YourVoice.Now Summary
Civil LibertiesTransparency & AccountabilityDozens of federal laws would swap “mentally retarded” for “intellectual disability” — coverage and benefits would stay the same.
Civil Liberties
A 1980 law lets the government sue over abuse in state-run institutions. Its list of covered residents would drop the word “handicapped” and narrow “disabled” to physical or intellectual. The bill’s last section says no change in coverage is intended.
Transparency & Accountability
Federal rules are full of the old terms. When an agency rewrites one, the new rule would have to state plainly that “intellectual disability” was once called “mental retardation.” That keeps old and new rules easy to match up.
More about this bill
Nothing about who gets care or benefits would change. What changes is the words federal law uses. The terms “mentally retarded” and “mental retardation” still sit in dozens of laws. Each one would be swapped for “intellectual disability” or a phrase naming people who have one. The swaps reach across daily life. Medicaid, nursing home rules, school lunch law, and military family health care all use the old terms. So do Indian health law, crime grant programs, and the federal death penalty law. Group homes long known as intermediate care facilities would be renamed. The last section says the change is not meant to alter coverage, rights, or duties. States would not be forced to rename anything in their own laws. Until an agency rewrites a rule, the old words in that rule would read as the new ones. When an agency does rewrite one, it must say which old term the new one replaced. Two edits go past a plain word swap. One old planning grant program would change its stated goal. It would shift from fighting the condition to meeting people’s needs. And a 1980 law on abuse in state homes would drop the word “handicapped” from its list of covered residents.
Congressional Summary
Words Matter Act of 2025This bill removes outdated terminology in specified statutes by replacing references to mentally retarded and mental retardation with intellectual disability.
Legislative Subjects
Details
- Congress
- 119th
- Chamber
- House
- Status
- summarized
- Action
- Introduced in House
- Action Date
- 2025-05-15
- Date Added
- 2026-08-27
- Source
- Congress.gov →
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