Bennie G. Thompson

Sponsor · Urges: (1) the United States Postal Service to issue a commemorative stamp honoring James Chaney, Michael Schwerner, and Andrew Goodman; and (2) the Citizens' Stamp Advisory Committee to recommend such issuance.

Cosponsor · Governing Unaccredited Representatives Defrauding VA Benefits Act or the GUARD VA Benefits Act This bill imposes fines on individuals for soliciting, contracting for, charging, or receiving any unauthorized fee or compensation with respect to the preparation, presentation, or prosecution of any claim for Department of Veterans Affairs benefits. The attempted commission of such offenses is also punishable by fine.

Cosponsor · Referred to the House Committee on Agriculture.

Cosponsor · Protect Our Letter Carriers Act of 2025 This bill requires or authorizes certain actions related to the U. S. Postal Service (USPS). The bill requires the Department of Justice to appoint an assistant U.

Cosponsor · Expresses the sense of Congress that it is the goal of the United States that not later than January 1, 2025, U. S. agricultural, forestry, and working land should provide from renewable resources not less than 25% of total U. S.

Cosponsor · Referred to the House Committee on Education and Workforce.

Cosponsor · Expresses support for: (1) the goals and ideals of National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day; (2) full and equitable funding for the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Treatment Modernization Act of 2006; (3) expansion of HIV/AIDS funding under Medicare and Medicaid; (4) the strengthening of stable African-American communities by addressing the need for more affordable housing; (5) taking specified measures to reduce the impact of incarceration as a driver of new HIV infections within the African-American community; (6) the expansion of HIV prevention education programs to promote the early identification of HIV through voluntary routine testing and to connect those in need to treatment as early as possible; (7) reducing the number of HIV infections in the African-American community resulting from injection drug use by expanding substance abuse prevention programs, drug treatment and recovery services, and innovative harm reduction programs; and (8) efforts to link those infected with HIV to accessible care and treatment options. Applauds the codification of the Minority AIDS Initiative within the reauthorization of the Ryan White CARE Act.

Cosponsor · Holocaust Education and Antisemitism Lessons Act This bill directs the U. S. Holocaust Memorial Museum to study and report on Holocaust education efforts in states, local educational agencies (LEAs), and public elementary and secondary schools. Among other elements, the study must (1) determine whether states and LEAs require Holocaust education as part of the curriculum taught in public elementary and secondary schools, (2) identify the standards and requirements relating to Holocaust education, and (3) identify the types of instructional material used to teach students about the Holocaust.

Cosponsor · Safe Schools Improvement Act This bill requires states to direct their local educational agencies (LEAs) to establish policies that prevent and prohibit bullying and harassment of elementary and secondary school students. In particular, these policies must prohibit bullying and harassment based on race, color, national origin, disability, religion, or sex. Sex includes sexual orientation, gender identity, and sex characteristics (including intersex traits). Further, LEAs must provide (1) students, parents, and educational professionals with annual notice of the conduct prohibited in their disciplinary policies; (2) students and parents with grievance procedures that target such conduct; and (3) the public with annual data on the incidence and frequency of that conduct at the school and LEA level.

Cosponsor · Referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means.

Cosponsor · Honors the nine firefighters who lost their lives in Charleston, South Carolina, on June 18, 2007.

Cosponsor · Food Secure Strikers Act of 2025 This bill allows certain striking workers and their households to maintain their eligibility for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). Specifically, the bill provides that a household that would otherwise be eligible to participate in SNAP is eligible for benefits if any member of the household is on strike because of a labor dispute. Current law generally prohibits a household from participating in SNAP if any member of the household is on strike unless the household was eligible for SNAP immediately prior to the strike. Also, under current law, households are not eligible for an increased SNAP allotment as a result of the decreased income of a striking member of the household.

Cosponsor · This concurrent resolution declares that Congress should not impose any new performance fee, tax, royalty, or other charge relating to the public performance of sound recordings on a local radio station for broadcasting sound recordings over the air, or on any business for such public performance of sound recordings.

Cosponsor · Referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.

Cosponsor · Chiropractic Medicare Coverage Modernization Act of 2025 This bill expands Medicare coverage of chiropractic services to include all services provided by chiropractors, rather than only subluxation corrections through manual manipulation of the spine.

Cosponsor · Recognizes the contributions of the New York Public Library's Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in educating the people of the United States about the African-American migration experience.

Cosponsor · Keeping Our Field Offices Open Act This bill temporarily prohibits the closure or consolidation of, or other limitation of access to, Social Security Administration (SSA) offices and stations, and sets forth procedural requirements for future changes to office and station availability. Specifically, the bill prohibits through at least January 21, 2029, the closure or consolidation of, or other limitation of access to, SSA field offices, hearing offices, and resident stations. On or after that date, SSA must submit a report to Congress justifying its process for selecting stations and offices to be closed, consolidated, or limited. The prohibition is lifted 180 days after the submission of such report.

Cosponsor · This measure increases the annual limit on the tax credit for qualified railroad track maintenance expenses (also referred to as the short line railroad tax credit) and expands eligibility for claiming the credit. Under current law, the tax credit is limited each tax year to $3,500 multiplied by the sum of the number of miles of railroad track owned or leased by the taxpayer (miles owned or leased) and the number of railroad track miles assigned to the taxpayer by a Class II or III railroad (miles assigned). This bill increases the annual limit to $6,100 multiplied by the sum of miles owned or leased and miles assigned. The $6,100 amount used in the calculation of the tax credit limit is adjusted for inflation for tax years beginning after 2025.

Cosponsor · American Dream and Promise Act of 2025 This bill provides certain non-U. S. nationals ( aliens under federal law) with a path to receive permanent resident status and contains other immigration-related provisions. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) or the Department of Justice (DOJ) shall provide conditional permanent resident status for 10 years to a qualifying individual who entered the United States as a minor and (1) is deportable or inadmissible, (2) has deferred enforced departure (DED) status or temporary protected status (TPS), or (3) is the child of certain classes of nonimmigrants.

Cosponsor · Protecting Americans’ Social Security Data Act This bill prohibits political appointees and special government employees from accessing Social Security data systems that contain personally identifiable information about Social Security beneficiaries. Specifically, political appointees and special government employees may not access systems maintained by the Social Security Administration (SSA) that issue or record Social Security account numbers, that are used to determine eligibility for or to pay Social Security benefits, or that otherwise contain personally identifiable information about individuals receiving or applying for benefits. The bill also establishes a civil right of action for an individual whose information was negligently accessed or disclosed in violation of these provisions. The individual may bring suit against the United States if the violator was a U.

Cosponsor · Referred to the Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation.

Cosponsor · Referred to the Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment.

Cosponsor · Promoting Access to Diabetic Shoes Act This bill allows a nurse practitioner or physician assistant to fulfill documentation requirements for coverage, under Medicare, of special shoes for diabetic individuals. Under current law, such requirements may be satisfied only by a physician.

Cosponsor · Financial Services Diversity Initiative - Expresses the sense of Congress that: (1) active measures should be taken by employers and educational institutions to increase the demographic diversity of the financial services industry; and (2) diversity within the financial services industry is vitally important not only to promoting innovation and creativity in the industry but to developing a more inclusive workforce for a fair and just economy.

Cosponsor · Love Lives On Act of 2025 This bill extends entitlement for various benefit programs and services for surviving spouses of deceased members of the Armed Forces or veterans. The bill provides that the remarriage of a surviving spouse must not bar the furnishing of dependency and indemnity compensation or special pension benefits to such spouse. Additionally, the Department of Defense may not terminate the payment of an annuity for a surviving spouse under the Survivor Benefit Plan solely because the surviving spouse remarries. The bill also expands the definition of a dependent under TRICARE to include a remarried widow or widower whose subsequent marriage has ended due to death, divorce, or annulment.

Cosponsor · Referred to the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.

Cosponsor · ASSUMING FIRST SPONSORSHIP - Ms. Houlahan asked unanimous consent that she may hereafter be considered as the first sponsor of H.R. 1742, a bill originally introduced by Representative Sherrill, for the purpose of adding cosponsors and requesting reprintings pursuant to clause 7 of rule XII. Agreed to without objection.

Cosponsor · Improving Care and Access to Nurses Act or the I CAN Act This bill allows other health care providers besides physicians (e. g. , nurses) to provide certain services under Medicare and Medicaid. Among other changes, the bill (1) allows a nurse practitioner or physician assistant to fulfill documentation requirements for Medicare coverage of special shoes for diabetic individuals; (2) expedites the ability of physician assistants, nurse practitioners, and clinical nurse specialists to supervise Medicare cardiac, intensive cardiac, and pulmonary rehabilitation programs; and (3) allows nurse practitioners to certify the need for inpatient hospital services under Medicare and Medicaid.

Cosponsor · Recognizes the 98th anniversary of the historic founding of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Honors and praises the NAACP for its work to ensure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of all persons.

Cosponsor · Weatherizing Infrastructure in the North and Terrorism Emergency Readiness Act of 2025 This bill requires the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to develop and conduct an exercise to enhance collective domestic preparedness for and response to a terrorist attack during an extreme cold weather event (e. g. , an event caused by a polar vortex when Arctic air expands southward). The scenario in the exercise must involve a terrorist attack causing cascading effects on critical infrastructure (i.

Cosponsor · Mamas and Babies in Underserved Communities Act of 2025 This bill establishes Department of Health and Human Services grants for public or nonprofit private health care providers to expand and improve maternal health care services (including prenatal, postnatal, and postpartum care) and reduce disparities in access to such care. Health care providers are eligible to apply if they serve one or more minority, low-income, or medically underserved communities.

Cosponsor · American Teacher Act This bill establishes grants to increase the minimum salary of public elementary and secondary school teachers. It also authorizes a national campaign regarding the value of the teaching profession. First, the bill directs the Department of Education (ED) to award four-year grants to state educational agencies (SEAs) and, through them, subgrants to local educational agencies to establish a minimum annual salary of $60,000 (to be adjusted annually for inflation) for these teachers. Second, the bill directs ED to award grants to eligible SEAs to provide cost-of-living adjustments to the annual base salary of teachers.

Cosponsor · Expresses the sense of the Congress that schools in the United States should honor the contributions of individuals from Puerto Rico, the U. S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa, Guam, and the Northern Mariana Islands by including such contributions in the teaching of U. S.

Cosponsor · Referred to the House Committee on Education and Workforce.

Cosponsor · Commission to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African Americans Act This bill establishes the Commission to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African Americans. The commission must (1) compile documentary evidence of slavery in the United States; (2) study the role of the federal and state governments in supporting the institution of slavery; (3) analyze discriminatory laws and policies against freed African slaves and their descendants; and (4) recommend ways the United States may recognize and remedy the effects of slavery and discrimination on African Americans, including through a formal apology and compensation (i. e. , reparations).

Cosponsor · Referred to the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.

Cosponsor · This joint resolution redesignates the memorial to Robert. E. Lee in Arlington National Cemetery as the Arlington House National Historic Site.

Cosponsor · New Era of Preventing End-Stage Kidney Disease Act This bill establishes regional centers of excellence, postgraduate fellowships, and training for health professionals relating to the diagnosis and treatment of rare kidney disease. It also requires the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to conduct various studies on rare kidney disease. Specifically, it authorizes the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases to award funding to public and private nonprofit entities for establishing regional centers of excellence that will increase public awareness, conduct research, and develop resources for diagnosing and treating rare kidney diseases. A center may receive such funding for up to five years, unless extended by the institute.

Cosponsor · Urges the League of Arab States to: (1) declare the systematic torture, rape, and displacement of Darfurians a genocide; (2) pass a resolution to support and accept U. N. peacekeepers to enforce the ceasefire, protect civilians, and ensure access to humanitarian assistance in Darfur; and (3) work with the United Nations, the African Union, and the United States Presidential Special Envoy for Sudan, Andrew Natsios, to bring about peace and stability to Darfur, the refugee camps, and along the Chadian border.