H.R. 5888: Helping Families Adopt Orphans Act

109th Congress · introduced 2006-07-25 · Immigration · Latest: Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary.

federal

Follow this bill, step by step

Where it came from: introduced 2006-07-25 · official record
Who proposed it: Rep. Wilson, Heather [R-NM-1] · what a sponsor is
What happened next: no floor votes in our records yet. Why?
Where it stands now: Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary. Not final yet: this can still change. We check for updates every day.
If it becomes law and spends money: follow the money to money laws, then agencies and contracts and grants.

What does this mean?

Official title

Helping Families Adopt Orphans Act

Plain summary

Helping Families Adopt Orphans Act - Directs the Secretary of Homeland Security to ensure that any "covered individual" (an individual whose Application for Advanced Processing of Orphan Petition was approved on or after January 1, 2005) may file a Petition to Classify Orphan as an Immediate Relative for at least two years after the approval of the individual's application. Prohibits the Secretary from requiring: (1) a covered individual who files a timely petition to pay any fees or complete any requirements already paid or completed in conjunction with the application or contingent on the amount of time that elapses between the application's approval and the petition's filing; and (2) any person who was a covered individual on this Act's enactment date from paying any fee for the timely filing of a petition unless that fee was required at the time the application was approved.

Congressional Research Service summary (Introduced in House), quoted unchanged (nonpartisan). Read the source.

What a vote does

A “Yea” vote

If it passes both chambers and is signed, it becomes law.

A “Nay” vote

If it is not passed, current law stays as it is.

PSI Sci description of the legislative step (not an opinion).

What does this mean? (plain words)

Official text

Helping Families Adopt Orphans Act

Source: Congressional Research Service summary (Introduced in House)

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The strongest published arguments

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Alternatives

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How did my representative vote? · This bill's floor votes

Officials and money

Sponsor: Rep. Wilson, Heather [R-NM-1] · 50 cosponsors

Cost estimate: No cost estimate published yet.

Cosponsors on this site

Ken Calvert (R-CA), Bernard Sanders (I-VT), Robert B. Aderholt (R-AL), Michael T. McCaul (R-TX), Jerry Moran (R-KS), Gwen Moore (D-WI), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD)

No linked floor roll calls in our collected records yet. This does not mean the bill has never had a vote. Check the official bill history.

Words on this page, explained (1)

Securities: Financial investments that can be bought and sold, such as stocks and bonds.

Plain meanings written from linked sources. All words.

Sources

Congressional Research Service summary (Introduced in House)
Congress.gov
Data: GovInfo BILLSTATUS bulk data (Library of Congress), BILLSTATUS-109hr5888.xml <https://www.govinfo.gov/bulkdata/BILLSTATUS/109/hr>

Record fed-us-cong109-hr5888 · catalog fed-us-congress-bills-cong109 · updated 2026-11-15 by psicol fed-bills-cong109