Week 14 Legislative Recap

SAVE Act passes and Meta whistleblower testifies

Last week’s session in Congress was largely overshadowed by the destructive but brief launch of Trump’s tariffs. One highlight related to the tariffs was Trump’s Trade Secretary, Jamieson Greer, who was testifying in Congress.

Jamieson Greer testified in front of the Ways and Means Committee last week about the administration’s trade policy. The biggest moment came when Trump paused his tariffs for 90 days, but announced it during Greer’s testimony. He had been defending them as permanent, insisting that they were here to stay.

The Senate Commerce Committee also met to discuss Daylight Savings Time. There was a consensus that it should be changed, but differed on what to changed it to (back to Standard Time, or change to DST year-round).

The most notable hearing, though, was probably the Senate Judiciary Subcommitee on Crime and Counterterrorism, which heard from Meta whistleblower Sarah Wynn-Williams.

She told the committee that Meta (Facebook) has been operating unethically in countries like China by agreeing to comply with its government on a range of privacy-violating requests. Perhaps most alarming was the claim that China was using Meta’s AI model to advance its own AI technologies like DeepSeek.

The House mostly passed uncontroversial veterans-related bills last week, but it also passed The SAVE Act, which requires proof of US citizenship to vote. Married women are understandably concerned because they may have a different name than their birth certificate. An estimated 21 million people do not have either a passport or birth certificate readily available.

The House is now in a District Work Period until Sunday, April 27 and will not be in regular session next week.

Here is a recap of the last legislative week.

SENATE

PRO Veterans Act: S. 423 to protect regular order for budgeting for the Department of Veterans Affairs. Passed by Unanimous Consent.

Energy Conservation Program: Energy Conservation Standards for Consumer Gas-Fired Instantaneous Water Heaters (disapproval): H.J. Res. 20 Disapproves a rule submitted by the Department of Energy relating to “Energy Conservation Program: Energy Conservation Standards for Consumer Gas-Fired Instantaneous Water Heaters''. Passed by roll call vote, 53-44.

Nominations confirmed

Elbridge Colby for Under Secretary of Defense for Policy. (54-45)

George Glass to be Ambassador to Japan. (66-32)

Mike Huckabee to be Ambassador to the State of Israel. (53-46)

Peter Hoekstra to be Ambassador to Canada. (60-37)

Ronald Johnson to be Ambassador to the United Mexican States. (49-46)

Kevin Cabrera to be Ambassador to the Republic of Panama. (51-45)

Paul Atkins to be a Member of the Securities and Exchange Commission. (52-44)

Mark Meador to be a Federal Trade Commissioner. (50-46)

HOUSE

Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act (SAVE Act): H.R. 22 Amends the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 to require proof of United States citizenship to register an individual to vote in elections for Federal office. This is the bill that married women fear will disenfranchise them because they may no longer use the name on their birth certificate. It passed by roll call vote, 220-208.

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'': S.J. Res. 28 Nullifies 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.” Passed by roll call vote, 219-211.

Montgomery GI Bill Selected Reserves Tuition Fairness Act of 2025: H.R. 983 Directs the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to disapprove courses of education offered by a public institution of higher learning that does not charge the in-State tuition rate to a veteran using certain educational assistance under title 10 of such Code. Passed by voice vote.

Vietnam Veterans Liver Fluke Cancer Study Act: H.R. 586 Directs the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to study and report on the prevalence of cholangiocarcinoma in veterans who served in the Vietnam theater of operations during the Vietnam era. Passed by roll call vote, 411-0.

Clear Communication for Veterans Claims Act: H.R. 1039 Directs the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to seek to enter into an agreement with a federally funded research and development center for an assessment of notice letters that the Secretary sends to claimants for benefits under laws administered by the Secretary. Passed by roll call vote, 412-0.

Deliver for Veterans Act: H.R. 877 Requires the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to include delivery costs when paying the full purchase price of an automobile or other conveyance for certain disabled veterans or members of the Armed Forces. Passed by voice vote.

Fairness for Servicemembers and their Families Act of 2025: H.R. 970 Requires the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to periodically review the automatic maximum coverage under the Servicemembers' Group Life Insurance program and the Veterans' Group Life Insurance program. Passed by voice vote.

Veterans Education Transparency and Training Act: H.R. 981 improves the processes to approve programs of education for purposes of the educational assistance programs of the Department of Veterans Affairs. Passed by voice vote.

Prioritizing Veterans' Survivors Act: H.R. 1228 Clarifies the organization of the Office of Survivors Assistance of the Department of Veterans Affairs. Passed by roll call vote, 424-0.