Menstrual Equity For All Act of 2025
Sponsored By: Representative Meng
Introduced
Summary
This bill would establish broad, federal support for free access to menstrual products, centering on _universal free access to menstrual products_ in schools, public settings, and social programs. It sets definitions, funding lines, and new requirements across education, health, corrections, workplaces, and tax rules to reduce period poverty and improve access.
Bill Overview
Analyzed Economic Effects
7 provisions identified: 7 benefits, 0 costs, 0 mixed.
More help buying period products
This bill would fund grants so TANF agencies can help eligible families buy menstrual products, with $10 million each year starting in FY2026 and evaluations every two years. Emergency Food and Shelter funds could also be used to buy and distribute these products. It would add $200 million each year for FY2026–FY2029 through Social Services Block Grants to buy and give out pads, tampons, liners, cups or discs, and menstrual underwear via nonprofits. Getting these items under this program would not count against other federal needs‑based benefits.
Medicaid would cover period products
If enacted, Medicaid would cover menstrual products like pads, tampons, liners, cups or discs, and menstrual underwear. Coverage would begin in the first calendar quarter that starts one year after enactment. States that need new state laws would get extra time as allowed in the bill.
Large employers must offer free period products
Employers with 100 or more employees would have to provide menstrual products free to workers. The Labor Department would write rules to carry this out. Covered items include pads, tampons, liners, cups or discs, and menstrual underwear.
Free period products in jails and detention
DHS would have to give menstrual products at no cost to people it detains, including in private facilities. The Bureau of Prisons would have to provide enough products free to federal prisoners, including those in state or private facilities, with rules set by the Attorney General. Starting 180 days after enactment, states getting JAG funds would need to certify free, on‑demand access in jails and that visitors are not turned away for using menstrual products. If a state fails to certify, its next‑year JAG grant would be cut by 20%, and those funds would be reallocated to compliant states.
Free period products in schools and colleges
K–12 schools would have to provide free menstrual products to students who use them. The Education Department, with HHS, would set product rules within one year. Colleges could win grants to provide free products, with at least four awards and at least half to community colleges. The bill authorizes $5 million for the college program.
No state sales tax on period products
States and local governments would be barred from charging a sales tax on menstrual products. The ban would start 120 days after enactment.
Free period products in federal restrooms
Federal agencies and the Architect of the Capitol would need to stock free menstrual products in public building restrooms. This would apply to covered public buildings that are open to the public.
Sponsors & CoSponsors
Sponsor
Meng
NY • D
Cosponsors
Balint
VT • D
Sponsored 5/29/2025
Barragan
CA • D
Sponsored 5/29/2025
Beatty
OH • D
Sponsored 5/29/2025
Brown
OH • D
Sponsored 5/29/2025
Brownley
CA • D
Sponsored 5/29/2025
Budzinski
IL • D
Sponsored 5/29/2025
Carson
IN • D
Sponsored 5/29/2025
Casten
IL • D
Sponsored 5/29/2025
Cherfilus-McCormick
FL • D
Sponsored 5/29/2025
Chu
CA • D
Sponsored 5/29/2025
Cohen
TN • D
Sponsored 5/29/2025
Crockett
TX • D
Sponsored 5/29/2025
DelBene
WA • D
Sponsored 5/29/2025
Dingell
MI • D
Sponsored 5/29/2025
Doggett
TX • D
Sponsored 5/29/2025
Escobar
TX • D
Sponsored 5/29/2025
Evans (PA)
PA • D
Sponsored 5/29/2025
Foushee
NC • D
Sponsored 5/29/2025
Garcia (IL)
IL • D
Sponsored 5/29/2025
Garcia (TX)
TX • D
Sponsored 5/29/2025
Goldman (NY)
NY • D
Sponsored 5/29/2025
Gomez
CA • D
Sponsored 5/29/2025
Gottheimer
NJ • D
Sponsored 5/29/2025
Green, Al (TX)
TX • D
Sponsored 5/29/2025
Hayes
CT • D
Sponsored 5/29/2025
Jacobs
CA • D
Sponsored 5/29/2025
Jayapal
WA • D
Sponsored 5/29/2025
Johnson (GA)
GA • D
Sponsored 5/29/2025
Kelly (IL)
IL • D
Sponsored 5/29/2025
Latimer
NY • D
Sponsored 5/29/2025
Lee (PA)
PA • D
Sponsored 5/29/2025
Lieu
CA • D
Sponsored 5/29/2025
Lynch
MA • D
Sponsored 5/29/2025
McGarvey
KY • D
Sponsored 5/29/2025
McGovern
MA • D
Sponsored 5/29/2025
McIver
NJ • D
Sponsored 5/29/2025
Meeks
NY • D
Sponsored 5/29/2025
Menendez
NJ • D
Sponsored 5/29/2025
Morelle
NY • D
Sponsored 5/29/2025
Moulton
MA • D
Sponsored 5/29/2025
Mrvan
IN • D
Sponsored 5/29/2025
Mullin
CA • D
Sponsored 5/29/2025
Nadler
NY • D
Sponsored 5/29/2025
Del. Norton, Eleanor Holmes [D-DC-At Large]
DC • D
Sponsored 5/29/2025
Ocasio-Cortez
NY • D
Sponsored 5/29/2025
Pingree
ME • D
Sponsored 5/29/2025
Pocan
WI • D
Sponsored 5/29/2025
Quigley
IL • D
Sponsored 5/29/2025
Ramirez
IL • D
Sponsored 5/29/2025
Scanlon
PA • D
Sponsored 5/29/2025
Schrier
WA • D
Sponsored 5/29/2025
Sewell
AL • D
Sponsored 5/29/2025
Simon
CA • D
Sponsored 5/29/2025
Stansbury
NM • D
Sponsored 5/29/2025
Strickland
WA • D
Sponsored 5/29/2025
Tokuda
HI • D
Sponsored 5/29/2025
Tonko
NY • D
Sponsored 5/29/2025
Torres (NY)
NY • D
Sponsored 5/29/2025
Vargas
CA • D
Sponsored 5/29/2025
Wasserman Schultz
FL • D
Sponsored 5/29/2025
Watson Coleman
NJ • D
Sponsored 5/29/2025
Sherrill
NJ • D
Sponsored 6/3/2025
Clarke (NY)
NY • D
Sponsored 6/6/2025
Velazquez
NY • D
Sponsored 6/25/2025
Tlaib
MI • D
Sponsored 6/25/2025
Frankel, Lois
FL • D
Sponsored 7/10/2025
McClellan
VA • D
Sponsored 7/10/2025
Matsui
CA • D
Sponsored 7/10/2025
Deluzio
PA • D
Sponsored 7/23/2025
Keating
MA • D
Sponsored 9/11/2025
Bell
MO • D
Sponsored 9/11/2025
Williams (GA)
GA • D
Sponsored 12/2/2025
Trahan
MA • D
Sponsored 1/13/2026
Roll Call Votes
No roll call votes available for this bill.
View on Congress.govRelated Bills
HR51 — Washington, D.C. Admission Act
Full statehood for Washington, Douglass Commonwealth would admit the District of Columbia as a new state on equal footing, while defining a smaller federal "Capital" and setting staged transitions for courts, property, and federal programs. - Capital residents would gain full congressional representation: two U.S. Senators and one U.S. Representative. The bill also requires states to allow "absent Capital" residents to vote by absentee ballot in federal elections. - The U.S. House would be permanently increased to 436 members and apportionment would be adjusted beginning with the first decennial census after admission. - The bill defines the federal Capital with a required 180-day survey, preserves federal court, prosecutorial, prison, parole, National Guard, and employee benefit arrangements on a temporary basis, and phases those responsibilities to the State as it certifies the necessary laws and personnel are in place.
HR20 — Richard L. Trumka Protecting the Right to Organize Act of 2025
Strengthens worker organizing rights and enforcement. The bill broadens who counts as an employee or joint employer and builds tougher remedies, penalties, and election rules to make organizing and bargaining easier to enforce and monitor. - Workers: Expands who is treated as an employee by tightening the three-part test for independent contractors and broadening the joint-employer test to include direct, indirect, and reserved control. It adds clear protections for strike participation and allows back pay without reduction and liquidated damages equal to twice awarded damages. - Employers: Requires prompt disclosure and new notice duties including a detailed voter list within two business days and multilingual employee notices. Noncompliance can trigger civil penalties including up to $50,000 per unfair labor practice, up to $10,000 per refusal to obey Board orders, and fines for posting or voter-list violations. - Elections, agencies, and unions: NLRB must adopt remote electronic voting within one year and aim to hold elections within twenty business days. The bill also boosts NLRB reporting and transparency, expands private suits, and creates new whistleblower protections and expedited enforcement.
HR1589 — American Dream and Promise Act of 2025
New pathways to permanent residence. This bill would create a ten‑year conditional permanent resident status for certain people who entered as children and would add an adjustment pathway for specified Temporary Protected Status and Deferred Enforced Departure holders. - Young long‑term residents and DACA‑eligible people could get a ten‑year conditional status if they meet rules like continuous presence since Jan 1, 2021 and education or credential benchmarks. They could convert to full permanent residence after meeting removal‑of‑condition rules and have limits on removal while applying. - Nationals with qualifying TPS or DED status who meet continuous‑presence rules could apply within a three‑year window and face a capped application fee of $1,140. - The bill creates a competitive grant program to help applicants, allows fee exemptions for youth, low‑income people, foster care alumni, and those with serious disabilities, and adds a $25 supplemental surcharge to fund appointed counsel.
HR5390 — FAMILY Act
This bill would create a federally administered paid family and medical leave insurance program that pays eligible workers for caregiving and serious medical needs while adding job and health coverage protections. It sets benefit formulas, eligibility rules, and a new Office of Paid Family and Medical Leave inside the Social Security Administration to run the program. - Families and caregivers: Would get paid leave based on earnings with benefits calculated using a three-tier formula and monthly minimum and maximum amounts. Caregiving is tracked in 1-hour units and capped per benefit period at 12 times an individual’s regular weekly hours, and the eligibility wage floor is $2,000 for benefit periods beginning in 2026. - Workers and job protections: Would include restoration to the same or equivalent job, continuation of health coverage during leave, anti-retaliation rules with a 12-month rebuttable presumption for recent leave takers, and limited exclusions for new hires. - Administration and employers: Creates a Deputy Commissioner‑led office at the SSA to set rules, run payments, publish annual demographic usage reports, share data with federal agencies, manage legacy State programs to avoid double counting, and require a GAO study after 2026 and every five years thereafter.
HR15 — Equality Act
Adds sexual orientation and gender identity to the federal definition of sex and creates a uniform, nationwide nondiscrimination framework across employment, housing, credit, education, public accommodations, jury service, and programs that receive federal funds. The bill would harmonize definitions, remedies, and rules of construction across multiple civil rights statutes to make enforcement and claims more consistent. - Workers: Private and federal employees would gain explicit protection from discrimination for sexual orientation and gender identity. The bill would update Title VII rules, expand remedies, and adjust bona fide occupational qualification rules to account for gender identity. - People using public places, students, and tenants: Public accommodations and education laws would explicitly bar discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. The Fair Housing Act would adopt the same definitions and protections to cover renters and buyers. - Borrowers, juries, and enforcement: The Equal Credit Opportunity Act would bar credit discrimination on these bases. Jury selection rules would be updated to prevent discrimination. The bill would also prevent the Religious Freedom Restoration Act from being used to challenge enforcement under the covered civil rights laws.
HR14 — John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act of 2025
This bill would restore robust federal oversight of voting rights by rewriting Section 2 and creating a broad practice-based preclearance system. It sets new tests for vote-dilution and vote-denial claims, adds retrogression rules for actions on or after January 1, 2021, and requires extensive public notice, data disclosure, and observer powers. - Minority and language-minority voters: Provides clearer legal paths to challenge districting and practices that dilute or abridge votes, recognizes coalitions of minority groups, and applies retrogression rules to actions from January 1, 2021. - States and local election officials: Triggers preclearance using a 25-year lookback with numeric thresholds and creates an administrative bailout that requires demonstrating sustained compliance over a 10-year period to avoid coverage. - Enforcement, oversight, and courts: Expands who may sue to include private "aggrieved persons", centralizes observer authority in the Attorney General, and authorizes pre-suit inspection and information demands that courts may enforce or modify.
Take It Personal
Get Your Personalized Policy View
Create a free account to save research, track policy impacts, and unlock your personalized versions of these pages.
Already have an account? Sign in