Year-End Newsletter: Legislative Claims vs. Congressional Record

Legislative Process / Transparency Source: Weekly Update from Congressman Nick Langworthy

Statement

Source: Weekly Update from Congressman Nick Langworthy, December 28, 2025 Distribution: Mass email newsletter to constituents

Langworthy’s year-end newsletter states:

“In 2025, I focused on advancing key energy and infrastructure legislation to strengthen New York, protect consumer choice, and keep costs down for families. Three of my bills were reported out of committee and are awaiting consideration on the House floor:”

The newsletter then lists three bills:

  1. Energy Choice Act
  2. Reliable Federal Infrastructure Act
  3. State Energy Accountability Act

The Congressional Record

Energy Choice Act (H.R. 3699):

  • Introduced: June 4, 2025
  • Passed Energy Subcommittee: ~November 2025
  • Passed Energy and Commerce Committee: December 3, 2025
  • Current status: ✅ Awaiting House floor vote
  • Cosponsors: 147 (bipartisan)
  • Committee vote: 24-21
  • ACCURATE

State Energy Accountability Act (H.R. 3157):

  • Introduced: May 1, 2025
  • Reported by Energy and Commerce Committee: September 17, 2025
  • Committee Report: H. Rept. 119-301
  • Current status: ✅ Placed on Union Calendar No. 255, awaiting floor vote
  • Cosponsors: 2
  • ACCURATE

Reliable Federal Infrastructure Act (H.R. 4690):

  • Introduced: July 23, 2025
  • Referred to: Energy and Commerce Committee AND Transportation and Infrastructure Committee
  • Current status: ❌ Still in first stage of legislative process
  • Committee action: NONE - has NOT been reported out
  • Cosponsors: 6 (original)
  • INACCURATE

The Problem

The claim: “Three of my bills were reported out of committee”

The reality: Only TWO bills have been reported out of committee.

The Reliable Federal Infrastructure Act has NOT passed committee. According to Congress.gov, GovTrack, and TrackBill, H.R. 4690 remains “in the first stage of the legislative process” and was simply “referred to committee” on July 23, 2025. There is no record of:

  • Subcommittee markup
  • Full committee markup
  • Committee vote
  • Committee report
  • Calendar placement

The bill is still sitting in committee more than five months after introduction.

Additional Context: The Pattern

This is not the first time Langworthy has claimed legislative success prematurely:

Farm Bill “Victory” (May 2024):

  • Claimed “major victory” when Farm Bill passed committee
  • Bill never received House floor vote
  • All provisions died when 118th Congress ended
  • Six months later, blamed Democrats for lack of floor vote

Current Situation:

  • Energy Choice Act: Actually passed committee ✅
  • State Energy Accountability Act: Actually passed committee ✅
  • Reliable Federal Infrastructure Act: Still in committee ❌

The newsletter overstates accomplishments by including a bill that hasn’t cleared the committee process.

Why This Matters

Transparency: Constituents deserve accurate information about legislative progress.

Pattern of overstatement: Claiming “three bills” when only two have passed committee inflates achievements.

Committee passage ≠ Law: Even bills that DO pass committee rarely become law:

  • GovTrack estimates H.R. 3699 has 5% chance of enactment
  • GovTrack estimates H.R. 3157 has 4% chance of enactment
  • GovTrack estimates H.R. 4690 has 1% chance of enactment

Committee passage is only one step in a multi-stage process. In the 118th Congress, only 2% of introduced bills became law.

Other Newsletter Claims to Note

“$50 Billion Invested Into Rural Healthcare”

The newsletter graphic claims “$50 billion invested into rural healthcare” as an accomplishment.

Context from existing fact-checks:

  • H.R. 1 (OBBBA) included Rural Hospital Tax Credit Program (RHTCP)
  • RHTCP provides $14B in tax credits over 10 years
  • This offsets only 37% of the $911B in Medicaid cuts from same bill
  • NY-23 rural hospitals depend heavily on Medicaid for operating revenue
  • Net effect: massive funding cut to rural healthcare, not “$50B investment”

The newsletter does not mention the $911B Medicaid cut or that the “rural healthcare” provision is a tax credit offsetting a fraction of cuts.

“Tax Cuts for Senior Citizens”

Newsletter claims tax relief for seniors as accomplishment.

Context from existing fact-checks:

  • Social Security deduction ($6,000 for 65+) with income limits
  • Not elimination of tax, contrary to “88% will no longer pay” rhetoric
  • 64% of seniors already paid no tax before this law
  • Provision expires December 31, 2028 (temporary)
  • Same bill cut $911B from Medicaid, affecting dually eligible seniors

“184,511 Messages Responded To”

Newsletter highlights volume: “137,224 emails, 28,955 messages, 18,332 phone calls”

Context from existing documentation:

  • Rescissions Act constituent: 75 days from message to response, 6 days after bill became law
  • Epstein files constituent: Response after vote already cast
  • Both responses were form letters with tracking codes
  • Promise to “keep thoughts in mind” after decisions already made

High volume does not equal timely or meaningful engagement.

“$36,363,534.80 Recovered for Constituents”

Newsletter claims “$36M+ recovered” and “1,323 cases resolved” in casework.

What this means: This likely refers to standard congressional casework - helping constituents navigate federal agencies for delayed benefits, IRS refunds, VA claims, Social Security issues, etc. This is normal constituent services that all congressional offices provide.

Questions:

  • How does this compare to other representatives of similar district size?
  • Does this represent extraordinary performance or typical casework?
  • Is casework responsiveness addressing the documented correspondence delays?

Without comparative data, it’s unclear if these numbers represent exceptional service or baseline performance.

Questions The Newsletter Raises

  1. Why claim three bills passed committee when only two have?

  2. Why not mention that committee passage is only one step? None of these bills are law. None have passed the House floor. None have even been scheduled for floor votes.

  3. Why emphasize “$50B rural healthcare” without mentioning $911B Medicaid cuts?

  4. Why highlight message volume without addressing documented 75+ day response times?

  5. Is the “$36M recovered” extraordinary or typical for a congressional office?

The Bigger Picture: Committee Passage Is Not Victory

Legislative Reality:

  • 2% of bills became law in 118th Congress
  • Committee passage ≠ floor vote
  • Floor vote ≠ Senate passage
  • Senate passage ≠ presidential signature

GovTrack Probability Estimates:

  • Energy Choice Act: 5% chance of enactment
  • State Energy Accountability Act: 4% chance of enactment
  • Reliable Federal Infrastructure Act: 1% chance of enactment (hasn’t even passed committee)

Historical Example:

  • 2024 Farm Bill passed Agriculture Committee (33-21)
  • Langworthy claimed “major victory” and provisions “secured”
  • Bill never received floor vote
  • All provisions died January 3, 2025
  • Six Langworthy bills never became law

Visual Summary

Newsletter Claim vs. Congressional Record

BillLangworthy ClaimsActual StatusAccurate?
Energy Choice Act (H.R. 3699)Reported out of committeePassed committee Dec 3, awaiting floor✅ YES
State Energy Accountability Act (H.R. 3157)Reported out of committeeReported Sept 17, on calendar✅ YES
Reliable Federal Infrastructure Act (H.R. 4690)Reported out of committeeStill in committee, no action❌ NO

Summary: 2 out of 3 claims accurate. One bill falsely listed as having passed committee.

Committee Passage ≠ Becoming Law

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Only 2% of bills become law. Committee passage is an early step, not victory.

The Bottom Line

Two accomplishments overstated as three. While Langworthy legitimately advanced two bills out of committee (H.R. 3699 and H.R. 3157), the newsletter falsely claims the Reliable Federal Infrastructure Act also passed committee when congressional records show it’s still in the first stage of the legislative process with no committee action taken.

This pattern of premature victory claims mirrors the 2024 Farm Bill situation, where committee passage was celebrated as success only for the bill to die without a floor vote.

Committee passage is a procedural step, not a legislative achievement—and in this case, one of the three claimed “passages” didn’t even happen.

Sources

Legislative Status Verification:

  • Congress.gov bill tracking for H.R. 3699, H.R. 3157, H.R. 4690
  • GovTrack legislative status and probability analysis
  • TrackBill congressional monitoring
  • Committee markup records
  • Congressional calendars

Committee Passage Documentation:

  • H.R. 3699: Langworthy press release (Dec 3, 2025), Wellsville Sun (Dec 3, 2025)
  • H.R. 3157: Congress.gov action H. Rept. 119-301 (Sept 17, 2025)
  • H.R. 4690: No committee action documented (introduced July 23, 2025)

Newsletter Source:

  • Weekly Update from Congressman Nick Langworthy, December 28, 2025
  • Forwarded to LangworthyWatch, December 29, 2025
  • AM 1480 WLEA News coverage (Dec 29, 2025)

Cross-Reference:

  • See existing fact-checks on Farm Bill “Victory,” Social Security Tax claims, Medicaid cuts, Rural Hospital funding, Correspondence delays

Research contribution: Original research with legislative record verification

Note: This entry documents publicly available information from congressional records and official newsletter communications. Readers may draw their own conclusions.

Last updated: December 30, 2025 Verification: Congress.gov, GovTrack, committee records, press releases