Eugene Vindman

Safe American Food Exports Act of 2025 or the SAFE Act of 2025

This bill provides statutory authority for the Department of Agriculture to negotiate in advance for regional export ban agreements for known animal disease threats that apply only to areas affected by animal disease outbreaks to enable the continuation of exports from areas not affected by an outbreak.

The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, the Food Safety and Inspection Service, and the Foreign Agricultural Service, in consultation with the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, may negotiate the regionalization, zoning, compartmentalization, and other agreements regarding outbreaks of known animal disease threats of trade significance with countries with export markets for livestock animals or animal products from the United States.

The bill also specifies that such a negotiation should seek to take into account accepted global research advances.

Broadband and Telecommunications RAIL Act

This bill establishes a framework for the placement or modification of broadband or telecommunications equipment in a railroad corridor.

Specifically, if a broadband or telecommunications provider is seeking to place or modify equipment within a railroad carrier’s right-of-way, the provider must submit an application to the carrier. A carrier must approve or deny an application within 60 days of receipt, and may only deny an application for safety reasons or if the placement or modification would substantially interfere with or damage railroad infrastructure. Once an application is approved, work must be scheduled in coordination with the carrier and generally must begin within 30 days. A provider must pay the railroad carrier for actual costs incurred with respect to the application.

However, if a provider has been authorized by a state or local government to place or modify equipment in a public right-of-way in an area that intersects with a railroad corridor, the provider need only notify the relevant railroad carrier and schedule the work in coordination with the carrier. Work must generally begin between 15 and 30 days after the notification is submitted. No fee is required.

A provider or carrier may petition the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for relief if the other has failed to comply with these provisions.

The FCC must promulgate regulations to implement these provisions in a manner that ensures railroad safety, provides a timelier process for emergency situations, and prevents substantial interference with railroad infrastructure or operations, among other requirements.

Wintergreen Emergency Egress Act

This bill directs the Department of the Interior to issue a right-of-way through the Blue Ridge Parkway for an additional emergency exit from Wintergreen in Nelson County, Virginia, once certain requirements have been met. Specifically, Interior must grant the right-of-way if it reports to specified congressional committees that the following have been completed: (1) an evaluation of alternatives to the right-of-way for exiting Wintergreen that do not cross federal land, including an evaluation of whether existing trails can be converted to roads; (2) an analysis of expected fire ecology behavior in the event of a fire emergency with respect to the right-of-way; and (3) any required reviews under the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 and the National Historic Preservation Act.

Protecting Europe from Antisemitic Crime and Extremism Act or the PEACE Act

This bill requires the Department of State to periodically brief Congress over the next three years on (1) the threat of antisemitism and acts of international terrorism in Europe; and (2) diplomatic engagements with certain governments on transatlantic cooperative efforts to counter antisemitism and acts of international terrorism that may threaten transatlantic stability, the safety and security of U.S. citizens, and institutions abroad.

Tehran Incitement to Violence Act

This bill requires the Department of State to periodically determine if individuals and entities specified by the bill are subject to existing sanctions, such as those with the purpose of preventing terrorist activity, human rights abuses, and corruption, as well as sanctions aimed specifically at activity in Iran.

The State Department must submit such determinations not later than 90 days after enactment of this bill and every 180 days thereafter for a period not to exceed six years.

Dismantle Foreign Scam Syndicates Act

This bill requires the President to (1) impose applicable sanctions on foreign persons (individuals or entities) responsible for online financial scams against U.S. nationals, and (2) establish an interagency task force to shut down the criminal syndicates perpetuating such scams.

Under the bill, the President must determine whether 43 specified foreign persons, and any other foreign persons the President determines are responsible for or complicit in online financial scams against U.S. nationals, are subject to sanctions under specified laws and Executive Order 13581. Upon such determination, the President must impose applicable sanctions (for example, blocking the sanctioned person's property transactions within the United States).

The President must also establish an interagency task force to shut down transnational criminal syndicates that use large scam centers and forced labor of trafficked persons to perpetuate mass online scams against Americans. The task force must (1) submit a comprehensive strategy to Congress to combat these scam centers and dismantle the criminal elements involved with them, and (2) coordinate and oversee implementation of the strategy. Within 360 days of submitting the strategy to Congress and annually thereafter for five years the task force must submit to Congress a report addressing various topics related to such scam centers including a list of all foreign persons sanctioned by the United States for their scam center involvement.

The Department of State is authorized to provide trauma-informed care, shelter, reintegration, and support services for victims of trafficking in persons within online scam centers.

This bill designates the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 10660 Page Avenue in Fairfax, Virginia, as the "Congressman Gerald E. Connolly Post Office Building".

EAGLES Act of 2025

This bill reauthorizes the National Threat Assessment Center (NTAC) within the U.S. Secret Service.

It reauthorizes the functions of NTAC through FY2030 and expands them to include additional activities related to the prevention of targeted violence, such as the establishment of a national program on targeted school violence prevention.

This bill designates the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 12109 New Kent Highway in New Kent, Virginia, as the "Patricia Paige Post Office".

Fairness for Khobar Act of 2025

This bill authorizes lump sum catch-up payments from the United States Victims of State Sponsored Terrorism (USVSST) Fund to certain victims of the 1983 Beirut barracks bombing or the 1996 Khobar Towers bombing who did not apply for catch-up payments during the application period. The USVSST Fund is administered by the Department of Justice (DOJ) and provides compensation to certain U.S. persons injured in acts of international state sponsored terrorism and their immediate family members.

The Fairness for 9/11 Families Act, enacted in 2022, authorized and provided funding for lump sum catch-up payments from the USVSST Fund to victims of the 1983 Beirut barracks bombing or the 1996 Khobar Towers bombing. Claimants who were previously found eligible for regular payment distributions from the USVSST Fund were also eligible for lump sum payments, but the act required them to apply from December 29, 2022, to June 27, 2023. In a 2024 report, the Government Accountability Office found that up to 274 eligible victims did not apply for lump sum catch-up payments because of DOJ guidance that stated, in part, that claimants who were previously found eligible for regular payment distributions are not eligible for the lump sum catch-up payments.

ePermit Act

This bill establishes requirements related to digitizing environmental reviews conducted under the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA).

The Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) must develop, publish, and iteratively update data standards for the collection and curation of certain data related to environmental reviews. CEQ must also design, test, and build prototype tools for environmental reviews.

Additionally, CEQ must publish guidance to assist relevant agencies in implementing such standards as well as certain minimum functional requirements, such as data sharing that enables automated transfer of relevant data among federal agencies. Federal agencies responsible for environmental reviews or authorizations must implement the data standards and such minimum functional requirements.

To the maximum extent practicable, CEQ and such agencies must iteratively develop and maintain a unified interagency data system consisting of interconnected federal agency systems and shared services for environmental reviews and authorizations, including a common interactive, digital, cloud-based authorization portal.

Within a year, CEQ must oversee a pilot of shared services for environmental reviews and authorizations, including the portal. To the maximum extent practicable, CEQ must develop and implement the unified interagency data system by December 1, 2027.

Access to Pediatric Technologies Act of 2025

This bill requires the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to establish, upon request, specific payment methodologies for qualifying pediatric technologies under the Medicare physician fee schedule. Qualifying pediatric technologies are medical devices that are (1) covered under Medicare, (2) approved by the Food and Drug Administration, (3) currently billed using a specified temporary billing code for emerging technologies, and (4) predominantly used or specifically designated for pediatric patients.

The CMS must develop a payment methodology for a qualifying pediatric technology upon request from the manufacturer and based on available data, including pricing information and claims data. Manufacturers must include relevant information in their requests to enable the CMS to develop the corresponding methodologies.