HEADACHE Act

House Bill

H.R. 5536

119th Congress

HEADACHE Act

In Committee

Introduced:Sep 19, 2025

Primary Sponsor

Lizzie Fletcher

Representative

Democratic

TX-7

Cosponsors

16

Quick Stats

Policy Area

Government Operations and Politics

Summary

The Grant Transparency Act of 2023 requires federal agencies that award competitive grants to provide more details about how they evaluate and select grant applications. This includes explaining their rating systems, scoring methods, and other criteria used to assess applications.

Latest Action

Became Public Law No: 118-140.

SponsorLizzie Fletcher (D-TX)

Introduced9/19/2025

StatusReferred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.

ChamberHouse

Data from Congress.gov

See this page through your district lens

Enter ZIP to personalize representatives and vote context.

Stay on top of this issue

Subscribe for weekly bill and representative updates.

Vote Prediction

HEADACHE Act

The Grant Transparency Act of 2023 requires federal agencies that award competitive grants to provide more details about how they evaluate and select grant applications. This includes explaining their rating systems, scoring methods, and other criteria used to

Community Breakdown

Pass

0%

Fail

0%

0 predictions

The Grant Transparency Act of 2023 requires federal agencies that award competitive grants to provide more details about how they evaluate and select grant applications. This includes explaining their rating systems, scoring methods, and other criteria used to assess applications.

Bill Number: 5536
Sponsor: Lizzie Fletcher (D-TX)
Introduced: 9/19/2025
Status: Referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.
Policy Area: Government Operations and Politics

Data from Congress.gov

AI-generated summary

Fact Sheet

Title: HEADACHE Act
Bill Number: 5536
Sponsor: Lizzie Fletcher (D-TX)
Status: Referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.
Introduced: 9/19/2025
Summary: The Grant Transparency Act of 2023 requires federal agencies that award competitive grants to provide more details about how they evaluate and select grant applications. This includes explaining their rating systems, scoring methods, and other criteria used to assess applications.

Data from Congress.gov

AI Summary

Plain-English explanation of this bill

The Grant Transparency Act of 2023 requires federal agencies that award competitive grants to provide more details about how they evaluate and select grant applications. This includes explaining their rating systems, scoring methods, and other criteria used to assess applications.

Last updated: 12/29/2025

Official Summary

Congressional Research Service summary

Grant Transparency Act of 2023 This bill establishes transparency requirements for notices of funding opportunity in applications for competitive grants awarded by federal agencies, excluding the Government Accountability Office. Specifically, each notice of funding opportunity issued by an agency for a competitive grant must include <ul> <li>a description of any rating system and evaluation and selection criteria the agency uses to assess applications for the grant;</li> <li>a statement of whether the agency uses a weighted scoring method and a description of any such method that it uses for the grant, including the amount by which the agency weighs each criterion; and</li> <li>any other qualitative or quantitative merit-based approach the agency uses to evaluate an application for the grant.</li> </ul>

Key Points

Main provisions of the bill

Agencies must disclose the rating systems, evaluation criteria, and scoring methods they use to evaluate competitive grant applications.
Agencies must provide a description of any weighted scoring approaches they use and how much each criterion is weighted.
The bill applies to all competitive grant programs across the federal government, except for the Government Accountability Office.

How This Impacts Americans

Potential effects on citizens and communities

If passed, this bill would make the grant application process more transparent for organizations and individuals seeking federal funding. They would have a clearer understanding of how their applications will be assessed, allowing them to better prepare and compete for grants. This increased transparency could lead to more fair and equitable grant distributions across different regions and sectors.

Policy Areas

Primary Policy Area

Government Operations and Politics

Related Subjects

Government ethics and transparency, public corruption

Government information and archives

Scope & Jurisdiction

Jurisdiction Level

federal

Congressional Session

119th Congress

Citation Reference

5536, 119th Congress (2025). "HEADACHE Act". Source: Voter's Right Platform. https://votersright.org/bills/118-hr-5536

Public Opinions

Community submissions related to this bill.

Share your opinion

No public opinions yet. Be the first to submit one for this bill.

Related Bills in Government Operations and Politics

HRES 333

Recognizing the enduring cultural and historical significance of emancipation in the Nation's capital on the anniversary of President Abraham Lincoln's signing of the District of Columbia Compensated Emancipation Act, which established the "first freed" on April 16, 1862, and celebrating passage of the District of Columbia statehood bill in the House of Representatives.

Referred to the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.

HR 2847

Vote at Home Act of 2025

Referred to the Committee on House Administration, and in addition to the Committee on Oversight and

HR 2906

SERVICE Act

Referred to the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.

HR 2880

To provide employment protections for, and reinstatement of, certain probationary Federal career employees, and for other purposes.

Referred to the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, and in addition to the Committee on Ve