Two Bills to Become Law

These two bills have passed both the Senate and the House and now go to the President for signing, or, if he remembers his empty threat from the week before last, go to the President to sit for 10 days excluding Sundays at which time they will become law anyway.

• S. 1884: Holocaust Expropriated Art Recovery Act of 2025, which will prohibit certain non-merits-based defenses against returning relevant artwork, passed the House by voice vote so no recorded vote exists.
• S. 3971: Small Business Innovation and Economic Security Act, which will extend some small business related programs, passed 345-41.

Recorded Votes

These bills have only passed the House, so they are not going to become law anytime soon.

• H.R. 4294: MAWS Act of 2026, which would direct the Secretary of Commerce to establish a pilot program with respect to the sale of blue catfish caught within the Chesapeake Bay Watershed, passed 320-66.
• H.R. 1958: Deporting Fraudsters Act of 2026, which would amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to clarify that aliens who have been convicted of defrauding the United States Government or the unlawful receipt of public benefits are inadmissible and deportable even though existing law covers this category of crime in nearly every case, passed 231-186.
• H.R. 4638: Federal Working Animal Protection Act, which would amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to provide that an alien who has been convicted of harming animals used in law enforcement is inadmissible and deportable even though existing law covers this issue, passed 228-190.
• H.R. 556: Protecting Access for Hunters and Anglers Act, which would prohibit the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Agriculture from prohibiting the use of lead ammunition or tackle on certain Federal land or water under the jurisdiction of the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Agriculture, passed 215-202.

Legislative Appropriations Recap from the First Branch Forecast

Our colleagues at the First Branch Forecast have been tracking the legislative appropriations process so you don't have to: Recap.

The bottom line is that the legislative branch needs vastly more appropriations than it's likely to give itself and the damage to the functionality of legislative branch will continue to accrue, possibly to a breaking point.

Legislator Updates

• Wall Street Journal report on the record number of members leaving Congress.
• NOTUS report on an AI company co-owned by Rep. Swalwell (D-CA14).
• NOTUS report on Congressional wealth.

Continuing Business

• The House Oversight Committee has formally subpoenaed Attorney General Pam Bondi for a closed session on Jeffrey Epstein.
• The House received a classified briefing on Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act in advance of a vote next month to renew Section 702.
• DHS remains shut down as neither party has moved from its demands of the other.

Two Bills to Become Law; Lots of Ongoing Work was originally published by GovTrack and is republished with permission.