The 119^th Congress adjourned in mid-December, concluding its first session. Lawmakers were working to address rising healthcare costs, but after voting down competing partisan proposals in the Senate, no further action was taken. With members of the House under extreme pressure from constituents, a coalition of Democratic and Republican lawmakers sought to extend expiring premium tax credits, ultimately though, the House opted to pass a partisan (and hastily assembled) Republican health plan instead. Before adjourning, the Senate indicated it had no intention of considering the House-passed bill.

With a lack of progress on healthcare costs, the Senate considered and passed the Fiscal Year (FY) 2026 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). Notably, the NDAA authorizes defense funding, continues to support activities in Ukraine, and tightens the congressional reins over the DoD following congressional scrutiny of military activity in the Caribbean. The Senate also confirmed some outstanding nominees before half-heartedly attempting to pass a five-bill minibus package comprised of some FY 2026 appropriations bills. The package that was only briefly considered included the annual funding bills for Defense, Labor-HHS-Education, Commerce-Justice-Science, and Transportation-Housing-Urban Development.

Congress will reconvene on January 5 for its second session, and lawmakers will have until January 30 to pass the nine outstanding annual spending bills. Appropriators continue to express their belief that they are very close to concluding the FY 2026 funding cycle and will move on to FY 2027 when the President’s next Budget Request is released in early February. The debate over healthcare costs and health policy may continue over the entire year as legislators balance a new focus on “affordability” with ongoing efforts to reach consensus on PBM reform and 340B reform while passing a number of overdue patient care bills.

We encourage the community to actively participate in advocacy activities focused on research funding and government non-interference in research in 2026 and in the meantime we wish everyone a Happy New Year.

By: Dane Christiansen and Kira Flaherty, Washington Representatives (the Health and Medicine Counsel)