This is a list of "Hot Bills" currently in Congress, as compiled by the writers of the OpenCongress Blog. These are the bills that are receiving the most news coverage and buzz on blogs, grouped by issue area. We put together this list for users of "My OpenCongress" to find important bills and track their latest actions on their profiles. To start tracking yourself, just create an account, it's free and takes less than a minute. Click on the title of any bill below to visit its full page, where users can vote on the bill and participate on comment boards. Use the "sort by" options above to view lists of bills in other ways (for example, by most-viewed).

• Civil Liberties
• Criminal Justice
• Education
• Energy/Environment
• Government/Transparency
• Guns
• Health
• Housing/Mortgage Crisis
• Immigration
• Intellectual Property
• Iraq
• Labor
• Media
• Taxes
• Technology

Civil Liberties

Bill	Status	Last Action
H.R.6508 Special Criminal Contempt of Congress Act	Introduced	Jul 16, 2008
H.R.6304 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 Amendments Act of 2008	This Bill Has Become Law	Jul 10, 2008
S.1959 Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act of 2007	Introduced	Aug 02, 2007
S.185 Habeas Corpus Restoration Act of 2007	Introduced	Jun 26, 2007
H.Res.530 Censuring George W. Bush.	Introduced	Aug 10, 2007
H.Res.1258 Impeaching George W. Bush, President of the United States, of high crimes and misdemeanors.	Introduced	Jun 11, 2008
H.R.2543 Military Commissions Revision Act of 2007	Introduced	Jun 25, 2007
H.R.1955 Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act of 2007	Voted on by House	Oct 24, 2007

Criminal Justice

Bill	Status	Last Action
S.1060 Second Chance Act of 2007	Introduced	Aug 02, 2007

Education

Bill	Status	Last Action
H.R.4137 College Opportunity and Affordability Act of 2007 This gigantic, 800-page bill is aimed at lowering tuition costs and streamlining the financial aid process. Among its many provision are new penalties for states that cut their contributions to higher education, protections for prospective student loan borrowers, proposals to make text books more affordable and expanded funding options for low-income and non-traditional students. Notably, it also contains a controversial provision requiring colleges to develop a plan to block peer-to-peer filesharing and illegal downloading, and offer students a legal alternative.	Voted on by Senate	Aug 31, 2008
H.R.5715 Ensuring Continued Access to Student Loans Act of 2008	This Bill Has Become Law	May 07, 2008
H.R.2669 College Cost Reduction Act of 2007	This Bill Has Become Law	Sep 27, 2007
H.R.1429 Improving Head Start for School Readiness Act of 2007	This Bill Has Become Law	Dec 12, 2007

Energy/Environment

Bill	Status	Last Action
H.R.6049 Energy and Tax Extenders Act of 2008	Voted on by House	Jul 29, 2008
S.3268 Stop Excessive Energy Speculation Act of 2008	Introduced	Jul 25, 2008
H.R.6330 Prevent Unfair Manipulation of Prices Act of 2008	Introduced	Jun 20, 2008
H.R.6377 Energy Markets Emergency Act of 2008	Voted on by House	Jun 27, 2008
S.309 Global Warming Pollution Reduction Act	Introduced	Jun 13, 2007
S.2958 Clean Coal-Derived Fuels for Energy Security Act of 2008	Introduced	May 01, 2008
S.2224 Nuclear Release Notice Act of 2007	Introduced	Oct 24, 2007
S.2191 Lieberman-Warner Climate Security Act of 2007 This is Congress' leading proposal to address climate change and global warming. It seeks to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions by about 65 percent below present levels by 2050 through imposing limits on the emissions that manufacturers and utilities can release. It would also establish a carbon-trade market to encourage polluters to clean up their operation in the name of profit. It will be taken up by the Senate in June, and voting will take place on a manager's amendment that has been offered by Barbara Boxer. The vote and debate is expected to be extremely contentious.	Introduced	May 20, 2008
H.R.6074 Gas Price Relief for Consumers Act of 2008	Voted on by House	May 21, 2008
H.R.5351 Renewable Energy and Energy Conservation Tax Act of 2008 This bill would repeal roughly $18 billion in manufacturing tax credits for oil and gas companies while extending and increasing tax credits for a wide range of renewable energy programs. It is expected to cause a contentious debate in the Senate, where it's chances of being approved are uncertain.	Voted on by House	Feb 28, 2008

Government/Transparency

Bill	Status	Last Action
S.223 Senate Campaign Disclosure Parity Act	Introduced	Apr 26, 2007
S.1285 Fair Elections Now Act	Introduced	Jun 20, 2007
S.1 Honest Leadership and Open Government Act of 2007	This Bill Has Become Law	Sep 14, 2007
H.Res.63 Amending the Rules of the House of Representatives to ensure that Members have a reasonable amount of time to read legislation that will be voted upon.	Introduced	Jan 12, 2007
H.R.928 Improving Government Accountability Act	Voted on by House	Oct 04, 2007
H.R.1433 District of Columbia House Voting Rights Act of 2007	Introduced	Apr 19, 2007

Guns

Bill	Status	Last Action
S.1237 Denying Firearms and Explosives to Dangerous Terrorists Act of 2007	Introduced	Apr 26, 2007
H.R.6257 Assault Weapons Ban Reauthorization Act of 2008	Introduced	Jun 12, 2008
H.R.96 Gun Show Loophole Closing Act of 2007	Introduced	Feb 02, 2007
H.R.73 Citizens' Self-Defense Act of 2007	Introduced	Feb 02, 2007
H.R.297 NICS Improvement Act of 2007	Introduced	Feb 02, 2007
H.R.2640 NICS Improvement Amendments Act of 2007	This Bill Has Become Law	Jan 08, 2008
H.R.1022 Assault Weapons Ban and Law Enforcement Protection Act of 2007 This bill greatly expands the list of federally prohibited weapons. The definition of a semiautomatic assault weapon is broadened in the bill to include many guns that are currently legal. The text of this bill contains a long list of specific guns that would become illegal to possess if it were enacted. Additionally, it would make the private transfer of any assault weapon illegal.	Introduced	Mar 19, 2007

Health

Bill	Status	Last Action
S.1375 MOTHERS Act	Introduced	May 11, 2007
H.R.5613 Protecting the Medicaid Safety Net Act of 2008 This bill would effectively delay for one year the implementation of new Administration-proposed regulations that would reduce Medicaid payments for several Medicaid-related activities. It is estimated that the proposed regulations would save the federal government $15 billion over five years, but that states would suffer $50 billion in damages for making up the difference.	Voted on by House	Apr 28, 2008
H.R.3963 SCHIP Extension bill	Override Attempted	Jan 23, 2008
H.R.676 United States National Health Insurance Act (or the Expanded and Improved Medicare for All Act)	Introduced	Feb 02, 2007
H.R.4 Part D Medicare Drugs Price bill	Voted on by House	Feb 28, 2007
H.R.1424 Paul Wellstone Mental Health and Addiction Equity Act of 2008	Voted on by House	Mar 07, 2008

Housing/Mortgage Crisis

Bill	Status	Last Action
H.R.3221 Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008	This Bill Has Become Law	Jul 30, 2008
H.R.5749 Emergency Extended Unemployment Compensation Act of 2008 This bill would provide for 13 more weeks on unemployment benefits to workers exhausting their regular unemployment compensation, In states with unemployment rates above 6 percent, it would provide an additional 13 weeks, for a total of 26. The extension would apply to anyone whose benefits are exhausted before January 2009, an estimated 3.5 million.	Voted on by House	Jun 13, 2008
S.2338 FHA Modernization Act of 2007	Voted on by Senate	Dec 17, 2007
H.R.3915 Mortgage Reform and Anti-Predatory Lending Act of 2007	Voted on by House	Dec 03, 2007
H.R.3609 Emergency Home Ownership and Mortgage Equity Protection Act of 2007	Introduced	Dec 12, 2007
H.R.1427 Federal Housing Finance Reform Act of 2007	Voted on by House	May 24, 2007

Immigration

Bill	Status	Last Action
H.R.5642 SUSTAIN Act Also known as the Strengthening United States Technology and Innovation Now Act, this bill would raise the annual cap for H-1B visas from 65,000 to 195,000 for 2008 and 2009. H-1B's are non-immigrant visas that allow U.S. employers to employee highly-skilled guest-workers in specialty occupations, mostly in high-tech industry.	Introduced	Apr 14, 2008
H.R.6039 To amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to authorize certain aliens who have earned a master's or higher degree from a United States institution of higher education in a field of science, technology, engineering, or mathematics to be admitted for permanent residence.	Introduced	Jun 03, 2008
S.774 DREAM Act of 2007	Introduced	Sep 26, 2007
S.3005 Detainee Basic Medical Care Act of 2008	Introduced	May 12, 2008
S.2205 DREAM Act of 2007	Introduced	Oct 24, 2007
S.1639 Unaccompanied Alien Child Protection Act of 2007	Introduced	Jun 28, 2007
H.R.4088 SAVE Act of 2007	Introduced	Mar 11, 2008

Intellectual Property

Bill	Status	Last Action
S.2317 Intellectual Property Enforcement Act of 2007	Introduced	Nov 07, 2007
S.1957 Design Piracy Prohibition Act	Introduced	Aug 02, 2007
S.1145 Patent Reform Act of 2007	Introduced	Jan 24, 2008
H.R.5889 Orphan Works Act of 2008 This bill would limit the amount of damages a copyright holder could collect from an infringer if the infringer performed a diligent search for the copyright holder before using their work. The goal of the legislation is to free up for reuse copyrighted works whose holders cannot be found. It would also set up a process for the Copyright Office to certify commercially-produced visual registries to help people locate the holder of a copyright and prevent the orphaning of works in the future.	Introduced	May 07, 2008
H.R.4279 PRO-IP Act of 2007	Voted on by House	May 12, 2008
H.R.3155 Intellectual Property Enhanced Criminal Enforcement Act of 2007	Introduced	Aug 10, 2007
H.R.2060 Internet Radio Equality Act	Introduced	Jul 10, 2007
H.R.2033 Design Piracy Prohibition Act	Introduced	May 04, 2007
H.R.1908 Patent Reform Act of 2007	Voted on by House	Sep 11, 2007
H.R.1201 Freedom and Innovation Revitalizing U.S. Entrepreneurship Act of 2007	Introduced	Mar 19, 2007

Iraq

Bill	Status	Last Action
S.2633 A bill to provide for the safe redeployment of United States troops from Iraq.	Introduced	Feb 27, 2008
S.22 Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Act of 2007	Introduced	May 07, 2008
S.1545 Iraq Study Group Recommendations Implementation Act of 2007	Introduced	Oct 02, 2007
S.1305 Support Our Troops Act of 2007	Introduced	May 04, 2007
S.1077 A bill to safely redeploy United States troops from Iraq.	Introduced	Apr 10, 2007
H.R.4156 Orderly and Responsible Iraq Redeployment Appropriations Act, 2008	Voted on by House	Nov 16, 2007
H.R.3125 Opt Out of Iraq War Act of 2007	Introduced	Sep 19, 2007
H.R.1234 To end the United States occupation of Iraq immediately.	Introduced	May 23, 2007
H.R.1062 Security and Victory in Iraq Act of 2007	Introduced	Mar 20, 2007

Labor

Bill	Status	Last Action
H.R.800 Employee Free Choice Act of 2007 This is the Democrats' chief labor bill (aka the Card-check bill). It would change the rules governing the formation of unions, the way first contracts between unions and employers are negotiated, and how employees' rights are enforced. Under the bill, unions could be certified once a majority of employees have signed union authorization cards. The bill also designates a time line for first contracts to be drawn up between unions and employees. Finally, it would increase the fines employers must pay if found guilty of violating their employees' right to unionize.	Voted on by Senate	Jun 26, 2007
H.R.3685 Employment Non-Discrimination Act of 2007	Voted on by House	Nov 13, 2007
H.R.2831 Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2007	Voted on by House	Apr 23, 2008

Media

Bill	Status	Last Action
H.R.4789 Performance Rights Act	Introduced	Jun 26, 2008
S.J.Res.28 A joint resolution disapproving the rule submitted by the Federal Communications Commission with respect to broadcast media ownership.	Voted on by Senate	May 20, 2008
H.R.5994 Internet Freedom and Nondiscrimination Act of 2008	Introduced	May 08, 2008
H.J.Res.79 Disapproving the rule submitted by the Federal Communications Commission with respect to broadcast media ownership.	Introduced	Mar 13, 2008
H.Con.Res.244 Supporting the Local Radio Freedom Act.	Introduced	Oct 31, 2007
H.R.2905 Broadcaster Freedom Act of 2007	Introduced	Oct 03, 2007
H.R.2102 Free Flow of Information Act of 2007	Voted on by House	Oct 18, 2007

Taxes

Bill	Status	Last Action
H.R.3996 Tax Increase Prevention Act of 2007	This Bill Has Become Law	Dec 26, 2007
H.R.25 Fair Tax Act of 2007	Introduced	Jan 04, 2007

Technology

Bill	Status	Last Action
S.215 Internet Freedom Preservation Act	Introduced	Jan 09, 2007
H.R.5353 Internet Freedom Preservation Act of 2008	Introduced	May 06, 2008
H.R.275 Global Online Freedom Act of 2007 This bill would make it a crime for U.S. companies to disclose personal information to internet-restricting countries that are determined by the President to be responsible for a systematic pattern of substantial restrictions on Internet freedom. An exception would be made for legitimate foreign law enforcement purposes. It also calls for the creation of a new Office of Global Internet Freedom that would be responsible for developing programs to combat state-sponsored and state-directed Internet jamming by repressive governments, among other things.	Introduced	Feb 22, 2008