This Week in Congress
Congress returned from their August recess to tackle a busy few months, including a potential government shutdown, a fight over presidential nominations (and adjacent issues relating to the President’s authority to fire a Federal Reserve governor), a bipartisan procedural maneuver to release files relating to disgraced late-financier Jeffrey Epstein, work on the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), and potential end-of-year tax legislation.
The House voted on four measures under a rule, including its Energy and Water appropriations bill (H.R. 4553), which would boost funding for nuclear energy and national security while slashing many clean energy programs, and three resolutions brought up under the Congressional Review Act to revoke Biden administration changes to Bureau of Land Management resource plans restricting mineral leases in Montana (H.J. Re. 104), North Dakota (H.J. Res. 105), and Alaska (H.J. Res. 106).
The schedule also included 10 foreign affairs- and defense-related measures, which included a bill (H.R. 2635) requiring the State Department to prioritize policies and programs supporting the rights of Uyghurs and other minorities in China, and another bill (H.R. 2505) requiring the State and Commerce Departments to develop strategies to prevent the illegal export of microelectronic drone components to Iran.
The chamber also voted on whether or not to publicly release the Epstein files. That measure is the subject of a discharge petition led by Reps. Massie (R-KY) and Khanna (D-CA). All House Democrats are expected to back the discharge petition, so if just six Republicans sign on leadership will have to bring it to the floor or try to derail it with a procedural vote.
The Senate voted on the FY 2026 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). Members have filed almost 700 amendments, and consideration should take a couple of weeks. The bill could serve as a vehicle for passage of other legislation; likely candidates to be added via a managers amendment include a bipartisan bill that would expand deposit insurance for transaction accounts used by businesses; a proposal to mandate a 10-year statute of limitations for criminal and civil violations of certain Small Business Administration (SBA) programs; a measure to double the individual loan limit for SBA loan programs; and renewal of the Small Business Innovation and Research Technology Transfer programs.