The Military Chaplains Modernization Act of 2026 establishes uniform legal protections for chaplains across the Army, Navy, and Air Force to ensure they can perform their religious duties without interference or retaliation. The bill explicitly prohibits military members from assigning chaplains tasks that conflict with their sincerely held religious beliefs or the tenets of their endorsing organizations, making such violations subject to prosecution under the Uniform Code of Military Justice. It also creates new leadership positions, including Deputy Chiefs of Chaplains for each service branch, who will hold general officer ranks and serve as principal advisors on religious support matters. Additionally, the legislation requires commanding officers to provide necessary facilities and transportation to assist chaplains in carrying out their spiritual care responsibilities.
The BLADE Act directs the Department of Commerce to identify foreign entities, particularly those from China and Russia, that are conducting unauthorized "model extraction attacks" to steal capabilities from U.S. closed-source artificial intelligence models. The bill requires the government to publish a public list of these attackers and mandates their addition to the Entity List, which restricts their access to certain technologies and exports. Additionally, it authorizes the President to impose financial sanctions on identified individuals and entities, with specific exceptions for humanitarian assistance and national security activities.
The Medicare Home Health Payment Integrity and Protection Act of 2026 aims to combat fraud within the Medicare home health program by implementing stricter enrollment screening, more frequent site surveys, and enhanced oversight of accreditation bodies. The bill resets the standard payment rate for home health services starting in 2027 at $2,382.87 per unit and suspends specific financial adjustments related to the Patient-Driven Groupings Model to stabilize provider payments. It also requires that data from suspected fraudulent claims be excluded when calculating quality benchmarks and value-based payment adjustments to protect legitimate agencies. To support these changes, the legislation appropriates $550 million over five years for program integrity enforcement, legal investigations, and state survey activities.
The Kids Online Safety Act (S 1748) requires major social media platforms, online video games, and other "covered platforms" to implement specific safety features for minors (under 17). These features include default privacy settings that limit harmful design features like infinite scrolling and auto-play, parental controls for managing minors' accounts, and restrictions on advertising illegal products to minors. The bill also mandates annual transparency reports about how platforms are used by minors and requires platforms to provide clear notices about their content algorithms. It creates a Kids Online Safety Council to advise Congress on online safety issues for children. The law applies to platforms with more than 10 million monthly users in the U.S. and takes effect 18 months after enactment.
The K-12 AI Literacy and Readiness Act of 2026 allows federal education funds to be used for teaching artificial intelligence to students and training educators on how to use it responsibly. By amending the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, the bill permits schools to spend money on AI curricula that focus on safe and effective usage, as well as professional development for teachers and staff. This change directly affects state and local school districts by expanding the list of allowable expenses to include specific instruction on AI tools and the skills needed to teach them. The legislation defines artificial intelligence using the same standard established in the National Artificial Intelligence Initiative Act of 2020 to ensure consistency across programs.
This resolution formally impeaches Allison Dale Burroughs, a federal judge in Massachusetts, for high crimes and misdemeanors. The primary provision alleges that she violated federal law and a Supreme Court ruling by issuing a stay on the President's decision to end temporary protected status for Somalia. The text claims her actions ignored congressional intent regarding judicial review and improperly usurped executive authority. If adopted by the House, this resolution would refer the article of impeachment to the Senate for a trial.
This bill, titled the Permanent CBDC Ban Act, aims to permanently prohibit the Federal Reserve from issuing a central bank digital currency. It achieves this by amending the Federal Reserve Act to remove the specific legal authority that allows the Reserve to create such a digital currency. The legislation directly affects the Federal Reserve by stripping away its power to launch a digital version of the dollar. By deleting the relevant subsection of the law, the bill ensures that the Reserve cannot issue a CBDC in the future.
This resolution designates July 30, 2026, as "National Whistleblower Appreciation Day" to honor individuals who report misconduct, fraud, or abuse within the government. It requires federal agencies to inform employees, contractors, and the public about the legal protections available for reporting wrongdoing and to acknowledge the contributions whistleblowers make to saving taxpayer money. The bill does not create new laws or penalties but serves as a commemorative measure to encourage ethical reporting and recognize the role of whistleblowers in maintaining an ethical government.
This Senate resolution condemns the Government of Iran for ongoing human rights abuses, specifically targeting its use of politically motivated espionage claims to justify arbitrary detention and executions. The bill outlines several key provisions, including calls to halt executions based on unsupported security charges and demands for detainees to receive due process and access to independent legal counsel. It also urges the release of individuals imprisoned for peacefully exercising freedoms of expression and religion while supporting the Iranian people's pursuit of democracy. Additionally, the resolution affirms U.S. efforts to hold Iranian officials accountable through sanctions and international investigations for their actions.
The SMART Savings Act of 2026 modifies federal tax rules to allow individuals to use certain retirement accounts for specific transactions without triggering penalties. It achieves this by updating the definition of a "plan" and removing specific prohibited transaction categories that previously restricted how these funds could be used. Additionally, the bill clarifies rules regarding self-dealing and defines "relationship benefits" to include reduced costs or improved services tied to account value. These changes apply to transactions occurring after the law is enacted, aiming to simplify how people manage their retirement savings while maintaining core protections against abuse.
The Protecting Our Kids from Harmful Research Act prohibits the use of federal funds to support research or publications regarding gender transition for individuals under the age of 18. This restriction specifically targets studies that aim to affirm a minor's perception or identity when it differs from their sex assigned at birth, as defined by their reproductive biology and genetics. The bill directly affects federal agencies and institutions that might otherwise receive funding to conduct such observational studies on hormonal treatments or surgical procedures for minors. By limiting financial support, the legislation seeks to prevent government resources from being used for research that challenges the biological definition of sex at birth.
The Title IX Clarification Act of 2026 amends the federal law prohibiting sex discrimination in education to explicitly define "sex" based on biological characteristics. Specifically, it states that sex refers to an individual's biologically determined status as male or female. The bill further defines "female" as someone with a reproductive system that produces ova and "male" as someone with a reproductive system that produces sperm, regardless of congenital anomalies or accidents. These definitions apply to all education programs receiving federal financial assistance starting on the date the law is enacted.
