United States · United States Congress · 10 June 2025
Bipartisan Background Checks Act of 2025 This bill establishes new background check requirements for firearm transfers between private parties (i.e., unlicensed individuals). Specifically, it prohibits a firearm transfer between private parties unless a licensed gun dealer, manufacturer, or importer first takes possession of the firearm to conduct a background check. The prohibition does not apply to certain firearm transfers or exchanges, such as a gift between spouses.
United States · United States Congress · 4 June 2025
Complete Streets Act of 2025 This bill supports the development of safe and accessible roads through complete streets design and construction grants, policies, and design standards. Under the bill, a complete street means a public road that provides safe and accessible travel options for multiple travel modes (e.g., walking, cycling, transit, mobility devices, automobiles, and freight) for people of all ages, abilities, and disabilities. In general, each state must establish a competitive grant program that provides a portion of its federal highway funds to eligible entities for complete streets grants and technical assistance. Eligible entities include local and tribal governments, local agencies, metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs), and nonprofit organizations. An eligible entity must develop a complete streets policy and a prioritization plan. The state or an MPO must approve the policy and plan. The Department of Transportation (DOT) must develop complete streets benchmarks and guidance for states and eligible entities. In addition, DOT and the Department of Justice must update and adopt certain accessibility standards (e.g., by including provisions for cognitive ability and language access). Further, DOT must require each state and MPO to adopt and implement design standards for the safe and adequate accommodation of all surface transportation network users. DOT must also establish complete streets design standards for federal projects and phase in their adoption, with exemptions for certain roadways, facilities, and projects. The standards must include (1) dedicated, protected bike lanes; (2) requirements for sidewalks and crosswalks; and (3) guidelines for lighting and signalization to promote safety.
United States · United States Congress · 4 June 2025
This resolution expresses the House of Representatives' grave concern with (1) the humanitarian crisis and acute suffering of Palestinian civilians in Gaza, and (2) the suffering of the hostages and hostage families. The resolution also calls on the White House, the Department of State, and other relevant federal agencies to use all available diplomatic tools to bring about the release of the hostages, the disbursement of food and humanitarian aid to Palestinian civilians, and a durable end to the Gaza conflict.
United States · United States Congress · 4 June 2025
Equal Access to Justice for Victims of Gun Violence Act of 2025 This bill removes limitations on the civil liability of gun manufacturers and the disclosure of gun trace data in civil actions. Specifically, the bill repeals the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act, which prohibits civil actions against a firearm or ammunition manufacturer, seller, importer, dealer, or trade association for damages resulting from the criminal or unlawful misuse of a firearm. Additionally, the bill states that firearms trace data maintained by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is not immune from legal process. Such data is subject to discovery; is admissible as evidence; and may be used, relied on, or disclosed in a civil action or administrative proceeding.
United States · United States Congress · 3 June 2025
Just USDA Standards and Transparency Act of 2025 or the JUST Act of 2025 This bill increases Department of Agriculture (USDA) oversight and enforcement of civil rights-related violations and actions. USDA must take appropriate corrective action regarding any USDA official or employee who engages in certain discriminatory actions, retaliatory actions, harassment, or civil rights violations (e.g., failure to provide appropriate information regarding relevant USDA programs and services). A corrective action (1) is any action that would enhance civil rights at USDA, including policy or programmatic changes; and (2) may include disciplinary actions (e.g., removal from federal service or a letter of reprimand). The bill shifts the burden of proof from a farmer or rancher to USDA in an appeal to the USDA National Appeals Division. Specifically, USDA must prove by substantial evidence the validity of a USDA adverse decision. Further, a farmer or rancher who fails to comply fully with the requirements to receive a loan may be eligible for equitable relief if the USDA determines the individual made a good faith effort to comply with the loan requirements. The bill also directs USDA to establish an Office of the Legal Advisor for Civil Rights and Office of the Civil Rights Ombudsperson; creates the required position of Assistant Secretary of Agriculture for Civil Rights (currently an optional USDA position); and allows the Assistant Secretary to grant relief, without prior approval, to farmers or ranchers who file certain civil rights complaints, including complaints regarding direct farm ownership, operating, or emergency loans.
United States · United States Congress · 21 May 2025
This bill prohibits the President from selling, transferring, or exporting certain defense articles or services to Israel, except in specified circumstances. Defense articles covered by the prohibition include BLU-109 bunker busting bombs, Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) assemblies, and 155mm artillery ammunition. Defense services directly related to such articles are also covered. The President may sell, transfer, or export such defense articles or services to Israel if (1) a law is enacted specifying the purposes for which such articles or services may be used, and (2) Israel provides written assurances that the defense articles or services will be used for those specific statutory purposes and in a manner consistent with certain other laws, including international human rights laws.
United States · United States Congress · 21 May 2025
College for All Act of 2025 This bill establishes measures to expand access to higher education, including by eliminating tuition and required fees for eligible students, revising the Federal Pell Grant program, and reauthorizing certain programs to assist students from disadvantaged backgrounds. Specifically, the bill provides funding to enable states and tribal colleges and universities, through a federal-state partnership, to eliminate tuition and required fees for (1) all students at community colleges and two-year tribal colleges and universities, and (2) working- and middle-class students at four-year public institutions of higher education and tribal colleges and universities. The bill provides funding to enable private, nonprofit historically Black colleges and universities and minority-serving institutions to eliminate tuition and required fees for eligible students. The bill permanently reauthorizes and otherwise revises the Federal Pell Grant program by providing funding to increase the maximum award for each eligible student, increasing the duration limit for the use of Pell Grants, allowing students to use their awards to cover living and nontuition expenses, and expanding eligibility to Dreamer students (i.e., students who have been granted Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals status and who entered the United States before the age of 16) and students with other immigration statuses. Further, the bill requires the Department of Education to award grants to eligible states and tribal colleges and universities for improving student outcomes. The bill reauthorizes through FY2035 the Federal TRIO Programs and reauthorizes through FY2029 the Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs.
United States · United States Congress · 20 May 2025
Improving Seniors' Timely Access to Care Act of 2025 This bill establishes several requirements and standards relating to prior authorization processes under Medicare Advantage (MA) plans. Specifically, MA plans must (1) establish an electronic prior authorization program that meets specified standards; (2) annually submit to the CMS for publication specified prior authorization information, including the percentage of requests approved and the average response time; and (3) meet other standards, as set by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), relating to the quality and timeliness of prior authorization determinations. The CMS and the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology must publish on the CMS' website a report that analyzes the information received from MA plans, the feasibility of implementing real-time decision making with respect to prior authorization requests, and the impact of decisions that are made using artificial intelligence on patient access.
United States · United States Congress · 20 May 2025
Healthy Food Financing Initiative Reauthorization Act of 2025 This bill reauthorizes and provides specified funds for the Department of Agriculture's Healthy Food Financing Initiative (HFFI) through FY2030 and for each fiscal year thereafter. As background, HFFI provides loans, grants, and technical assistance resources to eligible healthy food retailers and food supply chain enterprises to improve and support access to fresh, healthy, and affordable food in urban and rural underserved communities.
United States · United States Congress · 15 May 2025
Stronger Communities through Better Transit Act This bill requires the Department of Transportation (DOT) to establish a grant program to support operating projects for public transportation and related service improvements, particularly in underserved communities and areas of persistent poverty. Specifically, the bill requires DOT to allocate funding under the program for urbanized areas, states, and Indian tribes that are recipients of funds under either the Federal Transit Administration's (FTA's) Urbanized Area Formula Funding program or Formula Grants for Rural Areas program. Eligible recipients may use funding for operating costs associated with projects that improve public transportation service for transit-dependent populations and support increased transit ridership (e.g., service expansion, information technology enhancements, and workforce development). DOT must apportion the funding so that recipients receive funds that are proportional to their share of operating costs. The bill also provides for an increased federal cost share for operating assistance for projects or programs carried out in areas of persistent poverty or underserved communities. DOT must set up a multimodal access measurement interface for public agencies to aid transit agencies in determining and reporting on access to jobs and essential services. A grant recipient must (1) report specific information to the FTA for inclusion in the National Transit Database, and (2) survey transit riders and non-riding residents regarding transit service improvements. Further, the bill expands the purposes of the public transportation programs to include supporting public transportation's role in combating climate change through growing/retaining transit ridership.
United States · United States Congress · 15 May 2025
SNAP Administrator Retention Act of 2025 This bill directs the Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) to pay Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) state agencies for 100% of SNAP administrative personnel costs. The bill also requires that state SNAP agency administrators be paid at least the same amount as federal employees. (Under current law, FNS generally pays 50% of a state's administrative costs for SNAP.) Specifically, FNS must pay a state agency for 100% of all SNAP administrative personnel costs that are part of an FNS-approved state agency personnel wage plan. This must include all costs associated with hiring and training new employees, maintaining those personnel costs, and complying with wage standards. The state agency must use these funds (1) to supplement, not supplant, nonfederal funds used for existing administrative personnel costs; and (2) for existing or additional full-time positions that are above the number of positions that were held in FY2024. The bill also requires that the wage standards for SNAP state agency administrators be (1) at least the same amount as the General Schedule (GS) pay rate for federal employees; and (2) updated annually based on any increase in the GS pay rate, including locality adjustments.
United States · United States Congress · 14 May 2025
Nurse Staffing Standards for Hospital Patient Safety and Quality Care Act of 2025 This bill requires hospitals to implement and submit to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) a staffing plan that complies with specified minimum nurse-to-patient ratios by unit. Hospitals must post a notice regarding nurse-to-patient ratios in each unit and maintain records of actual ratios for each shift in each unit. The bill also requires hospitals to follow certain procedures regarding how ratios are determined, and other staff are prohibited from performing nurse functions unless specifically authorized within a state's scope of practice rules. HHS must adjust Medicare payments to hospitals to cover additional costs attributable to compliance with these ratios. Nurses may object to, or refuse to participate in, an assignment if it would violate minimum ratios or if they are not prepared by education or experience to fulfill the assignment without compromising the safety of a patient or jeopardizing their nurse's license. Hospitals may not (1) take adverse actions against a nurse based on the nurse's reasonable refusal to accept an assignment; or (2) discriminate against individuals for good faith complaints relating to the care, services, or conditions of the hospital or related facilities. HHS may impose civil monetary penalties on hospitals violating the ratio requirements and must publish the names of such hospitals. The bill provides stipends to the nurse workforce loan repayment and scholarship program and expands the nurse retention grant program to include nurse preceptorship and mentorship projects.
United States · United States Congress · 5 May 2025
This resolution recognizes the historic struggle of the people of Mexico for independence and freedom, which Cinco de Mayo commemorates, and encourages the people of the United States to observe Cinco de Mayo.
United States · United States Congress · 1 May 2025
Ensuring Community Access to Pharmacist Services Act This bill provides for permanent coverage under Medicare of certain pharmacist services. Specifically, the bill provides for permanent coverage of testing and treatment services provided by pharmacists relating to (1) COVID-19, influenza, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), and streptococcal pharyngitis (strep throat); and (2) other public health needs in relation to a declared public health emergency. (Similar authorities were temporarily granted during the COVID-19 public health emergency.) Such services must be provided in accordance with the applicable state laws governing pharmacists' scope of practice.
United States · United States Congress · 30 April 2025
Assault Weapons Ban of 2025 This bill makes it a crime to knowingly import, sell, manufacture, transfer, or possess a semiautomatic assault weapon (SAW) or large capacity ammunition feeding device (LCAFD). The prohibition does not apply to a firearm that is (1) manually operated by bolt, pump, lever, or slide action, except for certain shotguns; (2) permanently inoperable; (3) an antique; (4) only capable of firing rimfire ammunition; or (5) a rifle or shotgun specifically identified by make and model. The bill also exempts from the prohibition the following, with respect to a SAW or LCAFD: importation, sale, manufacture, transfer, or possession related to certain law enforcement efforts, or authorized tests or experiments; importation, sale, transfer, or possession related to securing nuclear materials; and possession by a retired law enforcement officer. The bill permits continued possession, sale, or transfer of a grandfathered SAW, which must be securely stored. A licensed gun dealer must conduct a background check prior to the sale or transfer of a grandfathered SAW between private parties. The bill permits continued possession of, but prohibits sale or transfer of, a grandfathered LCAFD. Newly manufactured LCAFDs must display serial number identification. Newly manufactured SAWs and LCAFDs must display the date of manufacture. The bill also allows a state or local government to use Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant Program funds to compensate individuals who surrender a SAW or LCAFD under a buy-back program.
United States · United States Congress · 29 April 2025
Equality Act This bill prohibits discrimination based on sex, sexual orientation, or gender identity with respect to businesses, employment, housing, federally funded programs, and other settings. Specifically, the bill expands Title II and Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to prohibit public accommodations and federally funded programs, respectively, from discriminating based on sex, sexual orientation, or gender identity. It also includes stores, transit services, recreational facilities, and establishments that provide health care, accounting, or legal services as public accommodations under Title II. The bill also expands Title IV (desegregation of public schools) and Title VII (employment discrimination) to specifically include sexual orientation and gender identity. (The Supreme Court held in Bostock v. Clayton County that Title VII's prohibition of employment discrimination based on sex also prohibits employment discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity.) The bill similarly expands the Fair Housing Act (discrimination in public and private housing) to include sexual orientation and gender identity. It also prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity by creditors and with respect to jury selection. The bill defines sex for purposes of the aforementioned provisions to include sex stereotypes, pregnancy, childbirth, sexual orientation, gender identity, and sex characteristics.
United States · United States Congress · 29 April 2025
Medicare for All Act This bill establishes a national health insurance program that is administered by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Among other requirements, the program must (1) cover all U.S. residents; (2) provide for automatic enrollment of individuals upon birth or residency in the United States; and (3) cover items and services that are medically necessary or appropriate to maintain health or to diagnose, treat, or rehabilitate a health condition, including hospital services, prescription drugs, mental health and substance abuse treatment, dental and vision services, long-term care, gender affirming care, and reproductive care, including contraception and abortions. The bill prohibits cost-sharing (e.g., deductibles, coinsurance, and copayments) and other charges for covered services. Additionally, private health insurers and employers may only offer coverage that is supplemental to, and not duplicative of, benefits provided under the program. Health insurance exchanges and specified federal health programs terminate upon program implementation. However, the program does not affect coverage provided through the Department of Veterans Affairs or the Indian Health Service. The bill also establishes a series of implementing provisions relating to (1) health care provider participation; (2) HHS administration; and (3) payments and costs, including the requirement that HHS negotiate prices for prescription drugs. Individuals who are age 18 or younger, age 55 or older, or already enrolled in Medicare may enroll in the program starting one year after enactment of this bill; other individuals may buy into the program at this time. The program must be fully implemented two years after enactment.
United States · United States Congress · 28 April 2025
Protecting America's Workers Act This bill expands the coverage of requirements governing workplace safety and health to include protection for federal, state, and local government employees. However, the bill does not cover working conditions otherwise covered by federal requirements for mine safety and health. The bill revises requirements governing worker protection, including by expanding protections for whistle-blowers, such as protections for employees who refuse to perform work because they reasonably believe the work would result in serious injury or illness and for employees who aid inspections; directing employers to furnish a hazard-free place of employment to all individuals performing work, not just employees; directing employers to report work-related deaths or certain injuries, illnesses, or hospitalizations; establishing rights for victims, or representatives of victims, with respect to inspections or investigations of work-related bodily injuries or deaths; and setting the permitted period for employers to correct serious, willful, or repeated violations while citations for the violations are being contested. The bill also revises enforcement and oversight of workplace safety, including by increasing civil and criminal penalties for certain violations, requiring the Department of Labor to investigate fatalities or significant incidents in the workplace, expanding enforcement requirements relating to state occupational safety and health plans, expanding requirements for workplace health hazard evaluations by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, and requiring Labor to provide training programs concerning employee rights and employer responsibilities.
United States · United States Congress · 10 April 2025
Stopping a Rogue President on Trade Act This bill terminates specified executive orders imposing duties (i.e., tariffs) on certain imports into the United States. It also requires the President to receive congressional approval in order to take certain trade actions. Specifically, the bill terminates duties imposed under the following executive orders (or any executive orders that are substantially similar to these executive orders): Executive Order 14257 , which imposed a 10% tariff on most imports to the United States and additional duties on specified trading partners; Executive Order 14193 , which imposed a 25% tariff on most imports from Canada (except for Canadian energy or energy resources, which have a 10% tariff); and Executive Order 14194 , which imposed a 25% tariff on most imports from Mexico. Additionally, the bill prohibits the President from imposing or increasing a duty, quota, or tariff-rate quota on imports entering the United States, or preventing the application of trade agreement concessions on imports, unless a joint resolution of approval is enacted into law. The bill provides exclusions from this congressional approval requirement, such as imposing antidumping and countervailing duties under the Tariff Act of 1930. (Antidumping laws provide relief to U.S industries and workers that are materially injured or threatened with injury due to imports of like products sold in the U.S. market at less than fair value, while countervailing duty laws provide such relief from imports of products subsidized by a foreign government or public entity.)
![Official portrait of Rep. Jackson, Jonathan L. [D-IL-1]](https://www.congress.gov/img/member/j000309_200.jpg)