Frederica Wilson

Right to Read Act of 2025

This bill expands access to school libraries and literacy skills support for elementary and secondary school students. It also outlines certain constitutional rights and liability protections related to school libraries.

Specifically, the bill reauthorizes through FY2030 (1) the Comprehensive Literacy State Development Program, which provides grants to ensure high-quality instruction and effective strategies in reading and writing for children through 12th grade; and (2) the Innovative Approaches to Literacy Program, which provides grants to support the development of literacy skills in low-income communities.

Additionally, the bill allows Supporting Effective Instruction State Grants to be used to assist local educational agencies (LEAs) and schools in recruiting, hiring, and retaining state-certified school librarians.

Further, the bill authorizes states and LEAs to use Student Support and Academic Enrichment grants for programs and activities that promote the development of digital literacy and information literacy skills.

The Department of Education (ED) must direct the National Center for Education Statistics to biennially collect data on school libraries.

ED must require an assurance from each state and LEA receiving certain funds confirming that it will (1) protect the First Amendment rights of students in school libraries, and (2) provide equal protection in the conduct of school libraries in compliance with the requirements of the Fourteenth Amendment and nondiscrimination laws.

The bill also provides liability protection to teachers, school librarians, school leaders, paraprofessionals, and other staff for actions that conform with state or local policies regarding the right to read.

This concurrent resolution urges states to repeal laws that criminalize abortions.

Forced Arbitration Injustice Repeal Act of 2025 or the FAIR Act of 2025

This bill prohibits a predispute arbitration agreement from being valid or enforceable if it requires arbitration of an employment, consumer, antitrust, or civil rights dispute.

Veteran Education Empowerment Act

This bill reauthorizes through FY2033 and otherwise revises a Department of Education (ED) grant program for student veteran centers.

Specifically, ED must make grants to institutions of higher education (IHEs) or consortia of IHEs to establish, maintain, improve, or operate a student veteran center. A student veteran center is a dedicated space on a campus that provides students who are veterans or members of the Armed Forces with (1) a lounge or meeting space for themselves, their spouses or partners, their children, and veterans in the community; and (2) a centralized office for student veteran services that serves as a single point of contact to coordinate comprehensive support services for student veterans.

Keep Our Promise to America's Children and Teachers Act or the Keep Our PACT Act

This bill provides funding through FY2035 for grant programs operated by local educational agencies to provide supplementary educational and related services to low-achieving students and other students who attend elementary and secondary schools with relatively high concentrations of students from low-income families. Additionally, the bill permanently reauthorizes the grant program to assist states and outlying areas in providing special education and related services to children with disabilities.

The amounts provided by the bill are designated as an emergency requirement for the purposes of Pay-As-You-Go (PAYGO) rules and other budget enforcement procedures.

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. Under current law, individuals generally must wait 5 months after the onset of disability to begin receiving SSDI benefits and an additional 24 months to become eligible for Medicare.

Protecting Sensitive Locations Act

This bill prohibits immigration enforcement actions within 1,000 feet of a sensitive location except in exigent circumstances, such as the imminent risk of death, violence, or physical harm to any person.

Sensitive locations include

• health care facilities;

• schools and school bus stops;

• places that provide assistance for people such as children, pregnant women, and abuse victims;

• child care facilities;

• places that provide disaster or emergency services;

• places of worship;

• courthouses and lawyers’ offices;

• facilities used as polling places;

• certain labor union facilities; and

• public assistance offices.

The prohibition shall apply to Department of Homeland Security officers and agents, as well as state employees pursuing immigration enforcement actions.

If an enforcement action is carried out in violation of this prohibition (1) no information resulting from the action may be entered into the record in a resulting removal proceeding, and (2) the affected individual may move to immediately terminate such a proceeding.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and U.S. Customs and Border Protection shall annually report to Congress about enforcement actions taken at sensitive locations in the preceding year.

Educators Expense Deduction Modernization Act of 2025

This bill increases the above-the-line tax deduction for unreimbursed expenses incurred by an eligible educator for classroom supplies and certain professional development courses. (Above-the-line deductions are subtracted from gross income to calculate adjusted gross income.)

Under current law, an eligible educator may deduct up to $300 in 2025 (adjusted annually for inflation) for unreimbursed expenses for classroom supplies and certain professional development courses. An eligible educator is defined as a kindergarten through grade 12 teacher, instructor, counselor, principal, or aide who works at least 900 hours during a school year in a school that provides elementary or secondary education.

Under the bill, an eligible educator may deduct up to $1,000 in 2026 for unreimbursed expenses for classroom supplies and certain professional development. For tax years after 2026, the $1,000 limit on the tax deduction is adjusted annually for inflation.