Bill Cassidy

Making America's Food Safer Act

This bill expands the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA’s) authority to require the destruction of unsafe imported foods, share food safety information, and make use of food facility audit information.

Specifically, the bill authorizes the FDA to order the destruction, without the opportunity for export, of any item that (1) is refused import into the United States; (2) violates federal law regulating food, drugs, medical devices, cosmetics, and tobacco products; and (3) presents a significant public health concern. Before issuing a destruction order, the FDA must provide an item’s owner or consignee with appropriate due process, including notice and an opportunity to appear. If an order is issued, the item’s owner or consignee must destroy it within 90 days at their own cost.

The bill also generally authorizes the FDA to share unredacted food safety information with state, local, tribal, and territorial authorities, including information related to foodborne illness tracking, recalls and outbreaks, and other topics. During a food safety incident, the FDA may disclose certain commercial information that is otherwise protected from disclosure.

Finally, the bill expands the FDA’s third-party audit system to make domestic food facilities eligible for voluntary audits. (Foreign facilities are eligible under current law.) The bill also authorizes the FDA to use audit results and related certifications to analyze risks and prioritize regulatory activities (e.g., inspections) to protect public health. (This information is currently used to determine whether specific food, or food from a specific facility, is eligible for import.)

Save Our Shrimpers Act

This bill requires the Department of the Treasury to instruct U.S. leadership of international financial institutions (e.g., the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank) to oppose providing financial assistance for any project to support shrimp farming, shrimp processing, or the export of shrimp in a borrowing country.

Treasury may waive this requirement with respect to a project upon notifying Congress that the waiver is in the national interest of the United States.

The requirement expires seven years after the enactment of this bill.

Save Our Shrimpers Act

This bill requires the Department of the Treasury to instruct U.S. leadership of international financial institutions (e.g., the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank) to oppose providing financial assistance for any project to support shrimp farming, shrimp processing, or the export of shrimp in a borrowing country.

Treasury may waive this requirement with respect to a project upon notifying Congress that the waiver is in the national interest of the United States.

The requirement expires seven years after the enactment of this bill.

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.

Federal Firearms Licensee Protection Act of 2026

This bill modifies criminal penalties for an offense involving the theft of a firearm from a licensed importer, manufacturer, or dealer, or from their business premises.

Specifically, the bill does the following:

• increases from 10 to 20 years the maximum prison term, and

• creates a 3- or 5-year mandatory minimum prison term for an offense that occurs during the commission of a burglary or robbery.

An attempt to commit an offense is subject to the same penalties as a substantive offense.

This resolution honors the life of Donald W. Riegle, Jr., former Senator for the state of Michigan, and expresses condolences to his family and loved ones.

Nurture Originals, Foster Art, and Keep Entertainment Safe Act of 2026 or the NO FAKES Act of 2026

This bill creates a federal intellectual property right to protect individuals from unauthorized digital replicas (e.g., digital content made using generative artificial intelligence) of their voice and visual likeness.

Specifically, the bill gives each individual or right holder the right to authorize (1) the use of a digital replica embodying the individual's voice or visual likeness, or (2) the use of the individual's voice or visual likeness for a product or service requiring authorization to avoid liability under the bill. This property right is not assignable during the individual’s lifetime but is licensable and does not expire upon the death of the individual.

Generally, any individual or entity that engages in specified prohibited activities (e.g., distributing a digital replica without authorization) shall be liable in a civil action and subject to related penalties. The bill exempts specified uses from liability, such as categories of conduct likely to involve protected speech under the First Amendment (e.g., news reporting, sports broadcasts, and satire).

The bill establishes (1) a notice-and-takedown process for unauthorized digital replicas; and (2) a counter-notification process, which allows an individual to contest the removal of a digital replica. The bill establishes penalties related to false or deceptive notice or counter-notice.

The bill expressly preempts state laws related to digital replicas except for causes of action under state statutes or common law in existence as of January 2, 2025.

Student Aid Fraud Oversight and Accountability Act of 2026

This bill requires the Department of Education (ED) to prioritize the review of institutions of higher education (IHEs) that disburse federal student aid without verifying the identity of a student whose Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) presents a reasonable suspicion of identity fraud.

Specifically, the bill requires ED to identify each IHE that disburses, on or after October 1, 2026, federal financial aid for an award year to any student whose FAFSA presents a reasonable suspicion of identity fraud, as determined by ED's identity fraud detection system. However, the bill excludes from this identification any IHE that demonstrates to ED, for each student and before disbursing federal financial aid, that the IHE (1) verifies the student's identity in person or by live video, (2) notifies ED of the identify verification, and (3) maintains a record of such identity verification.

ED may use identification information to inform program reviews, audits, investigations, and other oversight activities related to federal student aid.

(On April 26, 2026, ED began implementing a real-time identity fraud detection process within the FAFSA form that places applicants into one of four risk categories. High-risk applicants must confirm their identity by presenting documentation during the online application process, including via a live camera process. Applicants who are rejected via this automated process must then have their identity verified in person by IHEs.)

Security and Oversight for International Landholdings Act of 2025 or the SOIL Act of 2025

This bill establishes and expands requirements for reviewing and disclosing transactions regarding foreign investments in agricultural land.

The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) must review certain investments in agricultural land held by a person (i.e., individual or entity) that is a national of, or subject to the jurisdiction of, a country (1) designated as a nonmarket economy, or (2) identified as posing a risk to the national security of the United States. Under current law, CFIUS reviews the national security implications of certain foreign investments in U.S. businesses or real estate, including critical infrastructure or technologies.

CFIUS must also review certain real estate acquisitions or transfers of an interest, other than a security, for nonresidential properties that are located within 50 miles of a military installation.

The bill also prohibits federal assistance, including subsidies, from being provided to a person for an agricultural real estate holding which is owned by any of the foreign persons specified above.

The bill requires any foreign person who enters into a leasing agreement for agricultural land that is longer than five years to report the lease to the Department of Agriculture (USDA). Current requirements only apply to agriculture land acquired or transferred.

Further, USDA must prepare and make publicly available an annual report describing agricultural land holdings by foreign persons, including specific information related to foreign persons from China and Russia.

This resolution honors the life of Dirk Kempthorne, former Senator for the state of Idaho, and offers condolences to his family and loved ones.

This resolution honors the contributions of small businesses in the United States and supports the designation of National Small Business Week.

Home School Graduation Recognition Act

This bill clarifies that students who complete their secondary education in a home school setting recognized under state law are high school graduates for purposes of eligibility for federal student aid.