# 119-hr-5905: Helping Our Heroes Act

119-hr-5905, Helping Our Heroes Act, is a 119th Congress bill sponsored by Rep. Bresnahan, Robert P. [R-PA-8] (R-PA); status introduced; PRIA reads it as touching household money (as of 2026-08-22).

- Canonical: https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-5905
- As of: 2026-08-22
- Plain-text twin of the page above; the HTML and this file carry the same facts.

## Facts
- Bill: 119-hr-5905
- Congress: 119
- Title: Helping Our Heroes Act
- Status: introduced
- Introduced: 2025-11-04
- Sponsor: Rep. Bresnahan, Robert P. [R-PA-8] (R-PA)
- Cosponsors: 6
- Policy area: Taxation
- Touches household money: yes
- Last recorded action: 2026-08-22

## Summary

**The Helping Our Heroes Act would create a new charitable deduction for volunteer emergency responders** by treating each hour of qualified volunteer service as a $20 contribution, capped at 300 hours per person per year. It covers bona fide volunteer firefighters, emergency medical and rescue personnel, ambulance services, civil air patrol, search and rescue, and related training. - Volunteers: Bona fide volunteers would count service at $20 per hour, up to 300 hours per year. Members of Congress are excluded. - Tax filers who do not itemize: People who do not itemize deductions could claim this benefit, but their deduction would be limited to the value of qualified volunteer services recognized under the new rule. - Organizations and oversight: Each hour would be treated as a contribution to the recipient organization, with verification procedures set by the Secretary and the $20 rate subject to future inflation adjustments.

## Cosponsors (6)

- Rep. Harder, Josh [D-CA-9] (D-CA), 2025-11-04T00:00:00.000Z
- Rep. Vindman, Eugene Simon [D-VA-7] (D-VA), 2025-11-17T00:00:00.000Z
- Rep. Neguse, Joe [D-CO-2] (D-CO), 2025-12-18T00:00:00.000Z
- Rep. Tran, Derek [D-CA-45] (D-CA), 2025-12-30T00:00:00.000Z
- Rep. Kean, Thomas H. [R-NJ-7] (R-NJ), 2026-07-16T00:00:00.000Z
- Rep. Lawler, Michael [R-NY-17] (R-NY), 2026-08-20T00:00:00.000Z

## Provisions PRIA read

- Tax break for volunteer first responders: benefit, high. If enacted, bona fide volunteer firefighters, EMTs, ambulance, civil air patrol, and search-and-rescue workers could claim a new tax deduction. Each hour of qualified service would count as a $20 charitable gift, up to 300 hours per year (up to $6,000). Training hours would count if the organizatio…
- New limit on non-itemizer charity deduction: cost, high. If enacted, people who take the standard deduction could only claim a separate charitable write-off for hours of qualifying volunteer service under this bill. Other gifts would not count toward that non-itemizer deduction. This could reduce deductions for standard-deduction filers who give cash or…

## Related bills

- 119-hr-3151: SHIPS for America Act of 2025
- 119-hr-1262: Mikaela Naylon Give Kids a Chance Act
- 119-hr-1505: Public Safety Employer-Employee Cooperation Act
- 119-hr-1065: Protect Our Letter Carriers Act of 2025
- 119-hr-842: Nancy Gardner Sewell Medicare Multi-Cancer Early Detection Screening Coverage Act
- 119-hr-4583: Living Donor Protection Act of 2025

## Sources
- [119-hr-5905 on Congress.gov](https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/5905)

## Related
- [119-hr-3151: SHIPS for America Act of 2025](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-3151)
- [119-hr-1262: Mikaela Naylon Give Kids a Chance Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-1262)
- [119-hr-1505: Public Safety Employer-Employee Cooperation Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-1505)
- [119-hr-1065: Protect Our Letter Carriers Act of 2025](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-1065)
- [119-hr-842: Nancy Gardner Sewell Medicare Multi-Cancer Early Detection Screening Coverage A…](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-842)
- [119-hr-4583: Living Donor Protection Act of 2025](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-4583)
- [All bills in Congress](https://policyrisk.com/legislation)

Source: PRIA, https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-5905 (as of 2026-08-22).