The Mali Security Partnership and Counterterrorism Act requires the Secretary of State to submit a detailed report to Congress within 180 days regarding the expansion of al-Qaeda-linked groups in Mali and their financing methods. The report must analyze how terrorist organizations exploit illegal gold trade networks, informal taxation, and cross-border operations with neighboring countries like Burkina Faso and Niger. Additionally, the legislation mandates that the report include a specific United States diplomatic strategy for countering this influence, which involves proposed bilateral initiatives, regional cooperation efforts, and metrics to measure effectiveness.
The We Can't Wait Act of 2026 allows individuals who have not yet reached early retirement age to choose whether they want to receive Social Security disability benefits during the standard five-month waiting period that currently precedes benefit payments. If an individual makes this election, their monthly benefit amount is permanently reduced by a specific percentage, initially set at 94.25 percent of the standard rate, to ensure the change does not increase the long-term costs for the Federal Disability Insurance Trust Fund. The bill requires the Social Security Administration to update application forms within 180 days of enactment and mandates that actuaries recalculate this reduction factor every five years to maintain actuarial neutrality over a 75-year period.
The GRANT Reform Act of 2026 requires the Government Accountability Office to publish an annual public report detailing the names, purposes, and amounts of all federal grants issued in the previous fiscal year. It also mandates that grant recipients submit detailed reports within three months of completing their projects, disclosing specific financial data such as salary expenditures, subcontractor payments, administrative costs, and any unspent funds. The Office of Management and Budget is tasked with issuing guidance on these reporting requirements and notifying affected entities. Any recipient who fails to comply with the new reporting rules becomes ineligible for future federal grants until they meet the obligations.
This bill requires the United States Postal Service to provide curbside mail delivery to residents of small housing developments and prohibits the agency from using funds to stop or limit this service. The legislation specifically targets clusters of 50 or fewer single-family homes that are located within 300 yards of other residences already receiving curbside delivery. By mandating this standard, the bill directly affects how mail is distributed in these specific residential areas and restricts the Postal Service's ability to alter its current delivery practices for them.
The Pennington County Land Conveyance Act directs the Secretary of Agriculture to transfer approximately 8.97 acres of federal land within the Black Hills National Forest to Pennington County, South Dakota. This transfer occurs without any payment from the county and allows local officials to use the property for a public works facility or other necessary purposes. The legislation also requires the federal government to adjust the boundary of the national forest to reflect this change in ownership.
The Defense AI Reliability and Reporting Act requires the Secretary of Defense to establish a centralized program for tracking and fixing problems with artificial intelligence systems used by the military. This program will collect reports on incidents where AI systems cause harm, fail to follow commands, or operate outside approved limits, as well as reports on security weaknesses in these systems. To encourage transparency, the bill protects service members, employees, and contractors from retaliation when they report issues in good faith. For serious problems that affect the entire department, the military must create a corrective action plan and verify that fixes are working before continuing to use the affected systems. Finally, the Department of Defense must submit an annual report to Congress detailing the number of incidents, trends in AI failures, and any cases where AI systems resulted in injury or death.
The Protecting Pentagon Press Access Act requires the Secretary of Defense to restore physical access for credentialed journalists to areas of the Pentagon that were open before May 2025, including the Correspondents' Corridor and unescorted entry privileges. The bill mandates that security reviews for press credentials be handled by career officials at the Pentagon Force Protection Agency without political interference or delays. Additionally, it prohibits future changes to press access policies, work spaces, or credentialing processes without prior consultation with the Senate and House Armed Services Committees.
The Missed Paychecks for Missed Deadlines Act requires that Members of Congress be deducted one day's worth of pay for every day a federal government shutdown is in effect during their pay period. This provision applies to all days within the 119th and subsequent Congresses, meaning legislators would not receive compensation for any time the government is closed due to a lapse in appropriations. The bill defines a shutdown as occurring when regular funding bills or continuing resolutions are not enacted, resulting in a lapse of funds for federal agencies. Payroll administrators in both the House and Senate are tasked with implementing these deductions, with assistance from the Secretary of the Treasury.
The Hands Off Our Great Lakes Act prohibits the President and federal officials from changing the official names of Lake Superior, Lake Michigan, Lake Huron, Lake Erie, or Lake Ontario. The bill specifically nullifies Executive Order 14422, which had renamed Lake Ontario to Lake America, and bans any further attempts to alter these geographic names through similar executive actions. Additionally, it forbids the use of federal funds to implement or enforce the revoked order or any comparable measures.
The Part D Premium Protection Act of 2026 would establish a temporary premium credit for Medicare Part D prescription drug plan enrollees in 2027. This credit is designed to match the average premium reduction observed during the Part D Premium Stabilization Demonstration program between January 1, 2025, and the end of 2026. Under the bill's provisions, insurance sponsors would charge enrollees their standard premiums minus this specific credit amount, with the floor set at zero dollars. The Secretary of Health and Human Services would then reimburse the sponsors for the difference between the charged premium and the full applicable rate.
This resolution allows the House of Representatives to immediately consider and pass H.R. 185, known as the Epstein Files Transparency Act II, which strengthens rules for releasing government documents related to the Jeffrey Epstein case. The bill empowers state attorneys general and victims to sue the U.S. Attorney General in federal court if they believe records are being unlawfully withheld, redacted, or delayed, while also requiring courts to expedite these legal cases. It mandates that victims receive unredacted copies of records pertaining to them and grants state law enforcement full access to previously sealed or classified materials for their investigations. Additionally, the law imposes criminal penalties on federal officials who conceal or falsify records and requires Members of Congress to receive unredacted documents within seven days of requesting them.
H.Res. 1497 is a House resolution that commemorates the fifth anniversary of the Abbey Gate bombing, in which 13 U.S. servicemembers were killed during the withdrawal from Afghanistan. The bill lists the names of the fallen soldiers and formally condemns the Biden-Harris administration for what it describes as dereliction of duty and the forfeiture of military property to the Taliban. It asserts that the withdrawal was a disastrous failure that ignored security warnings and left Americans at risk, while also criticizing the lack of accountability from officials involved in the decision-making process.
