Resolution Act

Full Title:
Resolution Act.

Summary#

This joint resolution, called the "Resolution Act," includes many different changes across federal programs. Key provisions in the text provided include:

  • A Veterans Affairs–Public Health Service joint scholarship program that would pay for commissioned Public Health Service (PHS) officers to attend the Uniformed Services University (USU) medical school at VA expense, require a written detail to VA, and require an initial residency and up to a 10-year period of obligated service at a VA medical facility. If an officer fails to complete the required service, the officer generally must reimburse VA an amount described in the bill, though VA may waive repayment in certain cases.
  • A new Professional Nonprofit Theater Grant Program to give grants to qualifying 501(c)(3) nonprofit theaters. The program lists eligibility rules (including a 3-year programming history requirement), allowable uses (payroll, facility repairs, marketing, workforce development, and for smaller organizations, construction or acquisition), application attestations about labor and workplace conditions, grant limits (the lesser of 20% of an entity’s recent expenditures or $16,000,000), priority rules, technical assistance (up to 1% of program funds), and an authorization of $1,000,000,000 per year for fiscal years 2024–2028 with at least 50% reserved for entities that primarily produce theater.
  • A study by the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities on sustaining the nonprofit arts sector, with stakeholder input and a $1,000,000 appropriation authorized to carry out that study.
  • A rule that, beginning one year after enactment, cut flowers and cut greens displayed in public areas of Executive Office of the President buildings, the Department of State, and the Department of Defense must be produced in the United States, with an exception for personal displays.
  • A requirement that the Secretary of the Interior work with Indian Tribes to identify and protect Native American seeds, support tribal seed banks and traditional agriculture systems, and keep tribe-identified culturally sensitive seed information confidential.
  • Extensions and changes to Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and related pilot programs: extending direct-to-Phase II authority through 2030 and allowing all agencies required to run SBIR to use that authority (with limits on total award value), renaming and extending a commercialization readiness program for civilian agencies through fiscal year 2030, and extending various SBIR/STTR pilot programs to September 30, 2030.
  • A requirement that federal homeland security and law enforcement leaders submit an unclassified report (with possible classified annex) to certain congressional committees after completion of investigations into acts of terrorism, including facts, gaps, and recommendations; withholding of section content is allowed when disclosure could jeopardize an ongoing investigation; this reporting requirement sunsets after five years.
  • A new criminal prohibition that makes it unlawful to knowingly use artificial intelligence to impersonate a federal officer or employee (including mimicking voice or likeness) without an explicit disclaimer and thereby produce materially false or misleading content; the penalty is a fine or up to 3 years imprisonment, or both. The bill includes definitions of "artificial intelligence" and "impersonates" and a First Amendment carve-out for satire and parody with clear disclosure.
  • A requirement that each House standing committee hold a hearing on implementation of the Act within one year of enactment.
  • A directive that the Joint Committee on the Library obtain a statue of Benjamin Franklin by December 31, 2026 and place it in a public location in the Capitol by December 31, 2027.
  • An amendment to the House Rules of Official Conduct that changes clause 3 of rule XXIII to bar Members and staff from receiving compensation tied to influence from their congressional position.
  • A variety of small tax and technical changes, including a change to the employee meal rules for certain fishing and processing vessels and facilities north of 50 degrees latitude, effective for taxable years beginning after December 31, 2026.
  • A list of specific one-time appropriations of $1,000,000 each to several federal agencies and accounts for fiscal year 2027, as shown in the bill text.

What it means for you#

  • PHS officers: The bill would create a scholarship option to attend USU paid by VA if they agree to serve at VA facilities after residency, with repayment rules if they do not complete service.
  • Nonprofit theaters: Some nonprofits that meet eligibility rules could apply for grants to support payroll, facilities, production costs, and workforce programs. Grants have size limits and labor-related application requirements.
  • Tribes and seed stewards: The Interior Department would work with Tribes to identify and protect Native American seeds and support tribal seed banks, with confidentiality protections for culturally sensitive information.
  • General public and visitors: Public floral displays in certain federal buildings would need to be grown in the United States beginning one year after enactment.
  • Businesses and startups: SBIR and related pilot authorities are extended for civilian agencies and certain pilot programs are extended to 2030, which could affect federal small-business research funding opportunities.
  • Users of AI and communicators: The bill would create a federal crime for knowingly using AI to impersonate a federal officer without a clear disclaimer if it produces materially false or misleading content; satire and parody with clear disclosure are excluded.
  • Congress: House committees must hold hearings on how the Act is carried out within one year.

Expenses#

  • Title II (Professional Nonprofit Theater Grants) authorizes $1,000,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2024 through 2028 to carry out the theater grant program, with at least 50% of each year’s amounts reserved for entities that primarily produce theater.
  • Section 202 (study on sustaining the nonprofit arts sector) authorizes $1,000,000 to carry out that study.
  • Title IV (Native American seeds) includes a statement that "No additional funds are authorized to carry out the requirements of section 3," and activities are subject to availability of appropriations made in advance.
  • Title XIII lists specific appropriations for fiscal year 2027 of $1,000,000 each for multiple agency accounts and activities (examples in the text include NIH institute, USDA Rural Development administration, Treasury Bureau operations, Space Force personnel, Fish and Wildlife endangered species fund, and Federal Railroad research and development).
  • SBIR-related sections change statutory authorities and time limits but do not in the provided text by themselves authorize new appropriations beyond the amounts already available to those programs.

Proponents' View#

No publicly available information.

Opponents' View#

No publicly available information.