Clergy Act

Sponsored by Rep. Vince Fong (R-CA) · 21 active

Latest action: Passed Senate without amendment by Unanimous Consent. (consideration: CR S5298)

Read the summary

Where it standsBefore the House

Passed both chambers, awaiting the President

House: passedApr 27, 2026
Senate: passedSep 30, 2026
President: Awaiting action

0 representatives score as swing votes

Summary

, via Congress.gov

Summary on Congress.gov

Clergy Act

This bill establishes a two-year window for certain members of the clergy and Christian Science practitioners to revoke their exemption from Social Security and Medicare taxes on ministerial earnings. Under current law, such individuals who object to participation in public insurance programs on religious or conscientious grounds may apply to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) for an irrevocable exemption and will not receive Social Security or Medicare benefits in retirement unless they have qualifying credits from other employment.

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The IRS must develop a plan to inform members of the clergy and Christian Science practitioners of their eligibility to revoke prior exemptions, pursuant to the bill's changes.

Committees and subjects

Committees

House Committee on Ways and Means · HouseReported by · Markup by · Referred to
Senate Committee on Finance · SenateDischarged from · Referred to

Subjects

Congressional oversight
Income tax exclusion
Religion
Social security and elderly assistance
Tax administration and collection, taxpayers

Senate · 0 House · 0

Model

v3defaultv2

Directional: count only breaks toward the other party Why do scores change?

No swing scores for the House yet

Scores appear after the analytics job has scored this bill.

Similar past votes, House

Earlier behind swing-v3’s input

Not applicable in the House. There is not enough similar voting history (weight 1.5 of 5.0 needed), so this input is left out of the score rather than counted as missing.

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FailedSame policy area×0.5
H.R. 82 · Nov 12, 2024 · Roll call 1174On Motion to Suspend the Rules and PassSocial Security Fairness Act
PassedSame policy area×0.5

Cosponsors

21 active

Show all 21 cosponsors

Mike Kelly (R-PA-16)
Mike Thompson (D-CA-4)
Darin LaHood (R-IL-16)
Juan Ciscomani (R-AZ-6)
Suzan K. DelBene (D-WA-1)
Lloyd Smucker (R-PA-11)
Rudy Yakym (R-IN-2)
Adrian Smith (R-NE-3)
Ron Estes (R-KS-4)
Mike Carey (R-OH-15)
Nathaniel Moran (R-TX-1)
Gus M. Bilirakis (R-FL-12)
Claudia Tenney (R-NY-24)
Gregory F. Murphy (R-NC-3)
Jimmy Panetta (D-CA-19)
Beth Van Duyne (R-TX-24)
Julia Letlow (R-LA-5)
Jim Costa (D-CA-21)
Thomas R. Suozzi (D-NY-3)
Danny K. Davis (D-IL-7)
Brian K. Fitzpatrick (R-PA-1)

How the swing score works

Ideology gapHow far a member’s DW-NOMINATE voting score sits from their party’s median in the same chamber.

Scorecard gapHow far their Heritage Action and LCV ratings stray from their party’s average, using the groups’ votes on similar bills where available.

Cross-pressureHow strongly their district or state leans toward the other party, from our own computed partisan lean.

Similar votesHow often they voted against their own party on earlier roll calls about this bill or similar ones.

Committee bonusMembers of the committees handling the bill decide whether it moves, so they get a boost.

Cosponsor checkThe sponsor and active cosponsors have already committed, so they drop toward entrenched.