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Both chambers are in session this week. The House’s last day in DC before adjourning for its summer recess is July 24, while the Senate’s last day is currently scheduled for July 31. Both chambers will return to Washington on September 2.
Multiple Fiscal Year (FY) 2026 spending bills in the House and Senate Appropriations Committees will undergo full committee markups in the House and Senate this week. In the House, the FY26 Interior-Environment; National Security-Department of State; and the Commerce-Justice-Science spending bills will receive full committee markups on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, respectively. In the Senate, appropriators will markup their versions of the FY26 Interior-Environment & Transportation-Housing and Urban Development (HUD) spending bills. The House Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services-General Government also held a markup of its FY26 spending bill on Monday evening. To date, the full Senate Appropriations Committee has marked up and passed four of its twelve FY26 spending bills: Agriculture; Commerce-Justice-Science; Legislative Branch; and Military Construction-Veterans Affairs (MilCon-VA). Those four bills will likely be included in the Senate’s first minibus being voted on the Senate floor later this week. In the lower chamber, the full House Appropriations Committee has passed its FY26 Agriculture; Defense; Energy-Water Development; Homeland Security; Legislative Branch; Military Construction-VA; and Transportation-HUD bills thus far; the full House has passed the MilCon-VA and Defense spending bills.
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released its latest official scoring of the enacted One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA; PL 119-21), stating that President Donald Trump’s most impactful legislative item to-date will increase the federal deficit by $3.4 trillion and result in ten million Americans losing their health insurance over the next decade.
After President Trump called for the Senate to cancel its August recess to consider some of his 136 pending nominations, Senate Majority Leader John Thune said he is considering the President’s desire to suspend part of the chamber’s annual recess. Majority Leader Thune cited that Senate Democrats are breaking precedent by holding up quick confirmation processes for many of Trump’s 136 nominees currently awaiting confirmation.
The House will consider 24 bills under suspension of the rules, including the Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2025 (H.R. 4275), which reauthorizes the U.S. Coast Guard for five years, through FY 2029; and the Improving Access to Small Business Information Act (H.R. 3351), which amends the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 to specify that actions of the Advocate for Small Business Capital Formation are not a collection of information under the Paperwork Reduction Act. The House may also vote on three Congressional Review Act (CRA) disapproval resolutions (H.J. Res. 104; H.J. Res. 105; and H.J. Res 106) nullifying three rules issued by the Bureau of Land Management over the last three months of the Biden administration updating resource management plans restricting mineral leases in Montana, North Dakota, and Alaska, respectively; the Stop Illegal Entry Act of 2025 (H.R. 3486), which subjects non-U.S. citizens who illegally cross the border multiple times to increased criminal penalties; and the Promoting Efficient Review for Modern Infrastructure Today (PERMIT) Act (H.R. 3898), which extends the maximum life of permits allowing certain discharges into waters and create new permit exemptions, among other changes.
The Senate will vote on the nomination of Terrance Cole to be Administrator of Drug Enforcement; Joshua Divine to be a U.S. District Judge for the Eastern and Western Districts of Missouri; Cristian Stevens to be a U.S. District Judge for the Eastern District of Missouri; Aaron Lukas to be Principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence; Bradley Hansell to be Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and Security; Arielle Roth to be Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information; and John Hurley to be Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Crimes.
The House will hold several hearings including an Oversight and Accountability Subcommittee on Economic Growth, Energy Policy, and Regulatory Affairs hearing on “The New Atomic Age: Advancing America’s Energy Future;” a Natural Resources Committee hearing on “Permitting Purgatory: Restoring Common Sense to NEPA Reviews;” a Natural Resources Subcommittee on Water, Wildlife and Fisheries legislative hearing on seven bills, including the “Endangered Species Transparency and Reasonableness Act of 2025” (H.R. 180); and a Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee on Economic Development, Public Buildings, and Emergency Management hearing on “Fixing Emergency Management: Examining Improvements to FEMA's Disaster Response.” The Senate will hold several hearings, including an Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing to “Identify Challenges to Meeting Increased Electricity Demand” and an Environment and Public Works Subcommittee on Transportation and Infrastructure hearing on “The Road Ahead: Proposals to Improve America's Transportation Infrastructure.”
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