The PROOF Act requires state agencies to provide specific records to the Attorney General when requested for investigating fraud in major federal assistance programs, such as Medicaid, food stamps, unemployment benefits, and disaster relief funds. This information sharing covers data like identity verification records, payment logs, and provider billing statements directly related to active investigations. To protect privacy, the bill mandates that the Justice Department handle all transferred data under existing privacy laws, use encryption for security, and destroy the information once legal proceedings are complete. Additionally, federal agencies may only use this data for fraud-related law enforcement purposes and must submit an annual report to Congress detailing the number of requests made and resulting convictions.
The Cost Estimates Improvement Act requires the Congressional Budget Office and the Joint Committee on Taxation to include public debt servicing costs in their financial estimates, to the extent practicable. This change directly affects federal budgeting processes by ensuring that the interest payments on national debt are factored into official cost projections for new legislation. The bill amends the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974 to mandate this specific inclusion in all future estimates prepared by these two bodies.
The Badge-to-Business Act amends the Small Business Act to waive guarantee fees for express loans made to qualified career law enforcement officers starting January 1, 2027. To qualify, an officer must have completed at least ten years of service and not be facing a pending criminal investigation or administrative proceeding for misconduct related to their official duties. This fee waiver applies to both currently employed officers and those who have separated from service, provided they meet the conduct requirements at the time of application. The provision includes an exception allowing the Administrator to collect fees if the cost of guaranteeing these loans results in a net loss for the Administration in a given fiscal year.
The Data Science and Literacy Act of 2026 establishes a competitive grant program administered by the Secretary of Education to support state agencies, local school districts, tribal schools, and higher education institutions in expanding data literacy and statistics education from pre-kindergarten through postsecondary levels. Eligible recipients must use funds for activities such as developing new curricula, providing professional development for teachers, and creating partnerships with industry or community organizations to reduce access gaps for underrepresented students. The bill authorizes $10 million annually for fiscal years 2027 through 2031, requiring grantees to submit biannual reports on student outcomes disaggregated by race, ethnicity, gender, and income status. Additionally, the legislation amends existing federal law to require the collection of demographic and background data on secondary school STEM teachers in each state every five years.
This bill increases the mandatory financial contributions from Federal Home Loan Banks to the Affordable Housing Program by extending a 15 percent net income requirement through 2025 and establishing it as the permanent rate for 2026 and beyond. The legislation directly affects the Federal Home Loan Banks, which are government-sponsored enterprises that provide funding to member banks and credit unions. A key provision ensures that these annual contributions will not fall below $100 million in any given year, regardless of the banks' net income fluctuations.
The Housing BOOM Act aims to increase the supply of affordable housing by significantly raising the state-level limit on Low-Income Housing Tax Credits and establishing new federal funding mechanisms, including a Middle Income Housing Construction Loan Fund and a Workforce Housing Block Grant Program. The bill directs billions in annual appropriations over five years to support rental construction for households earning between 60 and 120 percent of the area median income, while also increasing existing subsidies for homeless assistance, rural housing, and supportive housing for the elderly and persons with disabilities. To address tenant stability, the legislation creates a new Office of Eviction Prevention within the Department of Housing and Urban Development and authorizes grants to help convert unused government buildings and hotels into emergency shelters and affordable units. Additionally, the act establishes an Interagency Council on Housing Affordability to coordinate federal policy and requires prevailing wage standards for construction workers on federally assisted projects.
The Pacific Minerals Economic Security Act amends the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act to regulate mineral leasing activities in waters adjacent to Guam, American Samoa, and the Northern Mariana Islands. The bill prohibits the government from reducing or waiving royalty payments for these leases and requires lessees to provide initial and supplemental financial bonds to cover potential environmental cleanup and decommissioning costs. Starting in fiscal year 2027, fifty percent of all leasing revenues will be distributed to the affected territories based on their proximity to the leased areas, with funds restricted for use in coastal restoration, infrastructure development, environmental mitigation, or debt reduction. Additionally, the Secretary of the Interior must conduct a study on environmental impact mitigation methods and provide immediate notice to territorial governors when new mining plans are submitted.
The EMRTAI Authorization Act of 2026 directs the Environmental Protection Agency to create a program that investigates methods for finding and recovering critical materials from contaminated sites. This initiative allows the EPA to provide funding to states, local governments, tribes, nonprofits, and private entities to support these recovery efforts and monitor environmental cleanup. The program is limited to a total of $10 million per year, with no single recipient receiving more than $3 million, and grants are evaluated based on their potential to strengthen domestic supply chains and protect human health. The authority to run this program will end ten years after the bill is enacted.
The Taxpayer Relief from Big Oil Act would eliminate existing royalty relief programs for oil and gas companies operating in the Gulf of Mexico and Alaska, requiring these firms to pay full royalties on their production. The bill also mandates that the Department of Interior establish standardized transportation cost deductions for calculating royalties on federal lands and offshore waters, capping these deductions at either 30 percent of the total value of production or actual reasonable costs, whichever is lower. Additionally, the legislation requires the Bureau of Land Management and the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management to submit annual reports to Congress detailing the number of royalty relief applications processed, approved wells, and estimated impacts on government revenue.
The Head Start Expansion and Improvement Act of 2026 broadens eligibility for early childhood education services by including recipients of various public assistance programs, such as food stamps and Medicaid, in the definition of qualifying families. The bill authorizes $36 billion annually from fiscal years 2027 through 2032 to support these expanded operations and creates a separate grant program providing $1 billion per year until 2030 for agencies to repair or upgrade aging facilities with safety hazards. Additionally, the legislation establishes a loan forgiveness program that cancels federal student loans for childcare workers who complete three years of full-time service in Head Start or Early Head Start programs. Finally, it authorizes $6.8 billion annually through 2032 to provide salary supplements to Head Start employees, with funding allocated based on local wage gaps and cost-of-living factors.
