HR 696, the "End Unaccountable Amnesty Act," restricts immigration benefits by making Temporary Protected Status (TPS) more difficult to obtain. The bill requires new legislation for each country's TPS designation, mandates specific findings about armed conflict or disasters, and limits TPS to 12-month periods with possible 12-month extensions. It also limits immigration parole to 1,000 people annually for specific urgent humanitarian reasons or public benefits, and repeals "cancellation of removal" provisions that allowed some individuals to adjust their immigration status. These changes primarily affect immigrants seeking temporary protections or parole in the United States.
HR 662 amends the tax code to change how oil and gas companies calculate taxable income related to intangible drilling and development costs. It allows companies to disregard certain depreciation and depletion expenses recorded on their financial statements when computing taxable income, effectively reducing their tax burden on these specific costs. The bill directly affects oil and gas producers who use intangible drilling costs in their operations. The changes apply to taxable years beginning after December 31, 2025. This is a tax code adjustment, not a direct policy change for energy production.
HJRES 28 proposes a constitutional amendment to permanently fix the number of justices on the U.S. Supreme Court at nine. This would require ratification by 38 state legislatures (three-fourths of states) within seven years to become part of the Constitution. The amendment directly affects the structure of the Supreme Court, which has had nine justices since 1869 but could otherwise be altered by future congressional action. It does not change current court operations or create new laws, but instead seeks to make the nine-justice composition a permanent constitutional requirement.
SRES 30 is a ceremonial Senate resolution honoring Mississippi's Gestational Age Act, introduced by Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith and others on January 22, 2025. It expresses gratitude to Mississippi State Representative Becky Currie for introducing the 2018 law that banned abortions after 15 weeks gestation, which later became central to the Supreme Court's 2022 *Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health* decision overturning *Roe v. Wade*. The resolution does not create new laws or alter abortion access but formally recognizes Mississippi's role in the legal shift. It is purely symbolic, with no policy impact, and acknowledges the state law as a catalyst for the Supreme Court's ruling.
This bill requires states receiving Medicaid funds for family planning services to submit standardized abortion data to the CDC annually. States must report specific details like maternal age, race, ethnicity, procedure type, gestational age, and whether a child survived the procedure. Data must be submitted by December 31 each year, and states providing false information could lose Medicaid funding for a year. The goal is to create consistent national abortion statistics, addressing current gaps where many states don’t report data reliably.
The FARM Act (S 179) amends the Defense Production Act to require the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) to review foreign investments in U.S. agricultural businesses and supply chains. It explicitly adds agricultural supply chains to the definitions of "critical infrastructure" and "critical technologies," expanding CFIUS oversight to include transactions that could result in foreign control of U.S. agriculture operations. The bill mandates a report within one year to Congress analyzing foreign investments in U.S. agriculture, potential threats to supply chains, and espionage risks targeting agricultural research or data. This law directly affects U.S. agricultural businesses and foreign entities seeking to acquire or invest in U.S. agricultural assets.
This bill authorizes $1.567 billion in funding for two specific Veterans Affairs (VA) facility projects in fiscal year 2025. It directly affects VA medical centers in West Los Angeles, California (for a new critical care center, utility plant, and building renovations) and Dallas, Texas (for expanded mental health space, parking, and land acquisition). The bill sets maximum spending limits for each project ($1.46 billion for LA and $106.4 million for Dallas) but does not create new policy or alter veteran benefits. It solely provides authorization for construction and renovation work at these designated locations.
Justice for Victims of Sanctuary Cities Act of 2025 This bill provides a private right of action against state and local jurisdictions with certain policies that limit cooperation with federal immigration enforcement efforts, and contains additional provisions related to such jurisdictions. Currently, such cooperation is generally not required. An individual (or certain relatives of such an individual) who is the victim of any felony for which an alien has been arrested, convicted, or sentenced to a prison term of at least one year may sue a state or local jurisdiction if the jurisdiction failed to comply with (1) certain Department of Homeland Security (DHS) requests related to arresting and detaining aliens, and (2) a DHS request to detain the alien in question or provide a notification about the release of the alien. A jurisdiction that accepts certain federal grants may not assert immunity in such a civil action. A jurisdiction (or employee of a jurisdiction) that complies with certain DHS detainer requests shall be deemed to be acting as an agent of DHS. A complying jurisdiction or employee of the jurisdiction shall not be liable in any lawsuit relating to compliance with such requests. In a lawsuit against an employee of the jurisdiction, the United States shall be substituted in as the defendant, and remedies shall be limited to provisions for bringing tort claims against the federal government.
This bill prohibits federal funds from being used for abortions or health plans covering abortion. It amends the Affordable Care Act to block premium tax credits and cost-sharing reductions for health plans that include abortion coverage (except for rape/incest cases or life-threatening conditions), and requires clear disclosure of abortion coverage and related surcharges in plan materials. The law explicitly exempts abortions performed due to rape, incest, or to preserve a mother's life, and allows separate abortion coverage using non-federal funds. It applies to all federal health programs and ACA marketplace plans, effective for plan years beginning after 2025.
S 187, the ALIGN Act, permanently allows businesses to immediately deduct the full cost of qualified property (like machinery or equipment) instead of depreciating it over time. This directly affects businesses that purchase qualifying property after September 27, 2017, by eliminating the previous requirement to spread deductions across multiple years. The key provision changes the tax code to set the "applicable percentage" for such property at 100% permanently. This simplifies tax treatment for eligible investments without altering other tax rules. The bill does not change tax rates or affect individual taxpayers.
S 6, the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act, requires healthcare providers at facilities performing abortions to provide the same medical care to infants born alive during or after an abortion as they would to any newborn, including immediate hospital admission. The bill mandates that any provider or facility employee who witnesses a failure to provide this care must report it to law enforcement, with violations punishable by fines up to $5,000 or up to 5 years in prison. It also allows women who undergo abortions to pursue civil lawsuits for damages if providers fail to comply, including three times the abortion cost plus punitive damages. The bill defines "abortion" as procedures intended to kill the unborn child or terminate pregnancy without preserving the child's life after viability.
HR 600, the "WHO is Accountable Act," prohibits U.S. federal funds from supporting the World Health Organization (WHO) until the organization meets eight specific conditions. These include ending perceived Chinese Communist Party influence, ending alleged pandemic cover-ups, granting Taiwan observer status, and halting WHO activities on gender identity, climate change, and abortion access. The bill blocks all U.S. contributions and membership efforts until the State Department certifies WHO compliance. It directly affects U.S. agencies managing international health funding and WHO's operational policies.
