Legislative Activity

The Buying American Cotton Act of 2025 establishes a new tax credit to incentivize businesses to use cotton grown in the United States. This Domestic Cotton Consumption Credit is calculated based on the amount of qualified U.S. cotton in an eligible product sold, factoring in processing location and market price. The bill mandates strict digital tracing requirements to prove the origin of the cotton throughout the supply chain. Special enhanced credit multipliers are available for businesses that elect to claim the credit separately for qualified U.S. cotton yarn or fabric components.

The Healthcare Cybersecurity Act of 2025 aims to bolster cybersecurity across the nation's healthcare sector by enhancing coordination between CISA and HHS. This legislation mandates the creation of a sector-specific risk management plan, the identification of high-risk assets, and the provision of specialized training for healthcare owners and operators. Ultimately, the bill seeks to reduce the growing threat of cyberattacks targeting critical patient data and health services.

The Second Chance Reauthorization Act of 2025 extends and improves critical federal grant programs designed to support successful reentry for formerly incarcerated individuals. This legislation specifically reauthorizes key demonstration projects through 2030 and broadens the scope of services these grants can cover. Updates now explicitly allow funding for substance use disorder treatment, including peer recovery support and reentry housing services. Overall, the bill ensures continued federal investment in evidence-based reentry initiatives through the end of the decade.

This resolution congratulates the students, parents, teachers, and leaders of public charter schools for their ongoing contributions to American education. It highlights the growth, academic achievements, and parental choice offered by these tuition-free public schools. The measure officially recognizes and supports the goals of the 26th Annual National Charter Schools Week, scheduled for May 11–17, 2025.

The Drone Espionage Act updates federal law to explicitly include "video" alongside "photographic negatives" when prohibiting the unauthorized taking or transmission of defense information. This amendment ensures that individuals illegally capturing or sharing sensitive video footage are subject to the existing penalties under U.S. Code Section 793.

The Improving Seniors’ Timely Access to Care Act of 2025 aims to modernize and increase transparency in the prior authorization process for Medicare Advantage plans. This bill mandates the adoption of electronic prior authorization systems and requires plans to publicly report detailed data on their approval, denial, and appeal rates. Furthermore, it establishes new standards to protect enrollees and grants the Secretary authority to enforce faster decision timelines for care requests.

This resolution supports designating May 29, 2025, as "Mental Health Awareness in Agriculture Day." It aims to raise awareness about the significant mental health challenges faced by farmers and farmworkers, who experience disproportionately high rates of suicide. The day seeks to reduce the stigma associated with seeking mental health support within the agricultural industry.

The COUNTER Act grants the Department of Defense (DoD) expanded authority to neutralize threats from unmanned aircraft systems (drones) operating outside of the United States. This legislation delegates response authority, clarifies mitigation methods like remote identification, and exempts security details regarding these operations from public disclosure. Furthermore, it limits the application of certain criminal and security laws to authorized DoD and Coast Guard activities aimed at countering these aerial threats overseas.

The Honoring Our Fallen Heroes Act of 2025 establishes a presumption that certain cancers leading to death or disability in public safety officers were caused by on-duty exposure to recognized carcinogens. This law defines specific exposure-related cancers and sets conditions, such as five years of service, for the presumption to apply. It also updates review processes for adding new cancers to the list and grants retroactive application and filing extensions for eligible past and present claims.

The Strong Communities Act of 2025 establishes the COPS Strong Communities Program to provide competitive grants for local law enforcement training. These funds support officers and recruits attending specialized programs, contingent upon a commitment to serve in their local community for at least four years afterward. The bill also mandates annual reporting to Congress detailing grant recipients, training plans, and officer retention rates to ensure transparency.

The Supersonic Aviation Modernization Act directs the FAA to establish new rules within one year to allow civil supersonic flight over U.S. airspace. This authorization is strictly conditioned on the aircraft being operated in a manner that prevents any sonic boom from reaching the ground. The goal is to safely reintroduce faster-than-sound commercial travel domestically.

The Kids Online Safety Act establishes a comprehensive "duty of care" requiring online platforms to design features that mitigate specific harms to minors, such as those related to mental health and exploitation. It mandates that platforms provide minors with default, restrictive safety settings and robust parental controls over data sharing and recommendations. Furthermore, the legislation demands significant transparency regarding algorithmic ranking systems and grants the FTC enforcement authority.

The Motorsports Fairness and Permanency Act of 2025 permanently establishes a 7-year recovery period for the depreciation of motorsports entertainment complexes. This legislation allows owners and operators of these facilities to continue writing off building costs significantly faster than standard commercial property. By removing the previous expiration date, the bill ensures long-term tax predictability for the motorsports industry.

This resolution officially designates the week of May 11 through May 17, 2025, as "National Police Week." It serves to honor the valor and integrity of law enforcement officers across the nation. The resolution specifically remembers the officers killed in the line of duty during 2024 and encourages the public to observe this week to show appreciation for law enforcement personnel.

The Permitting Transparency and Accountability Act mandates that government agencies provide a public, online status tracker for all permit applications. This tracker must detail every step of the review process, the time taken for each stage, current status, and contact information for all involved personnel. The goal is to increase accountability and provide applicants with clear timelines for final decisions.

The Criminal History Access Act of 2025 amends federal law to explicitly grant access to criminal history records for state Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) Agencies. This ensures that agencies responsible for certifying and training law enforcement officers have the necessary information. The Attorney General is required to update federal regulations within 180 days to reflect these changes.

The Vision Lab Choice Act of 2025 aims to improve health care coverage under vision plans by setting limits on contract lengths between vision plans and optometrists. This bill also prevents vision plans from mandating which labs or suppliers optometrists must use for patient care. Furthermore, it clarifies state authority to enforce these new federal standards regarding vision benefit plans.

The Due Process Continuity of Care Act aims to ensure that individuals held in custody awaiting the disposition of their charges maintain access to Medicaid coverage. This legislation removes the current automatic ban on Medicaid payments for pre-trial detainees. Furthermore, the bill establishes federal planning grants to help states prepare their systems for this change, focusing on assessing needs and building provider networks.

This joint resolution expresses Congress's disapproval of the recent rule finalized by the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection (BCFP) concerning overdraft lending practices at very large financial institutions. By passing this resolution, Congress is effectively vetoing and preventing the enforcement of that specific BCFP regulation.

The Justice for American Victims of Illegal Aliens Act introduces a new aggravating factor for federal death penalty consideration. This factor applies when an individual who is illegally present in the U.S. is convicted of killing, attempting to kill, or conspiring to kill a United States citizen. This measure aims to provide justice for victims of crimes committed by unauthorized immigrants.