Overview
A Sign of the Times: In what was supposed to be the opening bid for Senate appropriators in their FY26 process, a markup of the Commerce-Justice-Science (CJS) bill became emblematic of the difficult political environment appropriators are being forced to navigate this funding cycle.
The Senate Appropriations Committee held a full committee markup of the CJS, Ag-FDA, and Leg Branch appropriations bills yesterday, but the CJS bill fell apart as senators became sidetracked by an amendment proposed by Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) regarding the location of the FBI headquarters. The Democratic amendment passed with the support of Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), which caused Republicans to change their votes on the overall package to no. While CJS is indefinitely postponed, the Committee was still able to favorably report its Leg Branch and Ag-FDA bills.
It is not uncommon for specific policy disputes to hold up the appropriations process; in fact, it is to be expected. But the contentious political environment and the distrust between Democrats and the administration continue to weigh down the appropriations process, derailing this bill and potentially others.
House Holdups: The House was out of town this week following the passage of the reconciliation package last week, but similar challenges are expected to arise when the House Appropriations Committee resumes its work next week. The Committee is scheduled to mark up THUD and Energy and Water, while the Defense appropriations bill is expected to head to the floor for a vote.
With the House in session for just two more weeks until the August recess, it's unlikely that House appropriators will be able to report out more than three or four additional bills. This puts them behind schedule on their original goal of passing all twelve bills out of Committee before August.
Rescissions Revisions: The Senate will take up the President’s rescission request next week after Majority Leader Thune announced a motion to discharge the package from the Appropriations Committee to the floor. This will trigger a "vote-a-rama," (we’ve heard Wednesday) allowing senators to offer germane amendments – though none can propose additional cuts. Senate Appropriations Chair Susan Collins (R-ME) plans to offer amendments to reverse proposed cuts to PEPFAR, while other Republican senators are expected to address funding for public broadcasting due to concerns over impacts to rural media. Most expect the process to be completed by the July 18 deadline, though a question has emerged as to whether this deadline applies to final passage or a vote to proceed.
Democrats, meanwhile, have warned that passing any rescissions could severely damage bipartisan cooperation on future appropriations. In a Dear Colleague letter this week, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer cautioned that "Republicans' passage of this purely partisan proposal would be an affront to the bipartisan appropriations process to fund the government," adding further tension to an already fraught appropriations cycle.
Appropriations in Reconciliation? Playing in the background as appropriators work to push their bills forward is chatter of a second reconciliation package – and with it a rumor that a few House members are contemplating an end-run around the longstanding bipartisan appropriations process. This talk stems from late negotiations between a few House holdouts, House Republican leadership, and the White House on the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
While it is unclear exactly what was discussed or promised between the negotiators, it's our strong opinion that this strategy will never get off the ground. While reconciliation only requires a simple majority vote in the House and Senate – something which isn’t so "simple" to accomplish, as we just saw – we cannot imagine many appropriators voting for a package that would effectively undercut their committee.
