Congress managed to narrowly pass H.R.1, the Big Beautiful Bill Act, sending the bill to the President’s desk for a July 4 signing ceremony. H.R. 1 used a mechanism known as budget reconciliation, which meant that it could pass with a simple majority, but also that it could only include provisions relevant to taxes and spending on entitlement programs (like Medicaid and SNAP). Ultimately, the measure included the fix for Medicare physician reimbursement, telehealth provisions, and the Kids Access to Care Act, but restructured and restricted Medicaid benefits. The final analysis from the Congressional Budget Office said that the bill would create 10 million uninsured while adding $3.4 trillion to the national debt.
Congressional Republicans followed up on H.R.1 by enacting another administration priority, a recission package focused on clawing back FY 2025 funding for foreign aid programs and public broadcasting. The final package rested on a demand from Senate appropriators to carve out global health funding and maintain support for tribal broadcasters. The White House has indicated they are preparing a subsequent recission package focused on funding for the Department of Education, but any action will need to take place before the fiscal year ends on September 30.
Before adjourning for the August recess, both the House and Senate Appropriations Committee sought to advance as many Fiscal Year (FY) 2026 appropriations bills as possible. The House marked up a handful of measures maintaining VA research funding and enhancing Department of Defense research funding while providing modest funding cuts for FDA and deep cuts for the EPA. The Senate maintained similar support for VA research but opted to maintain a traditional bipartisan process that advanced increased FDA funding and only modest EPA funding cuts. Both chambers expressed interest in marking up their Labor-HHS-Education Bills, but neither markup has yet to be announced.
By: Dane Christiansen and Kira Flaherty, Washington Representatives (the Health and Medicine Counsel)