Laura Friedman

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 Education and Workforce.

Cosponsor · Saving the Civil Service Act This bill generally prohibits changes to the classification of positions in the competitive service and excepted service unless certain conditions are met. (Competitive service positions are subject to competitive examination while excepted service positions are appointed under one of five schedules. Competitive service positions have notice and appeal requirements for adverse actions that are not applicable to most excepted positions, including those of a confidential, policy-determining, policy-making, or policy-advocating character under Schedule C. ) On October 21, 2020, President Donald Trump issued an executive order that placed executive agency positions that are of a confidential, policy-determining, policy-making, or policy-advocating character, and that are not normally subject to change as a result of a presidential transition, under a new Schedule F in the excepted service.

Cosponsor · No Tax Breaks for Union Busting (NTBUB) Act This bill excludes from the tax deduction for ordinary and necessary business expenses amounts paid or incurred to influence employees with respect to labor organizations or labor organization activities. The bill also imposes information reporting requirements related to such expenses and imposes penalties for failure to comply. Under the bill, amounts paid to influence employees with respect to labor organizations include amounts paid (including wages and other costs) in connection with an action that results in a complaint or settlement related to an unfair labor practice or a finding of interference, influence, or coercion related to railway employees’ rights to organize and bargain collectively; for any meeting or training attended by employees and at which labor organizations are discussed; and that require certain employer disclosures and financial reporting. (Some exceptions apply.

Cosponsor · Dental Care for Veterans Act This bill expands eligibility for veterans for dental care provided by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). Specifically, the bill makes all veterans who are enrolled in the VA health care system eligible for VA-provided dental services. Currently, only veterans who have a service-connected dental issue or meet other narrow criteria are eligible for certain dental services. The bill phases in eligibility over four years based upon existing eligibility, degree of service-connected disability or other disability, prisoner of war status, award of a Purple Heart, financial need, or VA health care eligibility.

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 · Metastatic Breast Cancer Access to Care Act This bill expedites payment of Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) benefits and eligibility for Medicare coverage for those with metastatic breast cancer (i. e. , breast cancer that has spread to other sites in the body). Specifically, the bill eliminates the 5-month waiting period for SSDI benefits and the subsequent 24-month waiting period for Medicare coverage for individuals with metastatic breast cancer.

Cosponsor · Referred to the House Committee on Agriculture.

Cosponsor · Animal Cruelty Enforcement Act of 2025 This bill establishes a new section in the Environment and Natural Resources Division of the Department of Justice to enforce federal laws concerning animal cruelty.

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 · Referred to the Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment.

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

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 · 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 · 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 · 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 · 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 · Social Security Expansion Act This bill increases Social Security benefits, expands Social Security payroll taxes, and makes other changes to the Social Security program. Specifically, the bill changes the way Social Security benefits are calculated by increasing the primary insurance amount applicable to average monthly earnings that fall below a specified amount, and increasing bend points for individuals who become eligible for Social Security after 2025. (Bend points are dollar amounts at which earnings are segmented for the purpose of calculating an individual’s primary insurance amount. The share of an individual’s earnings that are replaced by Social Security decreases at each escalating bend point.

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

Cosponsor · More Options to Develop and Enhance Remote Nutrition in WIC Act of 2025 or the MODERN WIC Act of 2025 This bill permanently allows individuals to remotely certify their eligibility for, and receive benefits through, the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC). Specifically, the bill requires that a state agency allow an individual seeking a WIC certification, recertification, or a nutritional risk evaluation to do so by phone or through video teleconference, in addition to the in-person option. A state agency has 90 days to collect data for a nutritional risk evaluation for a remotely certified individual. Further, a state agency may consider an applicant who meets the income eligibility standards to be temporarily eligible on an interim basis to participate in the program and may certify the individual for immediate participation without waiting for a nutritional risk evaluation.

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

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

Cosponsor · Washington, D. C. Admission Act This bill provides for the establishment of the State of Washington, Douglass Commonwealth, and its admission into the United States. The state is composed of most of the territory of the District of Columbia (DC), excluding a specified area that encompasses the U.

Cosponsor · Equal Access to Contraception for Veterans Act This bill prohibits the Department of Veterans Affairs from requiring payment from a veteran for any contraceptive item that is required to be covered by health insurance plans without a cost-sharing requirement.

Cosponsor · Veterans Infertility Treatment Act of 2025 This bill requires the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to furnish infertility treatments, standard fertility preservation services, or both to a covered veteran or partner of a covered veteran. A covered veteran is a veteran who is enrolled in the VA health care system and has infertility or is at risk of having infertility, as determined by a licensed physician. The VA may furnish up to three completed in vitro fertilization cycles that result in live birth, or 10 attempted cycles, whichever occurs first. Additionally, the VA may furnish in vitro fertilization treatment using donated gametes or embryos.

Cosponsor · This measure honors the life, achievements, legacy, and distinguished public service of former President Jimmy Carter. The resolution also (1) acknowledges President Carter's contributions to the state of Georgia, the United States, and the world; and (2) establishes his legacy as one of the great leaders and statesmen of the United States.

Cosponsor · Health Care Affordability Act of 2025 This bill makes permanent temporary changes enacted by the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARPA) and the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (IRA) that generally expand eligibility for and increase the amount of the premium tax credit. Currently, eligible taxpayers may be able to claim the premium tax credit, which applies toward the cost of obtaining health insurance through health insurance exchanges. To be eligible for the premium tax credit, a taxpayer’s household income must meet or exceed 100% of the federal poverty level (FPL) and, after 2025, may not exceed 400% of the FPL (maximum income limit). For 2021-2025, the ARPA and IRA eliminated the maximum income limit, which generally expands eligibility for the premium tax credit.