The House will consider legislation related to transportation safety, maritime security, and government transparency. The chamber will also vote on resolutions condemning recent acts of antisemitic violence.

Additionally, the House is expected to vote on H.R. 4, a $9.4 billion rescissions package that would cancel approximately $8.3 billion in foreign aid and nearly $1.1 billion in federal funding for National Public Radio (NPR) and the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS).

In the House, the first appropriations full committee markup is scheduled for Tuesday, beginning with the Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Subcommittee. This marks the formal launch of the FY2026 appropriations cycle and is significant because it sets the tone for broader funding negotiations across all twelve appropriations bills.

The Senate, meanwhile, will continue negotiations over possible changes to the pending reconciliation package, also known as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (H.R.1). Republican leadership has expressed optimism that all remaining Senate committees will submit their reconciliation proposals this week. However, that timeline remains fluid, particularly considering resistance to certain proposed spending reductions, most notably cuts to Medicaid, and opposition from fiscal conservatives over the total cost of the bill. According to an analysis by the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO), the House-passed bill would increase the federal deficit by approximately $2.4 trillion over the next decade.

Last Wednesday, the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee released its portion of the reconciliation bill that would rescind funding for over two dozen programs established by the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). The proposal includes a 10-year pause on IRA's methane emissions tax, rescinds unobligated IRA funds, and repeals the final rule issued by the Biden EPA related to tailpipe emission standards. It also introduces a voluntary program to expedite environmental reviews and allocates funding for maintenance and security upgrades at the Kennedy Center.

The Senate Parliamentarian is also undertaking a review to ensure H.R.1 is compliant with the Byrd Rule, a process often called the "Byrd Bath." Reconciliation can only be used to enact policies that directly affect federal revenues, spending, or the statutory debt limit. Programs like Social Security are excluded from reconciliation under the law. Each provision must have a direct budgetary impact and cannot be "merely incidental" to the non-budgetary aspects of a policy. The Byrd Rule also prohibits provisions that would increase the federal deficit outside the budget window (typically ten years — in this case, 2025–2034), as well as provisions that fall outside the jurisdiction of the relevant congressional committees. Provisions that violate these requirements may be stripped from the bill unless 60 Senators vote to waive the rule. For example, a proposed ten-year ban on states from regulating artificial intelligence and energy permitting reforms may be subject to challenge under this rule if they are found to lack a sufficient budgetary impact.

Lastly, a coalition of six electricity consumer groups penned a letter to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), warning of the growing demand on the U.S. power grid. They called for FERC to work with state colleagues to re-examine their current load forecasting practices. "Artificially low forecasts lead to insufficient infrastructure investment and resulting high costs and potential reliability problems, while artificially high forecasts risk overinvestment, unnecessary rate increases for already burdened customers, and stranded costs," the group said.

Committee meetings of interest this week:

House Energy and Commerce Energy Subcommittee has a hearing on the fiscal 2026 budget request from the Department of Energy, Today at 10:00 am (details here)

Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee has a hearing on the fiscal 2026 budget request for the Department of Interior, Wednesday at 10:00 am (details here)

House Committee on Natural Resources has an oversight hearing with Doug Burgum, Thursday at 10:00 am (details here)