H.R. 8885, introduced in May 2026, would prohibit the federal government from using taxpayer funds, including the Judgment Fund, to settle legal claims brought by the President, the President's family members, affiliated entities, or presidential appointees related to alleged political targeting or government "weaponization." The bill also bars the Department of Justice from representing the President's interests in litigation where the President could financially benefit, and it prevents the creation of any compensation commissions or funds designed to reimburse individuals for alleged political bias by the government. Any agreements or settlements made in violation of these restrictions would be declared null and void. Additionally, the bill requires that anyone who received federal funds in violation of these prohibitions must repay those funds to the Treasury, with the Secretary of the Treasury authorized to recover such funds through various collection methods including offsets against tax refunds, grants, and other federal payments.

The Payback Act directs the Treasury Department to refund American consumers for increased costs they paid due to tariffs that were imposed without proper congressional authorization. The bill is based on a recent Supreme Court ruling that clarified the President cannot unilaterally impose tariffs under emergency powers and that only Congress has constitutional authority over taxes and duties. Within 120 days of the bill's enactment, Treasury must develop a formula to calculate refunds based on actual consumer price increases, accounting for how tariffs were passed through retailers and distributors, with adjustments for different income levels and geographic areas. Refunds will be distributed automatically through existing IRS and Treasury systems when possible, with a simplified application process for those not reached through these channels, and Congress will receive a detailed report within 180 days outlining the total refund obligations and distribution timeline. The Government Accountability Office will also review the implementation and report back to Congress within one year after refunds begin.

The TRACK ICE Act would require the Department of Homeland Security to publicly disclose detailed information about flights used by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to transport detainees. Within 72 hours of each deportation or detention-related flight, the government would have to publish data including departure and arrival times, airport codes, aircraft identification numbers, the number of detainees on board, and demographic information such as nationality, age, family composition, and types of physical restraints used. The bill also prohibits private aircraft operators contracted for these immigration enforcement flights from using Federal Aviation Administration privacy programs that would otherwise shield their operations from public view. The legislation affects any aircraft operation that receives federal funding and is used for detention, deportation, or transport of individuals in DHS custody in connection with immigration enforcement. No specific funding or implementation timeline is specified beyond the 72-hour reporting requirement.

This resolution honors the service, sacrifice, and contributions of Texas veterans and their families. The resolution also expresses that the House of Representatives commits to working with the Department of Veterans Affairs to ensure that veterans are provided timely care and applicable benefits and compensation as a result of their service.

The No Presidential Payouts Act would prohibit the federal government from using any taxpayer funds to pay settlements or reimburse legal costs for a sitting President, the President's relatives, or entities associated with them in connection with criminal or civil investigations and lawsuits. The bill specifically blocks the Department of Justice's Claims and Judgment Fund—a Treasury account typically used to pay court-ordered settlements—from being used for such payments, and extends the restriction to all other federal funding sources as well. This legislation would affect current and future Presidents and their families by requiring them to cover their own legal expenses in any federal matters where they are defendants or parties to a case. The bill includes no specific funding allocation or implementation timeline beyond its immediate restrictions on fund usage.

Halting Education Loan Payments during Federal Employment Disruptions Act or the HELP FEDs ActThis bill waives late fees, penalties, and other adverse actions for federal employees who miss student loan payments during a lapse in appropriations (i.e., government shutdown). The bill applies to education loans made, insured, or guaranteed under the Higher Education Act of 1965, including loans held by the Department of Education (ED) or contracted loan servicers.Under the bill, a federal employee who misses a student loan payment that is due during a period of involuntary disruption of pay (i.e., the employee did not receive scheduled wages due to a lapse in appropriations) may not be assessed a late fee or penalty or be subject to other adverse actions. The bill also prohibits federal employees from incurring additional interest on such loans during an involuntary disruption of pay. In addition, the bill requires ED to coordinate with credit reporting agencies and loan servicers to ensure that no adverse information related to delayed or missed student loan payments of a federal employee during an involuntary disruption of pay is furnished to any consumer reporting agency. The bill applies retroactively to any involuntary disruption of pay occurring on or after October 1, 2025.

The FREE SPEECH Act of 2025 would prohibit the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) from requiring regulated entities to align their speech with any presidential administration's political ideology. The bill targets the FCC specifically, preventing the agency from enforcing such requirements through rules, orders, merger approvals, or other regulatory conditions. The legislation affects television and radio broadcasters, telecommunications companies, and other entities under FCC jurisdiction. No specific funding or implementation timeline is included in the bill text. The measure appears designed to prevent what the sponsor views as politically motivated regulatory pressure on media and communications companies.

H.R. 5174 updates and modernizes Title 51 of the U.S. Code, which governs space and aeronautics law, by correcting outdated language, fixing drafting errors, and reorganizing sections for clarity without changing existing legal meaning. The bill establishes new NASA operational requirements including counterfeit parts detection, cybersecurity improvements, facilities planning, and STEM education initiatives—particularly targeting underrepresented groups—while also strengthening Earth observation coordination and committing the U.S. to operate the International Space Station through September 2030 with at least 50 percent of research capacity available to non-NASA entities. The legislation mandates development of advanced space exploration systems including the Space Launch System and Orion spacecraft, directs NASA to create a roadmap for human Mars missions in the 2030s, and establishes a Commercial Reusable Suborbital Research Program to support scientific research and education. Additionally, the bill creates a national space technology policy, updates congressional committee references throughout the code, and consolidates scattered NASA provisions from multiple laws into Title 51's unified structure, ensuring all cross-references and legal citations are current and consistent.

The SWIFT VOTE Act directs the Election Assistance Commission to distribute federal grants to states and local election jurisdictions for purchasing and maintaining electronic poll books (digital devices that replace paper voter check-in lists) and for developing systems that collect and share real-time voting wait time information with the public. Eligible jurisdictions must apply and commit to publishing wait times on their official websites during federal elections—hourly for polls open 4 hours or less, and at least four times daily for longer operating hours—along with post-election reports on waiting patterns. The legislation prioritizes funding for jurisdictions demonstrating the greatest need to reduce polling place wait times and those that will publish wait time data. The bill authorizes $120 million in federal funding to support these improvements and requires participating jurisdictions to ensure their electronic systems comply with federal certification standards and provide training to election officials on accessibility for voters with disabilities and limited English proficiency.

The CLEAR ID Act would prohibit the Department of Homeland Security from using federal funds for civil immigration enforcement operations unless officers clearly identify themselves and remain visible to the public. Specifically, immigration officers must not wear masks or facial coverings that hide their identity, must clearly display their agency badge and uniform, must verbally identify themselves, and must use clearly marked vehicles during enforcement actions. The bill affects U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and other state or local agencies conducting immigration enforcement. Congress cites a series of recent criminal incidents where individuals impersonated immigration officers to commit crimes like assault and robbery, arguing that requiring visible identification will help the public distinguish legitimate officers from criminals and restore public trust in law enforcement. The bill includes exceptions for medical necessity and approved undercover operations that meet specific criteria related to personal safety, government liability, and privacy concerns.

H.Res. 619 is a congressional resolution supporting "Minority Mental Health Awareness Month" and highlighting the disproportionate mental health challenges facing Black, Indigenous, and other communities of color in the United States. The resolution documents significant disparities, including higher rates of mental health conditions among minority populations, lower treatment rates (for example, only 13 percent of Latino adults ages 18-44 with mental health conditions received treatment compared to over one-third of non-minorities), and a critical shortage of minority mental health providers representing less than one-fifth of the profession. The resolution calls on the President to increase mental health care access tailored to the unique needs of minority communities and calls on Congress to work with federal agencies to address the ongoing mental health crisis, though the resolution does not authorize any specific funding or establish timelines. The resolution also criticizes recent Trump Administration actions that reduced mental health funding and staffing at key agencies, including cuts to the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline and cancellation of over 900 federal health grants addressing racial disparities.

This concurrent resolution urges Congress to establish a United States Commission on Truth, Racial Healing, and Transformation to address historical racial injustices and their ongoing effects. The resolution documents centuries of government-sanctioned discrimination against African Americans, Native Americans, Latino Americans, Asian Americans, Hawaiian natives, and other people of color—including slavery, segregation policies, denial of citizenship, forced deportations, and land seizures—and argues these actions created persistent wealth gaps and social inequities that continue today. The proposed commission would acknowledge these injustices, memorialize their victims and descendants, and work toward eliminating the belief in racial hierarchies and the resulting disparities in education, health care, employment, housing, and the justice system. The resolution notes that over 40 countries have established truth and reconciliation commissions for similar purposes and emphasizes that this effort complements rather than replaces a separate reparations commission. As a concurrent resolution, this is an expression of congressional intent rather than binding legislation, carrying no funding requirements or implementation timeline.

The Abortion Care Awareness Act would require the Secretary of Health and Human Services to conduct a national public health campaign to educate Americans about accessing abortion and related health services. The campaign would provide information on where to obtain abortion care (including medication abortion), the legality of abortion services, travel rights across state lines, and how to distinguish legitimate abortion providers from crisis pregnancy centers. The bill specifically targets underserved communities including communities of color, immigrants, people with disabilities, rural populations, and LGBTQI+ individuals to ensure the information reaches those who may face barriers to care. The legislation prohibits the campaign from promoting misinformation about abortion safety or spreading false claims about "abortion reversal" and requires consultation with medical professionals and reproductive rights organizations. No specific funding amount or timeline is included in the bill text provided.

The HIRE CREDIT Act expands the federal work opportunity tax credit to include people displaced by federally declared disasters occurring on or after January 1, 2024. Employers who hire individuals who lost their homes or jobs in qualified disaster zones can claim a tax credit for wages paid to these workers, provided they are hired within one year of the disaster. The bill includes a restriction: if a displaced disaster victim works full-time (30+ hours per week) outside the disaster zone, the employer cannot claim the tax credit for those wages. The legislation applies retroactively to January 1, 2024, and includes transitional rules allowing employers to claim credits for disaster victims already hired before the bill's enactment. No new federal funding is appropriated; the benefit operates through existing tax credit mechanisms.

Supporting all Healthy Options when Purchasing Produce Act of 2025 or the SHOPP Act of 2025This bill modifies the Gus Schumacher Nutrition Incentive Program (GusNIP) to include fresh frozen fruits and vegetables.GusNIP is a Department of Agriculture (USDA) program that provides grants for projects that increase low-income consumers' purchases of fruits and vegetables. It is made up of three competitive grant programs, including the GusNIP Nutrition Incentive Program, which provides grants for projects that provide incentives for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) participants to purchase fruits and vegetables.The bill directs USDA, in awarding GusNIP Nutrition Incentive Program grants, to give priority to projects that increase year-round availability of nutrition incentives by offering fresh frozen fruits or vegetables in the program.In addition, the bill amends another GusNIP program, the Produce Prescription Program, to include fresh frozen fruits and vegetables, as well as fresh and fresh frozen legumes. Currently, only fresh fruits and vegetables are covered under the program.The GusNIP Produce Prescription Program supports projects that demonstrate and evaluate the impact of fruit and vegetable prescriptions on increasing procurement and consumption of fruits and vegetables, reducing individual and household food insecurity, and reducing healthcare usage and associated costs.

Advancing Lifesaving Efforts with Rapid Test strips for Communities Act or the ALERT Communities ActThis bill establishes programs and requirements to advance the development and usage of test strips that detect the presence of certain hazardous drugs (e.g., fentanyl, xylazine). Currently, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration provides grants to government entities to train and provide authorized equipment to first responders and other relevant personnel for emergency treatment of opioid overdoses. The bill expands these grants to include rapid response test strips for detecting the presence of fentanyl, xylazine, and other synthetic opioids or emerging substances in people or within other drugs.Additionally, the bill requires the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to publish guidance and standards for test strip manufacturers to support the development, evaluation, and authorization of test strips.Also, HHS must conduct a study and report to Congress on how the availability and usage of test strips and similar equipment impacts the frequency of overdoses and participation in substance use disorder treatment.

The Test Strip Access Act of 2025 amends existing federal law to explicitly allow grants under the 21st Century Cures Act to be used for purchasing and distributing fentanyl and xylazine test strips as part of overdose prevention efforts. These test strips allow people who use drugs to detect the presence of fentanyl and xylazine—powerful and often deadly substances—in their drugs before consumption. The bill affects states and tribal nations that receive federal grants for substance use disorder prevention and treatment programs. By clarifying that test strips are an allowable use of these existing grant funds, the legislation aims to expand access to this harm-reduction tool without requiring new funding or establishing new timelines—it simply removes ambiguity about how current grant money can be spent to combat the ongoing opioid and overdose crisis.

Safeguarding Testing and Overdose Prevention Against Fentanyl and Xylazine Act or the STOP Fentanyl and Xylazine ActThis bill exempts the possession, sale, purchase, import, export, or transport of equipment that tests for the presence of fentanyl or xylazine from criminal penalties under the Controlled Substances Act.

This bill designates the medical center of the Department of Veterans Affairs in Dallas, Texas, as the Eddie Bernice Johnson Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center or the Eddie Bernice Johnson VA Medical Center.