Legislative Activity

The CRACKDOWN Act of 2026 aims to reduce waste in the Child Care and Development Block Grant program by establishing stricter oversight for states with high overpayment rates. If a state's overpayment rate exceeds 5% for a fiscal year, it must submit a corrective action plan. States exceeding this threshold for two consecutive years face conditional ineligibility until they demonstrate significant progress in reducing overpayments.

The Migrant Child Safety Act establishes stricter requirements for placing unaccompanied alien children with sponsors. This legislation mandates comprehensive information sharing between Health and Human Services and Homeland Security before placement, including background checks and proof of relationship. It also introduces new safeguards such as in-person home visits, potential electronic monitoring for non-citizen sponsors, and a mandatory minimum $5,000 sponsor bond.

This act simplifies annual reporting for employee benefit plans by modernizing the Form 5500 filing process. It extends the filing deadline and allows for the use of electronic signatures on required reports. These changes aim to streamline compliance for plan administrators.

The Safeguarding Benefits for Americans Act of 2026 establishes U.S. citizenship or nationality as a mandatory requirement for receiving most federal public assistance benefits. This law mandates that applicants must attest to their citizenship status and provide documentation for verification against Social Security Administration and Department of Homeland Security records. These new citizenship verification rules will supersede existing eligibility laws unless those laws are more restrictive. Eligibility determinations under this new standard will begin one year after enactment.

The Fair and Accountable IRS Reviews Act mandates a new layer of oversight for tax penalty assessments. This legislation requires that before any penalty notice is sent to a taxpayer, the initial decision must receive personal approval from the employee's immediate supervisor or a higher-level Treasury official. These procedural changes aim to ensure greater fairness and accountability in the penalty process.

The Ensuring Workers Get PAID Act of 2025 establishes a voluntary Payroll Audit Independent Determination (PAID) program within the Department of Labor. This program allows employers in good faith to self-audit and correct unintentional minimum wage or overtime violations under the Fair Labor Standards Act. Upon full payment of back wages, employers receive limited liability protection, and employees who accept the payment waive their right to sue for those specific claims. The program is set to terminate after five years.

The Randy Susen Visitation Rights Act of 2025 guarantees skilled nursing facility residents the right to designate at least one individual who must be permitted unrestricted visitation access. This designated visitor cannot be restricted by the facility unless the resident explicitly withdraws consent. The Act amends both Medicare and Medicaid rules to ensure this fundamental right to chosen visitation.

Dillon's Law amends federal guidelines to grant preference points to states that allow trained, non-school personnel to administer epinephrine in schools. This change broadens the definition of who can provide life-saving medication beyond just school employees. The law also updates terminology to cover a wider range of epinephrine delivery systems.

The Enforce the Caps Act establishes specific, increasing discretionary spending limits for the federal government for fiscal years 2026 through 2029. This legislation amends existing law to set firm budget authority caps for non-mandatory government programs over the next four years.

The Cancer Drug Parity Act of 2025 mandates that group health plans treat the cost-sharing for oral (take-at-home) anticancer drugs the same as they treat cost-sharing for intravenously administered cancer drugs. This ensures patients do not face higher out-of-pocket expenses for necessary oral chemotherapy medications. The Act also requires the GAO to study the financial impact of this new parity requirement on patients.

The CREATE JOBS Act aims to boost the economy by making permanent 100% immediate expensing for qualified business property. It also introduces an inflation-adjusted depreciation calculation for commercial and residential real estate. Furthermore, the bill eliminates the option to amortize research and experimental expenditures, allowing for immediate deduction of these costs. These changes are designed to accelerate cost recovery and encourage business investment.

The Stop the Baseline Bloat Act of 2025 aims to reform how federal budget baselines are calculated under existing deficit control laws. Specifically, this bill mandates that funding designated as "emergency requirements" or provided through supplemental appropriations must be excluded when determining the baseline spending level. This change seeks to prevent temporary, non-recurring spending from artificially inflating future budget caps.

The Low-Income Housing Tax Credit Elimination Act proposes to end the federal government's primary incentive for developing affordable housing. Specifically, this bill mandates that no new Low-Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTC) will be issued for any building placed in service after the law's enactment date. This action effectively phases out the current mechanism used to finance new low-income housing projects.

The BOP Direct-Hire Authority Act grants the Director of the Bureau of Prisons the authority to directly hire qualified individuals into competitive service jobs, bypassing standard federal hiring procedures. This expedited hiring power is intended to speed up staffing efforts across all BOP facilities. This special authority will automatically expire once 96% of all competitive service positions within the Bureau of Prisons are filled.

The Student Loan Marriage Penalty Elimination Act of 2025 aims to adjust the student loan interest deduction for married couples filing separately. This bill caps the deductible student loan interest at \$2,500 per individual spouse. It ensures that taxpayers cannot claim the same interest amount under multiple deduction provisions.

The No Tax Subsidies for Stadiums Act of 2025 prohibits the issuance of federal tax-exempt bonds for financing or refinancing professional sports stadiums. This legislation immediately ends the federal tax break previously available to investors purchasing bonds used for stadium construction or renovation. Consequently, any bonds issued for these facilities will now be subject to federal taxation.

The FEHB Protection Act of 2025 aims to improve the integrity of the Federal Employees Health Benefits (FEHB) Program by verifying the eligibility of family members enrolled in health plans. It mandates the Director to establish processes for verifying qualifying life events, conduct comprehensive audits of covered family members, and disenroll ineligible individuals. The Act also allocates specific funding for oversight, audits, and the Office of the Inspector General to ensure proper implementation and prevent fraud within the FEHB Program.

The Air America Act of 2025 recognizes the sacrifices of former Air America employees who served the U.S. Government between 1950 and 1976. This Act authorizes a one-time monetary award, up to $40,000 plus potential additional amounts, for qualifying service members or their survivors. The CIA Director is responsible for administering these payments, which are capped at a total of $60 million, and establishing the application procedures. Decisions made by the Director regarding these awards are final and not subject to judicial review.

This bill nullifies the Internal Revenue Service's rule concerning supervisory approval processes for penalties. By disapproving the rule as published in the Federal Register, the bill prevents the implementation of the IRS's updated penalty approval procedures.

The "Employee Business Expense Deduction Reinstatement Act of 2025" reinstates and modifies the deduction for unreimbursed employee expenses, allowing individuals to deduct 85% of costs related to food, lodging, travel, or transportation. It also lowers the floor for miscellaneous itemized deductions from 2% to 1% and extends the statute of limitations for related credit or refund claims by one year. These changes are applicable retroactively as if included in the original 2017 tax law.