Legislative Recap for 11/21/25 – GovTrack.us

Legislative Recap for 11/21/25

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Nov. 21, 2025 · by Amy West

The House was certainly back this week. A lot of legislative energy had been pent up for a very long time. Several bills passed unanimously or nearly so; several more were highly partisan while another batch were censure resolutions expressing various kinds of frustration, both partisan and personal. So, in general order of topic and level of support, here’s what the House was up to. Plus one Senate vote that sends a regulation nullification to the President for his signature.

Regular Bills

One bill listed below is now law; that’s the Epstein Files Transparency Act. All the rest are still early in the legislative process and are not yet law.

• H.R. 6019: To repeal certain provisions relating to notification to Senate offices regarding legal process on disclosure of Senate data, and for other purposes, which would repeal provisions in the continuing resolution that was just passed which would provide a small number of Senators an opportunity for significant payments from the government, passed 426-0. It’s unknown whether this bill will receive a vote in the Senate or whether it will pass.
• H.R. 4405: Epstein Files Transparency Act passed 427-1 on Tuesday, November 18. We talked about the bill and the legislative maneuvering involved in more detail in this week’s preview. Since the preview, not only did the bill pass almost unanimously in the House, but the Senate passed it the same day by unanimous consent and the President signed it on Wednesday, November 19.
• H.R. 1608: Department of Homeland Security Vehicular Terrorism Prevention and Mitigation Act of 2025, which would require a report on vehicular terrorism and methods of mitigating it, passed 400-15.
• H.R. 2659: Strengthening Cyber Resilience Against State-Sponsored Threats Act, which would establish an interagency task force and require a report on cyber resilience against state sponsored threats, passed 402-8. 
• H.R. 4058: Enhancing Stakeholder Support and Outreach for Preparedness Grants Act, which would direct the Department of Homeland Security to extend stakeholder support and outreach for applicants and recipients of preparedness grants, passed 380-45. 
• H.R. 5214: District of Columbia Cash Bail Reform Act of 2025, which would require pre-trial and pre-conviction mandatory detention as well as mandatory cash bail in the District of Columbia, passed 237-179. This bill was in response to reforms made by local D.C. leaders in 2022.
• H.R. 5107: Common-Sense Law Enforcement and Accountability Now in DC Act of 2025, which is another bill that would repeal reforms made by local D.C. leaders, passed 233-190
• H.R. 3109: REFINER Act, which would direct the National Petroleum Council (an industry trade group which acts as an advisory council to the Department of Energy) to issue a report with respect to petrochemical refinery capacity in the United States, passed 230-176.
• H.R. 1949: Unlocking our Domestic LNG Potential Act of 2025, which would repeal restrictions on the export and import of natural gas, passed 217-188.

Regulation Nullifications

The last two of these three will now become law. The first still has to receive a vote in the Senate.

• H.J.Res. 131: Providing for congressional disapproval under chapter 8 of title 5, United States Code, of the rule submitted by the Bureau of Land Management relating to “Coastal Plain Oil and Gas Leasing Program Record of Decision” passed 217-209.
• H.J.Res. 130: Providing for congressional disapproval under chapter 8 of title 5, United States Code, of the rule submitted by the Bureau of Land Management relating to “Buffalo Field Office Record of Decision and Approved Resource Management Plan Amendment” passed 214-212 on November 18. The Senate passed it 51-43 on November 20 and now it next goes to the President to be signed into law.
• S.J.Res. 80: A joint resolution providing for congressional disapproval under chapter 8 of title 5, United States Code, of the rule submitted by the Bureau of Land Management relating to “National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska Integrated Activity Plan Record of Decision” passed 216-209. It next goes to the President to be signed into law.

Censures

Censures are one of the three ways Congress can police the behavior of members. The other two are expulsion (extremely rare) and investigation by the House Ethics Committee (more common than censures or expulsions). We’ll have more to say about the rapid increase this Congress in censure/censure-like resolutions in a separate post, but for now we’ll list the votes for this week. They do not go to the Senate since they are exclusively about House matters and are not legislation that becomes law.

• H.Res. 878: Disapproving the behavior of Representative Jesús G. “Chuy” García of Illinois, which does what it says, passed 236-183. Rep. Garciá chose to time his retirement announcement until after his preferred successor had submitted her own petition to get on the primary ballot and near the deadline for submitting petitions to be on the ballot. The end result is that his preferred successor is now the only person in the 2026 Democratic primary for his seat. This resolution was sponsored by fellow Democrat Rep. Gluesenkamp Perez (D-WA3). Yes, this is unusual.
• H.Res. 888: Censuring and condemning Delegate Stacey Plaskett and removing her from the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence for conduct that reflects discreditably on the House of Representatives for colluding with convicted felony sex offender Jeffrey Epstein during a congressional hearing failed 209-214. Plaskett did text with Epstein, who, she noted, was a constituent at the time. A slight majority of the House felt that this did not reflect discreditably on the House, or at least not so much to warrant a censure and removal from committee memberships. This resolution was sponsored by Rep. Norman (R-SC5). Del. Plaskett is a Democrat, so a Republican sponsoring a censure is usual. Or it would be if it weren’t one of a rash of them just this week.
• H.Res. 893: Censuring Representative Cory Mills of Florida and removing him from the Committee on Armed Services and the Committee on Foreign Affairs was converted to a motion to refer the allegations in the censure resolution to the House Ethics Committee and passed 310-103. Mills retains his committee memberships. Mills also already has been under investigation for different allegations for over a year. He further has an active restraining order against him as a direct result of an alleged and subsequently recanted assault on a woman in Washington, D.C. The censure resolution and new investigation rolls in the assault allegations as well as several campaign finance allegations. The Ethics Committee announced on November 19 that they are establishing an Investigative Subcommittee and will announce members soon. The censure resolution was sponsored by fellow Republican Rep. Mace (R-SC1). Yes, this is unusual.

Next Week

Both chambers of Congress are out for the Thanksgiving holiday and will return the week of December 1st.

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Was Routine – Legistative Recap -GovTrack.us

July 18, 2025 · by Amy West

On Monday, we titled our preview post “Looks Routine” with the possibility that a few bills might make for a non-routine week in the House. But, in fact, it was indeed routine. What little controversy there was, was mostly in soundbites to reporters. When it came time to vote? Everyone ultimately voted as expected.

Rescissions Bill

The rescissions bill, which cut $1 billion from the Corporation from Public Broadcasting and $8 billion from a range of foreign aid, passed 216-213 Thursday night via an occasionally used move called “deem and pass”.

Specifically, as part of a Rules Committee vote setting the parameters for debate on other bills, there was a provision that said, effectively, if this rule is passed, then the rescissions bill is deemed as passed. It’s a way to avoid a direct vote on a bill and a way to save time. Roll Call wrote about its regular use over the last century in 2021.

The rescissions will become law and those already appropriated funds will not be spent.

Could Congress add those appropriations back into a future appropriations bill? Sure. It could. But as long as the Republicans have the majority, it seems extremely unlikely that they would challenge the President by doing so. Considering that foreign aid and funding for public broadcasting are unpopular with Republicans in general, there’s no reason to expect a Republican majority Congress to try and get those funds back. If Democrats take back one or both chambers in 2026, then maybe they’d try for it. But Trump will still be president and would certainly veto any bills. Given how hard vetoes are to override, one should assume that for the foreseeable future, those funds are gone and not coming back.

GENIUS Act

There was a brief delay in passing this bill, but on Thursday, the first attempt to regulate cryptocurrency passed 308-122. Along with it, two other cypto related bills, H.R. 1919: Anti-CBDC Surveillance State Act (prohibits the Federal Reserve from issuing cryptocurrencies) and H.R. 3633: Digital Asset Market Clarity Act of 2025 (specifies when Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) regulates cryptocurrencies versus the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC)) passed, respectively, 219-210 and 294-134.

Epstein Resolution

All week the controversy over the Justice Department’s announcement that Jeffrey Epstein killed himself and there’s no client list to release stayed hot. On Thursday evening, the Wall Street Journal (gift link) reported on a birthday card from Trump to Epstein with conspiracy theory friendly content including references to having “certain things in common” and wishing that “every day be another wonderful secret”.

Speaker Johnson is attempting to defuse some of the controversy with a non-binding Rules Committee resolution recommending that Trump release all the files. Rep. Massie (R-KY4) has sponsored a stronger resolution, but it’s unclear if it will go anywhere. Massie has said that if the resolution isn’t considered within a certain time frame, he will begin gathering the needed signatures to make it a discharge petition. Discharge Petitions are a tool that legislators can use to force bills onto the floor even if the Speaker doesn’t want them on the schedule.

Department of Defense Appropriations

The Fiscal Year 2026 appropriations for the Department of Defense passed the House this week 221-209. This is only the first step in a long process. Given that the current fiscal year ends on September 30, it’s unlikely that this or any other appropriations bill will get through the full legislative process in time. Expect another continuing resolution (a resolution that says “keep spending at current levels until X date) in September.

Does Congress Even Matter?

Russell Vought, the Director of the Office of Management and Budget doesn’t think so. Even though the Constitution clearly states

No Money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in Consequence of Appropriations made by Law; and a regular Statement and Account of the Receipts and Expenditures of all public Money shall be published from time to time.

Vought stated explicitly that the Administration need not treat appropriations as law to be followed, but suggestions to be ignored as he sees fit. Vought also said he thought the appropriations process should be more partisan.

These statements together lead to the obvious question: what’s the point of passing any appropriations at all, let alone ones that can garner support from any Democrats if there’s no reason to expect that those appropriations will be spent by the Executive Branch? And the answer is “we don’t know”.

August Recess

The House has now begun its 5 week August Recess. They will return after Labor Day. The exception to this are some committee meetings next week. The Senate is in next week, but then is off until after Labor Day.

Editor’s Note: Read the rest of the story, at the below link.

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