Advocacy

News from the Hill: June 26, 2025

Congress has begun marking up bills for the Fiscal Year (FY) 2026 appropriations process. True to form, the House is moving on bills before the Senate and has started with the easier bills while planning to progress to more difficult bills later. The House Appropriations Committee is currently scheduled to mark up its Labor-HHS-Education measure (which provides funding for NIH, ARPA-, CDC etc) on July 24, just ahead of the August recess. Thus far, the House Appropriations Committee has considered the Veterans Affairs, and related agencies (MilCon-VA) and the Department of Defense (DoD). The Committee paused the markup for agriculture, rural development, the Food and Drug Administration, and related agencies (Ag-FDA) before fully approving the measure on June 24. The House bills provide relatively stable funding and advance some emerging administration priorities (a summary of key provisions is included below).

  • The FY 2026 House MilCon-VA Appropriations Bill, corresponding Committee Report, and additional information can be found here.
  • The FY2026 House Ag-FDA Appropriations Bill, corresponding Committee Report, and additional information can be found here.
  • The FY 2026 DoD Appropriations Bill, corresponding Committee Report, and additional information can be found here.

MilCon-VA

  • $124.17 billion for the Veterans Health Administration, a reduction of $8.36 billion from FY 2025. 
    • $943 million for the VA Medical and Prosthetic Research Program, level-funded from FY 2025.

Ag-FDA

  • $3.2 billion in discretionary funding for the FDA, a decrease of $1.5 million from FY 2025.
    • $1.54 billion in Prescription Drug User Fees, an increase of $121.63 million over FY 2025.
    • $445.81 million in Medical Device User Fees, an increase of $83.43 million over FY 2025.
    • $665.44 million in Human Generic Drug User Fees, an increase of $51.9 million over FY 2025.
    • $55.73 million in Biosimilar Biological Products User Fees, an increase of $24.62 million over FY 2025.
    • $712 million in Tobacco Products User Fees, level-funded from FY 2025.
    • $9.48 million for the Priority Review Vouchers, Pediatric Diseases Program, an increase of $993 thousand over FY 2025.

DoD

  • $40.92 billion for the Defense Health Program, a reduction of $532.11 million from FY 2025.
    • $700 million for the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program, an increase of $50 million over FY 2025 (but notably less than the traditional, FY 2024 funding level of $1.5 billion before it was cut through the current CR).

Meanwhile, the Senate is still considering a path forward on H.R. 1, the One Bill Beautiful Bill Act or Budget Reconciliation. Lawmakers are still working to balance tax cuts with reduced entitlement spending. Right now, positive patient care proposals are in the mix such as Medicare Physician Reimbursement, the Accelerating Kids Access to Care Act, and the Orphan Cures Act. Concerningly, proposals jeopardizing coverage, access, and patient care are also being debated including reducing Medicaid and SNAP benefits, and capping student loans for medical school students. Congress is prioritizing advancing appropriations and finalizing H.R.1 ahead of the August congressional recess.

 

By: Dane Christiansen, Washington Representative (the Health and Medicine Counsel)