Suhas Subramanyam

The Reducing Visa Delays Act requires the Secretary of State to report to Congress within 90 days on staffing levels at U.S. embassies and consulates and how they affect visa processing wait times. The report must examine whether embassies have adequate technology and resources, assess the impact of social media vetting policies for visa applicants on processing delays, and count how many security flags were identified through such vetting. Additionally, the State Department must publish monthly on its website detailed information about visa processing times, broken down by embassy location and visa type, along with explanations for those timelines. The bill also directs the Secretary of State to develop a strategic plan for increasing staffing at consular offices and identifying other solutions to reduce visa appointment delays and processing backlogs. This legislation affects international travelers and anyone applying for U.S. visas, as well as the State Department's consular operations worldwide.

The Federal Telework Protection Act establishes a formal process for federal employees to request telework arrangements from their supervisors, with appeal rights if requests are denied. Supervisors must make reasonable decisions based on job requirements and specific conditions including medical needs, caregiving responsibilities, disabilities, and significant commuting times, and must provide written explanations for their decisions. If a supervisor or agency telework office does not issue a decision within 90 days, the telework request is automatically approved. The bill also prohibits the use of federal funds to implement any presidential order requiring employees to return to in-person work and mandates that each agency update its telework policies and publish them publicly. Additionally, the Office of Personnel Management must submit annual reports to Congress detailing the number of approved and denied telework requests and other implementation data.

The Strengthening Emergency Responses Act requires the State Department to more frequently review and update emergency action plans for U.S. diplomatic and consular posts abroad, including after each actual emergency occurs and whenever conditions change. The bill also expands communication requirements during emergency evacuations by mandating that crisis intake systems remain fully operational, ensuring families receive regular updates about evacuees, and requiring the State Department to review whether posts have adequate staffing and systems to distribute evacuation information. Additionally, the State Department must review instances where commercial airlines have engaged in price gouging during emergency evacuations of diplomatic posts or U.S. citizens overseas. The bill requires the State Department to submit its review of communications procedures within 30 days of enactment and its airline price gouging review within 90 days. This legislation aims to improve how the U.S. government prepares for and responds to emergencies at diplomatic facilities and protects Americans abroad during crises.

This bill would allow certain foreign workers and visa holders to renew their visas while remaining in the United States, rather than requiring them to leave the country and apply at a U.S. embassy or consulate abroad. The visa categories eligible for domestic renewal include specialized workers in fields like science and technology, nurses, entertainers, athletes, exchange visitors, and intracompany transferees. To qualify, applicants must meet several conditions including being registered and fingerprinted, having no disqualifying factors, and being eligible to skip an in-person interview. The legislation aims to modernize the visa renewal process and reduce disruption to workers and their employers by eliminating the need for costly and time-consuming trips outside the United States.

The First Responder Behavioral Health Access Act modifies existing federal mental health grant programs to include emergency response providers, such as firefighters, police officers, and 911 dispatchers, as eligible recipients of funding. The bill establishes a three-year pilot program that awards grants to state and local health departments, behavioral health agencies, and nonprofits serving first responders to help deploy mental health clinicians and create peer support programs within emergency response organizations. Grants can be used to embed licensed counselors with first responder agencies, establish peer-to-peer counseling programs, and train peer support providers, with priority given to under-resourced areas and funding distributed geographically. The legislation authorizes ten million dollars annually for fiscal years 2027 through 2029 to support the pilot program. At the conclusion of the three-year pilot, the Secretary of Health and Human Services must report to Congress on whether the program improved behavioral health outcomes and how many peer support contacts and trainings were completed.

The Stop Spam Calls Act directs the Federal Communications Commission to revise its regulations defining "prior express written consent" within one year of the bill's enactment. The revision requires the FCC to adopt a definition from a January 2024 FCC rule on unlawful text messages and robocalls, making it clear that businesses must obtain written consent before sending marketing calls or texts to consumers. The new definition takes effect 18 months after the bill becomes law, giving businesses time to update their compliance practices. This legislation affects telemarketing companies, text message services, and any business that contacts consumers by phone or text for marketing purposes. The bill does not include specific federal funding allocations, as it primarily requires the FCC to clarify existing regulatory language to strengthen protections against spam calls and unwanted marketing messages.

The Data Center Fair Share Act would require electric utilities to charge large-load customers, primarily data centers with peak demand of 100 megawatts or more, the full cost of any infrastructure upgrades needed to serve their electricity needs. This includes generation, transmission, and distribution system improvements that utilities would otherwise spread across all ratepayers. The bill gives utilities two options: require large customers to pay upfront through a contribution to construction costs, or assign upgrade costs to a class of large-load customers rather than the general customer base. States have up to two years to implement these standards for utilities under their jurisdiction, though states that already have comparable policies in place are exempt. If a state fails to adopt the standards, the federal government would withhold 100 percent of that state's highway construction funding in subsequent fiscal years, creating a strong incentive for compliance.

The Responsible Data Center Siting Act of 2026 directs the Secretary of Energy to develop best practices guidelines for where data centers should be built across the country. The Secretary must consult with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the Department of Defense, and other relevant agencies, and must consider factors including impacts on the electric grid and electricity prices, water availability and quality, local air quality and ecosystems, effects on surrounding communities including noise and visual impacts, national security implications, job creation, and local tax revenue. The guidelines must identify site characteristics that minimize negative impacts and provide a list of ideal locations for data center construction. The Department of Energy must publish the initial best practices within one year of the law's enactment and update them at least every two years thereafter. This legislation affects data center companies, local communities near potential sites, and utilities managing the nation's power infrastructure.

The No Pardon Paydays Act of 2026 requires the President to provide public justification whenever granting clemency to someone. Within 30 days of issuing a pardon, the Department of Justice's Pardon Attorney must submit a written report to Congress analyzing the recipient's criminal history, their risk of reoffending, and potential danger to communities. The bill also restricts pardoned individuals from making large political contributions, capping donations at $1,000 to the President's campaign committees or related political groups, with the Federal Election Commission able to refer violations for criminal prosecution. This legislation aims to increase transparency around presidential pardons and prevent what sponsors describe as using clemency as a means to gain political support or campaign funds.

The Government Travel Transparency Act directs the Comptroller General of the United States to publish quarterly reports on federal aircraft use by top government officials, including the President, Vice President, and heads of major agencies and departments. The reports must identify when these officials use federal aircraft for political activities or elections and note whether the government was reimbursed, as well as instances when personal travel by federal aircraft was more expensive than alternative transportation methods. The first report is due within 30 days of the law's enactment, with subsequent reports issued every three months. The Comptroller General will gather information from the General Services Administration but cannot include the specific location of officials at particular times for security reasons. This legislation aims to increase transparency and accountability regarding government spending on executive travel.

The JARED Act (Justice and Accountability for Representatives Engaged in Diplomacy Act) establishes new ethics and security requirements for people who represent the federal government before foreign governments without formal employment relationships. The bill requires these individuals to obtain security clearances based on background investigations and file annual financial disclosure forms with the Office of Government Ethics, similar to requirements for federal employees. The legislation prohibits covered individuals from negotiating agreements with foreign governments that would directly benefit them financially and imposes strict penalties for violations, including removal from their role, loss of security clearance access, criminal prosecution by the Attorney General, up to one year in prison, and fines. The Office of Government Ethics must submit quarterly reports to Congress on all financial disclosures and violations. The bill's broad definition of "covered persons" extends restrictions to family members, spouses, business partners, and organizations associated with diplomats to prevent indirect financial conflicts of interest.

This bill amends the federal charter of the Reserve Organization of America, a congressionally chartered organization that supports the development and execution of U.S. military policy for national security. The legislation updates the organization's legal status by replacing references to the "Reserve Officers Association of the United States" with "Reserve Organization of America" throughout federal law and records. The bill establishes the organization as a federally chartered nonprofit corporation with perpetual existence, governed by an annual meeting and a governing body defined in its constitution, with standard nonprofit restrictions preventing profit-seeking activities, stock issuance, political campaign contributions, and improper distribution of assets to members. The bill contains no specific funding provisions or implementation timelines, functioning primarily as a legal and organizational update to the existing federal charter. The legislation affects the organization itself and potentially its members by clarifying and updating the legal framework under which the organization operates.

The SLASH Prices Act requires businesses to disclose when they use personalized algorithmic pricing to charge different prices to different customers based on their personal data. Companies must display a clear written notice stating "This price was set by an algorithm using your personal data" at the point of sale and must provide customers with an easy way to opt out of algorithmic pricing without penalty, discrimination, or price increases. The law applies to most online and in-person retailers but exempts insurance, credit products, dynamic pricing based on real-time market conditions, and broad discount programs for groups like seniors or military members. The Federal Trade Commission will enforce the law as an unfair or deceptive practice, and state attorneys general can also bring civil lawsuits on behalf of consumers, with the act taking effect one year after it becomes law.

Data Infrastructure Energy Measurement and Standards ActThis bill requires the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to carry out a program to inform the development of best practices, technical standards, and other resources for measuring workloads and energy and water use of data centers, including measurements relating to training and processing of artificial intelligence models.Specifically, NIST mustdevelop or identify best practices and other resources for such measurements, taking into account specified factors such as workload type and system configuration;conduct research and testing to improve the accuracy, timeliness, and reliability of such measurements;study data needs for energy and water demand forecasting and other research; andsupport the development of standardized metrics and data sharing mechanisms to promote improved energy and water demand forecasting.Further, NIST must coordinate with the Department of Energy to ensure applicable metrics and data are managed and archived appropriately and promote open exchange of metrics and data as appropriate. NIST must also coordinate with international partners to maintain global data center energy measurement standards.Finally, NIST must periodically brief Congress on the program.

The Gun Safety Innovation Opportunity Act of 2026 authorizes the Attorney General to award grants totaling up to 10 million dollars per year through 2030 to colleges and firearms manufacturers for researching and developing safer firearm storage devices, particularly those using biometric technology like fingerprint recognition. The grants can also support studies on consumer attitudes toward these safety devices and strategies to make them more affordable and widely adopted. The bill affects firearms manufacturers and academic institutions that apply for funding, as well as the general public through potential improvements in firearm safety technology. Recipients of grants must submit annual reports to the Attorney General detailing how the funds were used, and the Attorney General must report to Congress within one year on ways to advance this technology, help law enforcement use it, and prevent self-harm through better storage devices.

This bill expands the Gun Free School Zones Act to include preschools and early childhood education programs in addition to traditional K-12 schools. The expansion applies the existing federal prohibition on firearms in school zones to these younger-age facilities, covering both early childhood education programs and preschools as defined under the Higher Education Act. The bill affects parents, caregivers, educators, and anyone who might carry firearms near these facilities, as they would now be subject to the same federal gun restrictions that currently apply to traditional schools. No specific funding or implementation timeline is included in the legislation.

This resolution expresses support for designating May 2026 as "Progressive Supranuclear Palsy and Corticobasal Degeneration Awareness Month." Progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) and corticobasal degeneration (CBD) are rare, rapidly progressing brain disorders that affect approximately 30,000 and 2,000 Americans respectively, causing serious difficulties with movement, balance, speech, and cognition. The resolution highlights that these diseases are often misdiagnosed, have no current disease-modifying treatments, typically result in care dependency within three to four years, and claim lives within seven to eight years of symptom onset. The resolution calls for increased research, support services, and education to improve quality of life for patients and their families and to advance the search for treatments and cures. This is a symbolic measure with no funding or enforcement mechanism; it simply expresses congressional support for raising awareness about these devastating neurological conditions.

The National Defense Data Resilience Act requires the Department of Defense to establish and implement robust capabilities to recover critical data that may be lost, damaged, or destroyed in cyberattacks. The Secretary of Defense must categorize all department data as critical, important, or necessary, and establish recovery time objectives for each category within 180 to 270 days of the law's enactment, with these objectives updated annually based on evolving threats from state and non-state actors including China. The DOD must deploy specific recovery technologies including immutable backups, continuous monitoring systems, and annual recovery exercises simulating nation-state cyberattacks within the same timeframe, and can only use technologies certified in the department's approved cybersecurity inventory. The Secretary must submit a comprehensive data recovery strategy to Congress within 90 days detailing recovery objectives, required technology, oversight processes, and necessary funding, and must provide annual auditable certification reports to the congressional defense committees confirming compliance. The legislation does not specify funding amounts but requires the DOD to identify all necessary resources in its strategy submission.

This bill requires the Department of Homeland Security, working with the Department of Defense, to develop a comprehensive strategy for protecting data centers from cyber attacks and physical breaches within 180 days of the law's enactment. The legislation directs federal officials to identify which data centers should be classified as critical infrastructure and to assess vulnerabilities in the power and water systems that serve these facilities, particularly above-ground electrical transmission lines and substations. The bill also requires the strategy to address potential risks to communities and residential areas located near data centers. The federal agencies must submit their findings and recommendations to Congress, but the bill does not specify any dedicated funding amounts or establish a timeline beyond the initial 180-day deadline for developing the strategy. This legislation affects data center operators, utility companies, and communities adjacent to major data center facilities across the country.

The Uyghur Forced Labor Disclosure Act requires publicly traded companies to disclose their connections to forced labor in China's Xinjiang region. Companies seeking to list on stock exchanges or file annual reports must document whether they source goods from Xinjiang, use products made with forced labor there, or engage with entities involved in such labor practices. The Securities and Exchange Commission has 180 days to create rules requiring companies to provide detailed supply chain information, including facility names and locations, and to obtain independent third-party verification of their disclosures. All documentation becomes public, and companies that misrepresent their Xinjiang connections face penalties including potential rejection of exchange listing applications and a one-year bar on reapplying. The law automatically expires after eight years or earlier if the President certifies that China has ended forced labor and mass human rights violations in Xinjiang.

The Public Safety UAS Readiness Act would direct the Transportation Department and Federal Aviation Administration to create a grant program funding unmanned aircraft system pilot training for public safety agencies. Eligible organizations include fire departments, police agencies, emergency medical services, and public safety training academies that would use grants to develop training programs, purchase equipment, and cover administrative costs. Grant recipients must submit comprehensive plans covering program management, safety protocols, and data protection, and their training must comply with federal aviation regulations and standards set by organizations like the National Wildfire Coordinating Group and National Fire Protection Association. The bill prioritizes grants for organizations in underserved regions, those conducting high-risk operations, and those lacking existing drone training capacity. The legislation authorizes $10 million annually for fiscal years 2026 through 2029, with grant recipients and the Secretary of Transportation required to submit annual reports on training outcomes and program progress.

This bill directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to establish a working group that will study peer support programs designed specifically for law enforcement officers and first responders. The working group will review best practices for these mental health programs and submit recommendations to Congress within one year on how to improve behavioral health outcomes, reduce suicide risk, and address substance use among first responders. The group will include representatives from federal, state, and local agencies, actual law enforcement officers and first responders with peer support experience, and nonprofit organizations serving these communities. The bill requires the working group to identify minimum standards for effective peer support programs and examine how they should integrate with broader mental health services, as well as explore opportunities for federal grants and technical assistance. The working group will disband one year after submitting its findings unless the Secretary determines there is a need to reconvene it, and the bill authorizes whatever funding is necessary to complete this work.

The Congressional Pension Integrity Act of 2026 would strip congressional pensions from current and former members of Congress convicted of serious crimes committed while serving in Congress. The bill specifically targets convictions for sexual offenses, crimes of violence, and federal crimes related to bribery, embezzlement, mail fraud, election violations, and obstruction of justice. Additionally, members found by their respective chamber to have engaged in sexual conduct with subordinates under their supervision would also lose pension eligibility. The pension forfeiture would take effect immediately upon conviction or upon a chamber's formal determination of misconduct, and the bill would apply to all convictions and determinations occurring after the law takes effect, which is scheduled for when the next Congress begins following the bill's enactment. No specific funding is required since the bill reduces federal pension obligations rather than creating new expenditures.

H.R. 8191, the Immigration Status Notification and Transparency Act of 2026, requires U.S. immigration authorities to notify applicants, petitioners, and their lawyers electronically within 24 hours whenever there is a change in the status of an immigration petition or application. The notifications must be sent through at least two of three methods: email, phone call (including automated messages), or text message. This bill affects anyone with pending immigration cases—including visa applicants, green card hopefuls, and those seeking other immigration benefits. The legislation contains no specific funding authorization or implementation timeline beyond the 24-hour notification requirement. The bill aims to increase transparency and keep people informed about the progress of their immigration cases.

H.R. 7968, the Small AI Innovators Empowerment Act, directs the Department of Commerce to commission a comprehensive study on the challenges facing small U.S. artificial intelligence companies (those with 250 or fewer employees). The study, to be conducted through the National Institute of Standards and Technology in consultation with the Small Business Administration, will examine funding accessibility for AI startups, the impact of tax credits and regulatory uncertainty, talent recruitment challenges, and how federal policies affect these businesses' ability to compete and grow. The legislation asks researchers to analyze everything from early-stage funding sources and loan requirements to how small AI firms access computing resources and data compared to larger competitors, and to provide recommendations addressing identified obstacles. The bill contains no specific funding amount or timeline, making authorization dependent on future congressional appropriations.