Summary
Both chambers are in session for a busy week. The Senate has until the end of the week to pass the White House-requested and House-approved recissions package (H.R. 4), while the House of Representatives is expected to send bipartisan legislation establishing federal crypto policy to President Trump’s desk. Meanwhile, both the Senate and House Appropriations Committees will continue their work on fiscal year (FY) 2026 appropriations bills. Additional details follow.
FY 2026 Appropriations
Last week, the Senate Appropriations Committee advanced the FY 2026 Agriculture, Rural Development, FDA and Related Agencies bill, which provided flat level funding for the FDA at $7 billion, including $3.6 billion in discretionary funding and $3.4 billion in user fees. This is above the $6.79 billion advanced in the House Appropriations Committee version, teeing up additional funding discrepancies in funding between the two chambers.
On the House side, House Appropriations Committee has several subcommittee and full committee markups scheduled this week, including the Transportation, HUD, and Related Agencies bill. Relatedly, following HHS Secretary Kennedy’s testifying before the House Energy and Commerce (E&C) Committee regarding the agency’s fiscal year (FY) 2026 HHS budget, Ranking Member Franke Pallone (D-NJ) sent a letter to the Secretary demanding following on several topics address, including the reduction-in-force (RIF), the dismissal of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), and errors in the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) Report.
Medical Debt
On Friday, a Texas U.S. District Court ruled to vacate a Biden Administration rule that would have removed medical debt from consumers’ credit reports, citing that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau exceeded its regulatory authority. The rule was set to take effect at the end of the July and was estimated to remove $49 billion of medical debt from 15 million Americans’ credit reports.
Regulatory Update
The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) cleared the CY 2026 Physician Fee Schedule proposed rule, and an interim final rule titled, “Administrative Simplification: Modifications to NCPDP Retail Pharmacy Standards. OMB is also reviewing the following:
- Medicare:
- CY 2026 Medicare Payment. Proposed CY 2026 payment update for hospital outpatient departments and ambulatory surgical centers, This proposed rule is expected soon.
- FY 2026 Medicare Payment. Final FY 2026 payment updates to the acute care hospitals and long-term care hospitals, hospice facilities, skilled nursing facilities, inpatient rehabilitation facilities, and inpatient psychiatric facilities. These final rules are typically published around August 1.
- CY 2026 Medicare Advantage/Part D Policy. Final CY 2026 policy and technical changes to the Medicare Advantage, Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit, and Medicare Cost Plan Programs, and PACE
- Medicaid:
- A final rule titled, “Medicaid Eligibility Changes Under the Affordable Care Act of 2010; Giving States Freedom to Use Immigration Information to Determine State Residency for Medicaid Eligibility.” The final rule is part of the Trump administration’s efforts to increase federal oversight on states using Federal Medicaid funding for the health care of undocumented immigrants.
- A proposed rule titled, “Medicaid Managed Care-State Directed Payments.” The proposed rule appears intended to advance a presidential memorandum released on June 6, which directs HHS to “eliminate waste, fraud, and abuse in Medicaid, including by ensuring Medicaid payments rates are not higher than Medicare, to the extent permitted by applicable law.”