House Crams in Votes Before Extended Break

The House wasn’t expected to stay in session past this week and, in fact, they left a day early after Rep. Massie (R-KY4) introduced an impeachment resolution against Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth. Nonetheless, they powered through many more votes than usual. We’ll cover the seven soon-to-be new laws and the bills of interest we highlighted in this week’s preview. As is its usual function, the Senate mostly acted as a break on legislation that had passed the House.

New Laws

These bills have all passed both chambers in identical form, so they next go to the President for signing.

• S. 759: Modernizing Access to Our Public Oceans Act which would provide for standardization, publication, and accessibility of data relating to public outdoor recreational use of Federal waterways. This passed by voice vote, so no recorded votes are available.
• S. 550: A bill to provide for the equitable settlement of certain Indian land disputes regarding land in Illinois would extend the time for settling treaties from the 19th century for one year into the future from passage and designate a federal court to handle the case. This passed by voice vote, so no recorded votes are available.
• S. 195: American Music Tourism Act of 2025 passed by voice vote, so no recorded votes are available.
• S. 2398: Kay Hagan Tick Reauthorization Act would reauthorize funding for public health responses to tick-borne diseases. This passed by voice vote, so no recorded votes are available.
• S. 2403: Retire through Ownership Act, which passed 401-14, would establish rules for independent evaluators of employee pension plans where such evaluators are needed, according to Congress.gov.
• S. 766: Billion Dollar Boondoggle Act of 2025 would require an annual report of taxpayer-funded projects that are over budget and behind schedule. This passed by voice vote, so no recorded votes are available.
• H.R. 5334: Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026, which passed 262-159 may in fact do the opposite of its title. According to an analysis on The Bulwark, the sanctions part provides no new powers nor imposes no new requirements on the President. As for tariffs, the wording is extremely vague and Catherine Rampell, the Bulwark author, argues persuasively that it would significantly expand the President’s ability to tariff globally as he sees fit.

Back to the Senate

These bills did pass the House, but with changes so now they go back to the Senate. The Senate can agree to the changes, amend them again and send them back to the House or just not act.

• S. 283: Illegal Red Snapper and Tuna Enforcement Act would require the Under Secretary of Commerce for Standards and Technology and the Administrator of National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to develop a standard methodology for identifying the country of origin of seafood to support enforcement against illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing. This passed by voice vote, so no recorded votes are available.
• S. 240: Crow Tribe Water Rights Settlement Amendments Act of 2025 would make changes described by Congress.gov. This passed by voice vote, so no recorded votes are available.

Stalled in the Senate

This bill passed the House by an overwhelming margin of 417-3. An attempt to move it quickly through the Senate failed because the bill only recommends that increased costs due to data center expansion be borne by companies building the data centers, but does not require them to bear those costs. Therefore, it did not get unanimous consent in the Senate to move forward. In order to get to a vote, the bill will likely have to be amended. However, there won’t be any action on it until at least after the election in November.

• H.R. 9340: Ratepayer Protection Act would, despite its name, mostly provide support for data centers and other intensive users of existing power resources, according to The Guardian

Bills Passed by Voice Vote

These bills will all go to the Senate next now that they’ve passed the House by voice vote. They are not close to becoming law.

• H.R. 979: AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act of 2025. The rationale for this bill is that other communication technologies are not guaranteed in rural or mountainous areas while AM stations are readily available. This would effectively be a new regulation since it would require car makers to include AM which they don’t always do now.
• H.R. 2004: Tyler’s Law would require testing for fentanyl for suspected overdoses in emergency rooms. We wrote about the complexities of getting bills passed using this bill as an example a year ago. What we said then is necessarily even more true now.
• H.R. 10167: Common Cents Act; this bill would codify the end of the penny as well as direct retailers to round all prices down or up to the nearest nickel.
• H.R. 10204: Legislative Branch Agencies Clarification Act. This bill would eliminate “the presidential nomination process for appointment of the Librarian of Congress and Director of GPO, allowing them to be chosen exclusively by Congress through a bipartisan commission. It also removes the Librarian’s supervisory authority over the Register of Copyrights and the Copyright Office while maintaining the support it receives from the Library. The bill also establishes an Office of Inspector General at the Copyright Office and requires GPO to establish a human management system” per our colleagues at First Branch Forecast

Bills Legislators Wanted to be on Record About

All of these bills are still early in the legislative process. They will go next to the Senate where they may be amended or simply not acted on.

• H.R. 4646: Whistleblower Protection Act of 2025, which clarifies that whistleblower protections described in section 4712 of title 41, United States Code, apply to any contract funded from amounts appropriated to the Department of Housing and Urban Development, passed 424-0.
• H.R. 8278: Fostering the Use of Technology to Uphold Regulatory Effectiveness in Supervision Act, which would require federal financial regulators to assess how their technological systems inhibit real-time supervision of regulated entities and how their procurement rules limit the testing of new technologies, passed 417-7
• H.R. 9497: Water Resources Development Act of 2026, which provides for improvements to the rivers and harbors of the United States and provides for the conservation and development of water and related resources, passed 415-9.
• H.R. 2978: GUARD Act, which would permit State, local, and Tribal law enforcement agencies that receive eligible Federal grant funds to use such funds for investigating elder financial fraud, pig butchering scams, and general financial fraud, and to clarify that Federal law enforcement agencies may assist State, local, and Tribal law enforcement agencies in the use of tracing tools for blockchain and related technology, passed 414-7.
• H.R. 9500: Tax Relief for Fraud Victims Act which would amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to repeal the limitation on deductions for personal casualty losses and to provide for increased taxpayer relief with respect to theft losses involving fraud, deceit, or misrepresentation, passed 408-17.
• H.R. 4219: National Wildlife Refuge System Invasive Species Strike Team Act of 2025, which would authorize the appropriation of $10 million each year over the 2027-2033 period for the Fish and Wildlife Service to establish a regional program to identify and respond to invasive species threats within or adjacent to National Wildlife Refuge System land and water (CBO), passed 371-33.
• H.R. 9576: National Fraud Enforcement Division Act of 2026, which would create such a division within the Department of Justice, passed 352-72.
• H.R. 3276: Local Communities & Bird Habitat Stewardship Act of 2026, which would provide statutory authority for the Urban Bird Treaty Program, which is administered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. This program works with communities to support conserving and managing birds that live in and migrate through urban areas. This support includes grants administered by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and provided to entities including government agencies, community groups, and academic institutions for conducting activities related to the program. It passed 345-60.
• H.R. 2140: Diesel Emissions Reduction Act of 2025, which reauthorizes an existing diesel emissions reduction program, passed 343-79.
• H.R. 10326: PROOF Act which would enhance information-sharing capabilities between Federal law enforcement and State agencies to detect, investigate, and prosecute fraud in certain Federal programs, and to protect individual privacy, passed 217-207.
• H.J.Res. 213: Providing for congressional disapproval under chapter 8 of title 5, United States Code, of the rule issued by the Environmental Protection Agency relating to the “California State Nonroad Engine Pollution Control Standards; Commercial Harbor Craft Regulations; Notice of Decision”, passed 214-208.
• H.J.Res. 210: Providing for congressional disapproval under chapter 8 of title 5, United States Code, of the rule submitted by the Environmental Protection Agency relating to “California State Nonroad Engine Pollution Control Standards; Ocean-Going Vessels At-Berth; Notice of Decision”, passed 216-211.