House Republicans Delay Markups; Reconciliation Subject to “Byrd Bath”

As previously reported, the fiscal year (FY) 2026 appropriations process is well underway with the House reviewing multiple bills, most recently the Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies bill; the Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies bill; the Homeland Security bill; the Defense bill, and the Legislative Branch bill. The House has also released subcommittee allocations—or topline funding levels—for the bills already drafted. The other subcommittees have yet to receive their allocations, including the Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education (LHHS) and Commerce, Justice, and Science (CJS) subcommittees. On June 18, the House Appropriations committee announced a delay in their markup schedule.

In other news, both the House and the Senate are reviewing changes to the Big Beautiful Bill Act, which was originally passed through the House (see previous COSSA coverage). In anticipation of the bill violating reconciliation guidelines, the House reviewed and removed various provisions from the bill, passing it through the chamber for a second time on June 11. The following week, the Senate released their version of the Big Beautiful Bill, which included several changes to the House’s legislation. The Senate was expected to vote on the bill later this week; however, on June 22, the Senate Parliamentarian announced that certain provisions within the bill still violated reconciliation rules and would be subject to the Byrd Rule. This included a section of the bill that would allow the executive branch to reorganize federal agencies without Congressional oversight and a provision that would increase the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS) contribution rate if new civil servants did not agree to become “at-will” employees (a list of these provisions can be found here). To waive the parliamentary challenges would require the usual 60 super-majority vote, so it is expected that these provisions will be removed from the bill in what is referred to colloquially as a “Byrd Bath”. It is unclear whether the Big Beautiful Bill will overcome these hurdles by the Republicans’ self-imposed deadline of the Fourth of July.

Stay tuned to COSSA’s continued coverage of Congressional activities.