The Conversational AI Services Act establishes federal rules for companies operating chatbots and similar conversational AI services, with a particular focus on protecting minors. Companies must clearly disclose to users under 18 that they are interacting with artificial intelligence either through a persistent disclaimer or reminders every three hours, and they are prohibited from using point-based rewards systems designed to encourage excessive engagement with minors. The law also requires AI operators to prevent their services from creating sexually explicit content involving minors, making deceptive claims about being human or sentient, simulating romantic relationships with minors, or falsely claiming to provide licensed mental health services. Additionally, operators must provide parental controls for screen time management and establish protocols to refer users expressing suicidal thoughts or self-harm concerns to crisis services. The Federal Trade Commission will enforce these requirements as unfair and deceptive business practices, with the regulations taking effect one year after the bill's enactment.

Cure Hepatitis C Act of 2026This bill establishes programs and requirements to provide free medications to treat hepatitis C in certain high-risk or vulnerable populations. It also establishes grants and other resources to support testing and treatment for hepatitis C. The bill provides funding for FY2027 to implement these provisions.The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) must enter into a five-year purchasing contract with manufacturers of drugs that treat hepatitis C so that eligible individuals may receive the drugs without cost-sharing. Eligible individuals are those diagnosed with hepatitis C who are (1) enrolled in Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), (2) confined to federal, state, or local correctional facilities (or were released and began treatment there), (3) uninsured, or (4) receiving health care through the Indian Health Service.State Medicaid and CHIP programs and state and local correctional facilities may opt into the program; participation is mandatory for federal correctional facilities and the Indian Health Service. HHS must award grants to certain entities, including states, public health organizations, and correctional facilities, to support the coordination and provision of screening, treatment, and supportive services for the affected populations. The bill also allows Medicare beneficiaries to receive hepatitis C drugs without cost-sharing from 2028-2032.

The BRACE Act updates federal regulations to streamline the recycling and recovery of lithium-ion batteries used in electronics and vehicles. The legislation modifies how facilities that store and prepare these batteries for recycling must handle them under environmental regulations, specifically adjusting storage requirements so that recycling facilities must follow certain universal waste handling standards while being exempted from other requirements that would otherwise apply. The bill also updates an existing law from 1996 to reference current federal regulations governing battery management instead of outdated citations. This legislation affects battery recycling facilities, electronics manufacturers, and the electric vehicle industry by clarifying regulatory requirements and potentially reducing compliance complexity. No specific funding amounts or implementation timelines are specified in the bill text.

This bill directs the Department of Veterans Affairs to work with the Department of Health and Human Services to better coordinate care for veterans who are enrolled in both the VA health system and Medicare or Medicare Advantage plans. Within one year of enactment, the two departments must establish a memorandum of understanding to share data and information about these dual-enrolled veterans. The VA will use this shared information to prevent duplicate healthcare services and payments, and to identify specialized Medicare Advantage plans that offer specific benefits valuable to veterans, such as adaptive sports equipment, hearing aids, traumatic brain injury rehabilitation, and complementary health services. The bill also allows both departments to establish coordination offices dedicated to managing the care of veterans who are eligible for both VA and Medicare benefits. The legislation aims to improve healthcare efficiency and outcomes for the estimated population of veterans who qualify for both federal healthcare programs.

The Prices on the Wall Act of 2026 requires hospitals, ambulatory surgical centers, laboratories, and imaging providers across the United States to post the actual prices they charge for common medical services directly on their facility walls, beginning January 1, 2028. These posted prices must display the discounted cash price for services that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services identifies as "shoppable"—meaning services patients can schedule in advance—or if no cash price exists, the median or gross charge the facility has charged self-paying patients over the previous three years. The requirement applies to a wide range of procedures and tests including hospital inpatient and outpatient services, surgical center procedures, lab tests, and imaging services like X-rays and MRIs. The Secretary of Health and Human Services will specify which areas within these facilities must display the pricing information. This legislation aims to increase price transparency so patients can see and compare what medical services actually cost before receiving care.

This resolution designates February 1st as "Blue Star Mother's Day" to honor mothers of active military service members. Blue Star Mothers of America is a patriotic organization founded in 1942 with over 198 chapters nationwide that support military families through care packages, veteran assistance, and community support. The resolution recognizes the sacrifices these mothers make and the important work they do supporting service members deployed overseas, wounded warriors, and veterans. The measure carries no funding or budgetary impact, as it is a symbolic resolution encouraging Americans to observe the day and support local Blue Star Mothers chapters. The designation marks the 84th anniversary of the organization's first meeting, which took place on February 1, 1942.

The Timely Agreements Act amends federal law to streamline how the Department of Veterans Affairs works with State Veterans Homes to share healthcare resources, particularly regarding pharmaceutical and medical equipment purchases. Under the bill, the VA must approve or reject State Veterans Home proposals for resource-sharing agreements within 60 calendar days of receiving them, or the proposals automatically become approved. The legislation also requires the VA to create and distribute a standard proposal template within 180 days and allows State homes to submit proposals through multiple channels including mail, email, and hand delivery. Additionally, the bill protects State Veterans Homes from inspection violations if they provide care to eligible veterans without a formal agreement in place, removing a potential barrier to healthcare access. The measure aims to reduce delays in veterans' access to care while making the agreement process more efficient for state facilities.

This bill replaces Medicare's current Merit-based Incentive Payment System with a new Data-driven Performance Payment System, effective January 1, 2027, to change how the federal government pays physicians based on their performance. Starting in 2028, doctors will receive fixed payment multipliers ranging from 0.5 to 1.25 times their base payment depending on whether they meet, exceed, or fall below performance thresholds, with Medicare required to provide quarterly feedback within 60 days. The legislation protects patients by preventing increased cost-sharing when physician payments are reduced due to performance adjustments and caps performance thresholds at 75 points through 2033. Savings generated from lower-performing physicians will be redirected as incentive payments to small practices with 15 or fewer doctors in rural and underserved areas to support quality improvement efforts. The bill also requires the Comptroller General to recommend a new methodology for setting future performance thresholds by December 2029.

The Lowering Input Costs for American Farmers Act would eliminate tariffs and countervailing duties on phosphate fertilizers imported from Morocco, effective just days after the bill becomes law. The legislation removes trade barriers that were previously imposed under general trade law authority, allowing American farmers to access cheaper fertilizer inputs from this source. Currently, countervailing duties on Moroccan phosphate fertilizers have been in place since April 2021, and the bill would revoke these duties while requiring refunds of any tariff deposits already paid by importers within 90 days. The measure directly affects farmers who use phosphate fertilizers in crop production and aims to reduce their input costs by enabling more affordable imports. The bill was introduced in April 2026 and referred to the House Ways and Means Committee for consideration.

Precision Brain Health Research Act of 2026This bill expands the Scott Hannon Initiative for Precision Mental Health, a program at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).Specifically, the bill expands the scope of the initiative by requiring the identification and validation of brain and mental health biomarkers among veterans for repetitive low-level blast exposure, dementia, and other such brain conditions. Currently, the initiative addresses several other conditions such as depression and post-traumatic stress disorder.The VA must work with the Department of Defense to establish a data-sharing partnership under the initiative.The bill requires the VA to conduct various research studies about repetitive low-level blast exposure under the initiative.The VA must seek to enter into a contract with the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine to work in tandem with the initiative on validation of brain and mental health biomarkers among veterans and report on the findings at least once every two years.The VA must assess all in progress and planned translational research studies under the initiative and report to Congress on the assessment.Additionally, the VA must report to Congress on the initiative at least once every two years and include recommendations for immediate administrative and legislative action to improve the initiative.The bill authorizes the initiative through FY2030.

H.R. 8057 modifies how the Department of Veterans Affairs pays providers for care delivered through its Community Care Program by establishing location-specific payment rates based on where services are actually provided rather than where the provider's main office is located. The bill requires the VA Secretary to set different payment rates for different service sites—such as hospital outpatient departments, ambulatory surgical centers, and physicians' offices—and to ensure each site has a unique identifier by January 1, 2027. Providers must include these site identifiers on all claims submitted to the VA, and veterans cannot be billed for services unless the claim includes the proper identifier. The legislation also prevents off-campus hospital outpatient departments from being charged at the same rates as independent providers, while preserving the VA Secretary's authority to determine facility fees and maintain other existing payment policies. These changes take effect on January 1 of the first calendar year following the bill's enactment.

The Permanent Tax Relief for Seniors Act would make permanent a tax deduction for seniors that was previously set to expire in 2029. Currently, seniors receive an additional standard deduction on their federal income taxes, but this benefit was scheduled to phase out after the 2028 tax year. This bill removes that expiration date, allowing the deduction to continue indefinitely for eligible seniors. The change would take effect for tax returns filed in 2027 and beyond. The legislation would primarily benefit older Americans by reducing their taxable income and, consequently, their federal income tax liability on a permanent basis.

Rural and Municipal Utility Cybersecurity ActThis bill reauthorizes through FY2030 a program that provides cybersecurity-related assistance and funding to rural electric cooperatives and municipal or small, investor-owned electric utilities. The bill also revises methods of awarding support and expands protections for information shared under the program.This program, known as the Rural and Municipal Advanced Cybersecurity Grant and Technical Assistance Program, is administered by the Department of Energy (DOE). Current law requires DOE to provide technical assistance and funding under the program on a competitive basis; under the bill, assistance and funding may be provided on a competitive or noncompetitive basis.Current law also requires DOE to prioritize providing technical assistance and funding to certain entities, including entities that own defense critical electric infrastructure. The bill specifies that DOE must also prioritize entities that operate such infrastructure. (Defense critical electric infrastructure is electric infrastructure that (1) is located in the contiguous United States, and (2) serves a designated critical defense facility but is not owned or operated by the owner or operator of the critical facility.)Finally, the bill expands an existing protection against disclosure to cover all information shared under the program by or with the federal government or a state, tribal, or local government. This provision protects against disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act and other state, tribal, or local disclosure laws.

H.R. 7141 modifies the Veterans Affairs home loan guarantee program by increasing the maximum guaranty amount that the VA will back for eligible veterans. Specifically, the bill raises the guaranty to 50 percent of a home loan for veterans with service-connected disabilities who have full or restored VA loan entitlement, while keeping the guaranty at 25 percent for other veterans. This change aims to make homeownership more affordable and accessible for disabled veterans by allowing them to qualify for larger loans with lower down payments. The bill affects veterans seeking to purchase homes through the VA loan program and was introduced on January 16, 2026. No specific funding amount or implementation timeline was provided in the text.

The Veterans' Bill of Rights Act of 2026 requires the Department of Veterans Affairs to formally establish and communicate ten core rights that veterans have when accessing health care, benefits, and services. These rights include access to VA or community providers, respectful treatment, informed consent for medical decisions, comprehensive information about available benefits, protection from retaliation, privacy protections, and fair complaint and appeals processes. The VA must integrate these rights into all policies, provide annual employee training, display them prominently in facilities and online, include them in the military transition assistance curriculum, and add them to the VA's mobile app and benefits portal within 180 days of enactment. Each VA medical facility must also designate a patient advocate to audit compliance with these rights annually. The bill clarifies that it does not create new grounds for lawsuits or change eligibility rules for benefits, but rather codifies existing veterans' protections to ensure consistent and transparent treatment across the VA system nationwide.

The Welfare Abuse and Laundering Zillions Act directs the Inspector General of the Department of Health and Human Services to investigate any HHS program that experiences a payment increase of 10 percent or more to providers and suppliers over a six-month period compared to the previous six months. The bill affects all HHS-administered programs that serve beneficiaries and pay healthcare providers and suppliers, potentially including Medicare, Medicaid, and other federal health programs. The legislation requires automatic investigations whenever this 10 percent threshold is triggered but does not specify new funding levels or a timeline for completing these investigations. This measure is intended to identify potential fraud, waste, or abuse in federal health spending by flagging sudden payment increases for closer scrutiny.

The Lower Health Care Premiums for All Americans Act introduces several reforms aimed at reducing healthcare costs through increased flexibility and transparency. The bill allows groups of employers to form Association Health Plans to jointly purchase health insurance and clarifies that self-insured employers can buy stop-loss insurance without state restrictions, while also creating new employer-funded health reimbursement arrangements to help employees purchase individual coverage. Starting 30 months after enactment, the legislation imposes extensive new reporting requirements on pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs), requiring them to provide detailed information about drug pricing, rebates, and financial arrangements to health plans every six months, with penalties of up to $10,000 per day for non-compliance. The bill includes privacy protections requiring all reports to comply with HIPAA regulations and limits disclosure of sensitive information. Additionally, the legislation provides federal funding for Affordable Care Act cost-sharing reduction payments beginning January 1, 2027, though these payments cannot go to health plans that cover abortion services except in cases of rape, incest, or threats to maternal life.

This bill establishes a more standardized and transparent system for managing medications at Veterans Affairs medical facilities. The bill creates a unified national formulary (list of approved drugs) that all VA facilities must follow, with limited exceptions for individual hospitals or regions. It sets up a Pharmacy and Therapeutics Committee to review new medications and make formulary decisions based on clinical evidence and cost-effectiveness, with decisions to be made within 120 days of FDA approval. The bill also requires the VA to create an electronic system for doctors to request non-formulary drugs, with decisions within 96 hours and appeals resolved within a week, and establishes a Veterans Formulary Advisory Committee to gather veteran and clinician input. Additionally, the bill authorizes the VA to negotiate better drug prices with manufacturers in exchange for preferred formulary status and implements a tiered copayment system to encourage veterans to use lower-cost, generic, and formulary drugs. The bill requires annual reporting to Congress on formulary changes and non-formulary appeals, and mandates public communication about significant formulary decisions over a five-year period.

The Stop Profiling Youth and Kids Act prohibits social media platforms and other internet services from conducting market or product-focused research on children under 13 without restrictions, and requires parental consent before conducting such research on teenagers ages 13-16. The bill applies to "covered platforms"—websites, apps, and online services with user profiles and user-generated content that use design features like infinite scrolling, notifications, or appearance-altering filters to boost engagement. The Federal Trade Commission will enforce the law, treating violations as unfair or deceptive practices with associated penalties, while state attorneys general can also sue on behalf of their residents. The legislation takes effect 90 days after enactment and does not preempt existing child privacy protections under the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act.

Keep SNAP Funded Act of 2025This bill provides appropriations for the Department of Agriculture (USDA) to provide uninterrupted benefits under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) during any period in which legislation has not been enacted to provide continuing or full-year FY2026 appropriations to USDA. The bill also provides appropriations for retroactive payments for SNAP benefits that were missed on or after September 30, 2025, and before this bill is enacted. The appropriations provided by this bill are available until legislation is enacted to provide FY2026 appropriations for USDA (including continuing appropriations).

This resolution expresses support for the designation of National Clean Energy Week.

The Afghan Adjustment Act creates pathways for Afghan nationals who supported U.S. operations between 2001 and 2021 to obtain permanent residency in the United States. The bill allows eligible Afghans already in the U.S. to apply for conditional permanent resident status (with conditions removed after four years or by July 1, 2027) and establishes a new Department of Defense portal for Afghan allies—including former military, police, justice sector, and intelligence personnel—to apply for refugee resettlement without leaving Afghanistan first. Both pathways include robust security vetting equivalent to refugee screening, fee waivers for visa and work permit applications, refugee benefits for eligible individuals, and exemptions from standard immigration visa caps. The bill requires the State Department, Department of Homeland Security, and Department of Defense to maintain adequate staffing and use remote processing capabilities to expedite applications, mandates an interagency task force to coordinate implementation and report to Congress within 180 days, and authorizes funding through 2034 to support these resettlement and processing efforts.

Biochar Research Network Act of 2025This bill directs the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) to establish a biochar research network of not more than 20 research sites or facilities to test the impact of biochar across various soil types, application methods, and climates to learn more about its potential to benefit agriculture, forestry, and the environment.Eligible entities for the research network include (1) state agriculture and forestry experiment stations; and (2) research facilities of the ARS, the Forest Service, and the Departments of Energy, Commerce, and the Interior.Biochar is created by heating biomass (e.g., wood, grass, and manure) in a low-oxygen environment and can be applied to soil to sequester carbon and improve soil health.

This bill designates the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 1019 Avenue H in Fort Madison, Iowa, as the "Martin L. Graber Post Office".