This week: Congress has much to do before holiday recess

Niels Lesniewski, CQ-Roll Call on Dec 15, 2025

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WASHINGTON — The last week of the congressional session before Christmas could feature a flurry of activity on unfinished business for both the House and Senate, from spending bills and health care costs to nominations.

House Republican leaders released draft legislation Friday afternoon consisting of a package of health proposals aimed at reducing health care costs in 2026, aiming to lay down a marker ahead of the midterm election year as Democrats continue to hammer them over the pending expiration of Affordable Care Act premium tax credits.

The House Rules Committee is scheduled to meet Tuesday afternoon to consider the GOP bill for floor action. It’s sponsored by Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks, R-Iowa, who is facing a tough reelection bid in a race rated as a “Toss-up” by Inside Elections with Nathan L. Gonzales.

The 111-page bill combines a slate of measures Republicans say will address health care affordability, such as expanding access to association health plans, which allow employers across industries to buy coverage as a group and thereby trim costs. It would also require more transparency from pharmacy benefit managers and fund so-called cost-sharing reduction payments that the first Trump administration canceled in 2017.

“Democrats’ ‘affordability’ charade has gone on long enough. Republicans are offering clear, responsible alternatives that will lower premium costs and increase access and health care options for all Americans,” Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said in a statement.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., called the GOP proposal “toxic legislation that is completely unserious.”

“This so-called plan is the height of irresponsibility, with just five legislative days until premiums skyrocket by as much as $1,000 or $2,000 per month for working class Americans,” Jeffries said in a statement.

There will also be eyes on whether any of the circulating discharge petitions aimed at forcing votes on measures to avert big insurance premium increases will get enough signatures to compel floor consideration. And that’s not all on the health agenda for the week, with bills related to restricting gender-affirming care for minors also on track for floor consideration in the Republican-led House.

Senate has NDAA, nominations lined up

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., has set up a busy getaway week, having last week filed multiple motions to limit debate on various measures. First on the Senate floor agenda is the final House-Senate agreement on the fiscal 2026 National Defense Authorization Act, with a cloture vote scheduled for 5:30 p.m. Monday.

While the bill, which includes other measures including for the State Department, intelligence services and the Coast Guard, sailed through the House last week by a vote of 312-112, there’s been some late bipartisan consternation about whether the measure would do enough to restrict military aircraft operations in the vicinity of the Washington, D.C., area’s commercial airports. An amendment seeking to strike and replace language about the issue has been filed by Commerce, Science and Transportation Chair Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and ranking Democrat Maria Cantwell of Washington, with bipartisan support.

“The current version of the NDAA would make flying into the Capital region significantly less safe,” Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., said in a statement, citing the Jan. 29 collision between a passenger jet and an Army helicopter near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, which resulted in 67 deaths.

Beyond the NDAA, the other percolating legislative business is a much awaited agreement on a second package of fiscal 2026 appropriation bills. The objective remains to pass as many of the regular spending measures as possible before the current continuing appropriations law expires at the end of January. The Senate is scheduled to be out of session the week of Jan. 19.

President Donald Trump and Republicans in the Senate are set up for a year-end victory on nominations, again taking advantage of the rules change the Senate GOP enacted earlier this year to allow expedited consideration of bundles of nominations through executive branch resolutions. A package on track for confirmation this week includes 97 nominations for roles across federal departments and agencies, with at least two additional individual nominees also slated for floor action.

The nominees getting prioritized for individual votes are Trump’s choice of Jared Isaacman to be NASA administrator and of Douglas Weaver to be a member of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Those votes are expected to come ahead of the en bloc package of 97.

Also on deck this week is a vote on a disapproval resolution regarding a Department of Health and Human Services rule on waiving public notice and comment periods. The Senate agreed to proceed to the measure by a vote of 50-49, with Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., having missed the procedural vote.

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(Lia DeGroot, Jessie Hellmann and Sandhya Raman contributed to this report.)