S. 490 (119th)Bill Overview

Protecting Americans’ Privacy Act of 2025

Taxation|Taxation
Cosponsors
Support
Democratic
Introduced
Feb 6, 2025
Discussions
Bill Text
Current stageCommittee

Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance. (text: CR S796-797)

Introduced
Committee
Floor
President
Law
Congressional Activities
01 · The brief
Plain-English summaryWhat this bill actually does

<p><strong>Protecting Americans’ Privacy Act of 2025</strong></p><p>This bill makes it unlawful for certain individuals to access or exercise administrative control over any Department of the Treasury public money receipt or payment system. The bill also makes it unlawful to disclose return or return information to certain individuals by means of access to such Treasury system.</p><p>Under the bill, it is unlawful for an individual to knowingly access or exercise administrative control over any Treasury (including the Bureau of Fiscal Service) public money receipt or payment system if the individual is</p><ul><li>not a federal employee or federal contractor (with at least one year of continuous service);</li><li>a federal employee who holds a certain position within or is the board member of a business, organization, or institution;</li><li>in a civil service position for less than one year (continuously); or</li><li>an employee who meets certain other requirements and who has a conflict of interest or has not signed a written ethics agreement.</li></ul><p>The bill also makes it unlawful to (1) facilitate access to or administrative control over any Treasury public money receipt or payment system to such individuals, or (2) disclose return or return information to such individuals by means of access to such Treasury system.</p><p>Finally, the bill provides that persons harmed by the unlawful access to such Treasury system may file a civil action for</p><ul><li>preliminary and other equitable or declaratory relief,</li><li>damages (the greater of $250,000&nbsp;or actual damages),</li><li>punitive damages, and</li><li>attorney’s fees and litigation costs.</li></ul>

Why people may split

The main political fault lines are not fully surfaced yet, so coalition durability is still unclear.

Watch point

The next hurdle is converting committee movement into a floor coalition.

<p><strong>Protecting Americans’ Privacy Act of 2025</strong></p><p>This bill makes it unlawful for certain individuals to access or exercise administrative control over any Department of the Treasury public money receipt or payment system.

The bill also makes it unlawful to disclose return or return information to certain individuals by means of access to such Treasury system.</p><p>Under the bill, it is unlawful for an individual to knowingly access or exercise administrative control over any Treasury (including the Bureau of Fiscal Service) public money receipt or payment system if the individual is</p><ul><li>not a federal employee or federal contractor (with at least one year of continuous service);</li><li>a federal employee who holds a certain position within or is the board member of a business, organization, or institution;</li><li>in a civil service position for less than one year (continuously); or</li><li>an employee who meets certain other requirements and who has a conflict of interest or has not signed a written ethics agreement.</li></ul><p>The bill also makes it unlawful to (1) facilitate access to or administrative control over any Treasury public money receipt or payment system to such individuals, or (2) disclose return or return information to such individuals by means of access to such Treasury system.</p><p>Finally, the bill provides that persons harmed by the unlawful access to such Treasury system may file a civil action for</p><ul><li>preliminary and other equitable or declaratory relief,</li><li>damages (the greater of $250,000&nbsp;or actual damages),</li><li>punitive damages, and</li><li>attorney’s fees and litigation costs.</li></ul>

Passage38/100

This bill has moved beyond introduction, but committee and floor dynamics still determine whether it can build durable support.

CredibilityPartial

How solid the drafting looks.

Contention62/100

The main political fault lines are not fully surfaced yet, so coalition durability is still unclear.

02 · What it does

Who stands to gain, and who may push back.

Likely benefits vs burdens0% / 100%
Likely helpedLikely burdened

These are examples from the analysis, not a ranked list of the most-affected groups.

Likely helped
  • No clear beneficiaries surfaced yet.
Likely burdened
  • No clear downsides surfaced yet.
03 · Why people split

Why the argument around this bill splits.

The main political fault lines are not fully surfaced yet, so coalition durability is still unclear.
Progressive

The main political fault lines are not fully surfaced yet, so coalition durability is still unclear.

Unclear
Centrist

The main political fault lines are not fully surfaced yet, so coalition durability is still unclear.

Unclear
Conservative

The main political fault lines are not fully surfaced yet, so coalition durability is still unclear.

Unclear
04 · Can it pass?

The path through Congress.

Introduced

Reached or meaningfully advanced

Committee

Reached or meaningfully advanced

Floor

Still ahead

President

Still ahead

Law

Still ahead

Passage likelihood38/100

This bill has moved beyond introduction, but committee and floor dynamics still determine whether it can build durable support.

Why this could stall
  • The next hurdle is converting committee movement into a floor coalition.
05 · Recent votes

Recent votes on the bill.

No vote history yet

The bill has not accumulated any surfaced votes yet.

06 · Go deeper

Go deeper than the headline read.

Included on this page

The main political fault lines are not fully surfaced yet, so coalition durability is still unclear.

This bill has moved beyond introduction, but committee and floor dynamics still determine whether it can build durable support.

Unlocked analysis

Pro readers get the full perspective split, passage barriers, legislative design review, stakeholder impact map, and lens-based policy tradeoff analysis for Protecting Americans’ Privacy Act of 2025.

Go beyond the headline summary with full stakeholder mapping, legislative design analysis, passage barriers, and lens-by-lens tradeoff breakdowns.

Perspective breakdownsPassage barriersLegislative design reviewStakeholder impact map
Open full analysis