<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><BillSummaries>
    <item congress="119" measure-type="hr" measure-number="1660" measure-id="id119hr1660" originChamber="HOUSE" orig-publish-date="2025-02-27" update-date="2025-05-08">
        <title>BEST Act</title>
        <summary summary-id="id119hr1660v00" currentChamber="HOUSE" update-date="2025-05-08">
            <action-date>2025-02-27</action-date>
            <action-desc>Introduced in House</action-desc>
            <summary-text><![CDATA[<p><strong>Biliteracy Education Seal and Teaching Act or the BEST Act</strong></p><p>This bill directs the Department of Education to award renewable two-year grants to states to establish or improve, and carry out, Seal of Biliteracy programs and early language programs&nbsp;to recognize student proficiency in both English and a second language. Student proficiency shall be demonstrated through proficiency in speaking and writing in both languages and may also be demonstrated through reading and listening in both languages.&nbsp; &nbsp;</p><p>Further, these programs must allow speakers of any official Native American language to use equivalent proficiency in speaking, reading, and writing in such language in lieu of proficiency in English.</p>]]></summary-text>
        </summary>
    </item>
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        <dc:language>EN</dc:language>
        <dc:rights>Pursuant to Title 17 Section 105 of the United States Code, this file is not subject to copyright protection and is in the public domain.</dc:rights>
        <dc:contributor>Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress</dc:contributor>
        <dc:description>This file contains bill summaries for federal legislation. A bill summary describes the most significant provisions of a piece of legislation and details the effects the legislative text may have on current law and federal programs. Bill summaries are authored by the Congressional Research Service (CRS) of the Library of Congress. As stated in Public Law 91-510 (2 USC 166 (d)(6)), one of the duties of CRS is "to prepare summaries and digests of bills and resolutions of a public general nature introduced in the Senate or House of Representatives". For more information, refer to the User Guide that accompanies this file.</dc:description>
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