Legislative Activity

This resolution recognizes April 4, 2025, as the International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action, reaffirming U.S. leadership in eliminating landmines and unexploded ordnance. It acknowledges the global impact of these hazards, highlights U.S. efforts in providing assistance for conventional weapons destruction, and reaffirms the commitment to supporting humanitarian demining efforts worldwide, including the goal of clearing mined areas by 2025. The resolution also recognizes communities from Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam, including the many Hmong, Cham, Cambodian, Iu-Mien, Khmu, Lao, Montagnard, and Vietnamese people who supported and defended the United States Armed Forces during the conflict in Southeast Asia during the 1960s and 1970s. It urges continued U.S. funding and leadership in addressing mine contamination as a critical humanitarian issue.

The "Winter Recreation Small Business Recovery Act of 2025" amends the Small Business Act to include "snow drought" as a type of disaster, enabling small businesses affected by low snowpack to access Small Business Administration (SBA) disaster relief programs. It requires the SBA Administrator to implement rules for this change and directs the Comptroller General to report to Congress on resources, adaptation strategies, and legislative actions to further aid businesses impacted by snow droughts, including an evaluation of the SBA's Economic Injury Disaster Loan program.

The "Workplace Violence Prevention for Health Care and Social Service Workers Act" directs the Secretary of Labor to establish an interim and final standard requiring healthcare and social service employers to develop and implement comprehensive workplace violence prevention plans. These plans must include risk assessments, hazard prevention measures, incident reporting procedures, and employee training. The Act also requires employers to maintain detailed records of violent incidents and submit annual summaries to the Secretary of Labor. Finally, facilities receiving Medicare funds must comply with the workplace violence prevention standard.

The Women's Retirement Protection Act aims to bolster women's financial security in retirement by increasing spousal protection under defined contribution plans, ensuring access to independent consumer information, and providing grants to promote financial literacy and assist low-income women and survivors of domestic violence in obtaining qualified domestic relations orders. The bill amends the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 and Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to require spousal consent for certain distributions from individual account plans, with specific exceptions. It also mandates financial service providers to offer links to the CFPB's retirement planning resources and allocates funds for community-based organizations to enhance women's financial literacy and assist with qualified domestic relations orders.

The "Farmland Security Act of 2025" amends the Agricultural Foreign Investment Disclosure Act of 1978, increasing penalties for foreign-owned shell corporations that fail to report their agricultural land holdings, mandating annual audits of submitted reports, and requiring training for state and county personnel to identify unreported foreign-owned land. It also directs the Secretary to report to each state and submit an annual report to Congress detailing research on foreign agricultural activities and trends. Finally, it authorizes $2,000,000 to be appropriated to the Secretary for each of the fiscal years 2025 through 2030 to carry out the Act.

The "Carried Interest Fairness Act of 2025" changes the tax treatment of certain partnership interests, especially those related to investment management services. It reclassifies certain capital gains as ordinary income for partners providing these services, modifies the valuation and tax implications of partnership interests transferred for services, and introduces stricter rules to prevent tax avoidance. This act aims to ensure that income derived from investment management is taxed at ordinary income rates rather than more favorable capital gains rates. It also includes provisions addressing qualified dividend income, gains from qualified small business stock, and the treatment of income from special purpose acquisition companies.

The Dairy Business Innovation Act of 2025 amends the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018 to increase funding for dairy business innovation initiatives. It raises the allocated amount from $20,000,000 to $36,000,000, supporting further development and innovation in the dairy industry.

The "COOL Online Act" requires online sellers to clearly disclose the country of origin for products that require origin marking under existing tariff laws, as well as the country where the seller's primary business is located. Certain products, like food, drugs, and used items, are excluded, as are small sellers. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) will enforce these rules, and retailers have some protection from liability if they rely in good faith on incorrect information provided by a third party.