George Whitesides

This bill directs the Secretary of the Air Force to establish a pilot program for testing advanced nuclear propulsion systems in space, including both fission and fusion technologies. The program aims to reduce technical risks and gather information to support future military space operations, potentially extending beyond standard orbital ranges into areas like the space between Earth and the Moon. The Air Force must select contractors with proven experience in developing prototype propulsion components and must complete in-space demonstrations within three years of the bill's enactment. Before starting the program, the Secretary must submit a detailed plan to Congress, and within one year must provide a progress report describing the demonstration timeline, technical objectives, risk assessments, and comparisons to similar Chinese space propulsion development efforts. The bill does not specify funding amounts but requires the Air Force to handle launch services acquisition and coordinate testing oversight through the Air Force Research Laboratory.

The Protecting Kids from Human-Like Chatbots Act would require artificial intelligence chatbots to include safety protections for children under 18. The bill mandates that chatbots serving minors operate in a "non-personified default mode" automatically, preventing them from simulating human personalities, emotional relationships, or dependency, and it prohibits manipulative design features that encourage children to disable these protections. Developers must provide parental controls and follow technical standards set by the National Institute of Standards and Technology, which will update guidance every two years. The Federal Trade Commission will enforce the law by treating violations as unfair practices, with penalties assessed per affected child and per chatbot version, while companies that follow published guidance receive civil penalty protection. States may also pursue enforcement actions on behalf of their residents.

This resolution commemorates the 50th anniversary of the Space Shuttle Enterprise's rollout on September 17, 1976, from the Rockwell International facility in Palmdale, California. The Enterprise was the first Space Shuttle orbiter, built by North American Rockwell Corporation beginning in 1974, and served as a critical test vehicle that conducted five free flight tests above Edwards Air Force Base to prove the shuttle's safety and handling capabilities. The resolution honors the thousands of engineers, technicians, and workers from California's Antelope Valley aerospace community who designed, constructed, and tested the spacecraft, and recognizes the broader legacy of the Space Shuttle program, which completed 135 missions over three decades and advanced human spaceflight and scientific research. The resolution does not authorize any funding or establish new timelines, but instead calls on the House to celebrate this historic milestone and encourage Americans to recognize the contributions of California's aerospace workforce to the nation's space exploration efforts.

The Protecting Elders from Wire Fraud Act would require banks and financial institutions to implement new safeguards against elder fraud. Specifically, employees who suspect financial exploitation of a senior citizen would be required to report it to a federal agency within five days and include detailed information about the suspected victim and the nature of the exploitation. When suspicious activity is detected, the financial institution could place a hold on the transaction for up to 30 days (extendable for two additional 30-day periods) to investigate, and must notify a trusted contact or family member within one day of placing the hold. The bill also protects financial institutions and their employees from lawsuits when they refuse transactions or share information in good faith to prevent elder fraud, while allowing them to share information with people reasonably associated with the senior citizen unless those people appear to be involved in the fraud. The requirements would take effect 180 days after the bill becomes law.

This bill directs the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to assess trends in artificial intelligence capabilities, particularly focusing on AI systems that can autonomously conduct research and development on other AI systems. The legislation adds new requirements for memorandums of understanding between NIST and developers of advanced AI systems, requiring developers to disclose information about how much artificial intelligence was used in creating their systems and to what extent that AI operated without human oversight. The bill also requires NIST to evaluate whether frontier AI systems have the capability to autonomously advance their own development. The legislation affects AI developers working with NIST on pre-deployment evaluations of advanced systems and aims to increase government oversight of self-improving AI technologies.

The Stop Predator Dumping Act establishes rules to prevent states from concentrating conditionally released sexually violent predators in specific neighborhoods or communities. The bill requires covered states to implement a placement framework that maintains at least a 10-mile distance between released individuals, distributes placements sequentially across county subdivisions to prevent concentration, and caps placements at 25 percent in any single district within large counties. The Department of Justice must conduct a study within 60 days to examine how these individuals are currently distributed geographically, identify communities bearing disproportionate burdens such as rural areas, and issue best practices recommendations within one year. States that adopt these equitable distribution practices are eligible to receive federal grants to help implement and monitor the new policies. The bill authorizes whatever funding is necessary for the Department of Justice to administer the grant program, though no specific dollar amount is specified.

This bill directs the Department of Defense Inspector General to investigate and report on allegations of insider trading related to Operation Epic Fury, specifically involving prediction and energy markets. The Inspector General must submit a comprehensive report to Congress by January 1, 2027, detailing all complaints received and identifying whether the individuals involved were military personnel, civilian Department of Defense employees, or contractors. The report must include the number of complaints, their outcomes, whether they were substantiated, any disciplinary actions taken, patterns in the complaints, and potential security risks posed by such trading activity. Additionally, the Inspector General must provide recommendations for new safeguards and procedures to detect, prevent, and reduce insider trading based on national security information in the future. The legislation aims to address concerns that individuals with access to classified or sensitive military information may be profiting from that knowledge through financial market trading.

The Military Readiness Through Resilient Lands Act amends federal law governing how the Department of Defense manages natural resources on military installations. The legislation requires the Pentagon to develop standardized metrics and use advanced technologies like artificial intelligence, remote sensing, and automated monitoring to assess ecosystem conditions on military bases, focusing on areas relevant to military readiness, climate resilience, and community safety. These metrics would track biodiversity, habitat quality, water resources, wildfire risk, soil health, and flood risk across installations. The Defense Department must update collected data regularly, use it to establish measurable goals for maintaining or improving natural resources, and evaluate whether management plans are meeting those goals. Within two years of enactment and again five years later, the Secretary of Defense must report to Congress on progress implementing these requirements and recommend ways to streamline environmental review processes for military projects.

This bill directs the National Science Foundation to conduct workshops examining how artificial intelligence affects students in classrooms, with the goal of identifying gaps in current research and data. The workshops will focus on potential impacts including effects on children's attention spans, learning independence, cognitive and emotional development, and whether children might become overly reliant on or misplace trust in AI systems. The legislation also calls for examining whether AI's effects differ based on children's ages, vulnerabilities, or specific AI characteristics. Within 18 months of the bill's enactment, the NSF Director must complete these workshops involving researchers, educators, school leaders, and parent groups, and then submit a report to Congress within six months after that detailing the research gaps identified. The bill does not specify any funding amount for these activities.

This bill aims to modernize the nation's electrical grid by promoting the replacement of aging transmission conductors with advanced, high-capacity alternatives. The legislation allows utility companies to conduct studies evaluating whether upgrading to advanced conductors or optimizing existing rights-of-way can address grid congestion, capacity constraints, and reliability issues, with results to be submitted to the Department of Energy and made public. The bill streamlines environmental review by treating qualifying grid modernization projects as categorical exclusions under the National Environmental Policy Act, avoiding lengthy environmental assessments when extraordinary circumstances are not present. To incentivize these upgrades, the legislation creates federal tax credits for high-performance transmission property, offering a base credit rate of 6 percent and up to 30 percent for smaller projects or those meeting specific domestic content and workforce requirements. The Treasury Department has 18 months from enactment to issue regulations implementing these tax credit provisions, with the credits available for property placed in service after the bill becomes law.

The PILOT Act directs the Secretary of Defense to study whether the military can expand its use of civilian test pilots and flight test engineers to support military testing activities. The report, due to Congress by January 1, 2027, must assess the current capacity of military and civilian test pilots across each branch of the armed forces, evaluate the feasibility of allowing all graduates from accredited U.S. civilian test pilot schools to work on military projects, and recommend a certification process to ensure civilian schools meet the same standards as military test pilot schools. This legislation would potentially create new career pathways for graduates of civilian aviation schools by allowing them to contribute to Department of Defense testing programs. The bill affects defense contractors, civilian test pilot schools, and the military branches that conduct aircraft and equipment testing, though no specific funding is allocated in this initial legislation.

The TOTAL Screen Time Act directs the National Institute of Standards and Technology to develop a voluntary technical standard that would allow parents and guardians to set screen time limits across multiple devices like phones, tablets, computers, and televisions. The standard must be designed with privacy and security in mind, including features that minimize data sharing between devices and prevent the creation of centralized databases tracking children's activity. The Director must convene relevant stakeholders including device manufacturers, medical professionals, privacy advocates, and federal agencies to develop this standard within 180 days of the bill's enactment. The Director is required to submit progress reports to Congress annually for the first year and then biennially through January 1, 2032, detailing how the standard has been developed and adopted. The bill contains no specific funding authorization but establishes a clear timeline for developing an industry standard that would give families a tool to manage screen time across their connected devices.

The Wildfire Response Modernization Act directs the Secretary of the Air Force to purchase satellite imagery and related data products from commercial space companies to support wildfire response efforts. The Air Force would work with the National Guard's FireGuard program and U.S. Northern Command to obtain this space-based data to help protect military installations, assist civil authorities during emergencies, and support land management activities. The bill also allows the Air Force to share this satellite information with state, local, and tribal governments to help them fight wildfires more effectively. The legislation applies to the Department of Defense and wildfire management operations across the United States. While the bill does not specify funding amounts or implementation timelines, it indicates that any procurement would be subject to available appropriations.

The Global Climate Resilience Act of 2026 allows the U.S. government to reduce or cancel debt owed by developing countries that face climate-related threats, provided those countries use the freed-up resources to build climate resilience and disaster preparedness. Eligible countries must be low to middle-income nations or small island developing states with democratically elected governments and no pattern of gross human rights violations, and they must have a plan to use the debt relief for resilience activities, disaster risk reduction, or recovery efforts. The bill authorizes the President to engage in "debt-for-resilience swaps" where old U.S. loans are exchanged for new commitments to climate adaptation, and to purchase privately owned debt of vulnerable countries at discounted rates to support similar swaps. Additionally, the bill directs U.S. representatives to international financial institutions like the World Bank and International Monetary Fund to advocate for debt restructuring programs and the creation of an international climate insurance program that would provide quick financial assistance to countries hit by natural disasters. The President must consult with Congress and submit annual reports detailing the program's operations and participating countries.

The Disaster Ready Infrastructure Act of 2026 requires transportation planning organizations to identify which roads, highways, and other transportation facilities in their areas are most vulnerable to natural disasters that regularly occur in their regions. The bill applies to both metropolitan areas and states, requiring them to assess which vulnerable facilities are most critical to keep operating during and after disasters, and to develop improvement projects to protect those key routes. This change amends federal transportation planning requirements under title 23 of the U.S. Code, affecting how the Department of Transportation, state departments of transportation, and local metropolitan planning organizations conduct their long-term infrastructure planning. The legislation does not specify new funding amounts or implementation timelines in the provided text. By requiring this vulnerability assessment upfront, the bill aims to help communities prioritize disaster resilience improvements for their most critical transportation infrastructure.

This bill establishes the Veteran Scam Victims Foundation, a nonprofit organization designed to protect veterans and their beneficiaries from scams through education and support services. The Foundation will be governed by a Board consisting of the Secretary of Veterans Affairs as chairman, six private citizens appointed by various federal agencies (Commerce, Defense, Justice, Federal Trade Commission, Internal Revenue Service, and Social Security Administration), and up to three additional private citizens appointed by the VA Secretary. The Foundation will accept private donations, gifts, and bequests to fund its anti-scam activities, but explicitly cannot provide direct monetary compensation to scam victims. The Foundation will be tax-exempt, operate as an independent nonprofit corporation under the District of Columbia Nonprofit Corporation Act, and must submit annual reports to Congress detailing its receipts, expenditures, and activities. The bill contains no specific funding authorization or implementation timeline.

This bill adds new environmental and safety requirements for large-scale mineral extraction projects near cities and environmentally sensitive areas. The legislation applies to mining operations that produce over one million tons of minerals annually and are located within 25 miles of urban areas or near protected environmental sites. Companies seeking permits for these projects must submit detailed assessments covering haul routes, traffic management, water conservation, and transportation alternatives like rail, along with demonstrating coordination with state and local governments and obtaining necessary water and pollution permits. The Secretary of the Interior can suspend or revoke permits if companies fail to comply with these requirements, and companies must file annual reports on water use, truck traffic, and implementation of approved measures. The bill does not establish specific funding amounts or implementation timelines beyond requiring the Secretary to conduct reviews every five years starting five years after enactment.

H.R. 7150 requires the Department of Veterans Affairs to submit quarterly reports to Congress detailing the status of its home loan program for veterans. These reports must include information on the number of new loans issued, denied applications, refinanced loans, and mortgages that are 60 or 90 days overdue, as well as staffing levels at the VA Home Loan Guaranty Service. The bill amends existing veterans' benefits law to add these quarterly reporting requirements on top of the annual reports already required by law. The legislation affects veterans accessing VA housing loans and the congressional committees overseeing the VA's administration of these benefits. No new funding or specific implementation timeline is specified in the bill text.

This bill establishes a new Office of the National Fraud and Scam Prevention within the White House, headed by a Senate-confirmed Director who reports directly to the President. The Director would serve as the chief advisor on fraud and scam prevention policy, coordinating efforts across federal agencies including the FBI, Secret Service, Federal Trade Commission, and others to develop national strategy, share information, and respond to major fraud campaigns. The legislation allows the Office to create a data-sharing program where private companies and organizations can voluntarily report scam information without legal liability, and requires the Director to submit annual reports to Congress on fraud threats and the effectiveness of federal prevention efforts. The Office is authorized to hire up to 20 staff members and employ consultants as needed, with the entire office set to expire five years after the bill becomes law unless Congress extends it.

This bill designates the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 28201 Franklin Parkway in Santa Clarita, California, as the "Deputy Ryan Clinkunbroomer Post Office Building".

This resolution honors José Moreno Hernández, a former NASA astronaut born to Mexican immigrant farmworker parents who became a pioneering figure in space exploration and STEM. Hernández earned degrees in electrical engineering and worked at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory before being selected for NASA's Astronaut Candidate Program in 2004 after eleven applications, exemplifying remarkable perseverance. In August 2009, he flew on Space Shuttle Discovery as part of the STS-128 mission to the International Space Station, where he conducted scientific experiments and performed support work during the two-week mission. The House of Representatives recognizes his contributions to space exploration, scientific advancement, and his continued work as an educator and advocate promoting diversity and representation in science and engineering fields. This is a ceremonial resolution with no funding or implementation requirements; it simply honors his achievements and legacy as an inspirational example of Hispanic American contributions to STEM.

H.R. 5615 would establish the FireGuard Program as an official "program of record" within the National Guard, making it a permanent part of the organization's operations. The program provides early wildfire detection information to states, counties, municipalities, and tribal governments to help local responders prepare for and fight wildfires. The bill requires the National Guard Secretary to submit annual briefings to Congress for five years detailing which areas received assistance, how accurate the early warnings were compared to actual fire perimeters, how quickly alerts reach local responders, and efforts to incorporate new satellite and aerial surveillance technology. The program is set to operate through December 31, 2031, after which it would automatically end unless Congress reauthorizes it. The legislation was introduced in September 2025 and referred to the House Armed Services Committee.

The Contract Postal Unit Transparency Act requires the U.S. Postal Service to increase transparency and public input before closing or consolidating contract postal units—smaller postal facilities often located in retail stores. Starting six months after the law takes effect, the Postal Service must publish reports on expected customer impacts, submit reasons for closures to Congress, hold a public hearing that anyone can attend in person or online, and then publish a summary of public comments within a week. The bill prohibits any contract postal unit closure or consolidation until at least 180 days after the hearing summary is published, effectively creating a mandatory waiting period. The legislation affects communities that rely on these contract units for mail services and aims to give residents a formal voice in decisions that could affect their postal access.

This bill protects four major federal statistical agencies—the Census Bureau, Bureau of Labor Statistics, National Center for Education Statistics, and Bureau of Justice Statistics—by giving their leaders greater job security and independence from political pressure. The legislation establishes six-year fixed terms for agency heads, with staggered appointments so no more than two terms expire in any year, and requires Senate confirmation for all appointments. Most importantly, the President can only remove these leaders "for cause," defined narrowly as proven inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance—but explicitly not based on the substance, conclusions, or timing of statistical data released by the agencies. The bill also ensures that agency heads maintain final authority over their agencies' methodologies, data analysis, and release schedules, while prohibiting political tests for hiring and promotion of professional staff. These protections aim to preserve public trust in federal statistics by preventing political interference with data collection and reporting.

Chiquita Canyon Tax Relief ActThis bill excludes from gross income, for tax purposes, amounts individuals receive on or after March 1, 2024, as compensation for loss, suffering, or inconvenience resulting from the elevated temperature landfill event occurring beneath the Chiquita Canyon Landfill in Los Angeles County, California, beginning on May 1, 2022. It applies to amounts provided by a government entity; Waste Connections, Inc.; or any subsidiary, insurer, or agent of Waste Connections, Inc. or any related person.