S 2841

Introduced

CIVICS Act of 2025

To amend the American History and Civics Education program under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to require hands-on civic engagement activities for teachers and students and programs that educate students about the history and principles of the Constitution of the United States, including the Bill of Rights.

Introduced Sep 17, 2025

Latest action (Mar 19, 2026) Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. Hearings held.

Referred to

Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee

Policy area

Education

Issues

Education

Legislative subjects (3)

Civics education Elementary and secondary education Teaching, teachers, curricula

Summary

This bill amends the American History and Civics Education program to modify requirements for federally-funded civics and history education activities in elementary and secondary schools. Programs and activities receiving funding would need to include hands-on civic engagement activities for both teachers and students. Funded programs would also be required to include educational content about the history and principles of the Constitution and Bill of Rights. The bill emphasizes innovation, scalability, and accountability, with particular focus on serving underserved populations.

AI-generated plain-language summary of the bill text — neutral, and may be imperfect. See the full text below for the exact wording.

Sponsor (1)

Sen. King, Angus S., Jr. [I-ME] (I-ME)

5 cosponsors

Actions (3)

Mar 19, 2026 Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. Hearings held. · senate
Sep 17, 2025 Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. · senate
Sep 17, 2025 Introduced in Senate

More bills on these subjects (8)

Other bills that carry the most legislative subjects in common with this one (topical discovery — distinct from the procedural related bills above).

Similar bills (6)

Bills with similar text or summary — includes reintroductions across Congresses. Ranked by semantic similarity of the bill text (computed locally); a neutral discovery aid, not a claim the bills are duplicates.

Committee action

What happened to this bill in committee — the meetings where it was considered and every recorded vote taken on it.

Meetings where this bill was on the agenda

Member Day to examine S.297, to amend title XXVII of the Public Health Service Act to require group health plans and health insurance issuers offering group or individual health insurance coverage to provide coverage for prostate cancer screenings without the imposition of cost-sharing requirements, S.380, to improve obstetric emergency care, S.547, to require the Secretary of Health and Human Services and the Secretary of Labor to conduct a study and issue a report on grant programs to support the nursing workforce, S.846, to implement or strengthen programs that increase the supply of quality child care services by enhancing the wages of child care workers, S.864, to amend title XXVII of the Public Health Service Act to apply financial assistance towards the cost-sharing requirements of health insurance plans, S.880, to amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to prohibit institutions of higher education participating in Federal student assistance programs from giving preferential treatment in the admissions process to legacy students or donors, S.942, to amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to provide for interest-free deferment on student loans for borrowers serving in a medical or dental internship or residency program, S.1269, to promote United States leadership in technical standards by directing the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the Department of State to take certain actions to encourage and enable United States participation in developing standards and specifications for artificial intelligence and other critical and emerging technologies, S.1380, to amend the Public Health Service Act to authorize a loan repayment program to encourage specialty medicine physicians to serve in rural communities experiencing a shortage of specialty medicine physicians, S.1387, to authorize the National Biotechnology Initiative, S.1482, to amend the Public Health Service Act to support and stabilize the existing nursing workforce, establish programs to increase the number of nurses, S.1677, to provide health insurance benefits for outpatient and inpatient items and services related to the diagnosis and treatment of a congenital anomaly or birth defect, S.1756, to amend the Public Health Service Act to prohibit discrimination against health care entities that do not participate in abortion, and to strengthen implementation and enforcement of Federal conscience laws, S.1784, to improve coordination of Federal efforts to identify and mitigate health and national security risks through maintaining a list of essential medicines, conducting a risk assessment of essential medicine supply chains, and creating a monitoring system to map essential medicine supply chains using data analytics, S.1813, to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to allow a credit against tax for charitable donations for the creation or expansion of charter schools, S.1830, to clarify that agencies of the Department of Health and Human Services do not have the authority to regulate the practice of medicine, S.2287, to amend the Public Health Service Act to increase the number of permanent faculty in palliative care at accredited allopathic and osteopathic medical schools, nursing schools, and other programs, including social work, physician assistant, and chaplaincy education programs, to promote education and research in palliative care and hospice, and to support the development of faculty careers in academic palliative and hospice care, S.2289, to amend titles XIX and XXI of the Social Security Act to improve maternal health coverage under Medicaid and CHIP, S.2323, to amend the Head Start Act to permit some teachers in Early Head Start programs to teach while earning a child development associate credential, S.2355, to amend the Public Health Service Act to provide for hospital and insurer price transparency, S.2531, to authorize the Secretary of Health and Human Services to award grants to increase early detection of and intervention for uterine fibroids, S.2658, to require sponsors of drug applications and holders of approved applications to provide certain submissions and communications to the Food and Drug Administration and the United States Patent and Trademark Office, S.2699, to amend the Public Health Service Act to reauthorize certain education and training programs relating to geriatrics, S.2762, to establish a commission on long-term care, S.2826, to direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services to dedicate sufficient resources for the support of LGBTQ+ youth seeking help from the 9-8-8 suicide prevention hotline, S.2828, to amend the Child Care and Development Block Grant Act of 1990 to reauthorize and update the Act, S.2833, to amend the Older Americans Act of 1965 to improve falls prevention research and activities, S.2841, to amend the American History and Civics Education program under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to require hands-on civic engagement activities for teachersHealth, Education, Labor, and Pensions CommitteeMar 19, 2026Business meeting

Full text

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

September 17 (legislative day, September 16), 2025

Mr. King (for himself, Mr. Lankford, Mr. Wicker, and Mr. Kaine) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions

A BILL

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the “Constitution and Civics Education Is Valuable In Community Schools Act of 2025” or the “CIVICS Act of 2025”.

SEC. 2. NATIONAL ACTIVITIES.

Section 2233(b) of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6663(b)) is amended—

(1) in the matter preceding paragraph (1), by inserting “shall” after “, which”; and

(2) by striking paragraphs (1) and (2) and inserting the following:

“(1) show potential to improve the quality of student achievement in, and teaching of, American history, civics and government, or geography, in elementary schools and secondary schools;

“(2) demonstrate innovation, scalability, accountability, and a focus on underserved populations;

“(3) include hands-on civic engagement activities for teachers and students; and

“(4) include programs that educate students about the history and principles of the Constitution of the United States, including the Bill of Rights.”. <all>

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