. Kelly’s office received a record 73 entries from 13 schools across the 16th Congressional District.
The artwork for the winning student from each Congressional district will be displayed in the Cannon House Office Building Tunnel at the U.S. Capitol complex for 11 months. The Congressional Art Competition is an annual contest sponsored by the Congressional Institute to encourage and foster arts and culture among high school students.
Source: United States House of Representatives – Representative Joe Wilson (2nd District of South Carolina)
span>Washington, D.C. – Representatives Joe Wilson (R-SC) and Donald Norcross (D-NJ) introduced the bipartisan United States-Israel Defense Partnership Act of 2025. Companion legislation was introduced in the Senate by Senators Dan Sullivan (R-AK), Gary Peters (D-MI), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Pete Ricketts (R-NE), and Jacky Rosen (D-NV).
This bipartisan bill strengthens the U.S.-Israel security partnership by extending and expanding existing bilateral security initiatives. It also establishes new cooperative programs, including a broader initiative on unmanned systems, establishing a Defense Innovation Unit in Israel, and advocating for consideration of Israel’s inclusion in the National Technology Industrial Base (NTIB). Finally, it calls for greater cooperation between Israel and regional countries in advancing work on Integrated Air and Missile Defense.
Specifically, this bill takes several important measures:
“I’m grateful to introduce this critical legislation along with my bipartisan House and Senate colleagues,” said Congressman Joe Wilson upon introduction of the bill. “The U.S.-Israel Defense Partnership Act of 2025 will ensure that the United States and Israel continue to work together to confront the most diverse and dangerous array of mutual threats we’ve ever faced. This important bill will expand and deepen the bilateral defense partnership between our two nations and scale up joint research and development of key emerging technologies, such as countering unmanned systems, artificial intelligence, and quantum. It is imperative that the U.S. and Israel work together to meet and defeat emerging threats employed by state and non-state actors alike on the battlefield to protect American and Israeli families.”
“The partnership between the United States and Israel is vital to maintaining Americans’ safety,” said Congressman Donald Norcross. “The United States-Israel Defense Partnership Act will build on this existing partnership by enhancing defense cooperation between our two countries. Together, we must invest in emerging technology and improve our defenses against tunneling, our missile defense systems, and our counter-drone capabilities.”
The text of this legislation (H.R. 1229) is available here.
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Source: United States House of Representatives – Representative Joe Wilson (2nd District of South Carolina)
span>Washington, D.C. – Representative Joe Wilson (R-SC) today introduced the “Donald J. Trump $250 Bill Act.” This legislation directs the Bureau of Printing and Engraving to design and print a $250 dollar bill of legal U.S. tender that bears the image of President Donald J. Trump. This legislation will also create an exemption to previous 19th century legislation banning living figures on currency to allow individuals who have served as President to appear on currency.
Next year is the 250th Anniversary of the United States and allows this currency not only to be in a larger denomination to help families carry less cash, but also symbolically recognize the President of the United States during the Semiquincentennial anniversary.
AI concept artwork of what the bill may look like designed by Grok AI on X.
“Bidenflation has destroyed the economy forcing American families to carry more cash. President Trump is working tirelessly to fight inflation and help American families. This achievement is deserving of currency recognition, which is why I am grateful to introduce this legislation. The most valuable bill for the most valuable President!” said Congressman Wilson.
Original Cosponsors include Representatives Diana Harshbarger (R-TN), Ralph Norman (R-SC), and Darrell Issa (R-CA).
A copy of the legislation is available here.
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Source: United States House of Representatives – Representative Joe Wilson (2nd District of South Carolina)
span>Washington, DC – Congressman Joe Wilson issued the following statement on his confidence in National Security Advisor Mike Waltz:
“Having served with him in Congress, I know firsthand of National Security Advisor Mike Waltz’s capability and competence. His loyalty to President Donald Trump is inspiring as he serves for Peace Through Strength.”
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