Thomas Suozzi

Food Secure Strikers Act of 2025

This bill allows certain striking workers and their households to maintain their eligibility for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).

Specifically, the bill provides that a household that would otherwise be eligible to participate in SNAP is eligible for benefits if any member of the household is on strike because of a labor dispute. Current law generally prohibits a household from participating in SNAP if any member of the household is on strike unless the household was eligible for SNAP immediately prior to the strike. Also, under current law, households are not eligible for an increased SNAP allotment as a result of the decreased income of a striking member of the household. The bill expands SNAP eligibility for households with striking workers by repealing both of these restrictions.

The bill also allows a government employee who is dismissed for striking and their household to maintain SNAP program eligibility. Specifically, current law prohibits certain individuals who voluntarily and without good cause quit a job from participating in SNAP. Further, a federal, state, or local government employee who participates in a strike against the government that results in their dismissal is considered to have voluntarily quit without good cause. The bill eliminates the provision that considers the dismissed government employee to have voluntarily quit without good cause, thereby allowing the employee and their household to maintain SNAP program eligibility if they are otherwise eligible for the program.

Justice for America’s Veterans and Survivors Act of 2025

This bill requires the Department of Veterans Affairs to annually report on causes of death among veterans.

Service-Disabled Veteran Opportunities in Small Business Act

This bill requires the Small Business Administration (SBA) to provide employees at any federal agency that has not met the goal of awarding at least 3% of its prime contracts and subcontracts to small businesses owned by service-disabled veterans with training to increase the number of such contracts awarded.

For each fiscal year, the SBA must report a list of each agency that did not meet the contracting goal and the number of trainings the SBA provided.

Building Resources and Access for Veterans' Mental Health Engagement Act of 2025 or the BRAVE Act of 2025

This bill addresses mental health services and care provided by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), including matters related to personnel, Vet Center administration, care for women veterans, and access to care.

The bill authorizes the VA to waive the licensure or certification requirement for individual licensed professional mental health counselor appointees for a reasonable period of time.

The bill also extends the Staff Sergeant Parker Gordon Fox Suicide Prevention Grant Program and increases the maximum annual grant amount.

The VA must provide Vet Centers with guidance for assessing outreach activities and implement processes to periodically assess the extent to which (1) veterans and eligible members of the Armed Forces experience barriers to obtaining services at Vet Centers, and (2) Vet Center staff may encounter barriers to providing services.

Among other requirements, the VA must also

• survey and host listening sessions with women veterans to gauge the effectiveness of the VA’s suicide prevention, lethal-means safety, and mental health resources and messaging campaigns;

• initiate efforts to modify the Recovery Engagement and Coordination for Health-Veterans Enhanced Treatment (REACH VET) program to incorporate risk factors weighted for women;

• annually offer a mental health consultation to veterans who are receiving compensation for a service-connected disability relating to a mental health diagnosis; and

• implement a pilot program to provide access to mental health residential treatment programs for veterans with a spinal cord injury or disorder.

Improving Menopause Care for Veterans Act of 2025

This bill requires the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to study and report on the medical services furnished by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) for veterans experiencing perimenopause, genitourinary syndrome of menopause, and menopause stages. The VA must also report to Congress on a strategic plan to (1) implement any recommendations GAO makes in its report, (2) improve the quality of menopause care, and (3) improve the access of veterans to menopause care.

End Veteran Homelessness Act of 2025

This bill requires the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to furnish case management to certain veterans who are eligible for the HUD-Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing (HUD-VASH) program administered by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the VA.

Specifically, the VA must furnish case management to veterans who are eligible for HUD-VASH that the VA determines require case management. The VA must prioritize vulnerable homeless veterans in assigning case managers and providing services.

The VA must take certain actions if a veteran refuses case management. HUD or a public housing authority may not revoke assistance solely on the basis that a veteran has refused case management. Additionally, a veteran may not be evicted or penalized by the owner of a property solely on the basis that they have refused case management or cannot be provided case management for health and safety reasons.

The Government Accountability Office must report to Congress on veterans who are served by the HUD-VASH program, case managers and case management services provided under the program, and metrics about housing stability for veterans participating in federal housing assistance programs.

The bill also provides statutory authority to expand eligibility for the HUD-VASH program to any veteran who is homeless, at risk of homelessness, or receiving assistance under another housing assistance program if the VA determines a voucher under HUD-VASH is more appropriate. (Currently, assistance is statutorily limited to certain veterans who have chronic mental illness or substance use disorders.)

This bill designates the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 1905 Route 112 in Medford, New York, as the "Gunnery Sergeant Ruben Santos Post Office Building".

Protecting Students on Campus Act of 2025

This bill requires the Department of Education (ED) and institutions of higher education (IHEs) participating in federal student aid programs to distribute information on how to report alleged violations of civil rights under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. (Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits discrimination based on race, color, or national origin in federally funded programs or activities.)

Specifically, the bill requires ED's Office for Civil Rights (OCR) to conduct a public awareness campaign regarding the rights of individuals under Title VI. This campaign must be updated annually and distributed to IHEs.

The bill requires an IHE to post a link on its website on how to file a Title VI complaint with OCR. Additionally, the IHE must annually post the materials from OCR's public awareness campaign. The information must be posted in high-traffic public places on campus (e.g., student centers) and high-traffic websites (e.g., the website for student services).

OCR must give monthly congressional briefings on (1) the number of complaints filed with OCR, (2) how OCR plans to address those complaints and the investigations opened in response to those complaints, and (3) how long those complaints remain open.

The bill also requires annual reporting by IHEs on discrimination complaints. Further, the bill directs ED's Office of Inspector General to audit and study discrimination complaints.

Safer Schools Act of 2025

This bill establishes a pilot program through which the Department of Justice must award grants to public elementary and secondary schools to conduct independent facility security risk assessments and make hard security improvements (e.g., video monitoring and alert notification equipment).

Motion Picture, Television, and Entertainment Revitalization Act

This bill establishes a federal business tax credit for a percentage of the compensation paid for services performed in the United States related to a qualified film or television production. (Conditions and exceptions apply.)

The bill defines a qualified film or television production as any production that is

• a feature film, television pilot, or television season;

• produced in the ordinary course of business for commercial purposes;

• capitalized;

• completed during the tax year with more than $1 million in total costs; and

• filmed in the United States for 75% of the photography days.

Under the bill, various types of programming are not a qualified film or television production, including news programs, live sporting events, and programming intended primarily for social media platforms.

The amount of the tax credit is 20% (base tax credit percentage) of the compensation paid for services performed in the United States related to a qualified film or television production. The base tax credit percentage increases by increments of 5% (up to a maximum tax credit percentage of 30%) if

• at least 30% of the production is filmed in a federally declared disaster area or rural qualified opportunity zone,

• the production is independently produced, or

• the production meets certain multi-state or increased domestic production requirements.

Special rules apply to animations, visual effects productions, and post-production activities.

Finally, the tax credit may be transferred to an unrelated third party in exchange for cash.