H.R. 3420 · 119th Congress

Words Matter Act of 2025

Introduced on May 15, 2025 by Pete Sessions (R-TX-17). 15 cosponsors, 5 of them from another party. Latest action (Mar 26, 2026): Ordered to be Reported (Amended) by Voice Vote.

Stage
Introduced
Introduced
May 15, 2025
Cosponsors
15
5 from the other party
Policy area
Health
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Progress

The furthest stage the measure reached. Simple and concurrent resolutions do not go to the President.

  1. Introduced
  2. 2Reported by committee
  3. 3Passed one chamber
  4. 4Passed both chambers
  5. 5Sent to the President
  6. 6Became law

Official title

To amend Federal law to remove the terms "mentally retarded" and "mental retardation", and for other purposes.

Subjects

  • Administrative law and regulatory procedures
  • Birth defects
  • Child health
  • Contracts and agency
  • Criminal procedure and sentencing
  • Disability and paralysis
  • Elementary and secondary education
  • Employment and training programs
  • Food assistance and relief
  • Health care coverage and access
  • Health personnel
  • Indian social and development programs
  • Intergovernmental relations
  • Long-term, rehabilitative, and terminal care
  • Medicaid
  • Medicare
  • Mental health
  • Nursing
  • Nutrition and diet
  • State and local government operations

Summary

By the Congressional Research Service (Introduced in House, May 15, 2025). Public domain.

Words Matter Act of 2025

This bill removes outdated terminology in specified statutes by replacing references to mentally retarded and mental retardation with intellectual disability.

Sponsor and cosponsors

Cosponsors by party as of the day they signed on. Original cosponsors signed on the day of introduction.

Pete SessionsR-TX-17Sponsor

Democrats · 5

Republicans · 10

Roll calls

Recorded votes on the measure. Most measures move by voice vote or unanimous consent, which record no individual positions.

No recorded roll call on this measure: it moved by voice vote or unanimous consent, or has not reached the floor.

History

Every action as published, oldest first. Roll calls link to how each member voted.

  1. May 15, 2025Introduced in House
  2. May 15, 2025Introduced in House
  3. May 15, 2025 · HouseReferred to the House Committee on the Judiciary.
  4. Mar 26, 2026 · HouseCommittee Consideration and Mark-up Session Held
  5. Mar 26, 2026 · HouseOrdered to be Reported (Amended) by Voice Vote.

Committees

Committees and subcommittees the measure was referred to.

Agencies in its committees' jurisdiction

Analisa's mapping of committee jurisdiction to federal agencies; the bill may touch others, or none of these.

Who lobbied on it

Organizations whose lobbying reports (LD-2) name this measure. Spending is what they reported for those quarters on all issues, not on this measure alone.

  1. National Alliance on Mental Illness5 reports
    $70K reported (all issues)
  2. SPECIAL OLYMPICS, INC.5 reports
    $930K reported (all issues)
  3. National Down Syndrome Society2 reports
    $100K reported (all issues)

Reports filed in 2025, 2026.

Sources and method

Every figure on this page traces to these records.

  • Bill status: bills and resolutions, sponsors, actions, subjects and CRS summaries (U.S. Government Publishing Office (GovInfo), from Congress.gov (Library of Congress))GovInfo Bill Status bulk data (Congress.gov; summaries by the Congressional Research Service) · data current to Oct 9, 2026 · loaded Oct 9, 2026 · license: Public domain (U.S. Government work, 17 U.S.C. § 105)
  • Members of Congress, their terms, committees and identifiers (The @unitedstates project (from the Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress, the House and the Senate))unitedstates/congress-legislators: legislators, committees and current committee membership · data current to Oct 3, 2026 · loaded Oct 3, 2026 · license: CC0 1.0 (public domain dedication)
  • House roll-call votes (Office of the Clerk, U.S. House of Representatives)Office of the Clerk, U.S. House of Representatives, roll-call vote records · data current to Oct 3, 2026 · loaded Oct 3, 2026 · license: Public domain (U.S. Government work, 17 U.S.C. § 105)
  • Senate roll-call votes and DW-NOMINATE scores (Voteview (UCLA Department of Political Science))Lewis, Jeffrey B., Keith Poole, Howard Rosenthal, Adam Boche, Aaron Rudkin, and Luke Sonnet (2026). Voteview: Congressional Roll-Call Votes Database. https://voteview.com/ · data current to Oct 3, 2026 · loaded Oct 3, 2026 · license: Free to use with the required citation
  • Lobbying disclosures (LD-1 registrations, LD-2 quarterly reports, LD-203 contribution reports) (Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives)Clerk of the House, Lobbying Disclosure Act filings (organizations only; lobbyists' names are not loaded) · data current to Oct 9, 2026 · loaded Oct 9, 2026 · license: Public domain (U.S. Government work, 17 U.S.C. § 105)
  • Positions are shown only where a roll call recorded them; voice votes and unanimous consent record none.
  • Money and votes are shown side by side; neither explains the other.