June 1, 2026, marks the end of the recess period for the House and Senate and kicks off a busy month of congressional and regulatory activity. The Senate is expected to resume consideration of the pending reconciliation 2.0 package focused on immigration and security funding after intra-party disagreements delayed action before the recess. Meanwhile, the House returns Tuesday and is expected to remain largely in a holding pattern on reconciliation while awaiting Senate action on the package.
Outside of reconciliation, appropriations markups continue, with the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services (HHS), Education, and Related Agencies holding a markup of its fiscal year 2027 bill, and the Senate Appropriations Committee holding a markup of the Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and Related Agencies appropriations bill.
This week also includes a busy health policy hearing schedule. The Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee will hold a rescheduled hearing on gender-affirming care for minors, and the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations will hold a hearing on the safety of COVID-19 vaccines. In the House, the Oversight and Government Reform Committee will hold a hearing on fraud and Medicaid waiver programs, and the Judiciary Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property, Artificial Intelligence, and the Internet will examine how to balance patent rights with greater access to affordable medicine.
On the regulatory side, June 1, 2026, also marks the statutory deadline for the Trump administration to release the interim final rule implementing the One Big Beautiful Bill Act’s new Medicaid work requirements (referred to as “community engagement requirements” in the legislative text), expected later this afternoon. While Nebraska is currently the only state enforcing Medicaid work requirements, the remaining states will need to make significant systems, policy, and operational changes to implement the new federal requirements before the rules formally go into effect on January 1, 2027.
In this week’s Healthcare Preview, Debbie Curtis and Rodney Whitlock join Maddie News to discuss the Medicaid work requirements interim final rule, anticipated for release today.
