This week marks the House’s final week of session before its August recess begins, and there is no shortage of agenda items to be covered. Across the Capitol, the Senate is also in session and is currently scheduled to remain in session through August 7, 2026.
Priorities for House Republican leadership this week include House passage of a budget resolution. That is a critical step toward advancing their reconciliation 3.0 package, which as currently designed does not include health policy. The budget resolution advanced out of the House Budget Committee with a party-line vote of 20 – 14 last week. The House is also considering several noncontroversial public-health-related bills under suspension of the rules on Monday.
House and Senate committees have a full plate this week, beginning with the House Energy and Commerce Committee markup of 29 bills, 20 of which are health-related, including the Medicare Advantage Cost Transparency Act, the Improving Seniors’ Timely Access to Care Act of 2025, and the Lower Costs, More Transparency Act of 2026. The Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee will also hold a markup this week, reviewing 13 health-related bills, including the Patients Deserve Price Tags Act, the INSULIN Act, the Rural Obstetrics Readiness Act, and the Health Information Privacy Reform Act. Both markups continue committees’ focus on healthcare transparency, an issue that could emerge as a component of a future lame-duck health package.
In addition, the House Oversight Committee’s Health Care and Financial Services Subcommittee will hold a roundtable on Medicare fraud focused on skin substitute spending. Then, following last week’s HELP Committee nomination hearing for Sean Kaufman to be US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) assistant secretary for preparedness and response, and Erica Schwartz to be US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) director, the HELP Committee will consider and vote on these CDC and HHS nominees, as well as the nomination of Keith Sonderling as secretary of labor.
Finally, the administration announced a press conference on July 21, 2026 at 11:00 am EDT on its efforts to combat waste, fraud, and abuse in healthcare, featuring HHS Secretary Kennedy; Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator Oz; Inspector General Bell from the Office of Inspector General; and other HHS, CMS, and White House Anti-Fraud Task Force officials.
In this week’s Healthcare Preview, Debbie Curtis and Rodney Whitlock join Maddie News to discuss recent and upcoming congressional committee action on healthcare transparency legislation and what it could mean for an end of year package.
