The FAMILY Act would establish a national paid family and medical leave insurance program that provides wage replacement benefits for workers needing time off for caregiving or medical reasons. It defines "qualified caregiving" to include caring for a family member with a serious health condition, personal medical needs, or recovery from violence (including domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking). Benefits would be calculated based on earnings, with a minimum monthly benefit of $580 and maximum of $4,000, administered by a new Office of Paid Family and Medical Leave within the Social Security Administration. Eligible individuals would need to have worked for at least 8 quarters in the previous year and file an application with required documentation, while existing state paid leave programs would continue to operate alongside this federal program.
This bill creates a program to assign traveling physicians to provide healthcare services to veterans residing in U.S. territories, including Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. It allows the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to assign physicians for up to one year at VA facilities in these territories, requiring coordination with local medical providers to ensure quality care. Physicians assigned under this program would receive a relocation or retention bonus similar to existing federal employee incentives. The bill directly affects veterans in U.S. territories and VA healthcare operations there.
Equal COLA Act This bill applies a cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) for annuities paid under the Federal Employees Retirement System that is equal to the increase in inflation, regardless of the amount of the increase. Specifically, for any year in which the Consumer Price Index (CPI) has increased over the previous year, the COLA amount shall be increased by the change in the CPI from the previous year. Current law applies an adjustment equal to the change in CPI only if the change is 2% or less. If the change is between 2% and 3%, the adjustment is limited to 2%. If the change is more than 3%, the adjustment is limited to 1% less than the change.
Saving the Civil Service Act This bill generally prohibits changes to the classification of positions in the competitive service and excepted service unless certain conditions are met. (Competitive service positions are subject to competitive examination while excepted service positions are appointed under one of five schedules. Competitive service positions have notice and appeal requirements for adverse actions that are not applicable to most excepted positions, including those of a confidential, policy-determining, policy-making, or policy-advocating character under Schedule C.) On October 21, 2020, President Donald Trump issued an executive order that placed executive agency positions that are of a confidential, policy-determining, policy-making, or policy-advocating character, and that are not normally subject to change as a result of a presidential transition, under a new Schedule F in the excepted service. The order was subsequently revoked by President Joe Biden. The bill prohibits executive agency positions in the competitive service from being placed in the excepted service, unless such positions are placed in a schedule in the excepted service as in effect on September 30, 2020. The bill also prohibits positions in the excepted service from being placed in any schedule other than the aforementioned schedules. Additionally, agencies may not (1) transfer occupied positions from the competitive or excepted service into Schedule C without the consent of the Office of Personnel Management, or (2) transfer employees in the excepted service to another schedule or transfer employees in the competitive service to the excepted service without employee consent.
This bill bans forced arbitration clauses in employment, consumer, antitrust, and civil rights disputes. It prohibits agreements that require individuals to resolve such disputes through private arbitration before any conflict arises, and also blocks waivers that prevent people from joining class or collective lawsuits. The law directly affects workers facing workplace issues, consumers with purchase disputes, and individuals alleging discrimination or civil rights violations. It ensures these cases can be handled in court rather than private arbitration, applying to disputes occurring after the law takes effect.
The George Floyd Justice in Policing Act of 2025 would establish a National Police Misconduct Registry to track officer complaints, disciplinary actions, and misconduct records across all law enforcement agencies. It would require law enforcement agencies to implement body-worn camera programs with specific recording and retention policies, ban chokeholds and no-knock warrants in drug cases, and reform qualified immunity to make it easier to hold officers accountable for misconduct. The bill mandates comprehensive data collection on use of force incidents, requiring agencies to report detailed information about stops, searches, and force used, disaggregated by race, ethnicity, gender, and other demographics. These provisions would directly affect all Federal, State, and local law enforcement agencies that receive federal grant funding, with requirements for policy changes, training, and data reporting.
The Azerbaijan Sanctions Review Act of 2025 requires the President to review within 180 days whether 53 specific Azerbaijani officials meet criteria for sanctions under the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act. These officials include military commanders, security service heads, and judges implicated in human rights violations related to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. The review must include a detailed justification and determine if sanctions should be imposed on individuals linked to alleged war crimes, arbitrary detention, and torture of Armenians. The bill mandates this assessment without imposing new sanctions, focusing instead on evaluating existing legal authority for action.
The FAIR Act of 2025 would prohibit companies from requiring pre-dispute arbitration agreements or waivers that prevent individuals from joining class or collective lawsuits in employment, consumer, antitrust, or civil rights cases. This directly affects workers, consumers, and small businesses who currently face forced arbitration for issues like workplace discrimination, product defects, or unfair business practices. The bill makes such agreements unenforceable while allowing voluntary arbitration after disputes arise and leaving collective bargaining agreements unaffected. It applies to all disputes occurring after the law takes effect, without changing how voluntary arbitration works post-dispute.
HRES 704 is a non-binding resolution expressing the House's opposition to the proposed "Wasteful and Inappropriate Service Reduction Model" (WISeR) for traditional Medicare. It opposes expanding prior authorization requirements for Medicare services by 30% - requiring doctors to seek approval before treatment - using private companies with a history of incorrect denials and AI tools reported to have high error rates. The resolution states this would undermine beneficiary access to timely care, citing data showing prior authorization causes physician burnout and that Medicare Advantage denials are overturned 81.7% of the time. It urges CMS to terminate the model but does not change existing law.
S 2784, the Congressional Tribute to Constance Baker Motley Act of 2025, is a commemorative resolution honoring civil rights pioneer Constance Baker Motley. It authorizes the posthumous presentation of a Congressional gold medal to her son, Joel Motley III, and niece, Constance Royster, recognizing her historic role as the first African-American woman on the LDF legal team for *Brown v. Board of Education*, her service as a federal judge, and her civil rights advocacy. The bill directs the Treasury Secretary to design and strike the medal, with proceeds from bronze duplicates covering costs. It does not create new laws or affect any policies, as it solely serves to commemorate Motley's legacy.
This bill amends the Harmful Algal Bloom and Hypoxia Research and Control Act of 1998 to strengthen federal efforts addressing harmful algal blooms (HABs) and hypoxia across marine, estuarine, and freshwater systems. It establishes a new Task Force required to develop a comprehensive Action Strategy every five years, examining causes, ecological impacts, and economic consequences of HABs in diverse environments including the Great Lakes, coastal waters, and freshwater systems. The bill authorizes $19.5 million annually for NOAA and $8 million annually for the EPA (fiscal years 2026-2030) to implement these provisions, creates a national monitoring network for HABs, and establishes an incubator program to develop innovative prevention strategies. It mandates consultation with states, tribes, local governments, and affected industries like fisheries and agriculture to address HABs impacts on public health, ecosystems, and communities.
This bill (HR 5332) mandates a federal review of liquid cooling technologies for data centers, requiring the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to assess their research needs, costs, benefits, and market adoption within 90 days. The study will evaluate how liquid cooling compares to air cooling for efficiency, safety, and heat reuse, including waste heat capture for secondary uses. It directly affects federal agencies operating data centers (like the Department of Energy) by informing future infrastructure decisions. The GAO report and subsequent Department of Energy assessment will guide potential policy but do not fund or require adoption of liquid cooling.
