The Fiscal Sponsorship Transparency Act of 2026 requires tax-exempt charitable organizations to report detailed information about their fiscal sponsorship arrangements to the Internal Revenue Service, including the names of parties involved, amounts transferred, descriptions of activities funded, the managing officer, and arrangement dates. The bill also creates new tax penalties for "improper conduit arrangements," where charities solicit donations for specific individuals or entities while failing to exercise proper control over how the funds are used, imposing a 20 percent tax on the organization and up to 5 percent on managers who knowingly agree to such arrangements, with escalated penalties of 100 percent and 50 percent respectively if the improper conduct is not corrected. These changes apply to most tax-exempt organizations except private foundations and donor-advised funds, and the reporting and penalty provisions take effect for tax years beginning after December 31, 2027. The legislation aims to prevent charitable organizations from being used as pass-through vehicles for donations directed to specific non-exempt individuals or entities while sidestepping normal tax and donation rules.

This bill authorizes the Secretary of Health and Human Services to contract with recovery audit contractors to review Medicare claims before payment is made, rather than only after overpayments have already been sent out. The contractors would be paid based on the amount of improper payments they prevent, with a methodology designed to encourage timely and accurate prevention of fraudulent or incorrect claims without unfairly targeting certain types of claims. The bill affects Medicare providers and beneficiaries by potentially reducing erroneous payments before they occur. Funding for these prepayment review contracts would come from transfers between the Hospital Insurance Trust Fund and the Supplementary Medical Insurance Trust Fund based on the proportion of improper payments prevented in each program. The Secretary must issue implementing regulations within one year of the bill's enactment, including details on payment methodology and how savings will be calculated.

This bill requires the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation to establish and test a program called the Accountable Produce Is Medicine Bundled Payment Model, which provides comprehensive health services to Medicare, Medicaid, and Children's Health Insurance Program beneficiaries with chronic diseases. The program must select at least five healthcare providers to participate for a minimum of two years and focus on individuals in underserved areas with conditions like diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular disease, and hypertension. Selected programs would offer eligible participants a bundle of services including nutrition counseling, care coordination, telehealth monitoring, lifestyle modification programs, and access to healthy foods—particularly fresh produce grown locally or using regenerative agricultural practices—with no out-of-pocket costs to participants. The model would run for at least five years, with providers collecting health data quarterly to measure outcomes like weight, blood pressure, and blood glucose levels, and potentially facing financial incentives or penalties based on performance after the third year. The bill reflects the congressional view that food-based interventions can help reduce chronic disease-related healthcare costs in the United States.

H.R. 8025 directs the U.S. Trade Representative to investigate whether Canada's Online Streaming Act (Bill C-11) unfairly targets American streaming companies and violates trade obligations under the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA). The bill contends that Canada's law imposes discriminatory financial contributions and content requirements on U.S.-based services like Netflix and Spotify while exempting Canadian competitors, effectively functioning as a revenue-based tax on American companies. The Trade Representative must launch an investigation within 30 days of enactment, consult with affected U.S. businesses and stakeholders, and submit an initial report within 90 days, with quarterly updates for two years. If Canada fails to remedy the allegedly discriminatory measures within 180 days of an affirmative finding, the Trade Representative may suspend trade benefits or impose retaliatory duties on Canadian goods. The bill also requires the Trade Representative to apply the same investigatory and enforcement approach to other countries that adopt similar discriminatory digital policies.

The Stop Unemployment Fraud Act strengthens fraud prevention in the unemployment insurance system by requiring states to verify claimant identities using government-issued ID and supporting documents, implement data-matching systems to catch duplicate claims and identify employed individuals, and prohibit relying solely on self-certification when determining eligibility. The bill also tightens work search requirements by mandating that claimants maintain and report detailed records of their job search efforts to their state agencies. To help states pay for these changes, the legislation allows states to retain up to 5 percent of recovered overpayments and collected employer contributions for fraud prevention, technology upgrades, and other unemployment insurance improvements. The bill's requirements take effect two years after enactment, giving states time to implement new procedures, and includes Labor Department oversight with the possibility of withholding federal funds from states that fail to comply.

Debt-to-GDP Transparency and Stabilization ActThis bill requires the President's annual budget and congressional budget resolutions to include (1) the ratio of the public debt to the estimated gross domestic product (GDP), and (2) the ratio of the surplus or deficit to the estimated GDP.

The Reporting Accountability and Abuse Prevention Act of 2026 requires health clinics and organizations that receive federal funding under Title X of the Public Health Service Act—which provides grants for family planning and reproductive health services—to comply with all state and local laws requiring the reporting of child abuse, sexual abuse, human trafficking, and related crimes. Grant recipients must develop written compliance plans, train all staff annually on reporting obligations, screen minor patients for signs of abuse, and maintain detailed records documenting their compliance efforts and any reports made to authorities. The bill also grants federal inspectors the right to review these records to verify compliance. Organizations that fail to comply face escalating penalties: first violations result in corrective action plans, while repeat violations trigger repayment of all federal grants received since the law's enactment and a minimum 36-month ban from receiving future Title X funding.

Debt Solution and Accountability ActThis bill requires the Department of the Treasury to submit to Congress a debt report and a statement of intent on (1) any date on which the debt subject to limit reaches 99.5% of the federal debt limit, and (2) the date that is one month before the expiration of a suspension of the debt limit. The debt report must includethe historical levels of the debt, current amount and composition of the debt, and future projections of the debt;the drivers and composition of future debt; andhow the United States will meet debt obligations.The statement of intent must include a detailed explanation ofproposals of the President to reduce or slow the growth of the debt,the impact of increasing the debt limit and of leaving the debt limit unchanged, andprojections of the fiscal health and sustainability of major direct-spending entitlement programs (including Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid).Within 180 days after the effective date of an increase in or suspension of the debt limit, Treasury must submit to Congress a detailed report on the progress of implementing the President's proposals to reduce or slow the growth of the debt. Treasury must make the information required by this bill available to the public on its website.Upon request, Treasury must submit to Congress specified financial and economic data relevant to determining the amount of the public debt.

The Providing Distance Education for Foreign Institutions Act would allow U.S. federal student aid to be used for distance education programs offered by foreign colleges and universities, provided certain conditions are met. Specifically, foreign institutions could offer programs with up to 12.5 percent of coursework through distance education, must be evaluated by an accrediting agency or government entity to verify they can effectively deliver online instruction, and students receiving federal aid must be physically present in the foreign country during their distance education courses. The bill takes effect upon enactment and applies to academic semesters beginning at least three months after passage. This change primarily affects international students and U.S. citizens studying abroad who wish to use federal financial aid for hybrid programs at foreign institutions.

H.R. 6231 expands and improves the Work Opportunity Tax Credit, a tax incentive that encourages employers to hire workers from targeted groups including veterans, long-term unemployed individuals, and others facing employment barriers. The bill extends the credit through December 31, 2030, increases the credit rate from 40 percent to 50 percent for employers who retain workers for at least 400 hours, and adjusts the wage thresholds for calculating credits—raising the base amount to $6,000 with provisions for inflation adjustments after 2025. The legislation also adds new eligibility categories, including military spouses, removes age restrictions for certain nutrition assistance recipients, and provides enhanced credits for long-term family assistance recipients and qualified veterans. The changes take effect for individuals hired after December 31, 2025, and the bill directs federal agencies to promote hiring of targeted group members in critical industries including manufacturing, infrastructure, energy, healthcare, and construction.

The VA Billing Accountability Act gives the Secretary of Veterans Affairs authority to waive copayment requirements for veterans when the Department of Veterans Affairs makes billing errors. Specifically, the law allows the VA to waive copayments for hospital care, medical services, and medications if the VA's error causes a veteran to receive a billing notification more than 180 days after receiving care (or more than 18 months for non-VA facility care). The bill also establishes new notification deadlines requiring the VA to bill veterans within 180 days for VA facility care and 18 months for outside facility care, and mandates that if the VA misses these deadlines, it must inform veterans of their waiver and payment plan options before attempting collection. These provisions are temporary, lasting two years from the bill's enactment, and the VA must review its billing procedures within 180 days to reduce future notification delays.

The USA Workforce Investment Act creates a new federal tax credit that allows individual taxpayers to reduce their income taxes by donating money to nonprofit organizations that provide workforce training and apprenticeship programs. The credit is capped at $1,700 per person per year and applies only to cash donations to eligible training organizations that are certified under the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act. The bill affects individual taxpayers across the country who want to support workforce development, as well as nonprofit training providers who will receive charitable donations to expand their programs. Unused credits can be carried forward to future years for up to five years, and the tax break would take effect for the tax year following the law's passage. This legislation essentially uses the tax code to incentivize private charitable giving toward job training and apprenticeship initiatives.

H.R. 5494 creates a new H-2C temporary visa category allowing employers in non-agricultural sectors to hire foreign workers for up to 36 months in areas where unemployment is 7.9% or lower and U.S. workers cannot be found. Employers must register (paying a $500 fee every three years), conduct extensive recruitment efforts for 30 days plus additional recruiting activities, pay workers competitively, and contribute a "scarcity recruitment fee" equal to 5% of annual worker compensation; those with convictions for human trafficking or serious labor violations within two years are permanently barred from participation. The program caps initial position approvals at 65,000 annually with automatic adjustments based on demand, reserves at least 25% of positions for small businesses, and allows workers to change employers after one year while restricting their access to federal tax credits and benefits. The bill establishes enforcement through civil penalties ($3,000–$25,000 for violations) and criminal penalties for non-compliance, requires electronic monitoring of workers modeled on existing visa tracking systems, and mandates a government study due within three years examining the program's effects on employment, wages, housing, healthcare, and public services.

Social Security Child Protection Act of 2025This bill directs the Social Security Administration to issue a new Social Security number to a child under the age of 14 if the child's Social Security card was lost or stolen while being mailed to the child.

Claiming Age Clarity ActThis bill changes certain terms that are used by the Social Security Administration (SSA) to describe the ages at which a worker may claim Social Security retirement benefits.First, the SSA must use minimum monthly benefit age instead of early eligibility age. This refers to the earliest age (62 under current law) at which a worker may claim benefits. (Currently, the benefit amount of a worker who claims benefits early is reduced to account for the longer period during which the worker is expected to receive benefits.)Second, the SSA must use standard monthly benefit age instead of full retirement age and normal retirement age. These terms refer to the age at which a worker may claim benefits without a reduction in the benefit amount. (Currently, this age ranges from 65 to 67, depending on the worker's year of birth.)Finally, the SSA must use the term maximum monthly benefit age for any reference to age 70 as the maximum age at which a worker may receive delayed retirement credits. The SSA may not use the term delayed retirement credit. These terms refer to the mechanism that increases the benefit amount of a worker who delays claiming benefits after reaching the full retirement age. (Currently, a worker receives a credit for each month between the full retirement age and age 70 that the worker delays claiming benefits. Each credit increases the benefit amount that the worker will receive after claiming benefits by a specified percentage.)

The Safe Transit Accountability Act amends federal transit safety requirements to give a single leader at each public transit agency the final authority to decide whether to implement safety recommendations and to break any deadlocks within safety committees. Currently, safety committees at transit agencies work collaboratively to develop safety plans, but this bill establishes that the agency's accountable executive—defined as the person with ultimate responsibility for the agency's safety and asset management plans—will have the sole power to make final decisions and resolve disputes. The legislation affects all recipients of federal transit funding and their oversight processes but does not include specific funding amounts or implementation timelines. This change aims to create clearer accountability and faster decision-making in transit safety governance by eliminating potential gridlock in committee discussions.

The Medicare Patient Choice Act would expand Medicare beneficiaries' ability to directly choose their own healthcare providers by adding physical therapists, occupational therapists, speech-language pathologists, audiologists, and chiropractors to the list of providers that Medicare patients can select without needing a referral from a physician. Currently, Medicare rules typically require patients to receive a physician's referral before seeing these types of specialists, and this bill would remove that requirement, giving patients more control over their therapeutic care decisions. The legislation amends Medicare law to treat these therapy providers similarly to how the program already treats physicians and other practitioners in terms of patient choice and eligibility. The bill does not appear to include new federal funding or establish specific implementation timelines beyond the standard legislative process. This change would primarily affect the roughly 66 million Medicare beneficiaries who would gain greater flexibility in accessing rehabilitation and audiology services.

This bill would block a Department of Labor regulation that updated rules under the Davis-Bacon Act, which requires contractors on federally funded construction projects to pay workers prevailing wages. The measure, introduced in June 2025, would nullify the Labor Department's regulatory update published in August 2023. The bill does not involve new spending or funding allocations. Supporters of the bill argue the regulation imposes burdensome requirements on federal construction projects, while opponents contend the prevailing wage protections are important for workers. The legislation would effectively prevent the updated regulation from taking effect.

The Student Loan Tax Elimination Act would eliminate origination fees that the federal government currently charges on Direct loans made through the Federal Direct Loan Program. These fees—currently deducted from loan disbursements—represent a cost to borrowers on top of interest rates. The bill would apply to all new Federal Direct loans and consolidation loans starting July 1 following enactment. This change would affect millions of students and borrowers taking out federal student loans going forward. The legislation does not specify new funding requirements, as eliminating fees would reduce federal revenues from the loan program rather than require new spending.

The Hospital Adoption Education Act directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to create and distribute educational resources about adoption sensitivity in healthcare settings, addressing the fact that 98.2 percent of nurses receive no professional training in adoption-related sensitivities. The bill requires the development of digital and print materials highlighting best practices for healthcare workers interacting with prospective birth mothers and adoptive families, and establishes a webpage on the Administration for Children and Families website to house these resources. The legislation also authorizes grants and contracts to eligible nonprofit organizations to provide education and professional development to hospitals and birthing centers, with programs focusing on non-directive, patient-centered care that respects all pregnancy options. A diverse advisory committee of adoption experts, maternal health professionals, social workers, and attorneys will oversee resource development, and the Secretary must report to Congress within three years on implementation outcomes, including how many hospitals adopted the programming and care providers received training. The bill authorizes $5 million in funding for fiscal years 2026 through 2029.

Medicare Enrollment Protection Act of 2025This bill provides for a special enrollment period for Medicare medical benefits for individuals who are enrolled in COBRA continuation coverage at the time they qualify for Medicare. The special enrollment period applies during each month of COBRA coverage and the three-month period after coverage ends; individuals may enroll during the special enrollment period once during their lifetime.

H.R. 2696 establishes the American Worker Retirement Fund, a new government-administered retirement savings program designed to help workers without employer-sponsored retirement plans build savings through automatic payroll contributions matched by a federal tax credit. The program automatically enrolls eligible workers at a 3% contribution rate (with opt-out options) and provides government matching contributions of 100% on contributions up to 3% of income and 50% on contributions between 3-5%, with funds managed by a five-member investment board that contracts with multiple asset managers using a Thrift Savings Plan-style investment approach. The legislation establishes strict fiduciary duties and oversight mechanisms for fund administrators and asset managers, including performance bond requirements, subpoena authority, and civil penalties up to 5% annually for violations, while offering participants flexible withdrawal options including annuities, installments, loans, and hardship distributions. The program includes financial literacy requirements and survivor protections, with penalties for employers who fail to enroll workers or deposit contributions, making it accessible to millions of American workers currently without retirement savings options.

This bill allows states to redirect a portion of their federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) block grant funding toward workforce development programs under the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act. Specifically, states gain the flexibility to transfer these welfare funds to support job training and employment services without needing separate federal approval for each transfer. The legislation caps workforce activity reservations at 15 percent of transferred funds and requires states that use this option to submit a combined state plan to both the federal Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Labor. The changes take effect on October 1, 2026, giving states time to plan their program transitions. The bill aims to reduce administrative overlap between welfare and job training systems while expanding access to workforce development services for low-income individuals.

The Ensuring Opportunities in Online Training Act clarifies rules for online job training providers under the federal Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act. Specifically, it addresses how states can approve and pay for online training services by establishing that online-only training providers must follow the same eligibility procedures as in-person providers. The bill requires that if a job training participant selects an online provider from outside their state, that provider can only receive state funding if it appears on the state's official list of approved training providers. This legislation affects workforce development systems, online training companies, and workers seeking job retraining assistance funded through federal workforce programs. The bill does not specify new funding amounts or implementation timelines.

Survivor Justice Tax Prevention ActThis bill excludes from gross income certain damages received by an individual due to any sexual act or sexual contact and establishes the applicable burden of proof in court proceedings regarding the characterization of such damages for federal tax purposes. Under current law, amounts received as damages (other than punitive damages) from a judgment, award, or settlement of a claim may be excluded from gross income and, thus, are not subject to federal income tax, if attributable to a personal physical injury or physical sickness. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) generally interprets personal physical injury to require observable bodily harm (e.g., bruising, cuts, swelling, or bleeding).Under the bill, amounts received as damages (other than punitive damages) from a judgment, award, or settlement due to any sexual act or sexual conduct, whether or not there are medical records or observable injuries of such act or contact, may be excluded from gross income.Further, if a judgment, award, or settlement states that damages are due to any sexual act or sexual conduct, then the IRS has the burden of proving otherwise in court proceedings related to the tax liability associated with such damages. Finally, the bill requires the IRS to promote public awareness of the exclusion from gross income of damages related to any sexual act or sexual contact.