With an eye toward the November elections, the House decided to adjourn a week early for the annual August congressional recess on July 24, but not before passing a series of partisan bills. Just ahead of leaving DC, the House opted to advance the annual National Defense Authorization Act, a third budget reconciliation framework focused on military spending and support for farmers, and a pre-emptive FY 2027 Continuing Appropriations Resolution (CR) to keep the government open and operating until December 4 (past the start of the fiscal year and the mid-term elections).
The Senate is not expected to take up any of the recent House-passed bills. Rather, Senators are focused on advancing nominations, including leadership at the CDC, the Department of Labor, the Indian Health Service, and the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response at HHS. The Senate Appropriations Committee is also considering a request for supplemental appropriations to support the Pentagon, Agriculture, and some additional programs, but both chambers continue to express skepticism over the war in Iran and lack of mission goals. Notably, Senate appropriators have yet to reach bipartisan agreement on the balance between defense and non-defense spending to advance biparistanly any of the chambers’ twelve annual appropriations bills. If Senators do not act before their recess date (a week later than normal on August 7), they will need to use the brief September session to pass a CR and markup annual spending bills.
CCTS submitted a comment to OMB regarding the proposed rule to change how all non-defense grant and cooperative agreement funding is administered. Codification of mechanisms for rapid termination of grants and political review of funding decisions were broadly rebuked, not just by the healthcare community but all stakeholders. At least 50,000 (overwhelmingly negative) comments were submitted, clearly striking a nerve and sending a clear message to the administration that the proposal is bad politics. Moreover, the Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee sent a letter to OMB asking them to delay or modify the proposal, another clear message that if the White House does not deal with this then Congress will (much like indirect costs and multiyear funding).
Long-time Senator and appropriator Lindsey Gramahm passed away suddenly and his sister, Darline Graham (R-SC) was appointed to fill out his term and serve on his committees (though not Chair Budget). Senator, and appropriator, Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has also been absent from the Senate following a serious health scare. While this situation may impact calculations on some partisan issues, the appropriations bills are traditionally bipartisan in the Senate meaning that once there is an agreement the committee should be able to mark FY 2027 spending bills up with overwhelming support.
Written by: Dane Christiansen and Kira Flaherty, Washington Representatives (the Health and Medicine Counsel)