WASHINGTON, D.C. – With strong bipartisan majorities, the U.S. House of Representatives has approved six Ways and Means Committee bills that address key challenges facing everyday Americans – including policies that will: 

• Continue the successful “Hospital at Home” initiative to treat seniors in the convenience and comfort of their own home.
• More clearly inform retirees of the benefit levels they will receive based on when they choose to begin claiming Social Security.
• Aid parents looking to protect their child’s identity after that child’s Social Security number (SSN) is compromised.
• Provide a single point of contact within the Social Security Administration (SSA) for Americans resolving a compromised Social Security number. 
• Ensure rogue IRS agents are not levying fines and penalties on taxpayers without specific supervisory approval.
• Strengthen taxpayer rights in judicial proceedings before the U.S. Tax Court.

Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith (MO-08) released the following statement:

“These bipartisan policies from the Ways and Means Committee provide solutions to specific problems faced by American families every day. Under the legislation advanced by the House, seniors will continue to be able to receive hospital-level care in the comfort and convenience of their home. Americans will get more help navigating the frustrating bureaucratic thicket of replacing a Social Security number, including for their children. Taxpayers will have their rights strengthened against the power of the IRS. I want to thank my Committee colleagues on both sides of the aisle for championing these issues and making a real difference for the people we represent.”

Hospital Inpatient Services Modernization Act (H.R. 4313)

• The Hospital-at-Home Initiative (HaH) allows hospitals to provide inpatient level care to seniors in the comfort of their homes rather than in a hospital. More than 400 hospitals in nearly 40 states participate in the initiative, with 99 percent of patients reporting satisfaction with their care.
• HaH has been shown to help patients in multiple ways – including lower discharge rates to institutional post-acute care, lower rates of emergency department visits, and reduction in use of costly lab tests. 
• HaH expired September 30, 2025, and thanks to Democrats’ government shutdown, remained expired for more than a month, during which Medicare could not pay for seniors to receive inpatient care in the home; HAH now expires at the end of January, creating even more uncertainty for seniors.
• The bill preserves Medicare patients’ access to vital HaH services through 2030 and includes a comprehensive study to measure the program’s cost and quality relative to in-hospital inpatient care. 

Read a fact sheet on the bill here.

Claiming Age Clarity Act (H.R. 5284)

• Studies show that people are confused by the terms describing benefit claiming ages for Social Security and are generally uninformed about how their claiming decisions affect their monthly benefits.
• As a result, many of today’s seniors are missing out on substantial retirement income because of suboptimal claiming decisions.
• The bill directs the Social Security Commissioner to change the terminology the SSA uses when describing benefit claiming ages to better reflect the implications of claiming decisions. 

Read a fact sheet on the bill here.

Improving Social Security’s Service to Victims of Identity Theft Act (H.R. 5345)

• In 2024, there were more than 3,158 reported data breaches resulting in the issuance of roughly 1.3 billion mandatory data breach notices to victims. More than 1,800 of the breaches included Social Security numbers.
• To resolve an issue related to SSN misuse or a lost Social Security card, an individual may be faced with multiple, different processes requiring them to speak to multiple, different SSA employees. Victims report they are often provided conflicting information. 
• The bill requires the SSA to provide victims of identity theft with a single point of contact at the agency when the misuse of their SSN results in the need to resolve an issue with the SSA or when their Social Security card is lost in the mail.

Read a fact sheet on the bill here.

Social Security Child Protection Act of 2025 (H.R. 5348)

• In 2022, roughly 1.7 million children were the victims of identity fraud.
• The time between theft of a Social Security number and its misuse can be many years. Child victims of identity theft often learn of the theft – or are harmed from misuse – years after.
• Before the Social Security Administration will issue a new SSN, a numberholder is required to not only show that their SSN has been misused by a third party, but also that this misuse caused actual harm or disadvantaged the numberholder.
• The bill requires the SSA to issue a new SSN to a child under the age of 14 in certain circumstances when that child’s Social Security card has been compromised due to loss or theft.

Read a fact sheet on the bill here.

Tax Court Improvement Act (H.R. 5349)

• The U.S. Tax Court is a federal trial court established by Congress under Article I of the Constitution which specializes in adjudicating disputes over federal income tax. 
• The Tax Court is the only forum in which taxpayers may litigate tax matters prior to paying the disputed tax in full.
• Inefficiencies in the Tax Court structure lead to problems in adjudicating cases, such as limited pre-trial discovery powers that cause unnecessary delays, Tax Court judges that are held to a different standard than other Federal judges, and there is unclear authority to pause deadlines in cases. 
• The bill authorizes the Tax Court to sign subpoenas to produce books, papers, documents, electronically stored information, or tangible things for purposes of discovery or evidence, prior to a hearing.
• This bill also ensures Tax Court judges are held to the standards for disqualification as other Federal judges.
• Enhances the efficiency of judicial review and ensures security and civility in trials and other judicial proceedings. 
• Clarifies that the Tax Court has jurisdiction to extend a taxpayer’s deadline where timely filing was impossible or impractical. 

Read a fact sheet on the bill here.

Fair and Accountable IRS Reviews (FAIR) Act (H.R. 5346)

• Currently, an IRS agent’s immediate supervisor provides a signature of approval at the initial determination of a tax penalty.
• A Biden IRS rule significantly weakened taxpayer protections by allowing IRS agents to shop around for sympathetic supervisors. This circular definition is so broad that IRS agents can obtain approval to apply tax penalties on taxpayers from virtually any other employee.
• The bill clarifies that supervisory approval of a penalty is timely only if the person proposing such penalty obtains the approval in writing prior to any written communication to a taxpayer with respect to such penalty.
• The written approval must be provided by the immediate supervisor of the person proposing the penalty or such other higher supervisory person as the Secretary may identify.

Read a fact sheet on the bill here.