Senate goes quiet for Memorial Day; TREY'S Law, China warnings cut through

The Senate passed TREY'S Law unanimously, voiding NDA provisions that bar survivors of child sexual abuse from disclosing their abuse or the facts surrounding it. The bill is named for Trey Carlock, a Dallas man who signed a civil settlement NDA after being abused at a summer camp and died by suicide at 28.

"For too long, nondisclosure agreements have been used to silence survivors of child sexual abuse and shield perpetrators from accountability," said Sen. Gillibrand. "I am grateful to Sen. Cruz for his partnership and leadership on TREY'S Law and am thrilled that it has now passed the Senate. I urge the House of Representatives to take up this bill and send it to the president's desk as soon as possible."

The bill makes unenforceable any NDA provision restricting disclosure of minor sexual abuse, whether signed before a dispute arose or as part of a civil settlement. The legislation now moves to the House, where Reps. Raja Krishnamoorthi, Grace Meng, and Nydia Velázquez are co-leading companion legislation.

Three Republican releases converged on China as a strategic and economic threat — through the Diego Garcia basing dispute, USMCA auto-trade negotiations, and a Corporate Transparency Act reform framed partly around foreign data exposure.

Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., republished an op-ed arguing the United Kingdom's potential handover of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius would gut American deterrence capacity in the Indo-Pacific. "There is no military asset as important as Diego Garcia when it comes to America's ability to deter China, protect Taiwan, and otherwise maintain our interests in the Indo-Pacific," Kennedy wrote. "It would be weapons-grade stupid to sit by as the U.K. signs it away to a nation in Xi Jinping's pocket."

On the trade front, Sen. Jim Banks, R-Ind., and seven Republican colleagues sent a letter to U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer urging stronger USMCA guardrails against Chinese automakers. The letter warned that China's vehicle exports surged "from just over 700,000 autos in 2019 to more than 7 million last year" and called on Greer to "deploy strong leverage in USMCA negotiations to strengthen this trade deal's guardrails and ensure Mexico and Canada adopt strong protections to prevent side doors for Chinese vehicles into the U.S."

Separately, Sen. Jon Husted, R-Ohio, backed Kennedy's bill to restrict Corporate Transparency Act reporting to foreign companies only. "Ohio's small businesses are the backbone of our economy and every time they are forced to comply with costly and unnecessary federal mandates, it slows job creation and puts sensitive information at risk," Husted said.

Sens. Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., and Ben Ray Luján, D-N.M., joined a 26-senator Democratic letter demanding answers from USDA Deputy Secretary Stephen Vaden on the agency's planned reorganization of the Food and Nutrition Service — a restructuring that would close five of seven FNS regional offices.

"After dramatic cuts to nutrition assistance programs and the significant staff losses at FNS in the past year, this reorganization will further weaken the ability of the agency to administer federal nutrition assistance programs," the lawmakers wrote. The letter, led by Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., catalogued a series of prior actions: "canceling over 90 million pounds of food ordered for food banks and schools; enacting the deepest cuts to SNAP in history; refusing to comply with court orders to fund SNAP benefits during the government shutdown; and terminating a long-standing food insecurity survey that has measured hunger in America since the 1990s."

The senators also noted that nearly 30 percent of FNS staff have departed following last year's Deferred Resignation Program, and demanded detailed answers on how the agency intends to fulfill its mission through the reorganization.

Sen. Lisa Blunt Rochester, D-Del., sent a letter to HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. demanding answers on why a scheduled April meeting of the Pan American Health Organization — at which the United States' measles elimination status was to be reviewed — was postponed until November, after the midterm elections.

"By that definition, the United States is at serious risk of losing our measles elimination status, with outbreaks raging across the country since early 2025," Blunt Rochester wrote, citing the standard definition of measles elimination as interruption of endemic transmission for 12 or more months under high-quality surveillance.

The senator tied the delay directly to CDC workforce reductions: "While the sequencing of measles data is understandably complicated, it stands to reason that the elimination of tens of thousands of employees from your Department — including top scientists from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — could feasibly have played a role in this delay. Which means that American voters will not have information about your Department's response to the widespread measles outbreaks prior to casting their votes at the polls this November, which is unacceptable." Blunt Rochester is a member of the Senate HELP Committee.

Sen. Todd Young, R-Ind., joined Sens. Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Tim Kaine, D-Va., in reintroducing the Gateway to Careers Act, which would fund partnerships between community colleges and workforce development organizations to support unemployed and underemployed workers. "Every Hoosier deserves a fair shot at success," Young said. "Removing barriers that keep individuals from reaching their full potential will help train our workers and grow our economy."

Sen. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., backed the Native American Housing Assistance and Self-Determination Modernization Act, which would reauthorize NAHASDA through 2033 and expand tribal housing flexibility. "Arizona's affordable housing crisis isn't just contained to our cities, it's impacting Tribes and Native communities, too," Gallego said. "We must pass this commonsense, bipartisan legislation." The bill was introduced by Sens. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, and Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii.

Several senators used the Memorial Day recess for district events and holiday statements. Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., traveled across Wichita, Park City, and Hutchinson, touring an aerospace MRO facility, a solar company, and an HVAC parts manufacturer, and delivered commencement remarks to graduates of the 357th Basic Training Class at the Kansas Law Enforcement Training Center.

Sen. Ben Ray Luján, D-N.M., issued a statement honoring fallen service members. "This Memorial Day, I'm proud to join New Mexicans and Americans in honoring the courageous heroes who made the ultimate sacrifice defending our freedom," Luján said. "We must never take for granted the sacrifice they made for our freedom, and we must continue working to ensure our veterans, service members, and their families receive the support and care they deserve."

Sen. Ashley Moody, R-Fla., used the holiday to flag road safety, noting that during the Memorial Day-to-Labor Day window in 2025 there were more than 650 fatal crashes in Florida. "During the 100 Deadliest Days, there is an increase in fatal accidents involving teen drivers," Moody said. "I am urging all drivers to buckle up, put away phones, and never drive under the influence."

Sen. Gillibrand reintroduced the Hate Crimes Commission Act, which would establish a bipartisan federal commission to examine factors driving hate crimes, barriers to reporting, and evidence-based prevention strategies. The bill would also require a GAO audit of federal hate crime data collection.

"The alarming rise in hate crimes over the last few years demands a comprehensive federal response — and that starts with the establishment of a commission to investigate hate crimes," Gillibrand said. "This legislation would help protect communities and gather the data we need to prevent future violence, and I am determined to get it passed."

According to statistics cited in the release, the FBI recorded more than 11,000 single-bias hate crime incidents involving nearly 14,000 victims in 2024. House companions are led by Reps. Raja Krishnamoorthi, Grace Meng, and Nydia Velázquez.

Sens. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga., and Rev. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., announced delivery of federal health care funding for projects across metro Atlanta and North Georgia, including a $3 million public health campus in Cobb County, NICU equipment upgrades at Emory Decatur Hospital, and hospital technology improvements in Ringgold.

"There's no worse nightmare for any family than having a loved one who's sick, but who cannot get the health care they need," Ossoff said. "That's why Senator Reverend Warnock and I brought Republicans and Democrats together to strengthen health care services for Georgia families."

The funding flows through bipartisan government funding legislation that became law on February 3. A $200,000 grant to the Athens Area Diaper Bank was also included in the package.

Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala., used a Senate Appropriations subcommittee hearing on the FY2027 Army Corps of Engineers budget request to press witnesses on Mobile Harbor dredging, permitting timelines, and staffing costs.

"The newly deepened ship channel is truly transformative to the state of Alabama, to the entire Gulf Coast region, and ultimately to commerce, and as a critical gateway for our entire nation," Britt said in her opening remarks. She then pressed on a permitting process that took more than five years for the Upper Mobile Bay beneficial use site: "How does the Corps' broader initiative focused on reducing red tape and improving efficiencies help streamline overlapping permitting and environmental review processes between the Corps and the EPA so that critical infrastructure projects and beneficial use projects can move forward more quickly?"

Assistant Secretary of the Army Adam Telle cited administration efforts, saying "building infrastructure, not paperwork, and the actions taken by the Trump administration over the last year and a half, have done a tremendous amount to streamline this process."

Signals

• volumeFourteen releases filed Tuesday — 84.3% below the Tuesday baseline of 89.2 — consistent with Memorial Day recess suppression.
• recessSenate is in Memorial Day state work period; no floor votes scheduled and no releases from leadership.
• coordinatedThree Republican releases — Kennedy on Diego Garcia, Banks et al. on USMCA autos, and Husted on the Corporate Transparency Act — all framed China as a central threat on the same day, with Kennedy and Banks sharing several co-signers.
• coordinatedThe 26-senator Democratic letter on FNS reorganization — led by Klobuchar, with Luján as the filing senator — represents the day's largest multi-member action and the broadest Democratic coordination visible in the release set.
• silent breaksSen. Alan Armstrong, R-Okla., has not issued a release in the archive (999 days flagged); Sen. Tina Smith, D-Minn., is 27 days quiet despite signing the FNS letter — her name appears in the release body but she filed no independent release today.

Quiet desks

Senators with no release in two weeks or more.

• Sen. Alan Armstrong, R-OK—
• Sen. Tina Smith, D-MN27d
• Sen. Tim Sheehy, R-MT25d
• Sen. Thom Tillis, R-NC22d