Closing the De Minimis Loophole Act
Latest action. Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.
Closing the De Minimis Loophole Act
This bill immediately terminates de minimis treatment for goods originating in China and phases out such treatment for goods originating from all other countries. (Current law allows for U.S. imports under a de minimis threshold of $800 per shipment to enter free of tariffs, fees, and taxes.)
Specifically, de minimis treatment ends (1) with respect to goods from China, beginning on the bill's enactment date (with an exception for goods already loaded onto a vessel or in transit during the three-day period that ends on the enactment date); and (2) with respect to goods from any other country, 120 days after the bill's enactment.
During the 120-day period beginning on the date of the bill's enactment, the Department of the Treasury must carry out a rulemaking process. Among other elements, the rulemaking process must ensure that data requirements and entry procedures for informal modes of entry are sufficient to ensure the effective enforcement of U.S. laws and the efficient and accurate collection of duties, fees, and taxes.
The bill directs Treasury, in the case of shipments sent through the international postal network, to determine appropriate fees and procedures to ensure consistency between the treatment of shipments by the U.S. Postal Service and other shipments.
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Introduced in Senate" stage on May 22, 2025. It describes the bill, it is not the legal text.
Where is it in the process, and what happens next?
4 steps remain before this bill could become law.
The record's latest action, on May 22, 2025: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.
- Clearing the committees it was referred to, and being scheduled for a floor vote
- Passage by the Senate
- Passage by the House
- The President's signature. If the President vetoes it, two-thirds of both chambers must vote to override.
How likely is it to become law?
Civibrief does not forecast outcomes and this page has no opinion about this one. What the record supports is a base rate, which is a fact about the whole pile, not a prediction about this measure.
In the 118th Congress (2023-24), 274 of the 16,565 bills and joint resolutions introduced became law, about 1.7 percent. That count covers every measure at every stage, including the many that never left committee.
This one is not there yet: 4 steps are still outstanding, listed above.
Has anyone actually voted on it?
No. No roll call in this Congress cites this measure. That is the ordinary outcome: most measures never reach a recorded floor vote, and a committee ends most of them simply by not acting.
A vote is not the only thing that happens to a measure. Hearings, markups, and referrals are all recorded actions, and none of them is a vote of the full chamber.
Who is behind it?
Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) introduced it on May 22, 2025, and 1 member has since signed on as a cosponsor.
They are 1 Republican.
Cosponsoring is a formal signature on the text. It is not a commitment to vote for the measure, it does not bind anyone's party, and a long list of cosponsors is a measure of attention rather than of prospects.
How long has it been in play?
It was introduced on May 22, 2025, 476 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 476 days ago, on May 22, 2025.
Measures do not carry over. Anything the 119th Congress has not finished by January 3, 2027 dies when the term ends, and has to be introduced again from the start in the next Congress.
Every answer above is assembled from this measure's own record on Congress.gov and from published counts of what Congress has passed before. Civibrief does not predict outcomes and takes no position on any measure.
Vote history
- SenateIn committee, no floor vote yet
- HouseAwaits Senate passage
- PresidentAwaits both chambers