Rep. Tom Cole

Maddy summaryHR 1131 exempts certain family farms and small businesses from being counted as assets when calculating financial need for federal student aid under the Higher Education Act. Specifically, it amends the law to exclude the net value of a family farm where the family resides and small businesses (with ≤100 employees) owned by the family from need analysis calculations. This change directly affects students from qualifying family farm or small business households when applying for federal financial aid. The exemption applies to need analysis conducted for award years beginning after the bill's enactment date. The bill modifies Section 480(f)(2) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 to implement this policy change.

Maddy summaryHR 1046, the Marc Fischer Memorial Act, requires the Bureau of Prisons to implement digital mail scanning technology at all federal prisons to detect fentanyl and other synthetic drugs in inmate mail. It mandates a strategy within 90 days of an evaluation, including 100% scanning of all mail, digital copies of mail to inmates within 24 hours, and physical mail delivery within 30 days for non-contaminated items. The bill directly affects federal prison staff, inmates, and the Bureau of Prisons by aiming to reduce drug-related overdoses and alleviate staff workload tied to mail processing. Implementation must be completed within three years, with annual reports tracking detected drugs and strategy efficiency. The legislation focuses on concrete technological and procedural changes to enhance safety, referencing a successful pilot program at two facilities.

Maddy summaryHR 801, the Charitable Act, creates a new tax deduction for individuals who do not itemize deductions on their federal tax returns. It allows these taxpayers to deduct up to one-third of their standard deduction amount for charitable contributions in 2026 and 2027. The bill directly affects non-itemizing individual taxpayers by providing a limited, direct deduction for charitable giving without requiring them to itemize. The deduction is capped at 1/3 of the standard deduction amount for those tax years, effective for returns filed in 2027 and 2028.

Maddy summaryHR 723, the Protect American Election Administration Act of 2025, prohibits states from accepting or using funds, property, or services from private entities for administering federal elections. This directly affects state election offices, which would no longer be allowed to take private donations for activities like voter education, outreach, or registration. The bill includes an exception allowing states to accept private donations of physical space for polling places or early voting sites. It amends the Help America Vote Act of 2002 to add this prohibition, effective for federal elections after the law's enactment.

Maddy summaryHR 21, the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act, requires medical staff at abortion facilities to provide the same immediate care and hospital admission to any infant born alive during an abortion as they would for any newborn. It mandates reporting failures to provide this care to law enforcement and imposes penalties of up to 5 years in prison for violations, with harsher penalties for intentional killing. The bill also allows women who undergo abortions to sue for civil damages, including triple the abortion cost, and provides for attorney fees. It defines "abortion" to exclude procedures performed after viability to preserve a live birth. This law directly affects healthcare providers at abortion facilities and creates new federal legal obligations for them.

Maddy summaryHR 703, the Main Street Tax Certainty Act, makes a key tax deduction permanent for small business owners. It removes the temporary sunset provision (subsection (i)) from Section 199A of the tax code, ensuring the qualified business income deduction remains available for eligible small businesses. This change directly affects pass-through business owners (like S-corps, partnerships, and sole proprietorships) who currently qualify for this deduction. The permanent change takes effect for tax years starting after December 31, 2025.

Maddy summaryHR 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.

Supporting Accurate Views of Emergency Services Act of 2025 or the 911 SAVES Act This bill requires the Office of Management and Budget to categorize public safety telecommunicators as a protective service occupation under the Standard Occupational Classification system no later than 30 days after the enactment of this bill. (The Standard Occupational Classification system is a federal statistical standard used by federal agencies to classify workers into occupational categories for the purpose of collecting, calculating, or disseminating data.)

This bill increases the annual limit on the tax credit for qualified railroad track maintenance expenses (also referred to as the short line railroad tax credit) and expands eligibility for claiming the credit. Under current law, the tax credit is limited each tax year to $3,500 multiplied by the sum of the number of miles of railroad track owned or leased by the taxpayer (miles owned or leased) and the number of railroad track miles assigned to the taxpayer by a Class II or III railroad (miles assigned). This bill increases the annual limit to $6,100 multiplied by the sum of miles owned or leased and miles assigned. The $6,100 amount used in the calculation of the tax credit limit is adjusted for inflation for tax years beginning after 2025. The bill also expands eligibility for the tax credit to include gross expenses for maintaining railroad tracks owned or leased as of January 1, 2024. Under current law, the tax credit is limited to gross expenses for maintaining railroad tracks owned or leased as of January 1, 2015.

Maddy summaryHR 507, the Veterans Member Business Loan Act, amends the Federal Credit Union Act to explicitly include loans made to veterans as qualifying "member business loans" under credit unions. This change directly affects veterans seeking business financing through federal credit unions, allowing them to access these loans under the same framework as other small business borrowers. The key mechanism is adding a new definition category ("made to a veteran") to the existing eligibility criteria for business loans, using the standard military definition of "veteran" from Title 38, U.S. Code. The bill does not create new funding or programs but expands existing credit union lending options to include veterans. This definition change takes effect six months after the bill's enactment.