U.S. Congress
The U.S. Congress is the bicameral federal legislature, made up of the Senate and the House of Representatives. It is recorded as an actor where legislation it passed is itself the event, rather than where it is the body being acted upon — which is how it more often appears in this archive, in entries about the executive bypassing or defying it. Entries cite the numbered Congress directly.
2025 Events (1)
Trump signed three CRA resolutions revoking California Clean Air Act waivers; GAO and Senate parliamentarian found CRA inapplicable
On June 12, 2025, President Trump signed H.J. Res. 87, 88, and 89 into law, revoking three EPA Clean Air Act waivers that authorized California to enforce stricter-than-federal vehicle emissions standards under its longstanding § 209(b) authority. Both the Government Accountability Office and the nonpartisan Senate parliamentarian had issued findings that the Congressional Review Act does not legally apply to EPA waiver decisions. The three resolutions' enactment permanently bars EPA from issuing any "substantially similar" waiver, ending California's decades-long independent emissions authority without a statutory basis for the prospective ban.
2024 Events (1)
Congress enacted FY2025 NDAA provision barring TRICARE coverage of gender-affirming care for military dependents under 18
President Joe Biden signed H.R. 5009, the FY2025 National Defense Authorization Act, into law as Public Law 118-159 on December 23, 2024. Section 708, added by House Republican conferees, amends 10 U.S.C. 1079(a) to bar TRICARE from covering "medical interventions for the treatment of gender dysphoria that could result in sterilization" — including hormone therapy and puberty blockers — for TRICARE beneficiaries under 18.
2023 Events (1)
President Biden signed the FY2024 NDAA, codifying DoD's facially neutral 'approved flags' policy that excludes the Pride flag
On December 22, 2023, President Biden signed H.R. 2670, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2024, into law as Public Law 118-31. Section 1052 of the law prohibits display of any flag other than an enumerated "approved flag" list in Department of Defense workplaces and public areas; the Pride flag is not among the categories on that list, codifying the exclusionary policy the Pentagon adopted under a 2020 Esper memo. An explicit provision banning Pride flag displays, passed by the House, was removed during conference negotiations, leaving only the facially neutral approved-flags list in the enacted law.