Congressional Digest — May 2025: 25 Bills That Moved Past Committee
25 bills moved past committee in May 2025, including 5 signed into law. Some you heard about. Most you did not. Here is all of them, translated, with the full breakdown one tap away.
Signed into law
SJRES 18 — A joint resolution disapproving the rule submitted by the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection relating to "Overdraft Lending: Very Large Financial Institutions". This joint resolution cancels a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau rule that would have regulated overdraft fees at very large financial institutions.
HJRES 20 — Providing for congressional disapproval under chapter 8 of title 5, United States Code, of the rule submitted by the Department of Energy relating to "Energy Conservation Program: Energy Conservation Standards for Consumer Gas-fired Instantaneous Water Heaters". This joint resolution nullifies a Department of Energy rule, published December 26, 2024, that set new energy conservation standards for consumer gas-fired instantaneous water heaters. Congress is using its authority to disapprove and void the rule before it takes effect.
HJRES 24 — Providing for congressional disapproval under chapter 8 of title 5, United States Code, of the rule submitted by the Department of Energy relating to "Energy Conservation Program: Energy Conservation Standards for Walk-In Coolers and Walk-In Freezers". This joint resolution cancels a Department of Energy rule issued December 23, 2024, that had set stricter energy conservation standards for walk-in coolers and freezers. The rule would have required walk-in non-display doors to meet new energy limits by December 23, 2027, and refrigeration systems by December 31, 2028.
SJRES 28 — A joint resolution disapproving the rule submitted by the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection relating to "Defining Larger Participants of a Market for General-Use Digital Consumer Payment Applications". This joint resolution, now signed into law, cancels a CFPB rule that would have extended the agency's supervisory authority over large nonbank digital payment app companies.
S 146 — TAKE IT DOWN Act. The TAKE IT DOWN Act makes it a federal crime to post non-consensual intimate images online—including AI-generated 'deepfakes'—of both adults and minors, and requires social media platforms and similar sites to remove such content within 48 hours of being notified.
Passed the House
HR 36 — MEGOBARI Act. The MEGOBARI Act requires the President to impose visa-blocking sanctions on Georgian government officials and other foreign persons determined to be undermining Georgia's security, stability, or Euro-Atlantic integration.
HR 167 — Community Reclamation Partnerships Act of 2025. This bill revises the federal Abandoned Mine Land Reclamation Program, which restores land and water damaged by coal mines abandoned before August 3, 1977.
Community Reclamation Partnerships Act of 2025
HR 331 — To amend the Aquifer Recharge Flexibility Act to clarify a provision relating to conveyances for aquifer recharge purposes. This bill amends the Aquifer Recharge Flexibility Act to make it easier to transport water across Bureau of Land Management (BLM) land for aquifer recharge purposes.
HR 1286 — Simplifying Forms for Veterans Claims Act. This bill requires the Department of Veterans Affairs to work with a federally funded research and development center to review and assess the forms sent to veterans filing claims.
Simplifying Forms for Veterans Claims Act
HR 1364 — Automotive Support Services to Improve Safe Transportation Act of 2025. This bill expands veterans' benefits to cover additional medically necessary automobile adaptations.
Automotive Support Services to Improve Safe Transportation Act of 2025
HR 1453 — Clean Energy Demonstration Transparency Act of 2025. This bill requires the Department of Energy to produce and publish online semiannual reports on the status of clean energy demonstration projects managed or supported by its Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations.
Clean Energy Demonstration Transparency Act of 2025
HR 1486 — Economic Espionage Prevention Act. This bill would authorize the President to impose sanctions—including visa bans and asset freezes—on foreign entities that steal U.S. trade secrets, support foreign adversaries' national security agencies, or violate U.S. export control laws.
Economic Espionage Prevention Act
HR 1503 — Stop Forced Organ Harvesting Act of 2025. This bill requires the President to impose economic and visa sanctions on individuals and entities involved in forced organ harvesting or organ trafficking, and allows the State Department to deny or revoke passports of people convicted of related federal crimes.
Stop Forced Organ Harvesting Act of 2025
HR 1540 — Falun Gong Protection Act. This bill would require the President to impose visa bans and asset-freezing sanctions on foreign individuals who have knowingly participated in or aided forced organ harvesting in China.
HR 1578 — Veterans Claims Education Act of 2025. This bill requires the Department of Veterans Affairs to notify unrepresented veterans, when they file an initial benefits claim, that free help is available from veterans service organizations and accredited representatives.
Veterans Claims Education Act of 2025
HR 1969 — No Wrong Door for Veterans Act. This bill reauthorizes the VA's Staff Sergeant Parker Gordon Fox Suicide Prevention Grant Program through FY2028, adding $52,500,000 for fiscal year 2026 on top of the previously authorized $174,000,000 for FY2021–2025.
No Wrong Door for Veterans Act
HR 2201 — Improving VA Training for Military Sexual Trauma Claims Act. This bill expands training requirements for VA employees who handle mental health claims based on military sexual trauma, such as PTSD.
Improving VA Training for Military Sexual Trauma Claims Act
HR 2240 — Improving Law Enforcement Officer Safety and Wellness Through Data Act. This bill requires the Department of Justice to report on targeted attacks against law enforcement officers, whether such attacks can be incorporated into existing crime reporting systems, and what mental health resources are currently available to officers.
Improving Law Enforcement Officer Safety and Wellness Through Data Act
HR 2243 — LEOSA Reform Act. This bill expands the federal Law Enforcement Officers Safety Act (LEOSA) to allow qualified active and retired law enforcement officers to carry concealed firearms in more locations across state lines, including school zones, national parks, public-access properties, and certain federal facilities open to the public.
HR 2255 — Federal Law Enforcement Officer Service Weapon Purchase Act of 2025. This bill would require the General Services Administration to create a program allowing federal law enforcement officers to purchase firearms that were issued to them by their agency once those firearms are retired from service.
Federal Law Enforcement Officer Service Weapon Purchase Act of 2025
HR 2492 — Fire Safe Electrical Corridors Act of 2025. This bill allows the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management to let electrical utilities cut and remove trees or vegetation near power lines on federal lands without requiring a separate timber sale process.
Fire Safe Electrical Corridors Act of 2025
Passed the Senate
SJRES 7 — A joint resolution providing for congressional disapproval under chapter 8 of title 5, United States Code, of the rule submitted by the Federal Communications Commission relating to "Addressing the Homework Gap Through the E-Rate Program". This joint resolution would nullify a Federal Communications Commission rule that allows schools and libraries in the E-Rate program to purchase discounted Wi-Fi hotspots and mobile data service for students, staff, and library patrons to use off-premises.
SJRES 55 — A joint resolution providing for congressional disapproval under chapter 8 of title 5, United States Code, of the rule submitted by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration relating to "Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards; Fuel System Integrity of Hydrogen Vehicles; Compressed Hydrogen Storage System Integrity; Incorporation by Reference". This joint resolution would nullify a National Highway Traffic Safety Administration rule published on January 17, 2025, that established two new federal safety standards for hydrogen-powered vehicles.
S 97 — Securing Semiconductor Supply Chains Act. This bill requires the SelectUSA program, a Department of Commerce initiative that attracts business investment to the U.S., to gather input from state economic development organizations on federal efforts to increase foreign direct investment in semiconductor manufacturing.
Securing Semiconductor Supply Chains Act
S 195 — American Music Tourism Act of 2025. This bill directs the National Travel and Tourism Office (NTTO) within the Department of Commerce to actively promote domestic and international tourism to U.S. music festivals, concert venues, and other music-related attractions. It also expands NTTO's existing mandate to include promoting international travel to U.S.
American Music Tourism Act of 2025
Every bill above links to its full breakdown — purpose, who it affects, both sides of the argument, and how your senators voted. The record is always better than the rumor.
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