Bill freezes tariffs on school supplies to keep prices stable.
S. 5339 — Back-to-School Supplies Affordability Act · Filed by Angela Alsobrooks (D-MD) · 6 cosponsors · Introduced Aug 6, 2026 · Referred to committee
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What it does
This bill stops tariffs on school supplies from rising. The freeze locks in prices from January 19, 2025. It covers notebooks, pens, backpacks, and keyboards. The Commerce Department picks which items count as school supplies. Congress can block those picks. The freeze does not cover certain trade tariffs.
Who it affects
Families, students, teachers, and schools benefit from stable prices. The bill limits the government's power to raise tariffs.
One thing to notice
The Commerce Department decides which items are school supplies without a fixed list. The freeze does not cover tariffs used to fight unfair trade.
From the analysis of the bill text, linked under Primary records below.
Where it stands
6 cosponsors: 6 Democrats.
- Aug 6, 2026 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in Senate”
- Aug 6, 2026 — Referred to Senate Committee on Finance · Congress.gov: “Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Words to know
- tariffs — Taxes the government puts on goods brought into the country.
- Commerce Department — The part of the government that handles trade and business rules.
- freeze — A rule that stops something from changing or going higher.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (4,036 characters) on Aug 20, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 14,707 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
As of — page rendered 2026-09-23.
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