Congress narrows religious exemptions to civil rights law

What it does

This bill amends the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) of 1993 to carve out four categories of federal law from RFRA's religious exemption: anti-discrimination protections (Civil Rights Act, ADA, FMLA, VAWA), workplace protections (wages, benefits, collective action), child labor/abuse protections, and healthcare access. It also clarifies that RFRA applies only to disputes involving the government, not private-party litigation. The net effect: religious objections cannot override these federal protections, and individuals cannot use RFRA to sue other private citizens.

Why we flagged it

The bill's operative mechanism is to carve out federal civil rights, labor, child protection, and healthcare laws from RFRA's religious exemption framework. It is fundamentally a clarification and reinforcement of existing statutory protections, not a new entitlement or subsidy.

What the text implies

• Resolves a circuit split: some courts have held RFRA allows religious exemptions from anti-discrimination law (e.g., Little Sisters of the Poor v. HHS); this bill forecloses that interpretation by statutory amendment.
• Eliminates private RFRA litigation: the clarification in Section 3(b) that RFRA applies only to disputes 'to which a government is a party' bars citizens from suing each other under RFRA, reducing exposure for employers and service providers to religious-exemption claims from customers or employees.
• Affects religious employers and organizations: nonprofits, churches, and faith-based employers retain RFRA protections in many contexts but lose them when federal anti-discrimination, labor, or healthcare law is at stake—a significant narrowing of their exemption scope.

Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.

Who it affects

The bill protects ordinary citizens' statutory rights to non-discrimination, workplace protections, child safety, and healthcare access by preventing religious exemptions from overriding these federal laws. It also clarifies that RFRA does not create a private right of action between citizens, reducing frivolous litigation risk.

Named in the bill

Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993, Civil Rights Act of 1964, Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993, Violence Against Women Act of 1994, House Committee on the Judiciary

Where it stands

125 cosponsors: 125 Democrats.

• Mar 6, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
• Mar 6, 2025 — Referred to House Committee on the Judiciary · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary”

Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.

Money around this bill

3 lobbying clients named this bill on 4 disclosure filings across 2 quarters, Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $529,908 in lobbying spend. A filing names 117 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.

More lobbying clients named this bill than 61% of bills with at least one filing.

Bobby Scott, the sponsor, reported $326,700 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.

• Human Rights Campaign — $439,908 on 2 filings
• Americans United for Separation of Church and State — $80,000 on 1 filing
• National Council of Jewish Women — $10,000 on 1 filing

Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 20, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.