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The House and Senate are in session this week and will continue to confirm President Donald Trump’s Cabinet-level nominees. Both chambers are working quickly to present their budget reconciliation proposals to President Donald Trump.
Last week, Senate Budget Committee Chair Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) released budget resolution text highlighting Senate Republicans' plans for a two-bill strategy for a key component of President Trump’s policy priorities. In the announcement, Chair Graham also announced Committee meetings on Wednesday and Thursday to mark up, debate, and vote on the bill. Significant pieces in the legislation include border, defense, and energy provisions. The announcement puts the Senate at odds with House Republicans, led by Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), who believes that his chamber can only pass one reconciliation bill, not the two bills proposed by the Senate GOP. Currently, the House has not yet unveiled its proposal for budget reconciliation as the chamber works to get all 218 of its current members on the same page. There is still uncertainty if the House will have a Budget Committee markup on their long-awaited bill for reconciliation. Delays from House GOP leadership only further exacerbate the issue for the White House, which is eager to kickstart its domestic policy agenda. Adding to issues for the Speaker is that some hardline conservatives in the House prefer the two-bill strategy.
Today, House Appropriations Committee Chairman Tom Cole (R-OK) shared letters to committee chairs across the House GOP Conference calling upon their coordination in the markup process of the Fiscal Year (FY) 2026 appropriations bills. He also mentioned the goal of starting FY26 spending bill markups in late April as the Chairman is “committed to completing these bills prior to October 1, 2025.”
The House will consider six bills under suspension of the rules this week, including the Disabled Veterans Housing Support Act (H.R. 224), which requires the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to exclude veterans’ service-connected disability compensation from their income when determining Community Development Block Grant eligibility; and the Housing Unhoused Disabled Veterans Act (H.R. 965), which requires HUD to exclude service- and nonservice-connected disability benefits from veterans’ income when determining eligibility. The House will also vote on the Midnight Rules Relief Act (H.R. 77), which allows Congress to disapprove of multiple rules issued during the final year of a presidential term by passing a single joint resolution; and the Agent Raul Gonzalez Officer Safety Act (H.R. 35), which subject drivers that intentionally flee in a motor vehicle from U.S. Border Patrol and other law enforcement officers within 100 miles of the US border to new criminal penalties. Additionally, non-U.S. citizens who are convicted of, or admit to, using a vehicle to evade law enforcement at the border also would be subject to new immigration restrictions and would be ineligible for asylum.
This will be another busy week of actions on Trump administration nominees. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D) filed cloture on Tulsi Gabbard to be Director of National Intelligence, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to be Secretary of Health and Human Services, Brooke Rollins to be Secretary of Agriculture, Howard Lutnik to be Secretary of Commerce, and Kelly Loeffler to be Administrator of the Small Business Administration. Finally, the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee will hold nomination hearings on Lori Chavez-DeRemer to be Secretary of Labor and Linda McMahon to be Secretary of Education on Wednesday and Thursday, respectively. The Senate Finance Committee and Senate Judiciary Committee will also vote on whether to advance the nominations of Jamieson Greer to be U.S. Trade Representative and Kash Patel to be Director of the FBI on Tuesday and Thursday, respectively.
House committee hearings of note this week include: an Energy & Commerce Subcommittee hearing on “AI in Manufacturing: Securing American Leadership in Manufacturing and the Next Generation of Technologies”; a Natural Resources Subcommittee hearing on “Restoring Multiple Use to Revitalize America’s Public Lands and Rural Communities”; a Judiciary Subcommittee hearing on “Reining in the Administrative State: Regulatory and Administrative Law Reform”; a Transportation & Infrastructure Subcommittee hearing on “America Builds: Clean Water Act Permitting and Project Delivery”; and a Natural Resources Committee markup on several water resources related measures including the “Water Rights Protection Act of 2025” (H.R. 302) and the “Colorado River Basin System Conservation Extension Act of 2025” (H.R. 231). Senate committee hearings and markups of note include: a Budget Committee hearing on “Concurrent Resolution on the Budget for Fiscal Year 2025”; and an Agriculture Committee hearing on “Perspectives from the Field: Farmer and Rancher Views on the Agricultural Economy, Part 2.”
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