Legislative Activity

This joint resolution nullifies the Federal Communications Commission's rule addressing the homework gap through the E-Rate Program. By disapproving the rule, the resolution prevents the FCC from implementing measures intended to bridge the digital divide for students' home internet access.

This resolution supports National Nurses Week, observed from May 6-12, 2025, and recognizes the vital contributions of nurses to healthcare in various roles, including patient care, advocacy, and research. It emphasizes the need for strengthening nursing workforce development and encourages public recognition of nurses' importance to patients' lives.

This resolution supports the designation of May 4-10, 2025, as "National Small Business Week". It recognizes the significant role of over 34.5 million small businesses in the U.S. that contribute to the economy and provide over 59 million jobs. The resolution celebrates the entrepreneurial spirit, achievements, and resilience of small business owners and their employees.

The Living Donor Protection Act of 2025 prohibits discrimination in life, disability, and long-term care insurance against living organ donors. It clarifies that organ donation surgery qualifies as a serious health condition under the Family and Medical Leave Act, ensuring job protection for donors. The Act also mandates updated educational materials from the Department of Health and Human Services regarding the benefits, risks, and protections for living organ donors.

The Zero Based Regulations Act enforces a review of existing regulations, requiring agencies to justify their rules' costs and effectiveness, and to repeal a regulation before it is reviewed. To reinstate a repealed rule or create a new one, agencies must follow specific procedures, including public hearings and cost-benefit analyses, ensuring reduced regulatory burdens. Each agency must appoint a coordinator to manage the Act's implementation, and new regulations must meet strict criteria, such as reducing regulatory burdens or addressing public health threats, while repealing or simplifying existing rules. The Act aims to streamline and justify federal regulations through regular review and public input.

The Stand with Israel Act amends the United Nations Participation Act of 1945 to prohibit U.S. funds from going to the United Nations or any of its entities that discriminate against Israel. Discrimination includes actions such as expelling or suspending Israel's membership or restricting its participation in a way that is not on par with other member states. The Act ensures that no funds from the Department of State or any other federal agency can be used for contributions that violate this prohibition.

The Enhancing First Response Act aims to improve emergency communications and response. It mandates the FCC to issue reports and hold public hearings after major disasters to assess and improve network resilience and 911 outage reporting. The Act also directs the Office of Management and Budget to classify public safety telecommunicators as a protective service occupation and requires a report on the FCC's enforcement of Karis Law, which ensures direct dialing to 911 from multi-line phone systems.

**Affordable Housing Credit Improvement Act of 2025 Summary:** This bill aims to expand and improve the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) program by updating state allocation formulas, reforming tenant eligibility requirements, and modifying credit eligibility rules. It also focuses on increasing affordable housing opportunities for Native Americans and in rural areas. Additionally, the bill updates terminology in the Internal Revenue Code to replace "low-income" with "affordable" when referring to housing tax credits, and promotes data sharing and discourages discriminatory land use policies to enhance transparency and effectiveness.

This resolution expresses the Senate's support for designating April 2025 as National Child Abuse Prevention Month to increase awareness and education, build strong families, support survivors, and ensure justice for victims. It recognizes the importance of preventing child abuse and neglect, healing those affected, and ensuring justice for victims of childhood abuse, neglect, and sexual abuse. The resolution highlights the prevalence and impact of adverse childhood experiences and child maltreatment. It also emphasizes the importance of programs that support families and prevent child abuse.

The TAKE IT DOWN Act aims to combat the nonconsensual sharing of intimate visual depictions, including deepfakes, by establishing criminal penalties for those who knowingly publish such content and requiring online platforms to create a process for individuals to request the removal of these depictions. Platforms must remove the content within 48 hours of a valid request and make reasonable efforts to remove any known identical copies. Failure to comply with these takedown obligations will be treated as a violation under the Federal Trade Commission Act. The Act also defines key terms related to consent, digital forgeries, and covered platforms.

The Adoption Tax Credit Refundability Act of 2025 makes the adoption tax credit refundable, allowing more families to benefit from it regardless of their tax liability. It also streamlines the process for verifying legal adoptions through standardized affidavits. These changes apply to taxable years after December 31, 2024, with provisions to carry forward any excess credit from the previous year.

The "Audit the IRS Act" prohibits the IRS from hiring or continuing to employ individuals with seriously delinquent tax debts, ensuring that those responsible for enforcing tax laws are themselves compliant. It defines "seriously delinquent tax debt" and mandates annual verification of IRS employees' tax compliance, as well as pre-employment verification for new hires. The Office of Personnel Management is directed to create regulations to implement these provisions.

The "Preserving Patient Access to Accountable Care Act" amends the Social Security Act to extend incentive payments for healthcare providers participating in eligible alternative payment models (APMs) by one year. This extension updates key dates from 2026 to 2027 and from 2027 to 2028 within specific sections of the Act related to APM incentive payments. The bill also adjusts the incentive payment percentage for the year 2027.

This resolution designates the week of April 19 through April 27, 2025, as "National Park Week" to recognize the importance of national parks for recreation, education, and economic contributions. It encourages people to visit and support these parks while acknowledging the role of the National Park Service in protecting these resources for future generations.

The "Combating Organized Retail Crime Act" aims to reduce organized retail theft by amending Title 18 of the United States Code to include theft from interstate shipments, interstate transportation of stolen goods, and sale or receipt of stolen goods. It also establishes an Organized Retail and Supply Chain Crime Coordination Center to align federal, state, local, territorial, and tribal efforts to combat organized retail crime and organized supply chain crime. The center will coordinate law enforcement, share information, assist in investigations, track crime trends, and support training and technical assistance. This act seeks to provide law enforcement with the necessary tools to combat organized retail crime and enhance the coordination between different levels of government and the private sector.

The NO FAKES Act of 2025 establishes a digital replication right, granting individuals and their rights holders the right to authorize the use of their voice and visual likeness in digital replicas. It defines the scope of this right, sets requirements for licenses, and addresses liability for unauthorized use, including safe harbors for online service providers. The act also outlines civil action remedies and preempts state laws, with specific exceptions, while clarifying that online service providers are not required to monitor their services for digital replicas.

The "Health Tech Investment Act" aims to improve Medicare payments for algorithm-based healthcare services by creating a new technology payment classification. Starting in 2026, these services will have payment rates based on manufacturer cost submissions, with the Secretary adjusting the classification as needed. The act defines "algorithm-based healthcare service" and codifies the hospital outpatient prospective payment system for "software as a service" as of January 1, 2023.

The "Content Origin Protection and Integrity from Edited and Deepfaked Media Act of 2025" aims to combat the spread of deepfakes and misinformation by establishing standards for content provenance, requiring tools to enable users to include provenance information, and prohibiting the removal or alteration of this information. It establishes a public-private partnership to develop standards for watermarking and detecting synthetic content, and directs the National Institute of Standards and Technology to conduct research and public education on these technologies. The bill also prohibits using content with provenance information to train AI systems without consent and provides enforcement mechanisms through the FTC and state attorneys general, as well as a private right of action for content owners.

The "Abortion Funding Awareness Act of 2025" requires states to report annually all Medicaid payments made to abortion providers, including payment details, abortion statistics, and methods used. These state reports will then be compiled into a comprehensive report by the Secretary of Health and Human Services and submitted to Congress and made public. This aims to increase transparency regarding the use of federal funds for abortions. The act amends the Social Security Act to ensure state compliance with these reporting requirements.

The SAFE Act mandates that companies disclose any financial support received from the Chinese government, including details about the conditions and any ties to the Chinese Communist Party. This includes disclosing any Chinese Communist Party committees within the company and information about officers or directors with connections to the Chinese government or party. The SEC must update its rules to reflect these changes within 180 days.