Mike Rounds

CDFI Bond Guarantee Program Improvement Act of 2025

This bill reauthorizes the Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Bond Guarantee Program for four years and revises it to allow for a greater number of participants.

CDFIs are financial institutions serving low-income communities. Designation as a CDFI allows an institution to participate in programs such as the CDFI Bond Guarantee Program. The program provides CDFIs with financing for community and economic development projects through federal credit subsidies that allow CDFIs to issue bonds.

The bill (1) reduces the program’s minimum loan amount from $100 million to $25 million, (2) eliminates the cap on the annual number of guarantees, and (3) revises the maximum amount that may be held in a CDFI's relending account for secondary loans.

Sanctioning Russia Act of 2025

This bill imposes penalties on certain persons (individuals and entities) if the President determines that the Russian government or a person acting at Russia's direction is involved with (1) refusing to negotiate a peace agreement with Ukraine; (2) violating a negotiated peace agreement; (3) initiating another invasion of Ukraine; or (4) overthrowing, dismantling, or seeking to subvert the Ukrainian government.

If the President makes such a determination, the bill requires certain actions including

• the President must impose visa- and property-blocking sanctions on specified persons such as the Russian president, certain Russian military commanders, and any foreign person that knowingly provides defense items to the Russian armed forces;

• the President must increase the rate of duty on all goods and services imported from Russia into the United States to at least 500% relative to the value of such goods and services;

• the President must increase the rate of duty on all goods and services imported into the United States from countries that knowingly engage in the exchange of Russian-origin uranium and petroleum products to at least 500% relative to the value of such goods and services;

• the Department of the Treasury must impose property-blocking sanctions on any financial institution organized under Russian law and owned wholly or partly by Russia, and any financial institution that engages in transactions with those entities; and

• the Department of Commerce must prohibit the export, reexport, or in-country transfer to or in Russia of any U.S.-produced energy or energy product.

Improving Seniors' Timely Access to Care Act of 2025

This bill establishes several requirements and standards relating to prior authorization processes under Medicare Advantage (MA) plans.

Specifically, MA plans must (1) establish an electronic prior authorization program that meets specified standards; (2) annually submit to the CMS for publication specified prior authorization information, including the percentage of requests approved and the average response time; and (3) meet other standards, as set by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), relating to the quality and timeliness of prior authorization determinations.

The CMS and the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology must publish on the CMS' website a report that analyzes the information received from MA plans, the feasibility of implementing real-time decision making with respect to prior authorization requests, and the impact of decisions that are made using artificial intelligence on patient access.

Driver Reimbursement Increase for Veteran Equity Act of 2025 or the DRIVE Act of 2025

This bill increases the mileage reimbursement rate available to beneficiaries for travel to or from Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) facilities in connection with vocational rehabilitation, required counseling, or for the purpose of examination, treatment, or care. Specifically, the bill makes the reimbursement rate for such travel equal to or greater than the mileage reimbursement rate for government employees using private vehicles when no government vehicle is available.

The bill also requires the VA to ensure that an allowance based on mileage is paid not later than 90 days after the request is properly submitted to the VA.

Conscience Protection Act of 2025

This bill explicitly prohibits penalizing health care entities (e.g., health care providers, insurers) for declining to participate in or facilitate abortion services. It also allows individuals to bring civil actions for violations of certain federal conscience laws, and it specifically authorizes Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) rulemaking and enforcement relating to such laws. (In general, the existing federal conscience laws referenced in the bill prohibit entities that receive federal funds from requiring providers or patients to participate in health care services they find religiously or morally objectionable.)

Specifically, the bill prohibits the federal government and entities receiving federal health-related funding (e.g., states) from penalizing health care entities that decline to provide, refer for, provide insurance coverage for, or facilitate abortions. The bill does not (1) affect federal requirements for providing emergency stabilizing treatment for pregnant women or unborn children, or (2) prevent health care entities from voluntarily participating in or providing coverage for abortions where not prohibited by law.

Also, the bill authorizes individuals or entities adversely affected by a violation of a federal conscience law to bring a civil action for relief, including against state governmental entities.

Additionally, the bill provides broad statutory authority for HHS to induce compliance with federal conscience laws by terminating HHS funding or referring violations to the Department of Justice for civil actions. It also explicitly authorizes HHS to issue regulations and resolve complaints under such laws. (HHS' Office for Civil Rights currently handles such complaints.)

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

This resolution expresses support for the designation of May 5, 2025, as the National Day of Awareness for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls.

Improving Police Critical Aid for Responding to Emergencies Act or the Improving Police CARE Act

This bill requires the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) within the Department of Justice to develop and publish performance standards for trauma kits that are eligible to be purchased using funds under the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant program.

Additionally, the BJA must develop and publish best practices for the use, deployment, and maintenance of trauma kits by law enforcement agencies.

Promoting Opportunities to Widen Electrical Resilience Act of 2025 or the POWER Act of 2025

This bill authorizes electric utilities receiving certain emergency assistance for the restoration of power to also carry out cost-effective hazard mitigation activities in combination with the power restoration activities.

Additionally, the bill specifies that electric utilities receiving such assistance for a facility may, if otherwise eligible, also receive hazard mitigation assistance for the same facility under the Federal Emergency Management Agency's Public Assistance program.

Tribal Access to Electronic Evidence Act

This bill allows tribal courts to execute warrants for electronic material.

The Stored Communications Act (SCA) generally prohibits providers of electronic communication services (e.g., cell phone providers, email providers, or social media platforms) and remote computing services (e.g., cloud computing providers) from knowingly disclosing stored electronic communications or records (e.g., emails) or information pertaining to customers or subscribers. However, the SCA authorizes governmental entities to compel service providers to disclose electronic communication information through a court-issued warrant, a court order, or an administrative subpoena.

This bill gives tribal courts the same authority as other governmental entities (e.g., state courts) to compel service providers to disclose stored electronic communication information through court-issued warrants, court orders, or administrative subpoenas.

This resolution designates April 2025 as Financial Literacy Month.

Credit Union Board Modernization Act

This bill revises the required frequency of meetings held by a credit union's board of directors. Specifically, new credit unions and credit unions with a low soundness rating must meet monthly. All other credit unions must hold at least six meetings annually, with at least one meeting held during each fiscal quarter. Currently, all credit union boards must meet at least once a month.