Before leaving town, the top four House and Senate appropriators met for the first time since the partial government shutdown but left without any breakthroughs to advance a new spending package. Senate Appropriations Chair Susan Collins (R-ME) is pushing for a sweeping package of up to five bills, including the two largest (Defense and Labor-HHS-Education), covering more than a trillion dollars in discretionary spending. House Appropriations Chair Tom Cole (R-OK) favors a smaller three-bill package including Energy-Water, Interior-Environment, and Transportation-Housing. The lack of a bipartisan agreement on a limit on overall spending remains the biggest obstacle. Congress must resolve federal spending or face another partial shutdown at midnight on January 30.

The recent funding extension ended the longest partial government shutdown in history and included three full-year bills: Agriculture, Legislative Branch, and Military Construction-VA. The Senate left town without acting on the spending package Majority Leader John Thune had hoped to advance, and Republicans are still working through objections to adding measures such as Commerce-Justice-Science, Interior-Environment, Labor-HHS-Education, and Transportation-HUD to the underlying Defense bill. House leadership has suggested that any bills not completed by the January 30 deadline should be covered by a full year continuing resolution.

Also, before leaving town the House passed two energy bills with bipartisan support:

• The "Unlocking our Domestic LNG Potential Act of 2025" (H.R.1949), passed 217-188, would streamline liquefied natural gas (LNG) export approvals by giving FERC exclusive permitting authority and removing the U.S. Department of Energy’s "public interest" review requirement. 11 Democrats voted with Republicans in support.
• The “REFINER Act” (H.R.3109) passed 230-176, would require the National Petroleum Council to assess U.S. petroleum refining capacity, expansion opportunities, and policies affecting capacity decline. 25 Democrats voted with Republicans in support.

This legislation now heads to the Senate for consideration.

Additionally, last week marked a major milestone in NEFI’s fight for energy choice. The House Subcommittee on Energy advanced four NEFI-backed bills out of committee, including the Energy Choice Act (H.R.3699), which would prevent state and local heating fuel bans; Don’t Mess With My Home Appliances Act (H.R.4626), prevents appliance efficiency standards from being used to impose "back door" bans on liquid and gas systems; Homeowner Energy Freedom Act (H.R.4758), which repeals IRA home electrification subsidies; and Reliable Federal Infrastructure Act (H.R.4690), which repeals a ban on fossil fuels in federal buildings. See lead story for complete details.