Skip to main content
S. 490 119th Congress Senate

Protecting Americans’ Privacy Act of 2025

Official title: A bill to provide that unauthorized access to the central payment systems of the Bureau of the Fiscal Service is unlawful.

Introduced: February 6, 2025 Introduced by: Charles E. Schumer Democratic · New York See on congress.gov
Taxation
Sign in to write a letter Sign in to watch
 Everywhere this bill has been 2 steps
Introduced
In committee
Reported out
Passed House
Passed Senate
To President
Became law
Feb 6, 2025
Introduced in Senate
Feb 6, 2025
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance. (text: CR S796-797)
 Ask about this bill AI · grounded in the bill text

Have a question about what this bill does? Ask in plain English; the answer is drawn from the bill's actual text and official record, and it'll tell you when something isn't in the text rather than guess.

AI answers can be imperfect; always confirm against the full bill text.

What's happening now February 6, 2025

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

 Plain-English summary Congressional Research Service

Protecting Americans’ Privacy Act of 2025

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.

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

  • not a federal employee or federal contractor (with at least one year of continuous service);
  • a federal employee who holds a certain position within or is the board member of a business, organization, or institution;
  • in a civil service position for less than one year (continuously); or
  • an employee who meets certain other requirements and who has a conflict of interest or has not signed a written ethics agreement.

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.

Finally, the bill provides that persons harmed by the unlawful access to such Treasury system may file a civil action for

  • preliminary and other equitable or declaratory relief,
  • damages (the greater of $250,000 or actual damages),
  • punitive damages, and
  • attorney’s fees and litigation costs.
 Bill text 1 version

Source documents hosted by congress.gov.

 Committees of jurisdiction 1
 Lobbying activity 7

Registered lobbyists who named this bill in their disclosure filings. Source: federal Lobbying Disclosure Act filings.

Bodies those filers lobbied

A filing lists the bills it worked on and the parts of government it contacted in separate sections, so these are the bodies those filers named anywhere in the filing, not a per-bill breakdown.

See all 7 filings →
 Cosponsors 5
All 5 Democratic 5
D
Murray, Patty
Washington · Feb 6, 2025
 D
Peters, Gary C.
Michigan · Feb 6, 2025
 D
Warner, Mark R.
Virginia · Feb 6, 2025
 D
Warren, Elizabeth
Massachusetts · Feb 6, 2025
 D
Wyden, Ron
Oregon · Feb 6, 2025
Cite this page click to expand
APA
U.S. Congress. (2026). S. 490: Protecting Americans’ Privacy Act of 2025. 119th Congress. Open America. https://openamerica.io/bill/119-S-490/
MLA
"S. 490: Protecting Americans’ Privacy Act of 2025." 119th Congress, 2026, Open America, https://openamerica.io/bill/119-S-490/.
Bluebook (legal)
S. 490, 119th Cong. (2026), https://openamerica.io/bill/119-S-490/.
Markdown link
[S. 490: Protecting Americans’ Privacy Act of 2025](https://openamerica.io/bill/119-S-490/)
Report a problem