SOMEONE CALLED IT “CHUTZPAH!”

Congress Passes Laws; Trump Administration Ignores Some of Them

By Amy West (Dec. 19, 2025)

One characteristic of the current Trump Administration has been a disregard for laws if they don’t align with Administration goals. One of the most influential members of the Administration, both in terms of influence on Trump himself as well as control over the flow of funds from the government, is the Directer of the Office of Management and Budget, Russell Vought. He said in 2024

“I don’t want President Trump having to lose a moment of time having fights in the Oval Office about whether something is legal or doable or moral.”

And, well, the Administration has not. Sometimes the choices are relatively trivial, like adding Trump’s name to the Kennedy Center even though the name is set by Congress and they haven’t changed it. Sometimes, it’s not trivial as in the case of the various strikes on boats in the Caribbean. Even if one finds the Administration’s various claims about shooting down boats persuasive, killing survivors of strikes is clearly illegal.

There are many more examples of this approach but today we’ll start with one of the more contentious issues the Trump Administration has faced.

Epstein Files

Today, December 19, 2025 is the day that all the Department of Justice files on Jeffrey Epstein were to be released. A month ago, both chambers passed the bill and then the President signed it. However, as of this morning, and in contravention of the text of the law, the Administration says it will only release some files today and the rest will be released as the Administration says they’re ready.

Another Discharge Petition

This week four House Republicans signed onto an otherwise entirely Democratic discharge petition to force the House to hold a vote on extending the subsidies for health insurance premiums for people who get their health insurance via the Obamacare Marketplace.

In response, Speaker Johnson adjourned the House a day early to ensure the vote would not take place before the subsidies end and premium costs would rise for millions of people.

Because it’s a discharge petition, the bill will get a vote. Just not until January. If it passes though, it will still have to get through the Senate. It’s very likely that the Senate would amend the bill in some way and send it back to the House. So whether the subsidies get extended after all remains very much up in the air.

New Laws

• S. 222: Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act of 2025 passed by voice vote.
• S. 284: Congressional Award Program Reauthorization Act passed by voice vote.
• S. 216: Save Our Seas 2.0 Amendments Act passed by voice vote.
• S. 2878: Great Lakes Fishery Research Reauthorization Act passed by voice vote.
• S. 284: Congressional Award Program Reauthorization Act passed 370-22.
• S. 1071: National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2026 passed the Senate by 77-20. The NDAA includes a decrease in the Secretary of Defense’s travel budget unless he releases full video of the various boat strikes this fall. The Secretary of Defense says he will not release the videos, so will the Administration stay within the authorized travel budget?

Bills Passed in the House Only

All of the bills below will have to pass the Senate before they become law.

• H.R. 3187: To require the Secretary of Agriculture to convey a parcel of property of the Forest Service to Perry County, Arkansas, and for other purposes passed 388-0
• H.R. 4371: Kayla Hamilton Act, which would allow invasive exams of children for tattoos or gang-related markings, passed 225-201.
• H.R. 3616: Reliable Power Act, which would require assessments of new plans for reliability, passed 225-203.
• H.R. 3632: Power Plant Reliability Act of 2025, which would require assessments of plants or components to be retired, passed 222-202.
• H.R. 4776: SPEED Act, which would speed up energy project approvals passed, but only after an anti-wind power amendment was added, by 221-196.
• H.R. 1366: Mining Regulatory Clarity Act, which would override a 2022 court decision and restore mining rules in effect before that decision, passed 219-198.

The bills below, all of which received a vote, passed with fewer votes overall in support than the ACA health insurance premium subsidies discharge petition has. Why did they come to the floor? Well, because these bills are primarily supported by Republicans while the ACA one is not.

• H.R. 6703: Lower Health Care Premiums for All Americans Act , which includes a number of provisions intended to lower premium costs, but does not include an extension of the subsidies in contention, passed 216-211.
• H.R. 3492: Protect Children’s Innocence Act, which would criminalize gender affirming health care for minors, passed 216-211.
• H.R. 498: Do No Harm in Medicaid Act, which would ban gender affirming health care for minors receiving Medicaid, passed 215-201.
• H.R. 845: Pet and Livestock Protection Act, which would remove the gray wolf from the Endangered Species list, passed 211-204.

The Realities of Trying to Get a Bill Passed

The Bulwark published a story today about the realities of trying to get a pediatric cancer bill passed. It highlights a basic question that legislators face all the time: when is a bill good enough to warrant a vote in support? What if opposing the bill now sets up that bill plus others that are also important to the legislator for passage later? What if that bet turns out to be wrong and none of the bills ever get passed? Highly recommended read.

Congress will not return until after New Years, so you probably won’t hear from us either until then. We hope any holidays you already are celebrating or plan to celebrate soon are joyful and we’ll see you in a few weeks.

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