Budget & Taxes

This bill provides compensation to specific individuals and businesses affected by the 2015 Gold King Mine spill in Colorado. It allows eligible "injured persons" (like homeowners, farmers, or recreation businesses) who submitted claims by August 5, 2017, to seek payment for documented losses including lost income (excluding vacation rentals), livestock relocation costs, and crop damage occurring between August 5, 2015, and December 31, 2015. The Environmental Protection Agency Administrator will review claims, with payments limited to actual damages claimed and capped at $3.3 million total for fiscal year 2025. Accepting payment releases all related claims against the U.S. government under the Federal Tort Claims Act.

S 1210, the HERO for Youth Act of 2025, expands tax credits for employers hiring qualifying youth. It modifies the Work Opportunity Tax Credit to cover year-round employment (September 16-April 30) for students attending secondary school part-time (≤20 hours/week), not just summer jobs. The bill also creates a new credit for employers hiring "disconnected youth" - individuals aged 16-25 who haven’t attended school or worked regularly for six months, or foster youth aged 16-21. The credit amount is increased, and the changes apply to hires after the bill's enactment. This directly affects employers in states with designated local agencies administering the program.

This bill amends the Native American Tourism and Improving Visitor Experience Act to expand grant opportunities for tourism development. It authorizes the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the Office of Native Hawaiian Relations, and other federal agencies (like Commerce and Transportation) to provide grants to Indian tribes, tribal organizations, and Native Hawaiian organizations. The grants, funded by $35 million over fiscal years 2025-2029, support tourism initiatives that align with the Act's purposes. This directly affects tribal and Native Hawaiian entities seeking federal funding for tourism projects.

S 615, the Chemical Tax Repeal Act, repeals excise taxes on specific chemicals and substances currently levied under the Internal Revenue Code. It removes Subchapters B and C of Chapter 38 (which governed these taxes) from the tax code, directly affecting chemical manufacturers and distributors who paid these taxes. The repeal takes effect January 1, 2025, eliminating these specific tax obligations for affected businesses.

This bill restricts health savings accounts (HSAs), Archer MSAs, health flexible spending accounts, and health reimbursement arrangements from covering most abortion expenses. It allows exceptions only for abortions resulting from rape or incest, or when a pregnancy poses a life-endangering risk to the woman (as certified by a physician). The law amends tax code provisions to exclude non-exempt abortion costs from being treated as qualified medical expenses for tax purposes. These changes take effect for taxable years beginning after December 31, 2025, directly affecting individuals using these specific tax-advantaged health accounts.

This bill increases the mileage deduction rate for volunteer drivers who transport people or property for qualified charitable organizations. It raises the standard rate from 14 cents per mile to a rate set by the IRS that must be at least the current business mileage rate (currently higher than 14 cents). This directly affects volunteers working with tax-exempt organizations like food banks or community service groups. The change applies to tax returns filed for years beginning after December 31, 2024.

S 895, the DELIVER Act of 2025, increases the standard mileage rate for organizations delivering meals to vulnerable populations. It amends the Internal Revenue Code to require the IRS to use the standard business mileage rate for miles driven when delivering meals to homebound elderly, disabled, frail, or at-risk individuals. This change applies to miles driven on or after the bill's enactment date. The bill directly affects non-profits, senior centers, and volunteer groups that provide meal delivery services to these specific populations.

Stop Secret Spending Act of 2025 This bill expands a requirement for federal agencies to report expenditures on the USAspending.gov website to include other transaction agreement expenditures. (Other transaction agreements, or OTAs, are contractual instruments other than standard procurement contracts, grants, or cooperative agreements; they are exempt from many federal procurement laws and regulations). Under current law, federal agencies must report expenditures on federal awards to USAspending.gov with the term federal award defined as federal grants, loans, cooperative agreements, contracts, and certain other types of expenditures. This bill expands the definition of federal award to include expenditures under OTAs, and therefore such expenditures must be included on the USAspending.gov website.  The Department of the Treasury must ensure that data relating to OTAs are automatically transmitted to the website and a centralized view of this data is available on the website. Treasury must also annually post on the USAspending.gov website a report that includes (1) the total amount of federal spending on federal awards for which data has not been posted on the website, and (2) the reason why such spending data was not posted. For 10 years after enactment, the Office of Inspector General of specified federal agencies must periodically submit to Congress and make publicly available a report assessing the agency's spending data and use of data standards.

The Invest to Protect Act of 2025 establishes a federal grant program to support local law enforcement agencies with fewer than 175 officers. Eligible communities - including counties, municipalities, and Tribal governments - can use funds for de-escalation training, mental health and domestic violence response training, officer retention bonuses, graduate education stipends, and access to behavioral health services for officers. The program requires grantees to report on outcomes and publicly disclose bonus amounts, with strict audit requirements to prevent misuse of funds. It authorizes $50 million annually from 2026 to 2030 to advance these concrete safety and support initiatives.

S 796, the Book Minimum Tax Repeal Act, repeals a corporate minimum tax provision in the Internal Revenue Code that previously applied to certain businesses. The bill removes the requirement for corporations to pay a minimum tax based on their alternative minimum taxable income, effectively eliminating this specific tax obligation for affected corporations. Key provisions amend Section 55 of the tax code to delete corporate minimum tax calculations and related references, treating corporations as having a zero tentative minimum tax. This change directly affects corporations that would have been subject to this minimum tax, with the repeal taking effect for taxable years beginning after December 31, 2024.