Legislative Activity

The FRIDGE Act of 2025 aims to boost U.S. agricultural exports by addressing critical infrastructure gaps in foreign markets. This legislation authorizes dedicated funding and technical assistance to help developing nations improve their cold storage and supply chain capabilities. By fortifying this global infrastructure, the bill seeks to reduce spoilage of American food products and open new international trade opportunities.

The Buying Faster than the Enemy Act of 2025 aims to significantly speed up Department of Defense (DoD) procurement, particularly for commercial items. It streamlines the process for awarding follow-on contracts after initial competition and limits unnecessary regulatory clauses flowing down to commercial subcontractors. Furthermore, the bill establishes new structures, including consortia, to better engage nontraditional defense contractors and defaults purchases to commercial item procedures unless explicitly justified otherwise.

The No Tax Dollars for College Encampments Act of 2025 amends the Higher Education Act to require colleges to specifically detail their law enforcement coordination plans for handling campus civil disturbances in annual security reports. Furthermore, the bill mandates that accrediting agencies must monitor whether institutions are complying with these updated campus security reporting requirements.

The Protecting Americans Retirement Savings Act (PARSA) prohibits retirement plan fiduciaries from making new investments in entities deemed to be foreign adversaries or sanctioned entities. This legislation also mandates that employee retirement funds must provide detailed new disclosures regarding any existing holdings in these restricted entities. The bill provides limited exceptions for pre-existing investments and contracts, provided specific reporting requirements are met.

This bill amends the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) to establish a clear, tiered definition for "evidence-based" programs, ranging from strong experimental studies to promising correlational research. It mandates that states must now explicitly state the degree to which their proposed workforce development activities meet this new evidence standard. Furthermore, states are required to detail their strategies for prioritizing funding for evidence-based programs in their statewide plans.

The Guaranteeing Unalienable and Anatomical Rights for Dependents Act (GUARD Act) establishes new conditions for states receiving federal child abuse prevention funding. Under this act, states cannot take adverse action against parents who oppose medical or social changes for their minors based on the parent's belief regarding the child's biological sex. Parents who face negative actions due to this opposition can sue to halt federal funding to the non-compliant state and seek the return of those funds.

The "Maintaining American Superiority by Improving Export Control Transparency Act" mandates an annual report to Congress detailing license applications, enforcement actions, and authorization requests for exporting controlled items to entities in specific countries of concern. This report includes applicant details, item descriptions, end-user information, application decisions, and enforcement activity outcomes. The goal is to enhance transparency over export activities while safeguarding sensitive information from public disclosure.

The "Defund NPR Act" eliminates all direct and indirect federal funding to National Public Radio (NPR) and any successor organization. It prevents public broadcast stations from using federal funds to pay dues to or acquire programming from NPR. The bill also removes references to NPR in specific sections of the Communications Act of 1934.

The "Respect Parents’ Childcare Choices Act" increases funding for the Child Care and Development Block Grant program, emphasizing parental choice by ensuring states provide child care certificates for services, including those offered by relative caregivers and religious organizations. It also removes barriers for relative caregivers, adjusts income eligibility criteria, and includes measures to prevent fraud. To offset the cost of these changes, the bill repeals the existing tax credit for household and dependent care service expenses, updating relevant sections of the tax code accordingly.

The "Defending Defense Research from Chinese Communist Party Espionage Act of 2025" aims to protect Department of Defense-funded research by prohibiting institutions of higher education from contracting with certain foreign entities and imposing post-employment restrictions on researchers involved in critical and emerging technologies. Waivers to these prohibitions may be granted by the Secretary of Defense under specific conditions, with congressional notification. The Act also requires transparency through public disclosure of waivers and annual reports to Congress.

The "Border Security is National Security Act" allocates $10 billion to the Department of Defense for supporting border security efforts in coordination with the Department of Homeland Security. These funds will be used for personnel, technology, infrastructure, and training to enhance border control. The Act also allows the Secretary of Defense to transfer funds within the Department to ensure resources are available for border security needs. It affirms that the Act does not limit the President's authority as Commander-in-Chief.

The "End Unaccountable Amnesty Act" seeks to amend immigration laws by reforming temporary protected status, modifying rules for unaccompanied alien children, repealing cancellation of removal, restricting the use of certain identification documents for air travel, and limiting the use of immigration parole. It aims to tighten eligibility for protected status and parole, expedite repatriation processes for unaccompanied minors, and ensure stricter enforcement of immigration laws. The bill also seeks to provide legal recourse for those financially harmed by the federal government's failure to properly implement these provisions.

The "Qualified Immunity Act of 2025" codifies qualified immunity for law enforcement officers, protecting them from liability in individual capacity unless the violated right was clearly established or a reasonable officer would have known their conduct was unlawful. It also shields law enforcement agencies and local governments from liability if the officer is not liable under the defined conditions or was acting within the scope of their employment. This act aims to balance accountability with the protection of officers performing their duties reasonably. The amendments will take effect 180 days after the enactment of the Act.

The CBW Fentanyl Act amends the Chemical and Biological Weapons Control and Warfare Elimination Act of 1991 to expand sanctions for countries and individuals involved in chemical or biological weapons programs, including those related to fentanyl production. It mandates presidential reports to Congress on foreign individuals or entities involved in "covered acts" related to such programs, triggering a tiered system of sanctions based on the country's response. These sanctions range from suspending scientific cooperation to prohibiting transactions within U.S. jurisdiction, with potential waivers for national security interests and a sunset clause after five years. The bill aims to counter the weaponization of fentanyl by targeting international actors contributing to its production and distribution.