Beth Van Duyne

This resolution expresses that the House of Representatives mourns the loss of the victims of the flooding in central Texas on July 4, 2025, honors the individuals who responded, and supports rebuilding infrastructure and providing assistance for those affected by the flooding.

This resolution expresses (1) the sense of the House of Representatives that the sermon given at the National Prayer Service on January 21st, 2025, at the National Cathedral was a display of political activism, and (2) that the House condemns the message of Right Reverend Mariann Edgar Budde.

This resolution declares that every state within the United States has the sovereign right to exclude any person who does not have the right to be there. It also declares that the states along the southern border (1) were invaded by terrorists, narco-terrorist cartels, and criminal actors from 2021 through 2024; and (2) have the sovereign and unilateral authority to defend themselves against such an invasion.

This resolution censures Representative Al Green.

**Preventing Aliens Through Rivers or Land Act or the PATROL Act** This bill prohibits the Department of Justice (DOJ) from bringing certain civil actions against a state for building a physical structure impacting navigable waters along the U.S. border for security purposes. Specifically, the DOJ is prohibited from bringing an action for (1) the construction of a bridge, causeway, dam, dike, or other structure over or in a port, harbor, or other navigable water of the United States without federal approval; or (2) the creation of any obstruction to the navigable capacity of waters of the United States without federal approval.

**Fair Access to Banking Act** This bill places restrictions on certain banks, credit unions, and payment card networks if they refuse to do business with a person who complies with the law. Restrictions include prohibiting the use of electronic funds transfer systems and lending programs, termination of an institution's depository insurance, and specified civil penalties. Banks and other specified financial institutions are allowed to deny financial services to a person only if the denial is justified by a documented failure of that person to meet quantitative, impartial, risk-based standards established in advance by the institution. This justification may not be based upon reputational risks to the institution. The bill establishes the right for a person to bring a civil action for a violation of this bill.

**Drug Cartel Terrorist Designation Act** This bill directs the Department of State to designate four specified drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations. (Among other things, such a designation allows the Department of the Treasury to require U.S. financial institutions to block transactions involving the organization.) The four specified cartels in the bill are the Gulf Cartel, the Cartel Del Noreste, the Cartel de Sinaloa, and the Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generacion. The bill also requires the State Department to submit a detailed report on those four cartels and any other cartels it may identify. Based on this report, the State Department must designate as a foreign terrorist organization any such identified cartel (or faction thereof) that meets certain criteria for designation as a foreign terrorist organization. The bill specifies that it may not be construed to expand eligibility for asylum.

**Protecting Resources Of Taxpayers to Eliminate Childhood Transgender Surgeries Act of 2025 or the PROTECTS Act of 2025** This bill prohibits providing or using federal funds to perform, refer for, or reimburse any entity for certain gender transition procedures for an individual under the age of 18.  The bill’s prohibition applies to certain gender transition procedures that are performed to intentionally change an individual’s body to no longer correspond to the individual's biological sex, including surgeries, medications, and implants specified in the bill. The bill provides exceptions for specified procedures, such as treating certain genetic abnormalities or preventing imminent death or impairment of a major bodily function, when performed by a health care provider with the consent of the individual’s parent or legal guardian.

**Preventing Financial Exploitation in Higher Education Act** This bill establishes financial penalties for institutions of higher education (IHEs) with endowments of $2.5 billion or more that have specified percentages of current and former students who default, are delinquent, or underpay on their federal student loans. The bill also imposes an increased excise tax on net investment income of certain IHEs that increase tuition beyond certain levels. Specifically, the bill requires such an IHE to pay penalties to the Department of Education based on the IHE's * cohort default rate (the percentage of how many borrowers default on their federal student loans in a fiscal year), * cohort delinquency rate (the percentage of borrowers who are between 31- and 360-days past-due on their federal student loans), and * cohort underpayment rate (the percentage of borrowers who are making regular payments on their federal student loans, are neither delinquent nor in default on those loans, but for whom the outstanding balances on their loans exceed the sum of the original loan balances). For example, for FY2025, an IHE with a cohort default rate of 11% or more must pay a penalty in an amount equal to 30% of the total outstanding balance of principal and interest due on all federal student loans. The bill also imposes an increased excise tax equal to 25% of the net investment income of an IHE with an endowment of $2.5 billion or more that charges tuition exceeding the inflation adjustment base amount for the taxable year.

**Main Street Tax Certainty Act** This bill makes permanent the qualified business income (QBI) tax deduction. Under current law, individuals, estates, and trusts may deduct the lower of (1) 20% of QBI from a qualified business, qualified real estate investment trust dividends, and qualified publicly traded partnership income; or (2) 20% of taxable income less net capital gain. (Some limitations apply.) However, under current law, the QBI tax deduction expires after December 31, 2025.