This week: House seeks to finish work on fiscal 2026 spending

Niels Lesniewski, CQ-Roll Call on Jan 20, 2026

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WASHINGTON — The House aims to finish its work on fiscal 2026 appropriations bills this week, after releasing a four-bill package early Tuesday headlined by funding for the Pentagon and the Department of Health and Human Services.

House leaders plan to take up the package this week. It includes the Defense, Labor-HHS-Education, Transportation-HUD and Homeland Security spending bills, as well as several add-ons from authorizing committees, including health care “extenders” and trade preference renewals.

The Homeland Security portion of the package, which has been among the most contentious due to the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement actions in major cities over the past year, may receive a separate vote, according to Democrats on the House Appropriations Committee.

The Senate — which is not in session this week — would take a final vote next week on the bipartisan and bicameral compromise package.

“Where the White House attempted to eliminate entire programs, we chose to increase their funding,” Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., the ranking member on the Appropriations Committee, said in a statement. “Where the Administration proposed slashing resources, we chose to sustain funding at current levels. Where President Trump and Budget Director Russ Vought sought broad discretion over federal spending, Congress, on a bipartisan, bicameral basis, chose to reassert its power of the purse.”

House Appropriations Chairman Tom Cole, R-Okla., said in a statement, “At a time when many believed completing the FY26 process was out of reach, we’ve shown that challenges are opportunities. It’s time to get it across the finish line.”

The bill also includes an assortment of authorizing committee provisions, including a flood insurance extension and trade extensions.

The House has other measures on the agenda for the week, including a disapproval resolution for a Bureau of Land Management rule about public lands in Minnesota. Nullifying the Biden-era order would enable the reinstatement of mining leases and initiation of federal permitting to begin mining for copper. Also possible this week is an effort to move ahead on a Democrat-led war powers resolution regarding President Donald Trump’s military actions in Venezuela.

The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on Wednesday may consider resolutions recommending the House find former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in contempt of Congress for not complying with committee subpoenas in connection with the investigation of the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

“President Clinton’s unwillingness to comply with the subpoena, even after the Oversight Committee agreed to postpone his deposition date, at his request, for nearly a month, has substantially interfered with the Oversight Committee’s investigation,” the committee staff wrote in a memo.

Thursday will be particularly busy on the health policy front. Beyond the potential floor consideration of the appropriations package, both the Energy and Commerce Committee’s Health subcommittee and the full Ways and Means Committee are scheduled to hear testimony from insurance industry executives.