Legislation· Oct 2026Sponsored by Vince Fong (R)
Clergy Act
Lets some clergy members and Christian Science practitioners cancel their exemption from and taxes.
Tradeoff
Lets clergy who opted out of and taxes opt back in, starting in 2029. Brings in about $82 million over ten years, mostly for and trust funds.
What's in it
Reduces the deficit by $29 million over 2026-2031 and $82 million over 2026-2036.
The $29-84 million is additional tax and payroll tax revenue collected from clergy who elect to pay self-employment taxes on ministerial earnings they previously exempted, with most of the revenue flowing to and trust funds.
The House passed this bill 350-5 on April 27, 2026. The Senate passed it by on September 30, 2026. It was then signed into law.
House
Introduced
(Jan 7, 2025)
House
Committee on Ways and Means(Jan 7, 2025)
House
The Committee on Ways and Means voted to send it to the floor
Reported 40 - 0(Dec 10, 2025)
Committee report H. Rept. 119-425.
House
On Motion to and Pass, as Amended
Passed(Roll #139 · Apr 27, 2026)
350 yeanay 5Senate
Received from the House
on Finance(Apr 28, 2026)
Senate
Passage of the bill
Passed by (Sep 30, 2026)
No individual votes were recorded.
Senate
Taken away from the Committee on Finance
Discharged(Sep 30, 2026)
House
Sent to the President
(Oct 15, 2026)
White House · Signature
Signed
Donald Trump (R)
Enacted
Became law(Oct 20, 2026)
- Mike Thompson (D-CA)
- Mike Kelly (R-PA)
- Juan Ciscomani (R-AZ)
- Darin LaHood (R-IL)
- Suzan K. DelBene (D-WA)
- Lloyd Smucker (R-PA)
- Rudy Yakym (R-IN)
- Ron Estes (R-KS)
- Adrian Smith (R-NE)
- Mike Carey (R-OH)
- Nathaniel Moran (R-TX)
- Gus M. Bilirakis (R-FL)
- Claudia Tenney (R-NY)
- Gregory F. Murphy (R-NC)
- Jimmy Panetta (D-CA)
- Beth Van Duyne (R-TX)
- Julia Letlow (R-LA)
- Jim Costa (D-CA)
- Thomas R. Suozzi (D-NY)
- Danny K. Davis (D-IL)
- Brian K. Fitzpatrick (R-PA)
Final passage· Apr 27, 2026· 119th Congress · 2025–2027