The Carla Walker Act establishes two competitive grant programs to fund forensic DNA analysis and equipment for public law enforcement and medical examiner offices. It provides $5 million annually (2025-2029) for eligible entities like state police, prosecutors' offices, medical examiners, and coroners to purchase equipment or conduct whole-genome sequencing (testing 100,000+ genetic markers) to solve cold cases or identify unknown remains when standard DNA databases fail. Grants cannot cover staffing, travel, or general equipment but require compliance with DOJ’s 2019 forensic genealogy policy and mandate detailed annual reports on case outcomes. The law aims to improve investigative capabilities through specialized forensic genetic genealogy while maintaining strict oversight and reporting requirements.
Stop Secret Spending Act of 2025 This bill expands a requirement for federal agencies to report expenditures on the USAspending.gov website to include other transaction agreement expenditures. (Other transaction agreements, or OTAs, are contractual instruments other than standard procurement contracts, grants, or cooperative agreements; they are exempt from many federal procurement laws and regulations). Under current law, federal agencies must report expenditures on federal awards to USAspending.gov with the term federal award defined as federal grants, loans, cooperative agreements, contracts, and certain other types of expenditures. This bill expands the definition of federal award to include expenditures under OTAs, and therefore such expenditures must be included on the USAspending.gov website. The Department of the Treasury must ensure that data relating to OTAs are automatically transmitted to the website and a centralized view of this data is available on the website. Treasury must also annually post on the USAspending.gov website a report that includes (1) the total amount of federal spending on federal awards for which data has not been posted on the website, and (2) the reason why such spending data was not posted. For 10 years after enactment, the Office of Inspector General of specified federal agencies must periodically submit to Congress and make publicly available a report assessing the agency's spending data and use of data standards.
S 825 requires the Justice Department to develop a report within 150 days on programs providing evidence-based mental health care for public safety officers, including police, firefighters, EMTs, and 911 dispatchers. The report must outline how to deliver trauma-informed care, peer support, and family services through in-person or telehealth options, while ensuring confidentiality for officers seeking help. It also needs to detail administrative efficiency across states and territories, draft necessary grant conditions, and estimate annual funding needs. This bill does not fund programs but sets a framework for future action based on the high rates of PTSD and suicide among these frontline workers.
S 736, the Lieutenant Osvaldo Albarati Stopping Prison Contraband Act, amends federal law to increase penalties for providing prohibited items (like phones) to prison inmates. It adds a maximum 2-year prison term for knowingly supplying phones to inmates, specifically targeting violations related to phone trafficking. The bill also requires the Bureau of Prisons to review and update its policies within one year of enactment to better prevent inmate access to prohibited objects and enhance safety for both incarcerated individuals and staff. These changes directly affect prison staff, correctional facilities, and individuals involved in supplying contraband to inmates.
First Rhode Island Regiment Congressional Gold Medal Act This bill provides for the award of a single Congressional Gold Medal to the First Rhode Island Regiment, collectively, in recognition of their dedicated service during the Revolutionary War.
This bill requires states to develop and annually update "family partnership plans" to improve recruitment and retention of foster and adoptive families. The plans must include specific data on foster family demographics, unutilized capacity, barriers to recruitment (especially racial/ethnic matching), and input from foster parents and youth. States must report this data to Congress annually, detailing challenges like why families stop fostering or adoptions fail. The law directly affects all states administering foster care programs under federal guidelines. It mandates concrete data collection and reporting to address gaps in family recruitment and placement stability.
This bill directs the government auditor (Comptroller General) to study how wildfire prevention programs operate across different land ownerships - including federal, state, tribal, and private lands. The study will examine current federal rules, funding access, and specific wildfire mitigation activities from the 2003 Healthy Forests Restoration Act. It will identify barriers and opportunities to improve cross-boundary collaboration, with a report due to Congress within two years. The bill itself does not create new programs or funding, only requiring this analysis.
This resolution condemns the actions of those seeking to defraud the U.S. government. The resolution also expresses the belief of the House of Representatives that (1) legislative and policy reforms to prevent fraud and improper payment will meaningfully improve the continued financial prosperity of the U.S. government and the American taxpayer, and (2) federal program eligibility and spending activities should be verified prior to payments being issued.
The ZOMBIE Act amends the Payment Integrity Information Act of 2019, primarily affecting federal executive agencies and their oversight of government spending. The bill redefines "improper payments" to specifically focus on those that result in a "financial loss to the Government," excluding administrative errors that don't cause actual financial harm. It requires the Treasury Secretary to develop new risk assessment guidance, which agencies must use to conduct more frequent assessments of their programs for these specific types of improper payments and fraud. Agencies will also be required to designate a senior official to coordinate efforts with oversight bodies, report on actions taken to prevent financial losses, and implement enhanced financial and administrative controls to mitigate fraud risks in federal programs.
The Stopping Fraudulent Payments Act directs federal agencies to temporarily delay, condition, or split payments when there is a high risk of fraud or if a recipient is flagged in the Do Not Pay system. Under this law, agencies must notify payees of any pauses, explain the specific risk indicators involved, and allow recipients to contest the decision within a set timeframe. The bill requires that payments be resolved within 45 days and protects government officials from personal liability if they act in good faith to stop suspicious transactions. Additionally, it allows for the exemption of routine, historically consistent payment amounts while investigating anomalous or unusually large portions of a transfer.
The Taxpayer Funds Oversight and Accountability Act aims to improve financial management and accountability across federal agencies by strengthening the roles of agency Chief Financial Officers (CFOs) and revising government-wide financial planning. It expands CFO responsibilities to include overseeing internal controls over financial reporting and requires them to create public agency-specific plans for effective financial management, which must align with a new 4-year government-wide financial management plan developed by the Office of Management and Budget. The bill mandates that agencies annually assess and report on the effectiveness of their internal controls over financial reporting and key financial data. These changes are intended to provide greater transparency and ensure that performance and cost information are linked for better decision-making within the federal government.
The Fraud Prevention and Accountability Act creates a new Office of the Inspector General for Fraud, Accountability, and Recovery within the Department of the Treasury to oversee federal spending and prevent fraud. This new office will have authority to conduct audits and investigations across multiple federal programs, including pandemic relief funds, and will coordinate with other agencies to share data and identify fraudulent activity. The bill also requires federal agencies to screen potential payees against a centralized fraud database and mandates that the Treasury establish a governmentwide data analysis program to detect improper payments. Additionally, the act transfers assets and personnel from the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee to the new office and requires annual reporting to Congress on fraud prevention efforts.
