Legislative Activity

The Shipbuilding Investment and Workforce Act establishes "maritime prosperity zones" to incentivize long-term investment in the domestic maritime industry. By designating up to 100 census tracts as qualified opportunity zones, the bill provides targeted tax benefits for businesses and investors focused on the construction, repair, and support of shipyards and vessels.

The Collaboration on Adversarial Threats and Security Risks Act creates a limited antitrust exemption to allow non-federal entities to collaborate on critical artificial intelligence security matters. This legislation enables companies to share information and coordinate efforts to mitigate national security risks, such as the weaponization or unauthorized access of AI systems. While facilitating these security partnerships, the Act maintains strict safeguards to prevent anti-competitive behavior and grants the Attorney General authority to intervene if collaborations threaten market integrity or fail to improve security.

The AI Kill Switch Act mandates that developers of large-scale, high-cost AI systems maintain technical capabilities to restrict or completely shut down their technology in the event of a serious safety incident. It empowers the Department of Homeland Security to issue emergency orders and enforce compliance through significant civil penalties to mitigate risks such as loss-of-control scenarios. This legislation establishes a graduated framework for oversight, ensuring that powerful AI models can be effectively neutralized if they pose a threat to national security or public safety.

The Fair Treatment of Religious Organizations Act of 2026 amends the Internal Revenue Code to clarify how the IRS determines the tax-exempt status of religious organizations. It ensures that religious beliefs regarding marriage, sexuality, and gender identity are not considered inconsistent with public policy. Additionally, the bill establishes that a belief qualifies as religious regardless of whether it is considered central to a specific system of faith.

The National Security Interstate Pipeline Act establishes an expedited federal approval process for oil and natural gas pipelines designated by the President as essential to national security. The bill streamlines permitting by granting the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission exclusive authority, imposing strict deadlines for agency reviews, and preempting state and local regulations. Additionally, it authorizes the use of eminent domain for project development and allows the President to waive certain environmental laws to prevent project delays.

The American Franchise Act aims to protect the traditional franchise business model by clarifying the definition of a "joint employer." This legislation establishes that a franchisor is only considered a joint employer if it exercises "substantial direct and immediate control" over the essential terms of employment for a franchisee's workers. This change specifically targets liability risks associated with maintaining brand standards, ensuring franchisors are not automatically held responsible for local labor practices. The new standard applies prospectively to future legal proceedings.

The Title IX Clarification Act of 2026 amends Title IX to explicitly define "sex," "female," and "male" based on an individual's biologically determined sex and reproductive system. This legislation clarifies the scope of sex-based protections under federal education law. The changes take effect immediately upon enactment.

The Improving Seniors’ Timely Access to Care Act of 2025 aims to streamline and modernize the prior authorization process within Medicare Advantage plans. This bill mandates the adoption of electronic prior authorization systems and significantly increases transparency regarding approval rates and decision times starting in 2027. Furthermore, it establishes new enrollee protections and grants the Secretary authority to enforce faster decision timeframes for medical services.

This resolution honors the life and public service of the late Senator Lindsey Graham while formally condemning Omar Suleiman for his public remarks celebrating the Senator's death. Additionally, the bill acknowledges Suleiman’s 2019 invitation to serve as a Guest Chaplain in the U.S. House and reaffirms support for efforts to address the perceived dangers of Sharia Law to American constitutional principles.

The Protecting Privacy in Purchases Act prohibits payment card networks and processors from assigning specific merchant category codes to firearms retailers. This legislation aims to protect consumer privacy by preventing the tracking of firearm and ammunition purchases through specialized financial classification. The Attorney General is tasked with enforcing these provisions and reporting annually on compliance.

The Clarity for Compensation Act amends securities law to create an exception to the definition of a "broker." This exception allows a personal services entity owned by a registered representative and their family to receive compensation from the representative's broker firm without being classified as a broker itself. The provision sets specific conditions regarding supervision, recordkeeping, and the entity's activities to qualify for this exemption.

The Equal Campus Access Act of 2025 ensures that public colleges and universities receiving federal funding must grant religious student groups the same rights, benefits, and privileges afforded to all other student organizations. This legislation prohibits discrimination against religious groups based on their beliefs, speech, leadership, or standards of conduct. Essentially, it mandates equal access to campus resources for all student organizations.

This bill, the Great American Outdoors Act 250, significantly reforms and renames the existing public lands restoration fund to the America’s Legacy Restoration Fund. It secures dedicated funding streams, primarily from energy revenues and new fees on foreign visitors, to address critical deferred maintenance across the National Park Service, Forest Service, and other public land agencies. The legislation establishes strict spending priorities for infrastructure repair while also creating pilot programs for enhancing outdoor recreation and sportsmen's access. Finally, it mandates increased transparency and accountability through standardized metrics and public reporting on all funded projects.

The Premium Transparency Act mandates that health insurers and Medicare Advantage plans publicly disclose detailed breakdowns of how they spend premium dollars, starting in 2027. This aims to increase accountability by requiring clear reporting on costs for clinical services, quality improvement, and retained overhead. Furthermore, the bill requires health insurance Exchanges to display this spending information when comparing plans and directs the HHS Secretary to create plain-English standards for benefit summaries.

The Small Business and Consumer Credit Act of 2026 provides financial relief to specific banking institutions by allowing them to extend the carryback and carryforward periods for net operating losses. This measure enables eligible banks to better manage their taxable income by applying losses against profits from different tax years. These provisions apply to losses incurred in taxable years beginning after December 31, 2026.

This resolution strongly opposes foreign digital services taxes (DSTs) that unfairly target and discriminate against U.S. companies by taxing gross revenue rather than income. It supports U.S. government action, including trade tools like Section 301 investigations, to counter these discriminatory measures. The bill calls on other nations to repeal existing DSTs and work toward fair, consensus-based international tax solutions through the OECD.

The Medicaid Financing Clarification Act of 2026 explicitly confirms that public funds provided by local government entities, such as counties and cities, can be counted toward a state's required matching contribution for Medicaid. This legislation clarifies the definition of "public funds" to ensure transparency and consistency in how states meet their financial obligations under the Medicaid program.

The CONSENT Act establishes a federal civil remedy for individuals who receive unsolicited intimate visual depictions transmitted without their consent. This allows recipients to sue senders who knowingly or recklessly transmit such images or videos across state commerce. Successful plaintiffs can recover damages and injunctive relief, while the bill includes safeguards for minors and First Amendment rights.

The "Protecting American Industry and Labor from International Trade Crimes Act of 2025" aims to combat trade-related crimes by establishing a specialized task force within the Department of Justice, enhancing the investigation and prosecution of illegal activities related to imports and exports. It mandates the Attorney General to develop partnerships, provide training, and submit annual reports to Congress on the progress and financial needs in addressing these crimes. The act allocates \$20 million for fiscal year 2026 to support these efforts, with a focus on bolstering the Criminal Division's capacity to prosecute trade-related offenses.

The Precious Metals Parity Act amends tax law to allow Regulated Investment Companies (RICs), such as mutual funds, to include income derived from certain physical precious metals like gold, silver, platinum, and palladium as qualifying income. This change expands the types of assets that RICs can hold while maintaining their favorable tax status.