Fiscal year deadline approaches. The path forward on government funding remains undecided. Republican appropriators are advocating for a continuing resolution (CR) to fund the government through mid-November 2025, with hopes that Congress can make progress on enacting fiscal year (FY) 2026 appropriations bills during that window. However, this week President Trump sent his anomalies list (a list of programs for which the administration wants to change funding levels in a CR, rather than maintaining current levels) to Congress and asked that Congress pass a CR through the end of January 2026. The House Freedom Caucus prefers this CR duration as well.
The year-end expiration of the Affordable Care Act’s enhanced advanced premium tax credits (APTCs) has become a focal point for Democrats in the CR debate. Democrats are urging that any government funding package or CR this month include an APTC extension. Senate Majority Leader Thune (R-SD) stated he does not want to include an APTC extension in a short-term CR but wants a “clean” CR to buy time to address full appropriations bills. The House Freedom Caucus stated that it will not vote in support of any funding bill that includes an extension of the enhanced APTCs. There is a lot still to watch here as the calendar moves toward September 30, and a government shutdown remains a possibility.
While the CR debate is ongoing, the House continued work on its FY 2026 appropriations bills. The House Appropriations Committee advanced the Labor-Health and Human Services (HHS) bill by a party-line vote of 35 – 28. The House bill would provide $108 billion to HHS, while the Senate version would provide $117 billion. The Senate version previously advanced out of committee with bipartisan support. Prospects for the House version being enacted are slim. It remains to be seen whether appropriators and congressional leadership will be able to reach an agreement on a final Labor-HHS bill later this year, or whether the programs in the bill will be funded in a potential longer-term CR.
The House Appropriations Committee adopted eight amendments by voice vote, including one that bars federal funding from supporting the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation Wasteful and Inappropriate Service Reduction (WISeR) Model. Even though the House version of the Labor-HHS bill, including adopted amendments, is unlikely to become law, the amendments give stakeholders insight into legislators’ priorities and could reappear before an authorizing committee in a freestanding bill or as an amendment on the House floor.
The House also passed a motion to go to conference with the Senate to finalize the three funding bills that have already passed the Senate and/or House:
The goal is to either attach those full funding bills to any forthcoming CR, which would cover the remaining federal agencies, or finalize the bills as their own package, so that the relevant agencies are funded for FY 2026.
House Oversight Subcommittee on Health Care and Financial Services holds hearing on children’s chronic diseases. During the hearing, Republicans emphasized the need for a preventive healthcare system focused on reducing childhood obesity by improving nutrition, encouraging physical activity, and reforming federal food assistance programs to limit ultra-processed foods. Democrats focused on protecting and expanding access to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, Medicaid, and school meal programs, while warning against HHS leadership failures and vaccine misinformation.
The government witnesses included Dorothy Fink, MD, acting assistant secretary for health at HHS, and Eve Stoody, PhD, director of the Nutrition Guidance and Analysis Division at the US Department of Agriculture. They emphasized the need to shift from a reactive to a preventive healthcare model, and defended the scientific integrity of dietary guidelines and the importance of evidence-based policies.
House Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee advances public health reauthorization bills. During the markup, the subcommittee passed seven bills unanimously:
The bills now await consideration by the full committee.
MAHA Commission releases “Make Our Children Healthy Again” strategy. The commission’s first report, released in May 2025, identified drivers of children’s declining mental and physical health, including poor diet, chemical exposure, lack of physical activity, chronic stress, and overmedicalization. The report recommended initiatives to research these issues further. The newly released strategy identifies more than 120 initiatives, including but not limited to the below, that fall under four pillars:
Read the press release here and our Regs & Eggs blog post previewing the strategy here.
Trump administration announces actions on DTC prescription drug advertising. President Trump directed the FDA to increase transparency and accuracy in DTC advertising and enforce existing DTC statutory requirements. In response, the FDA sent letters to pharmaceutical companies instructing them to remove misleading ads. The FDA also will initiate the rulemaking process to close the “adequate provision loophole” that the agency believes some pharmaceutical companies have used to conceal risks in advertisements. These actions coincide with the release of the MAHA strategy, which directs agencies, including the FDA, to increase enforcement of DTC prescription drug advertising laws.
CMS issues guidance on Medicaid SDPs. The preliminary guidance outlines the timeline for, and limits on, the SDP grandfathering period and details next steps for states following passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA). The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is working on a proposed rule to fully implement the OBBBA’s SDP provision (Section 71116) and to comply with President Trump’s June 2025 SDP memo. Section 71116 requires CMS to reduce the total payment rate limit for SDPs for inpatient hospital services, outpatient hospital services, nursing facility services, and qualified practitioner services at academic medical centers beginning on or after July 4, 2025, to either 100% of the Medicare rate in expansion states or 110% of the Medicare rate in non-expansion states.
President Trump’s memo directed HHS to ensure SDP rates are not higher than Medicare. Most SDPs are within the four categories implicated by the OBBBA, but CMS’s new guidance states that the agency is considering, as part of the OBBBA implementation rulemaking, changes to the total payment rate limit for SDPs for additional services. These could include SDPs to behavioral health or home- and community-based service providers.
This week CMS also issued guidance detailing requirements for quality evaluations in SDPs and best practices for SDP evaluation plans.
Both chambers will be in session next week, and focus will remain on government funding. The House Ways and Means Oversight Subcommittee will hold a hearing to discuss nonprofit hospitals on Tuesday, and the full committee will mark up bipartisan legislation focused on hospital at home and accountable care organizations (although this hasn’t been noticed yet). The Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee will hold a Wednesday hearing with former CDC Director Monarez and former CDC Chief Medical Officer Debra Houry. On Thursday, the House Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee will hold a legislative hearing to discuss bills that aim to enhance seniors’ access to breakthrough medical technologies. The Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission will hold its first meeting of the 2025 – 2026 cycle.
