Legislative Activity

The Increasing Nutrition Access for Seniors Act of 2025 aims to streamline and improve SNAP benefits for eligible seniors and disabled individuals. This bill extends certification periods up to 36 months for households with no earned income and introduces greater flexibility for medical expense deductions, including a self-attestation option. These changes are designed to reduce administrative burdens for long-term recipients while ensuring continued access to necessary food assistance.

The Greyhound Protection Act of 2025 seeks to end commercial greyhound racing and related cruel training practices nationwide by October 1, 2027. This legislation bans all forms of wagering on greyhound races and prohibits the use of live animals for training or coursing events. Violators face significant fines and potential imprisonment under the strengthened Animal Welfare Act. The bill reflects concerns over widespread animal injuries, drug use, and inhumane confinement within the declining industry.

The AUKUS Improvement Act of 2025 streamlines defense cooperation between the United States, Australia, and the United Kingdom. This legislation eases restrictions on the export, re-export, and transfer of defense articles among the three nations, removing certain presidential authorization requirements. Furthermore, it eliminates specific certification requirements for technical assistance and manufacturing license agreements conducted within Australia or the United Kingdom. Overall, the bill aims to increase flexibility and efficiency in defense trade and technology sharing under the AUKUS partnership.

The American Decade of Sports Act establishes a "Mega-Decade Sports Diplomacy Strategy" to leverage major international sporting events hosted in the U.S. between 2024 and 2034 to enhance America's global standing. This requires the State Department to create comprehensive 5-year plans detailing diplomatic goals, partnerships, and visa facilitation efforts. Furthermore, the Act mandates the creation of a dedicated Office of Sports Diplomacy to coordinate and execute these strategy objectives across government and private sectors. The Secretary of State must provide annual progress reports to Congress on the implementation of these goals until the end of 2034.

The Safe Air on Airplanes Act mandates the phase-out of "bleed air systems" in new aircraft designs to improve cabin air quality. This legislation requires the FAA to ban these systems in future aircraft designs within six months. For existing aircraft designs still in production, the bill requires the installation of specialized filters within seven years, followed by a 30-year timeline for completely eliminating bleed air systems from newly manufactured planes.

The Enduring Welcome Act of 2025 establishes a permanent Office of the Coordinator for Afghan Relocation Efforts within the State Department to streamline and support the resettlement of Afghan allies. This Act mandates the creation of a secure, centralized database to track all applicants, beneficiaries, and relocation progress, ensuring accountability to Congress. The Coordinator will manage interagency efforts, resolve family reunification roadblocks, and provide integration support for covered persons. This entire framework is set to automatically expire five years after enactment unless otherwise specified.

This bill, the Maintaining American Superiority by Improving Export Control Transparency Act, mandates the Secretary of Commerce to submit an annual, detailed report to Congress regarding specific export license applications and end-use checks involving high-risk foreign entities. The report must detail company names, item descriptions, final destinations, and the outcomes of compliance checks. While most of this information will remain confidential to protect ongoing investigations, the legislation aims to increase congressional oversight of sensitive technology transfers.

The Stamp Out Lyme Disease Act directs the U.S. Postal Service to issue a special semipostal stamp to raise funds for Lyme disease research. All proceeds from the sale of this stamp will be directed to the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID). This measure aims to support research into tick-borne illnesses, acknowledging the significant public health and financial burden of Lyme disease in the United States.

The Connected Maternal Online Monitoring (Connected MOM) Act aims to improve health outcomes for pregnant and postpartum women on Medicaid by examining and addressing barriers to state coverage for remote physiologic monitoring devices. The Secretary of Health and Human Services must report to Congress on current state coverage rules and suggest improvements for utilizing these monitoring tools. Following the report, federal resources provided to states must be updated to reflect the recommended best practices for covering remote maternal health monitoring.

The Battling Infections Transmitted by Ticks and Exposure (BITE) Act establishes a comprehensive national system to prevent vector-borne diseases like Lyme disease. This system will utilize AI-driven early warning alerts, expert identification services, and real-time monitoring of insurance claims and symptoms. A key goal of the Act is to support efforts to reduce Lyme disease cases by 25% by 2035.

The Food Date Labeling Act of 2025 establishes national standards for food date labels, requiring manufacturers to use specific phrases like "**BEST If Used By**" for quality and "**USE By**" for discard dates, if they choose to include them. This legislation standardizes labeling language across different food products overseen by the USDA and FDA. The Act also ensures that non-compliant labeling is treated as misbranding under existing federal food laws. Manufacturers will have two years from enactment to comply with these new federal labeling requirements.

The Tick Identification Pilot Program Act of 2025 establishes a pilot program to provide grants to states for creating electronic tick identification services. These state programs will allow residents to submit photos of ticks for review by qualified biologists within 72 hours. The goal is to rapidly inform the public about the tick species, potential disease risk, and necessary next steps to combat tick-borne illnesses.

The Public Utility Remediation and Enhancement for Water Act establishes a new federal grant program administered by the EPA to help public wastewater treatment plants upgrade facilities. These grants specifically target the planning, design, and construction needed to treat or eliminate emerging contaminants like PFAS chemicals. The federal government will cover at least 75% of eligible project costs to improve water quality.

The Providing for Unhoused People and Pets Act of 2025 (PUPP Act) establishes a grant program to fund the creation and upgrading of interim and permanent housing that accommodates unhoused individuals along with their pets. Managed jointly by the Secretaries of Agriculture and HUD, these grants support construction, renovation, and essential pet-related operating costs. Grantees must ensure housing provides necessary supportive services for occupants and basic veterinary care for their companion animals.

The Taskforce for Recognizing and Averting Payment Scams Act (TRAPS Act) establishes a new Task Force led by the Secretary of the Treasury. This diverse group, including federal agencies, industry experts, and consumer advocates, will study evolving payment scams. The Task Force is charged with developing cross-sector prevention strategies and submitting comprehensive recommendations for new laws and improved coordination to combat these fraudulent activities.

The Limiting Extremist Travel to the United Nations Act imposes strict travel conditions on certain foreign officials attending UN meetings in New York City. These restrictions specifically target officials from Iran, those linked to Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs), and representatives from non-member UN organizations. The bill severely limits the movement of Iranian and FTO-linked officials to direct routes between airports, the UN, and their lodging, while others are restricted to a 25-mile radius and banned from educational institutions.

The Ending Trading and Holdings in Congressional Stocks (ETHICS) Act mandates that Members of Congress and their immediate families divest from or place specific stock holdings into qualified blind trusts to prevent conflicts of interest. The bill also establishes new civil penalties for failing to comply with existing stock trading disclosure laws (the STOCK Act). Furthermore, it requires that congressional financial disclosure forms be made publicly available online in a searchable, machine-readable format.

The Afghan Adjustment Act establishes new pathways for certain Afghan nationals already in the U.S. to obtain conditional permanent resident status, contingent upon rigorous security vetting. It also creates a special referral process for at-risk Afghan allies still outside the U.S. to access the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program remotely. Furthermore, the bill extends deadlines and expands eligibility for existing Special Immigrant Visas (SIVs) while mandating significant interagency coordination and reporting to Congress on processing efficiency.

The Warehouse Worker Protection Act establishes new federal standards to increase transparency and fairness for warehouse workers at large companies by mandating disclosure of performance quotas and monitoring data. It guarantees mandatory paid rest breaks, strengthens protections against using quotas to suppress organizing efforts, and introduces new federal ergonomics and safety standards under OSHA. The bill creates a new Department of Labor office to enforce these provisions and invalidates mandatory pre-dispute arbitration for related claims.

The ENFORCE Act strengthens federal laws against child exploitation by clarifying the crime of producing child pornography intended for interstate commerce. It also significantly enhances enforcement for crimes involving obscene visual representations of child sexual abuse. These enhancements include removing the statute of limitations for prosecution, mandating sex offender registration, and establishing a presumption of pretrial detention for those charged.