Senate staff can collect donations for charity during holidays.
S.Res. 497 — A resolution permitting the collection of clothing, toys, food, and housewares during the holiday season for charitable purposes in Senate buildings. · Filed by Jerry Moran (R-KS) · 1 cosponsor · Introduced Nov 10, 2025 · Passed chamber
Your members of Congress
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What it does
The Senate passed a rule for the holiday season. Senate members, officers, and workers can collect items from each other. They collect clothing, toys, food, and housewares. These items go to charities that help people in need or military families. The rule ends when the first session of the 119th Congress ends.
Who it affects
Senate members, officers, and workers can give items. Charities and the people they help may get the donations.
One thing to notice
This rule only lets Senate staff collect from each other. It does not require anyone to give anything.
From the analysis of the bill text, linked under Primary records below.
Where it stands
1 cosponsor: 1 Democrats.
- Nov 10, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in Senate”
- Nov 10, 2025 — Passed the Senate · Congress.gov: “Passed/agreed to in Senate: Submitted in the Senate, considered, and agreed to without amendment by Unanimous…”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Words to know
- Congress — The part of the U.S. government that makes laws.
- charities — Groups that give help or money to people in need.
- military families — Families of people who serve in the armed forces.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (1,737 characters) on Jul 5, 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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