Make Housing Affordable and Defend Democracy Act

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.

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.

HR17 — Paycheck Fairness Act

Strengthening pay equity by expanding who is protected and limiting employers from using past pay, the Paycheck Fairness Act would tighten how pay differences are justified and increase enforcement and data collection. - Workers and prospective employees would gain a ban on employer reliance on wage history and new nonretaliation protections for wage discussions. The bill lets a candidate voluntarily share prior pay only after a job offer and only to justify a higher wage. - Employers would face new civil penalties for wage-history violations starting at $5,000 for a first offense and rising by $1,000 per subsequent offense to a $10,000 cap. Affected workers could recover damages up to $10,000 plus attorneys’ fees and injunctive relief where appropriate. - Federal enforcement and oversight would increase. The EEOC and the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs would enforce the rules. The bill would create a National Equal Pay Enforcement Task Force and require expanded pay-data collection by EEOC, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and OFCCP from federal contractors. Provisions would take effect six months after enactment.