Senate
Page S4415 · Official textThe Senate met at 10:01 a.m. and was called to order by the Honorable Alan Armstrong, a Senator from the State of Oklahoma.
Tuesday, August 4, 2026
Vol. 172, No. 127 · 119th Congress, 2nd session
Prayer
Page S4415 · Official textThe Chaplain, Dr. Barry C. Black, offered the following prayer: O Lord, in whose hand is the life of every living thing and the breath of all humanity, we come before You in humility, and trust that all wisdom, justice, and mercy are Yours alone. Apart from You, we can do nothing. Lord, we pray for our Senators and all entrusted with governance. Manifest Your presence among them. Order their steps in Your truth, and lead them in righteousness, courage, and unity. Give them discerning hearts to choose what is right over what is merely expedient and the grace to pursue justice with humility, wisdom, and integrity. We pray in Your precious Name. Amen.
Pledge of Allegiance
Page S4415 · Official textThe Presiding Officer led the Pledge of Allegiance, as follows:
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I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
Appointment of Acting President Pro Tempore
Page S4415 · Official textThe PRESIDING OFFICER
The clerk will please read a communication to the Senate from the President pro tempore (Mr. Grassley).
The senior assistant bill clerk read the following letter:
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Washington, DC, August 4, 2026. To the Senate:
Under the provisions of rule I, paragraph 3, of the Standing Rules of the Senate, I hereby appoint the Honorable Alan Armstrong, a Senator from the State of Oklahoma, to perform the duties of the Chair.
Chuck Grassley,
President pro tempore.
Mr. ARMSTRONG thereupon assumed the Chair as Acting President pro tempore.
Reservation of Leader Time
Page S4415 · Official textThe ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore
Under the previous order, the leadership time is reserved.
Conclusion of Morning Business
Page S4415 · Official textThe ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore
Morning business is closed.
Legislative Session
Page S4415 · Official textThe ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore
Under the previous order, the Senate will resume consideration of the motion to proceed to H.R. 6500, which the clerk will report.
The senior assistant bill clerk read as follows:
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Motion to proceed to Calendar No. 320, H.R. 6500, a bill to extend duty-free treatment provided with respect to imports from certain countries in Africa under the African Growth and Opportunity Act, to extend customs user fees, and for other purposes.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore
The majority leader is recognized.
Measure Placed on the Calendar--S. 5221
Page S4415 · Official textMr. President, I understand that there is a bill at the desk that is due for a second reading.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore
The clerk will read the bill by title for the second time.
The senior assistant bill clerk read as follows:
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A bill (S. 5221) to prohibit the purchase, sale, or exchange of nonpublic information, and for other purposes.
Mr. President, in order to place the bill on the calendar under the provisions of rule XIV, I would object to further proceeding.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore
The objection having been heard, the bill will be placed on the calendar.
AGOA EXTENSION ACT--Motion to Proceed
Pages S4415–S4419 · Official textMr. President, a week or 2 ago, I came down to the floor and talked about growing up in a small town in South Dakota. As I said in those remarks, I carry those South Dakotans with me in a special way in my work here in Washington.
When I consider bills or look at regulations, I think about what kind of impact they will have on those Americans, on hard-working people without a lot of extra money in the budget, on people living paycheck to paycheck or, as was the case with some of the farmers I grew up with, harvest to harvest. I think about how to ensure that government isn't standing in their way or taking up all the extra money in their budget.
And it was hard-working Americans like the South Dakotans I grew up with who were at the top of my mind when Republicans drafted our landmark tax relief legislation back in 2017. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act cut tax rates across the board, doubled the child tax credit, and nearly doubled the standard deduction. It put more money in hard-working Americans' pockets, money that they were able to use for their particular needs--from childcare to home repairs, to medical bills, to a family vacation.
And those same hard-working Americans were our focus last year when we passed the Working Families Tax Cuts.
Our first aim with the Working Families Tax Cuts was making the 2017 tax relief permanent, and that is exactly what we did. We made the lower tax rates permanent. We made the increased child tax credit permanent. And we made the increased standard deduction permanent.
But that was just the beginning. We weren't content with a permanent extension of the 2017 tax relief. We wanted to do more for working families, and so that is what we did.
As I said, our 2017 tax relief bill doubled the child tax credit. Well, the Working Families Tax Cuts not only made that permanent; it increased the child tax credit even further and then indexed it to inflation so its value will never go down.
I said the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act nearly doubled the standard deduction. Well, the Working Families Tax Cuts boosted the standard deduction even further.
And we didn't stop there. We instituted two big new tax relief measures: no tax on tips, no tax on overtime. That meant major new tax relief for a whole host of working Americans--waiters, delivery people, bartenders, Uber and Lyft drivers, nurses, factory workers, paramedics, police officers, and many others.
And that still isn't all. We instituted a new $6,000 bonus deduction for seniors, and we created new tax-advantaged investment accounts to help parents save for their children's future, starting with an initial $1,000 investment from the Federal Government for babies born between 2025 and 2028.
And that is far from the only thing we did to help the next generation get a headstart on their American dream. The Working Families Tax Cuts also made some significant improvements to the traditional 529 education savings plan, allowing those savings to be used for a greater variety of education-related expenses, like tutoring or home school materials and vocational and continuing education.
On the higher education side, we implemented accountability and reforms and put downward pressure on the cost of college degrees. We also made permanent a policy I authored that allows employers to pay off a portion of their employees' student loans, without the employee having to pay taxes on the repayment amount.
And on top of all that, we created the Workforce Pell Program, which will provide financial assistance to Americans in shorter term skills and career training programs, whether they are just starting out or looking to switch careers or develop new skills in their current field.
This tax season, more than 35 million seniors claimed the new bonus deduction for older Americans. More than 29 million American workers were able to deduct overtime pay from their taxes, resulting in substantial tax savings. And more than 7.5 million workers deducted their tips on their taxes, ensuring they were able to keep more of their hard-earned money.
And that is not to even mention the countless hard-working Americans who were able to take advantage of the increased standard deduction and the enhanced child tax credit.
Tax refunds were up this season, and it is no surprise. It is the Working Families Tax Cuts at work.
I may live in Sioux Falls now, which is one of South Dakota's bigger cities, but I spent a lot of time in smalltown South Dakota. And whenever I am there, I am proud to be able to share the details of the Working Families Tax Cuts and report that Republicans are delivering for working families.
And we are going to continue to build on the Working Families Tax Cuts to expand opportunity and make life more affordable for hard-working Americans.
I yield the floor.
I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore
The clerk will call the roll.
The senior assistant bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore
Without objection, it is so ordered.
The Democratic leader is recognized.
Mr. President, Senate Republicans seem to think Todd Blanche became a different person somewhere between the confirmation hearing and today's vote. It is obvious he didn't. Blanche remains Trump's personal lawyer--same client, same corrupt record, same playbook. He is the same guy. Nothing has changed. Thanks to Blanche, Trump and his family still have a permission slip from the IRS to take in tens of millions of dollars through tax fraud--tens of millions of dollars--and they exempt him from tax fraud even though he has had so many brushes with the law before.
How can we appoint this man to such an important position when he is the one who facilitated the President avoiding any tax liability, which an overwhelming number of Americans despise? It is crazy. It is amazing how our Republican friends just tie themselves in pretzel knots to allow Trump to do illicit things, to allow the country's morals to go down the drain when it comes to finance ethics.
Blanche still hasn't put up any meaningful guardrails to Trump's $2 billion MAGA slush fund. We all know what that was--one of the grossest things any President has ever done. He sues the government as a private citizen and then asks the government for $10 billion and then shakes hands with the government that he gets $2 billion to do whatever he wants. It makes you nauseous, what he is doing to the morals of this country.
Let's not forget that Blanche still hasn't released 3 million pages of the Epstein files.
Make no mistake, if you had to line up every American, lawyer or not, who should be Attorney General, he would be at the back of the line because he is so unethical. Ethics matter in this job more than just about any other.
So make no mistake, Blanche still has no business becoming Attorney General. Todd Blanche hasn't changed, and neither should the votes of anyone who plans to oppose his nomination.
Mr. President, on the CR, from the start, Senate Democrats said we wanted to keep the government open and keep politics out of the appropriations process. This CR gives us the time we need to continue hashing out a budget that helps make life more affordable for the American people while crushing the chaos and the corruption of the Trump administration.
Senate Democrats will always be willing to work across the aisle and negotiate in good faith to deliver results for working Americans.
Thanks to Senator Murray's efforts, we have staved off Trump's efforts to withhold Federal grants from vital projects. Trump wanted to pick grants in the States and politicians he liked and eliminate them from others. Nothing could be more against the Constitution, more against the government, more against fairness, more against bipartisanship than that. He wanted to do all that. People were amazed.
Oh, I like this project in a red State. Go for it.
I don't like the very same project paid by the same money in a blue State. Cut it out.
No rationale, no reason other than political malignance.
People were really revolted by what he was trying to do. Taxpayers fund these grants. Taxpayers deserve to see that the money is invested in their communities, not withheld by Trump because of partisan retribution.
Senate Democrats have stood up for working Americans at every step, and we are going to continue to fight for the American people in the weeks and months ahead.
Mr. President, now on Head Start, Donald Trump believes the Federal Government exists to serve him and no one else. Even though he acts like a toddler three-quarters of the time, he is not eligible for Head Start, so if the program doesn't benefit him, what does he care?
Trump will soon announce plans to gut Head Start without any thought of how it will hurt hundreds of thousands of children. After trying and failing to defund it altogether, Trump is putting the program to the torch by rolling back Federal standards that ensure Head Start will be high quality. That means no math or literacy requirements, no health or safety screenings, no guarantee that children can access medical and dental services. Trump's changes will hurt America's most vulnerable children and leave their families in the lurch.
Donald Trump, the parents of some of these kids are working two or three jobs, knocking themselves out almost 24/7 just to help their kids by making ends meet. Does Trump really think these families can afford to spend more on finding care for their kids?
The gutting of Head Start is the Trump administration's disastrous approach to governing laid bare. Better outcomes for Trump, worse outcomes for our kids--that is Trump's America. Donald Trump uses his office to help himself and his billionaire friends get ahead while holding back our children, while holding back our working families.
Every single Senator who cares about Head Start needs to stand up to this effort that undercuts our children, particularly the most vulnerable. Early education works. It gives kids a headstart. It makes America more prosperous as a whole. Trump doesn't give a damn.
Mr. President, Trump's Reflecting Pool saga continues to show how his corruption comes back to bite him.
Last Friday, Jeanine Pirro, the FOX News host turned U.S. attorney--he loves these television hosts to have places in his administration whether they are qualified or not. Look at the Defense Department. Well, this host is U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, and she admitted in court that Trump's own grifting caused the Reflecting Pool renovation to fail.
How dare she. How dare she speak the truth against Donald Trump when one of the requirements of being chosen by Trump for any important office is that you just go along with him.
I will tell you this: If we had serious people leading the DOJ and serving as U.S. attorney, we never would have had these nonsense legal cases in the first place.
You know Trump is living in an alternate reality when not even Pirro, an ardent Trump loyalist, will defend his lies.
What did Trump expect? Shoddy work is inevitable when you award a multimillion-dollar, no-bid contract to your personal pool guy at the taxpayers' expense.
Trump's Reflecting Pool debacle is so unbelievably stupid, it would be funny--except we American taxpayers are paying for it. Some nearly faced jail time for it. Trump is so delusional, he would rather prosecute innocent Americans than own up to his own failure.
Is it any wonder that 80 percent of Americans think Trump doesn't have the right priorities? Trump keeps spending his time and American tax dollars on these vanity projects.
Donald, Americans want you to lower their costs, end your war, stop your corruption. The Reflecting Pool can wait.
I yield the floor.
I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore
The clerk will call the roll.
The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore
Without objection, it is so ordered.
Mr. President, the American people deserve a government that is open and is functioning. The American people know that government shutdowns cause significant pain to them personally and harm to our Nation.
We have had two painful shutdowns in the last year, and the Democrats--and the Democratic leader just left the floor--have caused both of them. Democrats have proven that they are willing to make life harder for Americans, and they do it every time they shut down the government. They think it helps them politically.
Actually, that is what Senator Schumer had said in the past--because in October of 2025, Schumer and the Senate Democrats chose to shut down the entire government, shut it down for 43 days. That is a record--a record--in the history of our Nation. And Senator Schumer actually said at the time--he said:
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Every day gets better for us.
I am not sure who the "us" was. It is not the American people, not the people who were suffering in the long lines at the airport, and with TSA and the flights that were canceled and people that weren't getting paid. Every day got worse for the American people. It might have been better for Senator Schumer but not for people at home in my State and in the Presiding Officer's.
It seemed to the Democrats that the American families were just collateral damage as they tried to make a political message. Servicemembers weren't able to pay their mortgages, as they had to wait for their paychecks to come in. Flights canceled, airport screening lines stretched--I remember the video. They stretched for hours. Park rangers, TSA agents all missed paychecks. Democrats said it got better for them every day. Government employees living paycheck-to-paycheck had to struggle to make ends meet, to pay the bills. We saw people lining up at food banks. The American people responded and offered help to their neighbors. The Democrats said it got better for them every day. People on food assistance lost that assistance.
And less than 4 months later, the Democrats did it again. That time, they blocked funding for the Department of Homeland Security. That shutdown lasted 75 days for the Department of Homeland Security.
Democrats voted to defund America's law enforcement Agencies. That seems to be their mantra: defund the police; get rid of ICE, get rid of Immigration and Customs Enforcement; open the borders; let anybody in. That is who that party is now, and we are seeing it even today in the Michigan primary, where they have radical, extreme, dangerous, scary people running and who may win primaries and have been winning primaries in the Democrat Party across the country. These are people that put the safety and security of the American people at risk. They do it because they think it may give them a political advantage. It doesn't help the American people.
Recall that during the last shutdown, the shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security, we in this country faced terrorist threats. In Texas, there was a man wearing clothing that said "Property of Allah." He was arrested. He shot into a crowded restaurant, just shot into the restaurant. People were killed. "Property of Allah." Apparently, that is OK in some people's minds. Most Americans don't think so.
In Michigan, a man whose family member was tied to Hezbollah rammed a truck full of explosives into a synagogue. Over 100 children and their teachers were inside. This is the threat we face.
By shutting down the Department of Homeland Security, Democrats put the safety of illegal immigrants--and specifically illegal immigrant criminals--above the safety and security of American citizens. That is whom the Democrats choose to prioritize, and we are seeing the Democrats do that in campaign ads and in campaign speeches all across the country as the most radical of the radicals seem to be winning Democrat primaries this year.
So the question is, Are Democrats going to choose to shut down the government a third time? We were able to get on the bill yesterday. The onus is on them. The Republicans are ready to move forward. We have an appropriations process. That is the way that government funding is supposed to work. Right now, the Democrats are stonewalling every single Appropriations Committee right here in the U.S. Senate, and it is shameful. Senator Susan Collins, our colleague and friend from Maine, is the chair of the Appropriations Committee. She has a history of working with bipartisanship, and integrity is so much a part of her leadership style. Democrats have rejected every good-faith measure that she has put forward in terms of the Appropriations Committee. Recall that when the Democrats were in charge of Congress and Joe Biden was in the White House, Senator Schumer blocked 11 of the 12 appropriations bills from even coming to the floor, even coming here for debate. He didn't want any of them--none. Republicans are committed to repairing the damage that has been done to the process by the Democrats. Senator Collins has carefully crafted a reasonable continuing resolution. That is what we voted to get on last night. It keeps the government open. So that was just the first step. Now we have to move forward. We will see what the Democrats say today. Here is the choice facing every Senate Democrat this week: Vote to keep the government open or force the Nation into another painful shutdown. We are going to find out. People have already lived through these two painful Democrat shutdowns over the last year. People don't want a third. They have suffered enough. Senator Schumer this morning said he wants to avoid a shutdown. Time for them to prove it. The question is, Do Democrats in this body have the courage to stand up to the extremists who have taken over their party? We are going to find out. I yield the floor. I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore
The clerk will call the roll.
The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll. (Mr. SHEEHY assumed the Chair.)
Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Hagerty)
Without objection, it is so ordered.
Mr. President, I also ask unanimous consent to enter into a colloquy with Senator Durbin for up to 30 minutes.
The PRESIDING OFFICER
Without objection, it is so ordered.
Mr. President, I just told my colleague from Illinois: It has been a ride. We have been trying to set up a process, a process whereby Congress would consider a solution--not prescribe a solution, consider a solution--for Social Security, a process that would have Members of the House and Members of the Senate come together fully open for input from stakeholders, from citizens, to have something to present among all the proposals that are out there--two proposals, three proposals--and whatever we put up would not be the final solution necessarily. It could be replaced by any other Member of the Senate with an amendment in the nature of a substitute.
And people won't even set up a process. We are not talking about a solution. We are talking about a process that would come to a solution maybe that still has to get 60 votes in the U.S. Senate.
Folks say: We need more time. Dick Durbin just chuckled. He goes: They have had 44 years. They have had 44 years. How much more time do they need?
I have got a couple cartoons just to make the case. I think that if we don't set up this process, Congress will be kicking granny off the cliff. That was made famous long ago. There it is. She earned it; she deserves it; she counts on it; and Congress will not set up a process by which to address the issue. Mr. President, 75 million retirees, widows, widowers, others rely on Social. In 6 years, the program, the trust fund--the trust fund goes insolvent. And when that happens, according to the actuaries, there will be either an almost 29 percent benefit reduction or a 40 percent increase in payroll taxes on working Americans.
If that trust fund goes insolvent and that benefit is cut 28.5 percent, as the actuaries say it will, the rate of poverty among Americans over age 65 will increase by 50 percent--by 50 percent.
So here is another cartoon. Congress made a promise, and some people want to ignore it. She paid in; she earned it; she relies on it. But if you ask: Should we do something about Social? Apparently, for some people, the time to do something on Social is never.
Don't disturb Congress. They don't want to take a tough vote--even if that vote only sets up a process--it doesn't even propose a solution--a process whereby Congress is required to fix the issue.
By the way, Social has always been important. It is even more important now that Americans are living longer. And every year we delay fixing Social, the amount of cuts required to balance it increase or the amount of taxes required to fix it increases or the amount of money we have to borrow to fix it increases. There is no good thing about waiting except it allows Congress to dodge its responsibility.
I want to compliment my colleague from Illinois. He came up to me and he goes: Bill, I am leaving the Senate. We need to make a run at fixing Social.
I am leaving the Senate. We need to make a run. By the way, we have a solution, but we are not saying it has to be our solution. All we are trying to do is set up a process by which solutions can be considered. And running out the clock, it may be politically convenient, but it is the wrong thing to do.
Congress' obligation to the American people, to the people that rely upon Social Security, is to act, and it is to act now.
I have another cartoon here just to make the point. It is not just older people affected; it is younger people. Sorry, young folks. You are getting left behind because some say it is not our problem. The Social Security system is going insolvent, and these folks can pay into it. They will never receive a benefit.
These young pages here, they don't recognize it yet, but they are contributing every month on the wages they are getting to a system that will not be there for them unless we do something now.
So before I defer to my colleague, I will just say once more: All we are doing is setting up a process to propose solutions that may or may not pass, that any Senator can bring their own bill and have it as an amendment in the nature of a substitute. It is up to Congress, though, to find a solution.
Now, history will decide whether Congress took up the responsibility of addressing the issue or whether because it was politically advantageous, politically expedient to kick the can down the road once more, even though the road is about to end in a dead end, or, in the case of one of our cartoons, a cliff.
Here. We built a bridge and decided not to finish it. Here. The folks that need to get across the bridge of Social Security will get to it someday. We have got to get to it now. That is the point.
Let's set up a process to be considered. We are talking about the PROMISE Act, which is a Dick Durbin--lead author--Bill Cassidy bill. And there may be another way, but let's set up the process. With that, I defer to my colleague.
The PRESIDING OFFICER
The Senator from Illinois.
What a treat it is to be on the floor of the Senate with a colleague from the Republican side of the aisle working together--together--to try to solve the problem. It doesn't happen much around here. You see these empty desks? They are empty almost all the days, week in, week out, month in, month out.
We do important things like nominations. There is nothing that is trivial about that. But we don't tackle the issues that really affect people at home with their families.
Here is one: Social Security. Mr. President, 75 million Americans rely on it. Half of them, it is their only source of income, so a Social Security check means a lot.
So the experts on Social Security tell Dr. Cassidy and myself that just in a few years--6 years--Social Security will be unable to make full promised payments. It will be cut by 22 percent in terms of benefits. Let's take an example. The average Social Security check now is around $2,400 a month. If you reduce that by 22 percent, it means that people receiving Social Security will receive about $450 to $500 less a month. If this is your only source of income, imagine for a moment that $2,400--just lopped off $400, $500 from your monthly payment. How does it affect you? Paying your rent; paying your mortgage; paying your utility bills; paying what it might take at the grocery store to get by. It is going to be a real hardship. As Senator Cassidy said, for the senior citizens of America, it means that those under the poverty level will increase by 50 percent. We can't let that happen. We have to do something about it. And the bill that I have introduced with Senator Cassidy basically doesn't pick a solution--although we can come up with a couple. It doesn't pick a solution. It just says: Don't waste any time. Start talking about it; start debating it; let the American people engage in this conversation with you; and vote on some alternatives. Now "vote" is a word that used to be part of being a Senator. Not so much anymore. Except when it comes to nominations, there aren't a lot of votes on substantive issues around this Chamber. I know a little bit about this. I have given more than half of my life to Congress: 14 years in the House, 30 years in the Senate. I know what you are saying: It sounds like a career politician. Well, maybe I am--and proud of it and particularly proud of serving in this Chamber. I have seen some glorious things happen in this Chamber on a bipartisan basis, but it takes a couple Senators, maybe more, to stand up and say: We have got to do something that is risky and controversial but important. This is not the first time I have faced Social Security. When I was a Member of the House elected in 1982, came to serve in 1983, I was told that in a matter of months Social Security would run out of money. Imagine that. You are a brandnew Member of Congress scared to death you won't be reelected, and they tell you, you have got to make a big change in the biggest social program in America. It scares you to death. But you know what? We did it. Our goal was simple: 50 years of solvency in Social Security. Can we change Social Security and guarantee 50 years of solvency? We made a lot of changes. And you know what we got for it: 2032--1983 to 2032, we kept our word--50 years. It is not too much to ask this Congress to fix Social Security and keep it solvent for 50 years. We can do it. And the longer we wait to do it, the more difficult it becomes. I look back on voting for that, and I thought it was the end of my political career, which was only a few months old, but it turned out no Member of Congress--Democrat or Republican--in 1983 and 1984 lost an election because they voted for Social Security changes. The American people expect us to make the best choices we can, and they accepted what we did. We bought 50 years of solvency--that is an amazing thing when you consider how important this program is. And so what Senator Cassidy and I have suggested is a process which basically says we won't go by the old Senate rules. I might add--I was going to show it, but I think it violates the Senate rules. The Senate is a Chamber of tradition. Down here, a few of you can see it, is a brass spittoon--a brass spittoon. It has been held onto as part of the tradition of the Senate. Well, we have traditions in the rules that make things almost impossible to pass except after a long period of time. Weeks go by sometimes; days certainly go by, trying to get from a measure on the floor to an actual vote. The Senate rules are not kindly. They are tough. So the bill that I introduced basically cuts through some of this redtape and delay and says we will move after several weeks to consider alternatives to Social Security. The bottom line is: It isn't enough to get a majority in the Senate under the current rules, and it isn't changed at all under our proposal. We still need 60 votes to ultimately pass any change to Social Security. Well, Democrats don't have 60 votes; Republicans don't have 60 votes; but together, we think we can reach that goal. Now, I have been a little disappointed, but not surprised, that some of my colleagues that I have talked to about this said they thought it was a good idea, but on reflection they have decided it is too risky, that we are moving things too fast. The Senate has never been accused successfully of moving too fast on almost anything. We take our time. That is why we are here. The Senate is different than the House, and I served in both and respect both. So to my colleagues who oppose this approach and say we need more time to do it, I want to back up Senator Cassidy. It costs money over time. It costs benefits over time. The solution becomes more expensive over time. The longer you wait, the more expensive it becomes to save Social Security. And we absolutely, positively have to save it. Too many people are counting on it. I bet you the folks who gathered here today have many relatives of their own who count on Social Security--either because they are disabled or elderly. I understand that in my own family. I think everybody does. So it is a great day in the Senate when a Democrat and a Republican stand on the floor and don't criticize one another but actually talk about working together. It has been a real pleasure for me, I would say to Senator Cassidy, to be part of the Cassidy-Durbin team. We are both ending our Senate careers on January 3 of next year. We hoped that this would be one of the things we could achieve before we left. I am still not giving up completely. Miracles do occur. But I had to step up and make a proposal with Senator Cassidy to get my colleagues into conversation. The conversation about Social Security has increased dramatically since we started this effort, and I think it should. The sooner, the better. The more expensive it becomes the longer we wait. I yield back to Senator Cassidy.
The PRESIDING OFFICER
The Senator from Louisiana.
Mr. President, Senator Durbin is referring to what's called the PROMISE Act. Again, it is a bill which sets up a process to come to a solution. It doesn't dictate what the solution is.
We have colleagues who are objecting to coming up with a process, and so it is important for our country that Congress tackle this issue. And when I say "our country," I mean the people who live here. And the people who live here, whether they are older or whether they are younger, they are relying upon Congress to step up to its responsibility.
Thank you, Senator Durbin. We will continue to push on this. It is important for our Congress, important for our country, important for our people.
I yield the floor.
Recess
Page S4419 · Official textThe PRESIDING OFFICER
Under the previous order, the Senate stands in recess until 2:15 p.m.
Thereupon, the Senate, at 12:30 p.m., recessed until 2:15 p.m. and reassembled when called to order by the Presiding Officer (Mrs. Britt).
AGOA EXTENSION ACT--Motion to Proceed--Continued
Pages S4419–S4425 · Official textThe PRESIDING OFFICER
The Senator from Pennsylvania.
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Recognizing The Pennsylvania State University Wrestling Team
Mr. President, Pennsylvania is wrestling country. The sport fits the character of our Commonwealth. From smalltown school gymnasiums to the biggest stage in college athletics, generations of Pennsylvanians have learned on the mat that nothing is given and everything is earned.
Our proud tradition is embodied by a team that has once again set the standard for intercollegiate wrestling and is here with us in the Gallery today. So I rise to honor the 2026 NCAA national championship Penn State Nittany Lions and submit a resolution congratulating them on their fifth consecutive national championship and their 13th title in the last 15 NCAA championships. This recognizes the dedication, the teamwork, and the perseverance that made this historic achievement possible.
When I watch wrestling, I see the best of Pennsylvania and the best of America: hard work, courage, resilience, humility, and respect. In this remarkable group of young men, those virtues are on full display.
I grew up wrestling across Pennsylvania--from Shikellamy to Shickshinny, from Selinsgrove to Schuylkill Haven--and years later, I had the privilege of serving as the cocaptain of the Army wrestling team at West Point. Last year, I sat in the front row in Philadelphia at the NCAA national championships, alongside President Trump, as Penn State defended its title.
I have spent much of my life around wrestling mats, and what I learned there is simple: Wrestling reveals character. For 7 minutes, there is nowhere to hide. No teammate can take your place. No excuse can score a takedown. The work you did or didn't do when nobody was watching shows up under the lights. That is why wrestling is more than a sport. It teaches the virtues that have always sustained America, and no program--no program--in the country embodies those virtues more consistently than Penn State wrestling.
This season, the Nittany Lions went 15 to 0. They completed their sixth straight undefeated season and extended dual-meet winning track record to 86. Then they went to the national championships in Cleveland and raised that standard again. The team scored 181.5 points, breaking the NCAA record that Penn State had set just the year before.
This is not just a good weekend; this is sustained excellence. Six Nittany Lions reached the national finals, tying the school record. Luke Lilledahl, Josh Barr, Levi Haines, and Mitchell Mesenbrink returned as champions, and Mitchell delivered one of the tournament's most defining performances, winning in the finals by a technical fault and earning the second straight national title for him and the tournament's "Outstanding Wrestler."
But the most compelling statistic is that every one of Penn State's 10 NCAA qualifiers scored points toward the record total, and 8 became All-Americans. That is teamwork. That is excellence.
There is so much discussion these days about how boys become good men, and Penn State wrestling has found a winning formula: Demand excellence, teach discipline and humility, and bind individual ambition to a purpose larger than oneself.
That is why Coach Cael Sanderson's legacy is bigger than 13 national titles. He has built more than a championship program; he has built a culture that forms young men into the kinds of leaders our communities and our country needs.
Cael often points to the Old Testament story of Nehemiah, who was rebuilding Jerusalem's wall when the enemies repeatedly tried to lure him away. Nehemiah's response was simple:
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I am doing a great work, so I cannot come down.
Coach Cael and his fellow coaches and the Penn State wrestling team are doing great work. As America celebrates its 250th anniversary, we in this body are striving to do great work too: preserving the liberty we inherited, renewing the character that sustains it, and proving that a free people can accomplish hard things together. But to be a champion, as this group knows, each of us needs to renew that great work every single day. The Penn State wrestling team understands that, and America sometimes needs to be reminded of it.
I ask my colleagues in this body to join me in this resolution recognizing what this remarkable team has accomplished.
To the Penn State Nittany Lions, congratulations on another historic championship. Pennsylvania is proud of you. The Senate honors you.
We are Penn State.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER
The Senator from Arkansas.
Madam President, I speak today in recognition of the bravery, courage, and valor of nearly 9,000 men and women in the Arkansas National Guard.
Day in and day out, the heroes of our National Guard protect our communities and our homeland, stand at the ready to respond to natural disasters, and defend our freedom around the world. Their work is having a huge impact on many fronts.
In Little Rock, our National Guardsmen recently participated in the Pentagon's largest unclassified cyber defense exercise, known as Cyber Shield, alongside more than 1,000 participants from 44 States and nearly two dozen countries.
Down at the southern border, Arkansas National Guard troops are working to keep illegal aliens out of our country and stop the flow of deadly, illicit drugs into our communities.
Additionally, Arkansas National Guardsmen on the homefront have provided 15 percent of the targeting information for Operation Epic Fury, while guardsmen deployed overseas work on the ground in support of this critical mission.
Last but certainly not least and most recently, the National Guardsmen stationed in Washington, DC, as part of the President's "Safe and Beautiful" mission are cleaning up our Nation's Capital for all Americans to enjoy.
Earlier this summer, just a couple of miles from the Capitol Building, Arkansas National Guardsmen intervened in a violent assault and stopped a potential shooting. While out on patrol earlier, SGT Memphis Perez, SPC Edwin Martinez, SPC Christian Diaz, and PFC Gabriel Oliva encountered a woman with a bloody face, multiple groups of people yelling and arguing, and a suspect threatening to shoot a group of women. These brave guardsmen of Team Razorback stepped into action, detained the suspect with flex cuffs after he attempted to retrieve a Glock pistol from his car, provided medical assistance to the victim, and secured the scene while waiting for Metropolitan Police Department officers to arrive. The heroism of these men saved lives, and because of their courage, they received the Joint Service Achievement Medal.
I would like to extend my gratitude and admiration to Sergeant Perez, Specialist Martinez, Specialist Diaz, and Private First Class Oliva for doing, as my drill sergeant used to say, the hard right over the easy wrong.
You did your duty with honor and integrity in a very dangerous situation. I commend you for your brave actions and congratulate you on earning this distinguished award.
On the ground, in the air, in cyber space, and right here in the Nation's Capital, Arkansas National Guardsmen are always ready and always there.
To my fellow Arkansans who have answered the call to serve in the Guard, I say: Thank you. Your example of selflessness, courage, and patriotism has made our country and our State proud. May God bless you and protect you. May God bless the United States of America.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER
The Senator from Louisiana.
Madam President, I know you are well aware of this, but the Senate needs to pass the Russia sanctions bill, and we need to do it now. We have the votes. Let's vote.
Ukraine has Putin down and is choking him. We need to help Ukraine choke him to death. I am sorry that the people of Russia are having to undergo what they are undergoing. I am doubly sorry the people of Ukraine are, but it is not going to stop until Putin understands--and we make him understand--that the costs of his barbarism outweigh the benefits.
For the first time since 2022, through sheer will and some big brains and help from Europe and help from the United States, Ukraine has Putin on the back foot. It is truly remarkable.
I remember when Putin invaded in 2022. All the experts said Putin is going to roll through Ukraine like thunder on a summer night; headed toward Kyiv, he is going to take it over.
In fact, President Biden then asked President Zelenskyy if he needed help evacuating. And I will never forget what President Zelenskyy said. It was one of his finest hours. When President Biden asked him if he needed a ride, needed help getting out, he said: I need ammunition.
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I need ammunition, not a ride.
We should have known then that the Ukrainian people are tough as a pine knot. And I guarantee you, in his heart of hearts, Vladimir Putin wishes he never started that fight.
Putin thought time was on his side. It is not on his side anymore. Russia has had, unfortunately, 1.4 million soldiers die. He is having a hard time recruiting new ones. His flow of voluntary soldiers has dried up. He is now having to pay people to fight, and he may have to impose a draft on the good people of Russia.
Why? It is not hard to figure out. It is grit. It is guts. It is determination. And it is drones. Ukraine is now the drone master of the universe. They started with nothing. They are now the drone master of the universe.
Ukraine is producing more drones. They are producing better drones. They are producing long-range drones. They are going to produce 7 million drones in 2026. That is up from 2.2 million only a few years ago.
Some of those drones can travel up to 2,000 miles. Ukraine is using those drones to overwhelm the Russian air defense. Now, normally, when you send a drone into Russia, Russia has an air defense.
What does that mean? That just means missiles on the ground or other drones that will shoot down that foreign drone invading Russia. Ukraine has figured out a way to overwhelm Russian air defenses so that some of those drones get through. And boy, are those getting through.
No part of Russia is safe right now because of these drones by Ukraine. In late June, Ukrainian drones took out two oil refineries in a city called Ufa--I am probably mispronouncing it. That is a thousand miles behind frontlines.
As a result of these drones, as of late June, Russia had lost 30 percent of its refining capacity.
What does that mean? It means they don't have any gasoline. It means they don't have any diesel fuel. If you are a Russian in Crimea, you can't buy gasoline. They have said no more consumer sales; they are running short. There are long lines in Moscow, as we speak, as I know the Presiding Officer knows, to get gas. The war has finally come to the people of Russia.
Just recently, Ukrainians sent in drones to bomb Wildberries. What is Wildberries? Wildberries is Russia's Amazon, and they keep all these consumer goods in big warehouses. Ukraine used drones to take out two of them--about $2 billion.
But everybody in Russia has felt the impact. They have seen it. Once again, the war has come, unfortunately, to the people of Russia.
Recent polls--it is hard to get good data out of Russia because Putin has turned Russia into China. You can't speak freely. Internet is isolated. They will put you in prison and kill you and hurt you the entire time you are dying if you speak out of turn.
But the good people of Russia still have feelings, and a recent poll showed that only 21 percent of the people of Russia support its government policies.
So now is the time. What this Russia sanctions bill would do is say: If you want to buy Russian oil and gas, you can't use the dollar. And, by the way, you also can't sell your goods in America.
Why are we doing that? Because between 30 and 40 percent of Russia's budget and Putin's budget--they are one and the same right now--comes from oil and gas. So if you cut off your oil and gas, you cut off your cash flow. If you cut off your cash flow, you stop your ability to prosecute the war.
This will not require any American money.
I want to thank the European countries. It took them a while. But they finally faced reality, and they have stepped up and financially supported Ukraine. And the American people generously supported Ukraine for a long time, and we still are sharing intelligence with them. So I want to thank the leadership in Europe and the good people of Europe.
But this will cut off Putin's cash fund--one simple bill. We need to do it, and we need to do it now. And we need to vote. We just need to stop talking and start voting.
Madam President, No. 2, let me talk about election integrity.
Let me tell you what I think of when I think of the SAVE Act. I think of integrity in American elections. Now, you don't have to be a senior at CalTech to know that the American people, no matter what your political philosophy is--Democrat, Republican, Independent; socialist, communist, whatever--you wonder about elections now. You wonder about the integrity.
I mean, I don't know how widespread, if at all, this is, but in New Jersey, we just discovered that the entire population of Bolivia is registered to vote in New Jersey. That is a bit of an overstatement. But after saying there is no problem with our voter rolls, we discover stuff like this.
And we just witnessed elections in California that take months to resolve. When it takes a month to declare a winner for the good people of California, what do you think they are going to think--particularly, the loser?
Look, if America is going to survive, in terms of your party, you have got to be willing to lose and accept that you have lost. And in order to do that, you have to trust in the election.
So when I think of the SAVE Act, I am thinking of election integrity. And, really, what the SAVE Act means to me is two things: It means you have to prove you are who you say you are in order to vote and in order to register to vote. It is very simple. Rule No. 1, you have to prove you are who you say you are in order to register to vote and to vote.
And, No. 2, we need to go back to having an election day and not an election month. We need to know who the winner is on election night. And if it is a really close race, I can understand it bleeding over until the next day.
Frankly, I don't care how you vote. That is up to the States. The President does not want voting by mail. He is entitled to his opinion. I just disagree with him.
If the people of Alaska or the people of New York or the people of Florida want to vote by mail, that is up to them and their State legislatures. So within reason, I don't care how you vote. I just want to require those votes to be tallied by election night--on election night.
Now, this is all really easy for me to say, but the States run elections, and they run Federal elections. And it is really easy for me and all of us in the Senate to give them orders, but they have to have money to implement these rules.
And we have a budget resolution that was sent over to us by the House--a budget resolution can only deal with money--and I think we should take it up.
I am on the Budget Committee. Senator Ron Johnson is our chair. He is going to be a very able chair. We talked about it this morning. I think we need to take up that money bill, and I think part of it needs to be election integrity.
And I think we are going to have to--the whole purpose of that bill should be, and hopefully will be, to give our States--it is a money bill; it is a money issue--to give our States the financial resources to implement these two simple rules: You have to prove you are who you say you are in order to vote, and you have to get those votes counted by election night.
The States are going to need resources, and that is the whole purpose of the so-called SAVE Act in the budget resolution. And we need to take it up now--now.
Now, it may be that we can put in a provision--I don't know; some big brains tell me it will work--that if we provide money to the States to implement election integrity, that if enough States participate, that it will become not just custom but law that these two rules apply.
Did I mention the two rules? You have to prove you are who you say you are in order to vote, and that we need to have an election day not an election month.
It may be that the money provision can be crafted to provide that if enough States agree, that is going to become the policy for all States. I don't know if that is possible under the Budget Control Act, but I do know that the SAVE Act, right now--in addition to the two rules of election integrity that I talk about--involves money, and that is what we are going to try to do. It is to provide the States the money within the parameters of the Budget Control Act.
But we can't do it unless we can vote, and it would be nice if we could all agree. It would be nice if we could all have meetings and talk about it and give and take. I am all for that. But, right now, it is not realistic because people have differences of opinion.
Do you know what you do when you have a difference of opinion? You vote. That is why God made votes. That is why God made the U.S. Senate.
We can continue to sit around. It is also true of the Russia sanctions bill, but it is especially true with respect to election integrity. And I am not criticizing anybody. I know the way the Senate works, and the Presiding Officer does too. Senators will stall and restall and cuss and spit, and we need one more meeting.
I can't tell you how many meetings I have been in, in the last 6 months, that should have been an email, that could have been an email, to talk about the Russia sanctions bill and to talk about election integrity and to try to get a consensus. It is not going to happen--not in my natural lifetime, not in the Presiding Officer's, though you will live longer than me, and not in yours, our friends in the Gallery.
We have got to vote, and we need to vote right now. And the American people expect it.
And if there is a motion made on this floor to have us remain here until we get our work done, I am going to vote yes. I am going to vote yes. I can tell you right now. And what is the work we need to get done? In no particular order, we need to pass the Russia sanctions bill; we need to pass the budget resolution, which will include election integrity; we need to confirm Todd Blanche; we need to pass the continuing resolution to keep government open until December 11; and we need to vote on the cryptocurrency bill, which we have spent years on. And if we are waiting to take those votes to get a consensus, it is not going to happen.
Did I mention that is why God made votes? When reasonable people disagree, that is what we need to do.
Did I leave anything out, Madam President?
We need to get our business done, and then we can go on about our business.
I am not saying that people go home in August and just lie around the pool. I know that. I don't. The Presiding Officer doesn't. We go back, and we meet with constituents. Some people run for reelection. I am planning on being in all the battleground States, and I am anxious to get there to help my colleagues.
But we have to stay here and get our business done.
And that is it. My work here is done. I can show myself out.
And I may be wrong, but I doubt it. I think the American people are going to be really disappointed if we don't get our work done because it is not our work. It is their work.
I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER
The clerk will call the roll.
The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Banks)
Without objection, it is so ordered.
Mr. President, my fine State of Wisconsin has a gray wolf population problem, but that was not always the case. Back in the eighties and nineties, we had the opposite problem. We had an endangered wolf population, as probably most of the lower 48 States did. So back in 1978, under the Endangered Species Act, the gray wolf was listed as one of those endangered species.
The good news is, it worked. You can see from the chart here--that starts in 1980 to about the year 1999--our wolf population slowly started coming back, to the point that in 1999, the Wisconsin DNR agreed that once we hit 250 gray wolves in Wisconsin, that would be the point at which we could delist the gray wolf as no longer an endangered species.
We didn't delist them. The population continued to grow and grow, and unfortunately, as much as we all value a healthy and sustainable gray wolf population, there is a point at which it gets too large and it starts threatening livestock, starts threatening people.
I think the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recognized that fact, and so in 2007, the gray wolf was actually delisted by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The problem is, in 2008, it was relisted by a Federal court here in DC. So in 2009, we took action once again. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service delisted the gray wolf. That same year, that same court relisted it. Three years later--again, looking at the science, looking at the growing population--in 2012, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service delisted it. Three years later, the same DC court relisted it. In 2021, again, you can start seeing the explosion, quite honestly, in population. Our Wisconsin DNA states that about 1,250 is really the most population of gray wolf that the State can sustain. We had already hit that level, so U.S. Fish and Wildlife delisted it again, only to be overturned in 2022 by a Federal court decision in California this time, not DC.
Why is this a problem? We get report after report of families, farmers in Wisconsin who are bearing the burden of this back-and-forth, of the fact that the gray wolf is protected and the populations are really at the maximum level right now.
It is threatening livestock. I mean, throughout Wisconsin, wolves are killing cows, horses, goats, sheep, cats, dogs. We have a sheep farm in Wisconsin, and a multigeneration herd of sheep was all wiped out except for one sheep, in one night. In Price County, a dairy farmer had to sell his entire herd because the wolves kept killing his cows. Wisconsinites have to carry firearms just to walk their dogs. A Wood County resident was forced to drive their children to school because the bus route changed because wolf tracks were there at the bus stop.
So, Mr. President, you know, I am just asking what makes sense when the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has--one, two, three, four, five--four times taken the gray wolves off the endangered species list, which, again, we all agreed was required. We should have all agreed it was successful. We are way past the delisting baseline established by the Wisconsin DNR. We are at the maximum sustainable limit here.
I am asking consent to pass a bill that would simply delist them so that Wisconsin farmers, Wisconsin families, and Wisconsin children can feel safe in their residences, in walking about their properties.
So, Mr. President, notwithstanding rule XXII, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Environment and Public Works be discharged from further consideration of S. 1306 and the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration; further, that the bill be considered read a third time and passed and the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Curtis)
Is there an objection?
The Senator from New Jersey.
Mr. President, reserving the right to object, look, my esteemed colleague from Wisconsin--I don't mean to use any onomatopoeia here, but he is howling about the gray wolves and seeking to pass legislation to remove Federal protections under the Endangered Species Act for gray wolves across the entire United States.
A hallmark of the Endangered Species Act is the requirement that decisions be made solely on the basis of scientific data. Congress is supposed to rely on that data.
This act was brought to bear in 1973 under a Republican President with a very important mission: to protect species at risk of extinction and to promote the conservation of ecosystems and habitats necessary for the survival of those species.
For a species to be considered recovered, science must show that it has returned to suitable habitats with durable populations that can persist safely and endurably into the foreseeable future. That is the law. Today, wolves have returned to only 10 percent of their historic range and do not meet the Endangered Species Act requirements for delisting. That is the law.
Gray wolves once numbered in the millions across North America, from forests and plains to deserts and mountains. But wolves, with insatiable, rapacious cruelty, were hunted, trapped, and poisoned--and other actions to kill and eradicate them--to near extinction by the mid-20th century in all of the lower 48 States.
There is this growing sympathy and empathy in the American public for a species that has endured such cruelty and ruthlessness at human hands over the centuries--a species that is the forbear of the dogs we love and cherish in our lives.
As apex predators, gray wolves, we now know, play a vital role in keeping the entire natural ecosystem in America healthy. When wolves were brought back to places like Yellowstone National Park, it transformed the park. More birds, beavers, and fish returned.
Research from Wisconsin, my colleague's home State, reveals the overwhelming net benefits of healthy, wild wolf packs to our landscapes.
My colleague cites that there are problems in Wisconsin. There are so many Wisconsinites that speak out, especially the scientists, and some of those scientists are actually economists. Wisconsin economists proved that wolves are protecting human safety. One of the big ways they protect human safety--and they enumerated this--is by reducing vehicle collisions with the deer population, with deer. Other independent research in Wisconsin suggests that chronic wasting disease is suppressed where wolf packs hunt. And there are so many other benefits.
But it is not just his State that this would affect; it would be so many other States.
Look, we have a crisis in our country. We are living through a biodiversity crash. Some people call it the sixth mass extinction. This mass extinction is unique because it is being driven not by natural disasters but primarily by human activity and decision making. Current extinction rates are estimated to be hundreds to thousands of times higher than the normal background rate.
We need to do better for what wildlife remains in our Nation, including the gray wolf. We need to stand up for the role of science in influencing our decisions, for expertise influencing the outcomes, and not harmful legislation like this. That is why I will not allow it to move forward, Mr. President. I object.
The PRESIDING OFFICER
The objection is heard.
The Senator from Wisconsin.
Mr. President, I only stand to point out that Wisconsin DNR is not exactly an organization that is not willing to protect wildlife. It certainly is. It set the delisting baseline at 250. We are at five times that level.
From my standpoint, whether this legislation affects other States--this ought to be looked at State by State and allow States to decide that. Wisconsin would certainly like this delisted, and it is just regrettable that my unanimous consent request was objected to.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER
The Senator from Rhode Island.
Mr. President, simple fact: Climate change is real. It is actually pretty widely known. I think it is a true statement that every person knowledgeable about climate science who is not on the payroll of the fossil fuel industry or its denial operation agrees with that. Actually, a lot of people knowledgeable about climate science who are on the payroll of the fossil fuel industry agree with that. In fact, scientists from Exxon, from Chevron, in a report for API 30, 40 years ago, acknowledged climate science, predicted the harms, and indeed quite accurately predicted the harms we are seeing now.
Given that, I came to the floor to ask my colleagues if they could simply agree on that simple scientific fact--climate change is actually real. Well, unfortunately, to no one's surprise, Republican colleagues could not. So I came back to the floor and broke down the big question--the scientific fact that climate change is real--into some of its component truths, the smaller truths that make up the big truth that climate change is real. Each time faced with simple, well-documented truths, such as sea level rise and economic fallout from climate change, Republicans objected.
Objectors have protested that they are not climate change deniers. Well, you would never know that from their willingness to consider solutions. Indeed, the objectors are stridently opposed to any--any--climate solutions, and they have made their opposition clear. The problem is that that comes with consequences.
So I will try another simple truth today. It is actually a pair. One, climate change-driven extreme weather events are increasing, and at the same time, the government is dismantling weather monitoring and alert systems. I will ask you to accept those two truths together. I don't think either one is subject to much debate, so I hope we can all agree on that.
As I have explained repeatedly and as anybody knowledgeable in this space pretty well knows, climate change exacerbates extreme weather and disaster events. You can see on this chart the billion-dollar disasters from 1980 to today. It gets worse and worse. It includes winter storms, wildfires, hurricanes, and other severe storms; freezes, flooding, and drought. But to make the chart, it has got to be a billion-dollar disaster. Climate change increases both the frequency and the intensity of these events. Scientists have known this to be true for decades now. It has actually developed to the point where the National Academies could release a report just this month making clear that the attribution science--linking extreme weather to climate change to emissions--is advancing. It is now quite well established.
So what do we know?
We know that the fossil fuel industry is making extreme weather worse. Now we have an even better sense of how much worse; how it is attributable to those companies.
I mentioned flooding. Climate change drives flooding in several ways: wetter hurricanes, for one; sea-level rise for another. And I say this as a Rhode Islander: It is not just our coastal communities that are at risk; climate change increases rainfall intensity--powerful rain bursts--that deliver unprecedented upland flooding. That happens because a warmer atmosphere, just as a matter of simple physics, holds more water.
This chart shows that, from 1970 to 2025, average rainfall intensity increased by 28 percent. That is a lot more water, and it results in more frequent and intense extreme rainfall, which can occur far away from coasts. Ask Asheville, NC.
So how can communities like Asheville know when floods like that are coming?
Well, the answer is, government warning systems from our National Weather Service, which is part of the NOAA.
Most of us use National Weather Service data every day because smartphones rely on Weather Service data to power the weather apps that we look at. If you have gotten a thunderstorm warning, a tornado warning, or a flood alert on your smartphone, that is the Weather Service and its hundreds of civil servants diligently doing the science, tracking the data, and putting out the warnings.
Well, since President Trump took office and unleashed Elon Musk and his team of little DOGE boys, the Weather Service has lost about 600 employees--600. Half of those employees were meteorologists and hydrologists--the people who work on doing the forecasting and the warnings.
As climate change-driven extreme weather continues to worsen these dangers, well, that spells trouble, and people need warnings. We can trace the impact of those DOGE losses to the Weather Service already.
For instance, at the time of the deadly flooding in Kerr County, TX, last year, the Weather Service's San Angelo office was missing a senior hydrologist, a staff forecaster, and a chief meteorologist. They are just not there anymore. The San Antonio office was missing a science officer and a warning coordination meteorologist. What could possibly go wrong? Well, they found out in Kerr County, TX.
In April of this year, East-Central Kansas got a Weather Service tornado warning out with just minutes to spare. Weather forecasters can usually issue tornado warnings hours in advance and then update. They can do those early warnings because, when the government is properly staffed and hasn't had Elon Musk's little minions wrecking it, it can release daily weather balloons in the predawn hours to build the dataset of what is going on. Well, due to staffing cuts, several Weather Service offices now don't have the people to do the predawn launches, so the balloons don't go up until regular office hours. By then, when those balloons went up on April 13, the storms were already on the move. This time, Kansans were warned to seek shelter just in the nick of time, but that is not an acceptable gamble for the U.S. Government.
You know, it is pretty basic government stuff to fund and maintain weather monitoring and alert systems, including adequate staff at the weather Agencies. If we can't do that, well, we will see more lives lost as ever more frequent and dangerous climate-driven weather events catch people by surprise because our Weather Service is understaffed and underfunded. We should certainly be able to agree on that. Climate-driven extreme weather is worsening, and the administration is taking down the capabilities for weather forecasting and warnings. Both are true. I hope that we can agree to this one.
So, notwithstanding rule XXII, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation be discharged from further consideration and that the Senate now proceed to S. Res. 558. I further ask consent that the resolution be agreed to; that the preamble be agreed to; and that the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.
The PRESIDING OFFICER
Is there an objection?
The Senator from Wisconsin.
Mr. President, in reserving the right to object, I guess today is my day to refute the Democrats' false assertions and claims.
Earlier today, when chairing the Budget Committee hearing and Democrats falsely accused the Republicans of cutting and slashing Medicaid, I repeatedly had to remind them that the year that ObamaCare kicked in, in 2014--the first year of Medicaid expansion--we spent $300 billion on Medicaid. Five years later, which was the year before the pandemic, in 2019, we spent $400 billion on Medicaid. This last year, we spent $668 billion on Medicaid. Medicaid spending is up 10 percent, year on year, and we will probably spend about $735 billion. That is more than double the amount we spent the year that Medicaid expansion kicked in.
They apparently didn't like my correcting the record and refuting their false assertions; so they complained in the Budget Committee hearing that I was turning the committee into a debate society. Well, I don't know. I thought this was supposed to be the world's greatest deliberative body.
So now I have come to the floor to rebut, once again, the false claims of the Senator from Rhode Island. He said he is making two true assertions here: that climate events are worsening because of climate change.
First of all, I will state that I am not a climate change denier. The climate has always changed, and it always will. The last time I was objecting to one of his false assertions--again, to one of his resolutions--I pointed to the Vostok ice core sample, which were four or five distinct cycles over 440,000 years of 22.7 degrees Fahrenheit variation. Yes. So climate has always changed. The question is, To what extent does mankind cause it? But the assertion that these climate events like hurricanes or wildfires are being driven to greater extremes because of climate change is just false. I mean, there is reputable science that completely debunks those claims.
The Senator from Rhode Island talked about billions of dollars' worth of property damage. Well, when you build multimillion-dollar homes right on the coast of hurricane regions, you are going to have higher dollar losses with normal hurricane activity. When you are as sloppy as California is at wildfire mitigation--there is an excellent article written by Representative McClintock, from California, saying that, back in the 1800s, I think it was like 2\1/2\ million acres of California that routinely burned, but through proper mitigation efforts, they reduced that to, I think, 250,000 acres per year; but then they stopped doing them under Democrat governance, and they are back up to over, you know, millions of acres burning a year. That is not because of climate change; that is just because of bad Democrat governance, bad Democrat policies. So that is the first assertion.
The second assertion is easy to rebut, which is that we are not funding the National Weather Service.
I mean, again, here are the figures. I know they don't like facts, and they don't like figures, but here are the facts: In 2014, the budget for the National Weather Service was $1.34 billion. The next year--again, when Joe Biden was President still for fiscal year 2025--he did only increase it by 0.7, but it increased to $1.35 billion. In fiscal year 2026, it is up 8 percent to $1.46 billion. In the House, I think the President's budget calls for the fiscal 2027 spending of $1.6 billion. That will be a 9.5-percent increase.
So, again, we are not cutting or slashing Medicaid. We are not cutting or slashing the National Weather Service. Both claims in this resolution are false.
I also have to quote Secretary Chris Wright: "We are in the midst of the greatest malinvestment in human history"--$10 trillion on a global basis has been invested nominally on fighting climate change. What do you get for $10 trillion? Well, to be very specific on energy sources, you get solar up to 1.2 percent of global energy and wind at 1.4.
As a quick aside, in 1973, global oil, gas, and coal energy consumption was 84 percent. In 2024, it was 83 percent. We spent $10 trillion on all of this renewable energy, and the mix hasn't changed at all.
And we certainly haven't satisfied the Chicken Littles claiming disaster. I have actually got a long list of these experts.
By the way, I think last week in Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, we tried to get answers out of one of these experts, Dr. Fauci, who directed our miserably failed response to COVID. He won't answer my questions.
But I have got a long list of these experts going back to the seventies, you know. Harvard biologist George Wald estimated: Civilization will end in 15 to 30 years unless immediate action was taken.
Let's go up to climate change, 1980, ecologist Kenneth Watt predicted the world would be 4 degrees colder--colder--in 1990 and 11 degrees colder in 2000. That didn't happen.
No, this then started--this global cooling, right? That was the fearmongering. Then it was global warming. Then when they couldn't decide, they just turned it into generic climate change.
In 1989, Noel Brown, a U.N. environmental official, said entire nations would be wiped off the Earth if rising sea levels from global warming were not reversed by the year 2000. It is 26 years later; I haven't seen these entire nations wiped off the Earth.
In 2007, head of the U.N. climate panel claimed it would be too late unless drastic actions were taken by 2012, and that is 14 years ago.
In 2004, a Pentagon climate change report said Britain will be Siberian in 2020. Didn't happen.
In 2008, Al Gore cited a claim from another climate researcher that the North Pole may be ice free by 2013.
Again, there are literally dozens of these Chicken Little scaremongering claims. Just not buying them.
These resolutions aren't harmful. There is a point to them. They are trying to lay a documentary record to promote more of this malinvestment--$10 trillion. Just think of what we could have done with $10 trillion that we just frittered away on climate change alarmists.
So, Mr. President, I object.
The PRESIDING OFFICER
The objection is heard.
The Senator from Rhode Island.
Mr. President, just a few quick things. First of all, Medicaid, from the budget discussion this morning, is facing a trillion dollars in cuts. Second of all, that is being done by a redtape bomb being dropped on Medicaid recipients that will fall the hardest on the people least capable of the additional redtape and paperwork who have--you know, are in addiction recovery, have severe mental health issues, have such disabling physical health issues that it is hard for them to take on the new project of keeping up with the Republican redtape and bureaucracy.
And the question of whether it is real or not, you don't have to go any further than looking at the organizations, hospitals, doctors groups, nursing homes, that are having to prepare their finances for that cut. They are not preparing their finances for level Medicaid funding; they are preparing their finances for massive cuts. So that is just the truth of the matter.
With respect to the Weather Service, 600 employees are gone. They were driven out by Elon Musk and his little minions, and there are vacancies in meteorological, hydrological, and weather forecasting positions as a result. That is just another fact.
And, last of all, my colleague from Wisconsin's view of what is happening with climate change is certainly entertaining in certain circles. But if you want to take a look at what is real, you might want to consider going to the universities in Wisconsin--like the quite renown University of Wisconsin--to see that legitimate climate science is what is taught in Wisconsin's own universities, not the entertaining version that we just heard here on the Senate floor, but the real stuff, taught by the people who really know to students who want to know what the truth is. That is the choice Wisconsin made in its universities. They teach the real stuff, and there is no way you can reconcile the real stuff with the entertaining version of climate that we just heard from the distinguished Senator from Wisconsin.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER
The Senator from Washington.
Mr. President, I rise today with a very heavy heart because, right now, huge swaths of my State are being confronted by some of the worst fires that we have ever seen. This weekend, three fast-moving wildfires exploded across Spokane County.
In a matter of hours, entire neighborhoods were told: Leave now. This may be your only notice. Over 65,000 people I represent have been forced to evacuate their homes. At least 700 homes, businesses, and buildings have been destroyed already.
Families are sleeping in the Spokane Convention Center tonight, not knowing whether they even still have a home to go back to. And as of this morning, these fires are still not contained.
The photos and videos tell the story: Houses reduced to ash, families embracing outside the burned remains of what they once called home. It is heartbreaking. Smoke so thick over Spokane that the air itself has now become a health hazard.
To every family in Spokane and across eastern Washington who has lost a home or a business or a lifetime of memories, hear me: I promise you I am with you today, tomorrow, and for as long as it takes to rebuild.
And amid this devastation, I also want this Chamber to hear about the extraordinary courage on display in my State right now. Within hours of the evacuation orders, neighbors were opening their doors to strangers. Families who had room to spare simply said: Come stay with us. Volunteers worked through the night at the convention center, handing out blankets, serving hot meals, sitting with frightened kids. Local restaurants showed up with food for evacuees and for the fire crews who are coming off the line. Churches and community groups collected clothes and diapers, pet food. Whatever people needed, someone in Spokane found a way to provide it.
Firefighters have been on the lines around the clock in brutal heat against dangerous winds. Local fire crews, crews from across the State, the Washington National Guard--all mobilized within hours. Incident management teams and firefighters who actually came from out of State all the way from Florida to Alaska--there are even firefighters from Australia and New Zealand--because of them, because of the sheriff's deputies and police officers who went door to door to get people out, because of the emergency managers and dispatchers and shelter volunteers, tens of thousands of people got to safety. These are real-life heroes, and, on behalf of the people of Washington State, "Thank you."
But gratitude is not enough. The people of Spokane need action, and they deserve to know their government has their back.
So here is where things stand as I see them: Our firefighters must have every resource they need to contain these fires--every aircraft, every bit of equipment, every dollar. So far our State has gotten the resources we need from the Federal Government, and I deeply appreciate that. That is how it should be.
Yesterday, I led our congressional delegation in urging the President to approve the Governor's request for an expedited emergency declaration. The President has approved part of that request; that is good, and I will be watching closely to ensure the full request is approved.
The next few days will no doubt be difficult as local fire crews do their best to try and contain these fires.
Looking ahead, it is important to say: Spokane's recovery will not be measured in days or weeks; it will be measured in months and years. Rebuilding homes, rebuilding businesses--it will take a long time, and it will not be easy.
But as vice chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, I want the people of eastern Washington to know they have a voice in the U.S. Senate who will speak up for Spokane. I am not someone who will simply write letters to this administration asking for support. I help write the bills that fund the government across every Department and every Federal program, and I will make sure Spokane's recovery is a priority at every opportunity. There is not a single dollar I won't pursue if it means helping Spokane and communities across the State as they rebuild from these devastating fires. Whatever it takes, for as long as it takes.
Spokane has been hurt and is being badly hurt by these fires, but Spokane is not broken. A community that takes care of each other in the way we have seen cannot be broken. Spokane will rebuild; Eastern Washington will recover; and I will be standing with them every single step of the way.
I yield the floor.
I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER
The clerk will call the roll.
The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll. (Ms. LUMMIS assumed the Chair.)
Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mrs. Moody)
Without objection, it is so ordered.
Appointment
Page S4425 · Official textThe PRESIDING OFFICER
The Chair, on behalf of the President pro tempore, in accordance with Public Law 99-498, Section 1505(a)(1)(B)(ii), appoints the following Senator to the Board of Trustees of the Institute of American Indian and Alaska Native Culture and Arts Development: The Honorable Ben Ray Lujan of New Mexico.
Recognizing the 80th Anniversary of the Fulbright Program
Page S4425 · Official textMadam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to consideration of S. Res. 830, submitted earlier today.
The PRESIDING OFFICER
The clerk will report the resolution by title.
The legislative clerk read as follows:
Text printed in the Record (85 characters)
A resolution (S. Res. 830) recognizing the 80th anniversary of the Fulbright Program.
There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the resolution.
Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, and the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate.
The PRESIDING OFFICER
Without objection, it is so ordered.
The resolution (S. Res. 830) was agreed to.
The preamble was agreed to. (The resolution, with its preamble, is printed in today's Record under "Submitted Resolutions.")
Accelerating Access to Critical Therapies for Als Reauthorization Act of 2026
Pages S4425–S4426 · Official textACCELERATING ACCESS TO CRITICAL THERAPIES FOR ALS REAUTHORIZATION ACT OF 2026
Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of Calendar No. 461, S. 4472.
The PRESIDING OFFICER
The clerk will report the bill by title.
The legislative clerk read as follows:
Text printed in the Record (175 characters)
A bill (S. 4472) to amend the Accelerating Access to Critical Therapies for ALS Act to reauthorize the provisions of such Act through fiscal year 2031, and for other purposes.
There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the bill, which had been reported from the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions with an amendment to strike all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic, as follows:
Text printed in the Record (7,686 characters)
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the "Accelerating Access to Critical Therapies for ALS Reauthorization Act of 2026".
SEC. 2. REAUTHORIZATION OF ACCELERATING ACCESS TO CRITICAL
THERAPIES FOR ALS ACT.
(a) In General.--Section 7 of the Accelerating Access to Critical Therapies for ALS Act (Public Law 117-79) is amended by striking "2022 through 2026" and inserting "2027 through 2031".
(b) Grants for ALS Research.--Section 2(f) of the Accelerating Access to Critical Therapies for ALS Act (21 U.S.C. 360ee note) is amended by striking "2026" and inserting "2031".
SEC. 3. IMPROVEMENTS TO PROGRAM FOR GRANTS FOR RESEARCH ON
THERAPIES FOR ALS.
Section 2 of the Accelerating Access to Critical Therapies for ALS Act (21 U.S.C. 360ee note) is amended--
(1) in subsection (a), by inserting "(referred to in this section as `expanded access grants')" before the period at the end of the first sentence;
(2) in subsection (b)--
(A) by striking "(b) Application--" and all that follows through "A participating" in paragraph (1) and inserting the following:
"(b) Application.--A participating";
(B) by redesignating paragraphs (2) and (3) as paragraphs (1) and (2) respectively;
(C) in the matter preceding paragraph (1), as so redesignated, by striking the period at the end and inserting "including--";
(D) by amending paragraph (1), as so redesignated, to read as follows:
"(1) a description of how data generated through the proposed expanded access grant will be used to support research or development related to the prevention, diagnosis, mitigation, treatment, or cure of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis;";
(E) in paragraph (2), as so redesignated--
(i) by striking "Noninterference with clinical trials--" and all that follows through "shall include";
(ii) by striking "program" and inserting "grant"; and
(iii) by striking the period at the end and inserting "; and"; and
(F) by adding at the end the following:
"(3) an assurance that such entity will promptly report to the Secretary available safety data from any ongoing clinical trial of the investigational drug as set forth in the terms and conditions of the grant.";
(3) in subsection (c)--
(A) by redesignating subparagraphs (A) and (B) of paragraph (2) as clauses (i) and (ii), respectively, and adjusting the margins accordingly;
(B) by redesignating paragraphs (1) through (3) as subparagraphs (A) through (C), respectively, and adjusting the margins accordingly;
(C) in subparagraph (C), as so redesignated, by striking the period at the end and inserting "; and";
(D) in the matter preceding subparagraph (A), as so redesignated, by striking "this section, confirm that--" and inserting the following: "this section--
"(1) confirm that--"; and
(E) by adding at the end the following:
"(2) in the case of a renewal of such a grant, request from the sponsor of the investigational new drug application involved, and assess, the enrollment, safety, and any available efficacy data of the drug related to the prevention, diagnosis, mitigation, treatment, or cure of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.";
(4) in subsection (d)(1), by striking "request described in subsection (a)" and inserting "grant"; and
(5) in subsection (e)--
(A) in paragraph (2), by inserting ", and that begins enrollment within a timeframe as determined by the Secretary through the terms and conditions of the grant" before the period at the end; and
(B) by adding at the end the following:
"(4) The term `phase 3 clinical trial' includes a phase 2/ 3 combined trial and a planned phase 3 clinical trial that is not yet enrolling participants.".
SEC. 4. REPORT ON ALS AND OTHER RARE NEURODEGENERATIVE
DISEASE ACTION PLANS.
Section 4 of the Accelerating Access to Critical Therapies for ALS Act (21 U.S.C. 360aa note) is amended--
(1) in the section heading, by striking "als and other" and inserting "fda";
(2) in subsection (a), in the matter preceding paragraph (1)--
(A) by inserting "and not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of the Accelerating Access to Critical Therapies for ALS Reauthorization Act of 2026 and every 5 years thereafter," after "this Act,"; and
(B) by inserting "develop, or update, as applicable, and" before "publish on";
(3) in subsection (b)--
(A) in the matter preceding paragraph (1), by striking "initial";
(B) in paragraph (2)--
(i) in subparagraph (A), by inserting "of relevant investigational new drug applications" after "sponsors";
(ii) in subparagraph (C) by inserting "for the prevention, diagnosis, mitigation, treatment, or cure of rare neurodegenerative diseases" before the semicolon; and
(iii) in subparagraph (D), by striking "; and" and inserting a semicolon;
(C) in paragraph (3), by striking the period at the end and inserting "; and"; and
(D) by adding at the end the following:
"(4) for each action plan published after the date of enactment of the Accelerating Access to Critical Therapies for ALS Reauthorization Act of 2026, include a description of--
"(A) previous actions taken by the Food and Drug Administration to implement the previous action plan published under subsection (a);
"(B) any other planned actions to implement such action plan; and
"(C) any barriers to implementing such action plan and related recommendations, which may include an estimate of resources necessary to address such barriers.".
SEC. 5. REPORTS.
Section 6 of the Accelerating Access to Critical Therapies for ALS Act (Public Law 117-79) is amended--
(1) in the heading, by striking "gao report" and inserting "reports";
(2) by striking "Not later than" and inserting the following:
"(a) GAO Report.--Not later than";
(3) in the matter preceding paragraph (1) of subsection (a), as so designated, by striking "this Act" and inserting "the Accelerating Access to Critical Therapies for ALS Reauthorization Act of 2026"; and
(4) by adding at the end the following:
"(b) HHS Report.--Not later than 4 years after the date of enactment of the Accelerating Access to Critical Therapies for ALS Reauthorization Act of 2026, the Secretary of Health and Human Services shall, in a manner that does not duplicate the information described in the action plan published pursuant to section 4, submit to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions of the Senate and the Committee on Energy and Commerce of the House of Representatives a report assessing the effectiveness of the activities carried out under sections 2, 3, and 5 and making recommendations to improve such activities.".
SEC. 6. TECHNICAL AMENDMENTS.
Section 3 of the Accelerating Access to Critical Therapies
for ALS Act (42 U.S.C. 280g-7b) is amended--
(1) in subsection (a), in the matter preceding paragraph
(1), by striking "amytrophic" and inserting
"amyotrophic"; and
(2) in subsection (b)(3)(A)(iii), by striking "rational".
Mr. THUNE. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the committee-reported substitute amendment be agreed to and the bill, as amended, be considered read a third time.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
The committee-reported amendment, in the nature of a substitute, was agreed to.
The bill was ordered to be engrossed for a third reading and was read the third time.
Mr. THUNE. Madam President, I know of no further debate on the bill.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Hearing none, the bill having been read the third time, the question is, Shall the bill pass?
The bill (S. 4472), as amended, was passed.
Mr. THUNE. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
National Plan for Epilepsy Act
Pages S4426–S4427 · Official textMadam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of Calendar No. 526, S. 494.
The PRESIDING OFFICER
The clerk will report the bill by title.
The legislative clerk read as follows:
Text printed in the Record (104 characters)
A bill (S. 494) to establish a national plan to coordinate research on epilepsy, and for other purposes.
There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the bill, which had been reported from the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions with an amendment to strike all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic, as follows:
Text printed in the Record (4,250 characters)
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the "National Plan for Epilepsy Act".
SEC. 2. REVIEW TO IMPROVE EPILEPSY PROGRAMS, RESEARCH,
PREVENTION, AND CARE.
(a) In General.--The Secretary of Health and Human Services (referred to in this section as the "Secretary") shall review and, as necessary and appropriate, provide recommendations to Congress regarding, and update existing Federal programs, activities, and strategic plans related to, epilepsy research, prevention, early identification, diagnosis, and treatment for purposes of identifying and addressing knowledge gaps and improving health outcomes related to epilepsy.
(b) Content.--The review under subsection (a) shall include--
(1) a review of findings from evidence-based research on epilepsy, the status of ongoing, federally-funded research on epilepsy, knowledge gaps related to epilepsy, and disparities in populations with epilepsy;
(2) a review of Federal programs related to epilepsy research, prevention, early identification, diagnosis, and treatment, which shall include consideration of--
(A) gaps in, and opportunities for, coordination among such
programs;
(B) opportunities to inform global efforts to prevent,
diagnose, treat, and cure epilepsy, as appropriate;
(C) near- and long-term goals of such programs to improve
research, prevention, early identification, diagnosis, and
treatment of epilepsy; and
(D) the level of Federal investment in preventing,
diagnosing, treating, and curing epilepsy;
(3) consideration of opportunities to--
(A) improve collaboration between Federal agencies and
relevant stakeholders to address gaps in programs, research,
and services;
(B) eliminate knowledge gaps in research on epilepsy,
including a review of the impact of epilepsy on the health
and well-being of individuals with epilepsy and their
caregivers;
(C) improve early diagnosis and coordination of the care
and treatment of individuals with epilepsy;
(D) better prevent sudden unexpected death in epilepsy and
other epilepsy-related mortalities;
(E) improve surveillance of epilepsy; and
(F) support the development of new treatments, strategies,
and other approaches to prevent, diagnose, treat, and cure
epilepsy or to enhance functioning and improve quality of
life for individuals with epilepsy and their caregivers; and
(4) a review of current public health strategies, and
consideration of additional evidence-based strategies,
related to epilepsy.
(c) External Input.--To inform the review under subsection
(a), the Secretary shall regularly convene and solicit input
from other Federal agencies, as appropriate, and relevant
stakeholders, including patient advocates and non-Federal
subject matter experts.
(d) Report.--Not later than 2 years after the date of the
enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall submit to the
Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions of the
Senate and the Committee on Energy and Commerce of the House
of Representatives a report on the findings of the review
conducted under subsection (a), including--
(1) a description of steps the Secretary took to solicit
stakeholder input pursuant to subsection (c) and a summary of
feedback received from, and needs identified by, such
stakeholders;
(2) recommendations to improve coordination and support of
Federal programs in order to better support people with
epilepsy, epilepsy research, and data collection, and
proposals for implementation of such recommendations, as
appropriate; and
(3) any changes to Federal programs, activities, or
strategic plans recommended by the Secretary based on the
review, and any statutory or other barriers that impede
implementation of such changes.
Mr. THUNE. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the committee-reported substitute amendment be agreed to; that the bill, as amended, be considered read a third time and passed; and that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
The committee-reported amendment, in the nature of a substitute, was agreed to.
The bill (S. 494), as amended, was ordered to be engrossed for a third reading, was read the third time, and passed.
UNANIMOUS CONSENT AGREEMENT--S.J. Res. 187
Page S4427 · Official textMadam President, I ask unanimous consent that notwithstanding rule XXII, Senator Whitehouse or his designee be authorized to return the Senate to legislative session for the purposes of making a motion to proceed to Calendar No. 532, S.J. Res. 187, during Wednesday's session of the Senate.
The PRESIDING OFFICER
Without objection, it is so ordered.
Morning Business
Page S4427 · Official textMadam President, I join the POW*MIA Awareness Rally Corp. of Pocatello, ID, in acknowledging National POW/MIA Recognition Day this September 18, 2026.
I am grateful for the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency's, DPAA, steady and often challenging work to meet its responsibility of recovering America's servicemembers. Each year, the DPAA leads the creation of a poster commemorating National POW/MIA Recognition Day, as ceremonies are held across the country to honor those who were held captive and returned, as well as those who remain missing. The year's poster reads, "Warrior Ethos: `I will always place the mission first . . . I will never leave a fallen comrade.' "
Second Lieutenant Charles Atteberry, a World War II servicemember from Parma who had been missing and unidentified for 80 years, is one of the Idaho servicemembers most recently returned home. Through the U.S. military's use of DNA testing, Lt. Atteberry was identified from a mass grave in Taiwan and returned to Idaho in 2025. Lt. Atteberry's brother Lloyd also served in the military as a pilot during World War II and is still considered missing in action since he was reportedly shot down in 1943.
On June 10, 2026, the DPAA also accounted for U.S. Army Air Forces Staff Sgt. Harold T. Thompson, 24, who was killed during World War II. The DPAA reported, "In the winter of 1944, Thompson was assigned to the 718th Bombardment Squadron, 449th Bombardment Group, in Italy. On Jan. 30, he was serving as a gunner aboard a B-24 Liberator bomber on a mission to Udine, Italy. The plane was shot down while returning from its mission and was last sighted north of the Isle of Morgo off the Italian coast near the town of Grado. Three crew members made it out of the plane before the crash, but only one survived. The other seven members, including Thompson, were believed to have still been in the aircraft when it crashed."
As we celebrate Idahoans' return home, we maintain hope for the return of Idaho's other servicemembers, including the eight who remain unaccounted for from the Vietnam war. This includes Major William Ellsworth Lemmons, who was on a visual reconnaissance mission in South Vietnam on June 18, 1967, when the aircraft he piloted failed to return from the mission for unknown reasons and was declared missing. Major Lemmons is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific and Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall in Washington, DC.
I thank America's servicemembers, veterans, and their families for their extraordinary commitment to our country, as I remain deeply grateful to those who keep attention on bringing every American servicemember and the DPAA and its partners working steadily to provide the fullest possible accounting of missing U.S. personnel to their families and our country.
To support these efforts, I continue to use every opportunity to press for enactment of the Bring Our Heroes Home Act. This legislation would help eliminate obstacles preventing families and caseworkers from accessing the records needed for recovering America's POWs and MIA.
We honor America's missing servicemembers and those they served beside by never giving up in our pursuit of finding them and bringing them home.
Tribute to Matt Lloyd
Pages S4427–S4428 · Official textMadam President, today I have the distinct honor of recognizing Matt Lloyd for his decades of devotion to Montana and the Nation as he retires from 25 years of public service.
After graduating from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Matt began his journey in Washington, DC, as press secretary for U.S. Congressman Rick Hill and U.S. Congressman Kevin Brady. During the George W. Bush administration, Matt answered the call to serve and worked at the Department of Agriculture under Secretary Ann Veneman before returning to the U.S. House as communications director for Congressman Mike Pence, guiding the Congressman throughout his tenure in Congress and his campaign for Governor of Indiana.
During the first Trump administration, Matt once again served in the executive branch, first as Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, then as Senior Advisor for Public Affairs at the U.S. Department of State, and finally as Principal Deputy Director for Public Affairs at the U.S. Department of Justice.
His last role before coming to my office was deputy chief of staff and communications director for U.S. Senator Rob Portman.
Matt started on Team Daines in January 2023. As my deputy chief of staff and communications director, he has provided principled and thoughtful counsel during a pivotal timespan in our Nation's history. He has a sharp eye, a keen sense of the political current, and has been an integral member of my staff.
Throughout it all, Matt has never lost sight of what matters most: being a loyal husband to his wife Amy and a great father to his two children Emmett and Charlotte.
As Matt ends his time with Team Daines and his tenure in public service, I would like to congratulate him on his outstanding record and his devotion to both Montana and this Nation. Thank you for your service, Matt. "Montana proud!"
Remembering James Spencer
Page S4428 · Official textMadam President, today I rise to honor the memory of my friend James Thomas Spencer. Jim, as he was known amongst friends, served the great State of Nevada for nearly 35 years. Anyone who was lucky enough to encounter Jim would tell you the same thing: Jim was a loyal friend and a diligent professional who took extraordinary care in everything he did.
Jim was born on October 23, 1948, in Redlands, CA. Following his service in the Army and his legal education, Jim moved to Nevada. In 1982, Jim began working in the Nevada Attorney General's Office. Jim ultimately served under four State attorneys general. Jim's work in the office was marked by his extremely capable representation of the Governor, other State officials, and different departments and agencies of the State. He drafted numerous significant opinions issued by the office and rose through the ranks in office, retiring as chief of staff to the attorney general.
During my tenure as Nevada's attorney general, Jim served as my chief of staff and as special assistant attorney general. Jim always displayed a strong sense of humility about himself and a deep empathy for others. These admirable qualities coupled with his commonsense, diligent, and straightforward practice of law resulted in Jim being one of the most respected lawyers in Nevada. He was a highly rated attorney and an expert on all things pertaining to Nevada government and our State laws.
Outside of work, Jim was an avid athlete and outdoorsman. He ran marathons and competitively dived. Despite a couple of joint replacements, he would often organize adventures with his friends and coworkers that involved hikes up Jobs Peak, Mount Rose, and C-Hill in Carson City. Even after his retirement in 2014, Jim retained his passion for adventure. Jim successfully completed a tandem skydive, did gunsmith work for his friends, and was always with his rescue dogs, whom he loved dearly.
Along with his distinguished career and busy personal life, Jim was committed to helping everyone around him. Jim would give a stranger the shirt off his back. He organized an annual Thanksgiving fundraiser in the attorney general's office to donate turkeys to families in need. He was a mentor for all who came through his office door and made it a point to befriend all the staff members and their families. To brighten everyone's day, Jim made it a point to share humorous articles of news with his colleagues, a practice he continued into retirement. These news breaks were timely, unannounced, and always appreciated.
On July 21, 2026, Jim passed away at the age of 77 due to esophageal cancer. He faced his illness with courage, resilience, and heart. Jim is survived by his family members, including David, Karen, and Katherine. I know his family will miss him dearly.
I am deeply grateful for Jim's dedicated service and his years of friendship. The loss of Jim is felt by his friends, family, and colleagues. Jim leaves behind a remarkable legacy of kindness, generosity, professionalism, and loyalty.
Tribute to Brianna D. St. Lawrence-Brody
Page S4428 · Official textMadam President, today I have the honor to recognize SSgt Brianna D. St. Lawrence-Brody as Montanan of the Month.
Brianna serves with the Montana Air National Guard in the 120th Airlift Wing in Great Falls and last week was awarded the Air Force's 2026 Total Force Outstanding Airmen of the Year, earning one of the Air Force's highest honors. As command post controller, she assists in helping share information and coordinate communication during emergencies and major events.
The award recognizes enlisted airmen who exemplify exceptional leadership, stellar job performance, self-improvement, and a sustained commitment to their communities.
Brianna not only serves as a part-time member of the Montana Air National Guard but is also a full-time school nurse in Great Falls, where she continues to serve others in her civilian career. She is a mom of four.
Brianna is a selfless, hard-working, and selfless-serving member, representing the best of Montana and the values of our great Nation.
I am thrilled to recognize Brianna for her selfless actions as part of the Montana Air National Guard, her extraordinary performance in her civilian career, and her dedication to caring for our communities. It is my distinct honor to recognize Brianna D. St. Lawrence-Brody as Montanan of the Month.
Tribute to Bruce Vincent
Page S4428 · Official textMadam President, today I have the honor to recognize Bruce Vincent.
Bruce Vincent is from Libby, MT, and a third-generation logger. After completing college, Bruce moved back home and joined his father's family business Vincent Logging as a business manager.
In 1988, Bruce helped form the Communities For A Great Northwest, a nonprofit organization dedicated to educating groups about the use of natural resources. He also founded the community outreach firm Environomics, focusing on issues for resource-dependent rural communities and responsible environmental stewardship.
His dedication to the great outdoors speaks volumes as he has received various recognitions for his hard work over the years. Bruce has been awarded the National Timberman Industry Activist of the Year, Montana Timberman of the Year, and several other accolades that speak to his passion for protecting the Montana that we love.
Bruce Vincent has dedicated his life to finding ways to protect the Last Best Place. It is my honor to recognize Bruce for his contributions to environmentalism, the logging industry, and his passion for the great outdoors.
Recognizing Present Company
Pages S4428–S4429 · Official textMadam President, as chair of the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, each week I recognize an outstanding Iowa small business that exemplifies the American entrepreneurial spirit. This week, it is my privilege to honor Present Company of Audubon County, IA, as the Senate Small Business of the Week.
In 1990, Present Company opened its doors as a home decor boutique. The business quickly became a destination for quality home furnishings and unique gifts for the Audubon community. After more than three decades serving southwest Iowa under three different owners, Present Company transitioned into the hands of Telia Carter in 2022. Telia spent 16 years working at a local bank and embraced the opportunity to head up the beloved boutique. Under her leadership, Present Company has remained true to its original mission while evolving alongside changing customer preferences to meet the needs and interests of Audubon and the surrounding communities.
Today, Present Company continues to offer carefully selected home decor along with a variety of gifts, apparel, jewelry, and specialty items. They also provide a tuxedo rental service for local school dances making the store a staple of Audubon's downtown business district. With a small but dedicated team of three employees, the boutique has earned a reputation as a place where customers can find unique items and personalized service that reflects the character of smalltown Iowa.
In hopes of expanding the offerings on Main Street, the business began to house The Nail Room by Lisset, a local nail salon founded by former National Guard Lisset Huerta. Beyond its retail offerings, the Present Company regularly donates to organizations that assist children in buying animals to show at the county fair. They also donate to local golf tournaments and the Audubon T-Bone days to promote the beef industry. During the holidays, the business will organize community events including a Thanksgiving Shopping Extravaganza and a Christmas tour of homes. Present Company's ongoing investment in their community demonstrates the important role locally owned small businesses play in strengthening Iowa's rural communities.
I am pleased to recognize Telia Carter and the team at Present Company for their dedication to Audubon County. I look forward to their continued success and wish them the very best in the years ahead.
Remembering Larry Mazzola, Sr.
Page S4429 · Official textMadam President, I rise today to honor the life and legacy of Larry Mazzola, Sr., a towering figure in California's labor movement, a proud San Franciscan, and a relentless advocate for working people who passed away in early May at the age of 82.
Larry leaves behind a powerful legacy that helped shape the Bay Area labor movement, as well as the lives of countless workers and families across California.
For decades, Larry Mazzola, Sr., stood as one of San Francisco's most respected and formidable voices for organized labor, a legacy deeply rooted in family tradition.
His father Joseph Mazzola led San Francisco's plumbers union for more than four decades, instilling in Larry a deep commitment to solidarity, dignity, and the belief that every worker deserves fair wages, safe working conditions, and the opportunity to provide for their family.
Larry carried that mission forward throughout his life and career, and passed it on to his own son Larry Mazzola, Jr., who continues the family tradition as the head of U.A. Local 38 and president of the San Francisco Building and Construction Trades Council.
A native son of San Francisco, Larry dedicated nearly 50 years of his life to U.A. Local 38 and the United Association, serving in wide-ranging roles including assistant training director, organizer, business agent, and ultimately, 24 years as business manager and financial secretary-treasurer.
Through his leadership, he helped guide generations of workers into the middle class and fought tirelessly to secure family-supporting wages, quality healthcare, strong retirement benefits, and safe workplaces for workers across the Bay Area.
Larry's leadership helped establish some of the strongest labor standards in the Nation and ensured that thousands of workers could retire with dignity after a lifetime of hard work. His impact on the labor movement was so profound that U.A. Local 38's union hall is named in his honor.
Larry also served the people of San Francisco with distinction as a member of the San Francisco Airport Commission for 26 years, including nearly 18 years as its president. Even in public office, Larry never lost sight of where he came from or whom he represented. He brought the same unwavering advocacy for working people into government service, protecting the rights, wages, and benefits of union workers at San Francisco International Airport and setting an example for labor representation in public institutions nationwide.
In recognition of Larry's extraordinary contributions to the city, San Francisco declared a "Larry Mazzola Sr. Day" when he retired from the airport commission in 2022, a fitting honor for someone whose life's work left an indelible mark on the city he loved.
Larry Mazzola, Sr., devoted his life to fighting for working people and ensuring that future generations would have greater opportunity and security than the generations before them. His impact can still be felt in the strength of organized labor throughout the Bay Area and in the countless workers and families whose lives were improved through his advocacy and leadership.
Angela and I send our deepest condolences to the entire Mazzola family, to his brothers and sisters in labor, and to all those whose lives he touched through his decades of service and leadership.
Remembering Dan Caudill
Page S4429 · Official textMadam President, I rise today to honor the life and legacy of Dan Caudill, a respected Kentucky business leader and a principled advocate for criminal justice reform, who passed away in December 2025. Dan was not merely a supporter of reform in theory; he lived it through his work and deeds. I was proud to work alongside Dan on the REDEEM Act, legislation rooted in the belief that justice should allow for redemption and that nonviolent mistakes should not necessarily become lifelong barriers to employment and opportunity. Dan brought that belief to life through his leadership at Caudill Seed Company, where he demonstrated that second-chance hiring strengthens both businesses and communities.
Dan's testimony before the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship in July 2022 was especially impactful. He spoke plainly and persuasively about how outdated and overly broad background check practices harm workers, families, and employers alike and how giving individuals a fair chance after they have paid their debt to society leads to loyalty, productivity, and reduced recidivism. His testimony provided real-world evidence that reform is not only compassionate, but practical and economically sound. Dan Caudill's voice carried the moral clarity of experience, not ideology. His legacy will endure in the lives he lifted up, the reforms he championed, and the enduring reminder that a just society must always leave room for second chances.
Tribute to Sheriff Charles "Chuck" Korzenborn
Page S4429 · Official textMadam President, I rise today to recognize Sheriff Charles "Chuck" Korzenborn of Kenton County, KY, upon the occasion of his well-earned retirement from a distinguished career in law enforcement and public service.
For 26 years, Sheriff Korzenborn has served the people of Kenton County with integrity, professionalism, and an unwavering commitment to public safety. As sheriff, he has been entrusted with one of the most vital responsibilities in our communities: protecting the lives, rights, and property of the citizens he served. Through his leadership, the Kenton County Sheriff's Office has upheld the highest standards of law enforcement while fostering trust and cooperation between officers and the community.
Sheriff Korzenborn's career reflects a deep dedication to service above self. He has led with fairness, accountability, and respect for the rule of law, earning the confidence of his colleagues and the gratitude of the residents of Kenton County. His steady leadership and experience have helped guide his department through both everyday challenges and extraordinary moments, always with the safety and well-being of the community as his top priority.
Sheriff Korzenborn's legacy is one of mentorship and example. He has influenced countless deputies and staff members, instilling in them the values of duty, honor, and service that will continue to shape the Kenton County Sheriff's Office for years to come.
As Sheriff Korzenborn enters retirement, he leaves behind a record of service that reflects great credit upon himself, his family, the Kenton County Sheriff's Office, and the Commonwealth of Kentucky. I extend my sincere appreciation for his years of dedicated service and wish him the best in the next chapter of his life.
TRIBUTE TO TERRY McINTOSH
Pages S4429–S4430 · Official textMadam President, I rise today to honor the service of a true American patriot, Terry McIntosh of Paducah, KY.
At the age of 17, motivated by a sense of duty to his country during the Vietnam war, Terry enlisted in the United States Army. Despite his youth, he would soon find himself on the frontlines, eventually assigned to Operational Detachment A-414, a Green Beret "A-team" operating along the Cambodian border. For his service in combat, which included multiple missions and a February 1969 firefight that earned him the Combat Infantryman Badge, Mr. McIntosh stood shoulder-to-shoulder with the elite of our Armed Forces.
For decades, the formal recognition of this service remained elusive. It was not until March 2026, following a review of his personnel records, that the Army retroactively awarded Mr. McIntosh the Special Forces tab--a long-overdue acknowledgment of his status as a Green Beret.
Mr. McIntosh's story is a testament to the quiet professionalism of the soldiers who did the job without the need for fanfare or special recognition. As he noted, he sought this recognition not for himself, but so his children would know the nature of his service to this Nation.
It is my privilege to recognize Mr. McIntosh today. His dedication at such a young age is an inspiration to all who value the courage of those who wear the uniform. We honor his service, we celebrate his official recognition as a Green Beret, and we thank him for his enduring commitment to this country.
TRIBUTE TO OFFICER JOSH McKINLEY
Page S4430 · Official textMadam President, I rise today to recognize Officer Josh McKinley for an extraordinary act of courage, compassion, and public service that saved a life and exemplifies the very best of law enforcement.
On March 21, 2026, Officer McKinley responded to a critical incident on the Big Four Walking Bridge in Louisville, KY, involving an individual who had climbed over the bridge railing, was seated on the outside ledge, and was threatening to end his life. The situation demanded extraordinary judgment, patience, and calm under immense pressure.
Officer McKinley immediately took the lead in communicating with the individual. Rather than relying on force or haste, he relied on empathy, respect, and genuine human connection. For nearly an hour, Officer McKinley remained engaged in conversation, patiently building trust while demonstrating unwavering professionalism and compassion. Through his calm demeanor and steadfast commitment, he persuaded the individual to safely climb back over the railing, preventing what could have been a tragic loss of life.
Officer McKinley's service did not end once the immediate danger had passed. He offered a meal and continued emotional support before ensuring he was transported to a hospital where he could receive the medical treatment and assistance he needed.
The actions displayed by Officer McKinley reflect the highest ideals of law enforcement. His courage was measured not only in his willingness to face danger but also in his patience, compassion, and determination to preserve life. His professionalism serves as an example for officers across the Commonwealth of Kentucky and our Nation.
I ask my colleagues to join me in recognizing Officer Josh McKinley for his extraordinary service. His selfless actions on March 21, 2026, undoubtedly saved a life, brought hope to a person in despair, and remind us all of the difference one dedicated public servant can make.
Recognizing Crume Drug Store
Page S4430 · Official textMadam President, as a member of the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, I rise today to recognize Crume Drug Store of Bardstown, KY, as my Senate Small Business of the Week.
Crume Drug Store has served Nelson County continuously since 1852. For more than 170 years, the business has adapted to changes in medicine, technology, and the retail pharmacy industry while remaining a trusted presence in downtown Bardstown.
In 2019, Derrick Greenwell and Ashley Coomes purchased Crume Drug Store as equal partners. Derrick is a Doctor of Pharmacy and serves as co-owner and pharmacist. Ashley is a certified pharmacy technician and co-owner. Together, they have preserved the store's historic identity while operating it as a modern, locally owned community pharmacy.
Derrick and Ashley strive to ensure that every customer feels comfortable being served at their store. This personal attention reflects the best tradition of independent community pharmacies.
Crume also helps prepare the next generation of healthcare professionals. The pharmacy has employed students through local cooperative education programs and has provided pharmacy interns with practical experience serving patients and working in a community pharmacy.
Derrick, Ashley, and the Crume Drug Store team regularly support local schools, athletic programs, churches, and community fundraisers. Much of Crume's community service is performed quietly and without seeking recognition. Derrick and Ashley prefer to let their work speak for itself. They focus on serving their customers well, remaining approachable, supporting their employees, and helping their neighbors whenever possible.
Congratulations to Derrick Greenwell, Ashley Coomes, and the entire Crume Drug Store team. I commend them for their service to Bardstown and Nelson County and wish them continued success in Kentucky.
Recognizing Morgan Smith Industries, Llc
Page S4430 · Official textMadam President, as a member of the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, I would like to recognize an outstanding Kentucky small business that exemplifies the American entrepreneurial spirit. It is my privilege to recognize Morgan Smith Industries, LLC of Columbia, KY, as my Senate Small Business of the Week.
Morgan Smith Industries, LLC is a family-owned architectural millwork, custom cabinetry, casework, furniture, and interior construction manufacturer whose roots in Kentucky craftsmanship span nearly eight decades. The company's history began in 1948 when Willis D. McCammish and his son Doug McCammish established a small cabinet and countertop business in Winchester, KY. Through hard work, quality craftsmanship, and a commitment to serving their customers, the business expanded into commercial architectural millwork, institutional cabinetry, and contract furniture, earning a reputation for excellence throughout the Commonwealth. In 2012, the company entered a new chapter when J. Andrew "Andy" Keith and his nephew Jonathan Keith acquired the business and continued its tradition of family ownership while building upon its legacy of quality and service.
Today, Morgan Smith Industries employs approximately 30 skilled Kentuckians and continues to invest in the workforce and economy of Adair County. By combining experienced craftsmanship with modern manufacturing techniques, Morgan Smith Industries has become one of Kentucky's premier producers of architectural millwork and custom interior furnishings. The quality of Morgan Smith Industries' work can be found in some of Kentucky's most significant public and private facilities. The company has completed projects for universities, public schools, courthouses, healthcare facilities, government buildings, and commercial developments across the Commonwealth. Among its notable projects are the new Adair County Middle School, the Lexington Federal Courthouse, and the Kentucky State Capitol.
Congratulations to Andy Keith, Jonathan Keith, and the entire team at Morgan Smith Industries, LLC. I look forward to their continued growth and success in the Commonwealth of Kentucky.
Recognizing the 100th Anniversary of Miami Springs, Florida
Pages S4430–S4431 · Official textMadam President, I rise on behalf of all Floridians to recognize the 100th anniversary of the city of Miami Springs, FL, and to celebrate a century of its community. Since its incorporation on August 23, 1926, Miami Springs has grown from one of Florida's first communities, founded by aviation pioneer Glenn Hammond Curtiss, into a city with deep roots. For 100 years, Miami Springs has helped shape south Florida's aviation industry while preserving the history, landmarks, and strong community that make the city special. As Miami Springs celebrates its centennial, I join my fellow Floridians in congratulating the city on this remarkable milestone and commend its residents for their contributions to the prosperity and history of the State of Florida and the United States.
Tribute to Jonathan Blanchard
Page S4431 · Official textMadam President, on the evening of May 6, 2026, Jonathan Blanchard heard tornado sirens blare through his hometown Bogue Chitto, MS. A volunteer firefighter accustomed to responding to emergencies, Blanchard gathered his family and found shelter. Once the storm passed, he set out to assess the damage. A walk that would typically take minutes turned into a 2-hour trek through uprooted trees and storm debris. When he arrived at his home, Blanchard found it had been virtually destroyed. Instead of being paralyzed by his loss, he reached out and helped others.
A short distance away, Blanchard heard cries for help. He sprang into action, followed the sound, and found a woman trapped beneath an overturned camper. He put his 30 years of emergency response experience to use. Blanchard and another neighbor carried the woman nearly a quarter mile to an ambulance, delivering her to safety. He continued his rescue efforts throughout the night.
Like Mississippians across the State affected by the tornadoes, Mr. Blanchard could not sit by as his community suffered. That spirit characterizes his whole life. When he is not on duty at the Hog Chain Volunteer Fire Department, Mr. Blanchard works as a welder at Wastequip in Brookhaven. He and his wife Rebecca Blanchard have three children.
Jonathan Blanchard's selfless service to his town is a true testament to his character and is an example to the State. I join my fellow Mississippians in saluting Jonathan Blanchard for his swift action and selflessness in the face of disaster.
Messages from the President
Page S4431 · Official textMessages from the President of the United States were communicated to the Senate by Mr. Hanley, one of his secretaries.
Executive Messages Referred
Page S4431 · Official textAs in executive session the Presiding Officer laid before the Senate messages from the President of the United States submitting sundry nominations which were referred to the Committee on Armed Services. (The messages received today are printed at the end of the Senate proceedings.)
Measures Placed on the Calendar
Page S4431 · Official textThe following bill was read the second time, and placed on the calendar:
Text printed in the Record (109 characters)
S. 5221. A bill to prohibit the purchase, sale, or exchange of nonpublic information, and for other purposes.
Executive and Other Communications
Pages S4431–S4432 · Official textThe following communications were laid before the Senate, together with accompanying papers, reports, and documents, and were referred as indicated:
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EC-4272. A communication from the President of the United States of America, transmitting, pursuant to section 203(b) of the Trade Act of 1974, a report relative to the safeguard measures on imports of quartz surface products; to the Committee on Finance.
EC-4273. A communication from the Federal Register Liaison, Internal Revenue Service, Department of the Treasury, transmitting, pursuant to law, the report of a rule entitled "Section 898(c) Transition Rule for Allocating Foreign Taxes and Section 960(d) (4) Foreign Tax Credit Disallowance" (RIN1545-BR76) received in the Office of the President of the Senate on August 3, 2026; to the Committee on Finance.
EC-4274. A communication from the Senior Bureau Official, Legislative Affairs, Department of State, transmitting, pursuant to section 36(c) of the Arms Export Control Act, the certification of a proposed license for the export of defense articles, including technical data, and defense services to Mexico and the United Kingdom in the amount of $50,000,000 or more (Transmittal No. DDTC 25-141); to the Committee on Foreign Relations.
EC-4275. A communication from the Senior Bureau Official, Legislative Affairs, Department of State, transmitting, pursuant to section 36(c) and 36(d) of the Arms Export Control Act, the certification of a proposed license for the manufacture of significant military equipment abroad and the export of defense articles, including technical data, and defense services to Australia, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and the United Kingdom in the amount of $50,000,000 or more (Transmittal No. DDTC 25-031); to the Committee on Foreign Relations.
EC-4276. A communication from the Senior Bureau Official, Legislative Affairs, Department of State, transmitting, pursuant to section 36(c) of the Arms Export Control Act, the certification of a proposed license for the export of firearms, parts, and components controlled under Category I of the U.S. Munitions List to Kuwait in the amount of $1,000,000 or more (Transmittal No. DDTC 26-040); to the Committee on Foreign Relations.
EC-4277. A communication from the Senior Bureau Official, Legislative Affairs, Department of State, transmitting, pursuant to section 36(c) of the Arms Export Control Act, the certification of a proposed license for the export of defense articles, including technical data, and defense services to Australia, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and the United Kingdom in the amount of $50,000,000 or more (Transmittal No. DDTC 25-051); to the Committee on Foreign Relations.
EC-4278. A communication from the Senior Bureau Official, Legislative Affairs, Department of State, transmitting, pursuant to section 36(b)(5)(C) of the Arms Export Control Act, the notification of enhancements or upgrades from the level of sensitivity of technology or capability (RSAT Case 0C-23); to the Committee on Foreign Relations.
EC-4279. A communication from the Director of Regulatory Oversight and Management, Veterans Health Administration, Department of Veterans Affairs, transmitting, pursuant to law, the report of a rule entitled "Rescission of Outdated Veterans Choice Program Regulations" (RIN2900-AS32) received in the Office of the President of the Senate on August 3, 2026; to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs.
EC-4280. A communication from the General Counsel of the National Credit Union Administration, transmitting, pursuant to law, the report of a rule entitled "Financial Data Transparency Act Joint Data Standards" (RIN3133-AF70) received in the Office of the President of the Senate on August 3, 2026; to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs.
EC-4281. A communication from the Chairman of the Council of the District of Columbia, transmitting, pursuant to law, a report on D.C. Act 26-375, "Education Code Adjustments Amendment Act of 2026"; to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.
EC-4282. A communication from the Chairman of the Council of the District of Columbia, transmitting, pursuant to law, a report on D.C. Act 26-379, "Fiscal Year 2027 Local Budget Act of 2026"; to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.
EC-4283. A communication from the Chairman of the Council of the District of Columbia, transmitting, pursuant to law, a report on D.C. Act 26-379, "Fiscal Year 2027 Local Budget Act of 2026"; to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.
EC-4284. A communication from the Secretary of Energy, transmitting, proposed legislation to expand the Secretary of Energy's authority to counter threatening unmanned aircraft systems for the protection of critical Department of Energy facilities and assets; to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.
EC-4285. A communication from the Acting Branch Chief of the Regulatory Management Division, Environmental Protection Agency, transmitting, pursuant to law, the report of a rule entitled "Permethrin; Pesticide Tolerances" (FRL No. 13395-01-OCSPP) received in the Office of the President of the Senate on August 3, 2026; to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry.
EC-4286. A communication from the Acting Branch Chief of the Regulatory Management Division, Environmental Protection Agency, transmitting, pursuant to law, the report of a rule entitled "Isofetamid; Pesticide Tolerances" (FRL No. 13401-01-OCSPP) received in the Office of the President of the Senate on August 3, 2026; to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry.
EC-4287. A communication from the Acting Branch Chief of the Regulatory Management Division, Environmental Protection Agency, transmitting, pursuant to law, the report of a rule entitled "Air Plan Approval; Rhode Island; Update to Materials Incorporated by Reference" (FRL No. 13485-01-R1) received in the Office of the President of the Senate on August 3, 2026; to the Committee on Environment and Public Works.
EC-4288. A communication from the Acting Branch Chief of the Regulatory Management Division, Environmental Protection Agency, transmitting, pursuant to law, the report of a rule entitled "Operating Permit Program Approval; New Hampshire; Revised Definitions" (FRL No. 13018-02-R1) received in the Office of the President of the Senate on August 3, 2026; to the Committee on Environment and Public Works.
EC-4289. A communication from the Acting Branch Chief of the Regulatory Management Division, Environmental Protection Agency, transmitting, pursuant to law, the report of a rule entitled "Air Plan Approval; California; San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District" (FRL No. 13058-02-R9) received in the Office of the President of the
Senate on August 3, 2026; to the Committee on Environment and Public Works.
EC-4290. A communication from the Biologist, Office of Protected Resources, Department of Commerce, transmitting, pursuant to law, the report of a rule entitled "Pribilof Islands Administration; Dogs Prohibited" (RIN0648-BN39) received in the Office of the President of the Senate on August 3, 2026; to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.
EC-4291. A communication from the Biologist, Office of Protected Resources, Department of Commerce, transmitting, pursuant to law, the report of a rule entitled "Takes of Marine Mammals Incidental to Specified Activities; Taking Marine Mammals Incidental to Texas Parks and Wildlife Department Fisheries Research" (RIN0648-BN58) received in the Office of the President of the Senate on August 3, 2026; to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.
EC-4292. A communication from the Biologist, Office of Protected Resources, Department of Commerce, transmitting, pursuant to law, the report of a rule entitled "Taking Marine Mammals Incidental to U.S. Navy Operations of Surveillance Towed Array Sensor System Low Frequency Active Sonar in the Western and Central North Pacific Ocean and Eastern Indian Ocean" (RIN0648-BN61) received in the Office of the President of the Senate on August 3, 2026; to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.
Reports of Committees
Page S4432 · Official textThe following reports of committees were submitted:
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By Mr. CASSIDY, from the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, with an amendment in the nature of a substitute:
S. 2511. A bill to establish a postsecondary student data system.
S. 3097. A bill to provide additional protections with respect to health information, and for other purposes.
S. 4097. A bill to establish that a State-based education loan program is excluded from certain requirements relating to a preferred lender arrangement.
S. 4965. A bill to amend the Railroad Retirement Act of 1974 to establish a Railroad Retirement Board Administrative Account, and for other purposes.
By Mr. CASSIDY, from the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, with an amendment:
S. 5046. A bill to prohibit the transfer of certain offices and functions of the Department of Education to other Federal agencies, and for other purposes.
Executive Report of Committee
Page S4432 · Official textThe following executive report of a nomination was submitted:
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By Mr. GRASSLEY for the Committee on the Judiciary. Todd Blanche, of Florida, to be Attorney General.
(Nominations without an asterisk were reported with the recommendation that they be confirmed.)
Introduction of Bills and Joint Resolutions
Page S4432 · Official textThe following bills and joint resolutions were introduced, read the first and second times by unanimous consent, and referred as indicated:
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By Mr. MORAN (for himself, Mr. Hickenlooper, Ms.
Klobuchar, Mr. Wicker, Ms. Blunt Rochester, Mrs.
Fischer, Ms. Cortez Masto, Mr. Sheehy, and Mr.
Kennedy):
S. 5224. A bill to improve training for airport drivers in the movement area at commercial service airports through the establishment of a task force and the use of technology, and for other purposes; to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.
By Mr. SHEEHY (for himself, Mr. Budd, Mr. Tuberville,
and Mrs. Blackburn):
S. 5225. A bill to amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to include certain curriculum expenses as permissible use of funds, and for other purposes; to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
By Mr. GALLEGO:
S. 5226. A bill to require social media platform providers to obtain parental consent with respect to children creating or maintaining accounts or profiles on their platforms, and for other purposes; to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.
By Mr. HUSTED (for himself and Mr. Bennet):
S. 5227. A bill to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to allow certain distributions from long-term qualified tuition programs for first home purchases, and for other purposes; to the Committee on Finance.
By Mr. MARSHALL:
S. 5228. A bill to amend the Revised Statutes to provide that a person who refuses to answer certain questions or is finally convicted of perjury before either House of Congress shall be debarred from Federal employment, and for other purposes; to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.
By Mrs. MOODY:
S. 5229. A bill to amend title 18, United States Code, to enhance penalties for certain cases of gift card fraud, and for other purposes; to the Committee on the Judiciary.
By Mr. SCOTT of Florida:
S. 5230. A bill to amend the Pittman-Robertson Wildlife Restoration Act to require the Secretary of the Interior to approve the wildlife conservation and restoration program of a State within a certain period of time, and for other purposes; to the Committee on Environment and Public Works.
By Mr. MARKEY (for himself, Mr. Merkley, Ms. Klobuchar,
Ms. Baldwin, Mr. Booker, Ms. Warren, and Mr.
Padilla):
S. 5231. A bill to remove limitations under Medicaid, Medicare, CHIP, and the Department of Veterans Affairs on benefits for persons in custody pending disposition of charges; to the Committee on Finance.
By Ms. SMITH (for herself and Ms. Collins):
S. 5232. A bill to amend the Public Health Service Act to authorize rural residency planning and development grant programs, and for other purposes; to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
By Ms. ROSEN (for herself and Ms. Cortez Masto):
S. 5233. A bill to terminate the Yucca Mountain licensing proceeding and require the Director of the Office of Management and Budget to submit to Congress a study on the economic viability and job-creating benefits of alternative uses of the Yucca Mountain site, and for other purposes; to the Committee on Environment and Public Works.
By Mr. SCHIFF (for himself, Mr. Daines, Mr. Merkley,
Mr. Padilla, and Mr. Heinrich):
S. 5234. A bill to amend the Act of March 2, 1931, to establish a Human-Wildlife Conflict Reduction Program, and for other purposes; to the Committee on Environment and Public Works.
By Mr. MERKLEY (for himself and Mr. Curtis):
S. 5235. A bill to amend the Toxic Substances Control Act to prohibit the manufacture, processing, use, and distribution in commerce of commercial asbestos and mixtures and articles containing commercial asbestos, and for other purposes; to the Committee on Environment and Public Works.
By Ms. HASSAN (for herself and Mr. Cassidy):
S. 5236. A bill to amend title XIX of the Social Security Act to ensure Medicaid coverage of mental health services and primary care services furnished on the same day; to the Committee on Finance.
By Ms. HASSAN (for herself and Mr. Marshall):
S. 5237. A bill to require the Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases to award a competitive grant for the Antibiotic Resistance Leadership Group for the purpose of facilitating a clinical research network on antibiotic resistance, and for other purposes; to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
By Mr. MERKLEY (for himself, Ms. Duckworth, and Mr.
Blumenthal):
S. 5238. A bill to preserve the democratic republic of the United States from the overreach of authoritarian tactics; to the Committee on the Judiciary.
By Mr. MORENO:
S. 5239. A bill to ensure that nitrile glove procurements comply with the requirements of the Make PPE in America Act, and for other purposes; to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.
By Mr. ROUNDS (for himself and Mr. Lujan):
S. 5240. A bill to amend the Federal Crop Insurance Reform and Department of Agriculture Reorganization Act of 1994 to establish a budgetary Tribal Government consultation process at the Department of Agriculture, and for other purposes; to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry.
By Ms. KLOBUCHAR (for herself and Ms. Smith):
S. 5241. A bill to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 200 1st Avenue Southeast in Austin, Minnesota, as the "John Madden Memorial Post Office"; to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.
By Mr. BANKS (for himself and Mr. Booker):
S. 5242. A bill to provide for digital communication of prescribing information for drugs (including biological products), and for other purposes; to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
Submission of Concurrent and Senate Resolutions
Pages S4432–S4433 · Official textThe following concurrent resolutions and Senate resolutions were read, and referred (or acted upon), as indicated:
Text printed in the Record (1,062 characters)
By Mr. BLUMENTHAL:
S. Res. 828. A resolution expressing the sense of the Senate that President Trump's lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service, the resulting settlement from that lawsuit, the purported "Anti-Weaponization Fund", and the purported grant of immunity from tax investigations to the plaintiffs in President Trump's lawsuit, should be rejected, equal protection arguments by others with similar claims should be forestalled, and this settlement should not serve as a precedent and should never be repeated; to the Committee on the Judiciary.
By Mr. CRUZ (for himself, Mrs. Shaheen, Mr. Scott of
Florida, Mr. Durbin, Mr. Kaine, Mr. Schiff, and Ms.
Rosen):
S. Res. 829. A resolution reaffirming the policy of the United States to support a peaceful democratic transition in Venezuela through free and fair elections; to the Committee on Foreign Relations.
By Mr. BOOZMAN (for himself, Mr. Booker, Mrs. Shaheen,
and Mr. Cotton):
S. Res. 830. A resolution recognizing the 80th anniversary of the Fullbright Program; considered and agreed to.
Additional Cosponsors
Pages S4433–S4436 · Official textAt the request of Mr. Tuberville, the name of the Senator from South Carolina (Ms. Graham) was added as a cosponsor of S. 9, a bill to provide that for purposes of determining compliance with title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 in athletics, sex shall be recognized based solely on a person's reproductive biology and genetics at birth. At the request of Mr. Daines, the name of the Senator from Pennsylvania (Mr. McCormick) was added as a cosponsor of S. 45, a bill to reduce a portion of the annual pay of Members of Congress for the failure to adopt a concurrent resolution on the budget which does not provide for a balanced budget, and for other purposes. At the request of Mr. Lankford, the name of the Senator from Pennsylvania (Mr. McCormick) was added as a cosponsor of S. 121, a bill to extend the statute of limitations for violations relating to pandemic-era programs to be 10 years. At the request of Mr. Risch, the name of the Senator from Pennsylvania (Mr. McCormick) was added as a cosponsor of S. 181, a bill to require agencies submit zero-based budgets. At the request of Mr. Risch, the name of the Senator from Pennsylvania (Mr. McCormick) was added as a cosponsor of S. 334, a bill to permanently enact certain appropriations Act restrictions on the use of funds for abortions and involuntary sterilizations, and for other purposes. At the request of Mr. Tuberville, the name of the Senator from South Carolina (Ms. Graham) was added as a cosponsor of S. 405, a bill to modify eligibility requirements for amateur sports governing organizations. At the request of Mr. Peters, the name of the Senator from Texas (Mr. Cornyn) was added as a cosponsor of S. 434, a bill to establish the Commercial Space Activity Advisory Committee, and for other purposes. At the request of Mr. Moran, the name of the Senator from Pennsylvania (Mr. McCormick) was added as a cosponsor of S. 510, a bill to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to extend the publicly traded partnership ownership structure to energy power generation projects and transportation fuels, and for other purposes. At the request of Mr. Kaine, the name of the Senator from New York (Mrs. Gillibrand) was added as a cosponsor of S. 986, a bill to address and take action to prevent bullying and harassment of students. At the request of Mr. Young, the name of the Senator from Pennsylvania (Mr. McCormick) was added as a cosponsor of S. 1047, a bill to prohibit individuals convicted of defrauding the Government from receiving any assistance from the Small Business Administration, and for other purposes. At the request of Mr. Risch, the name of the Senator from Montana (Mr. Sheehy) was added as a cosponsor of S. 1169, a bill to prohibit State excise taxes on firearms and ammunition manufacturers and dealers. At the request of Ms. Ernst, the name of the Senator from Pennsylvania (Mr. McCormick) was added as a cosponsor of S. 1199, a bill to extend the statute of limitations for fraud under certain pandemic programs, and for other purposes. At the request of Ms. Lummis, the names of the Senator from Oklahoma (Mr. Lankford) and the Senator from Oregon (Mr. Wyden) were added as cosponsors of S. 1525, a bill to direct the Secretary of the Treasury to stop minting the penny, to require cash transactions to be rounded up or down to the nearest 5 cents, and for other purposes. At the request of Mr. Kelly, the name of the Senator from California (Mr. Schiff) was added as a cosponsor of S. 1541, a bill to support the national defense and economic security of the United States by supporting vessels, ports, and shipyards of the United States and the U.S. maritime workforce. At the request of Mr. Risch, the name of the Senator from Pennsylvania (Mr. McCormick) was added as a cosponsor of S. 1579, a bill to provide for the treatment of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), and the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) as international organizations for purposes of the International Organizations Immunities Act, and for other purposes. At the request of Mrs. Blackburn, the name of the Senator from Delaware (Ms. Blunt Rochester) was added as a cosponsor of S. 1642, a bill to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to expand the advanced manufacturing investment credit to include materials integral to semiconductor manufacturing. At the request of Mr. Hagerty, the name of the Senator from Oklahoma (Mr. Lankford) was added as a cosponsor of S. 1715, a bill to prohibit payment card networks and covered entities from requiring the use of or assigning merchant category codes that distinguish a firearms retailer from a general merchandise retailer or sporting goods retailer, and for other purposes. At the request of Mr. Hickenlooper, the name of the Senator from Georgia (Mr. Ossoff) was added as a cosponsor of S. 1838, a bill to amend the Public Health Service Act to authorize the Secretary of Health and Human Services to carry out a program of research, training, and investigation related to Down syndrome, and for other purposes. At the request of Ms. Warren, the name of the Senator from Washington (Mrs. Murray) was added as a cosponsor of S. 2006, a bill to amend title 10, United States Code, to prohibit discrimination in the Armed Forces on the basis of gender identity, and for other purposes. At the request of Mr. Cassidy, the name of the Senator from Pennsylvania (Mr. McCormick) was added as a cosponsor of S. 2375, a bill to require a report on the threats to the national security of the United States posed by the national debt and net interest payments on that debt. At the request of Mr. Daines, the name of the Senator from Pennsylvania (Mr. McCormick) was added as a cosponsor of S. 2461, a bill to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 and the Small Business Act to expand the availability of employee stock ownership plans in S corporations, and for other purposes. At the request of Mr. Kennedy, the name of the Senator from North Carolina (Mr. Budd) was added as a cosponsor of S. 2510, a bill to amend the Small Business Act to require training on increasing contract awards to small business concerns owned and controlled by service-disabled veterans, and for other purposes. At the request of Mrs. Blackburn, the name of the Senator from Virginia (Mr. Warner) was added as a cosponsor of S. 2530, a bill to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to expand the ability to expense certain qualified productions. At the request of Mr. Risch, the name of the Senator from Pennsylvania (Mr. McCormick) was added as a cosponsor of S. 2647, a bill to reauthorize the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000, and for other purposes. At the request of Mrs. Britt, the name of the Senator from Pennsylvania (Mr. McCormick) was added as a cosponsor of S. 2924, a bill to require the Securities and Exchange Commission to carry out a study and rulemaking on the definition of the term "small entity" under the securities laws for purposes of chapter 6 of title 5, United States Code, and for other purposes. At the request of Mr. Banks, the name of the Senator from Pennsylvania (Mr. McCormick) was added as a cosponsor of S. 2962, a bill to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to allow the deduction under section 199A to apply to qualified BDC interest dividends in the same manner as qualified REIT dividends. At the request of Mr. Cornyn, the name of the Senator from Pennsylvania (Mr. McCormick) was added as a cosponsor of S. 3061, a bill to require the Inspector General of the Department of Housing and Urban Development to testify before the Congress annually, and for other purposes. At the request of Mr. Scott of Florida, the name of the Senator from Indiana (Mr. Young) was added as a cosponsor of S. 3101, a bill to prevent citizens of foreign adversarial nations from entering into or enforcing surrogacy contracts in the United States. At the request of Mr. Kennedy, the name of the Senator from Pennsylvania (Mr. McCormick) was added as a cosponsor of S. 3216, A bill to amend the Federal securities laws to specify the periods for which financial statements are required to be provided by an emerging growth company, and for other purposes. At the request of Ms. Collins, the name of the Senator from Ohio (Mr. Moreno) was added as a cosponsor of S. 3296, a bill to amend chapter 81 of title 5, United States Code, to cover, for purposes of workers' compensation under such chapter, services by physician assistants and nurse practitioners provided to injured Federal workers, and for other purposes. At the request of Mr. Cornyn, the name of the Senator from Pennsylvania (Mr. McCormick) was added as a cosponsor of S. 3332, a bill to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to increase the exclusion of gain from the sale of a principal residence, and for other purposes. At the request of Mr. Reed, the name of the Senator from Oregon (Mr. Merkley) was added as a cosponsor of S. 3365, a bill to ensure that students in schools have a right to read, and for other purposes. At the request of Mr. Schatz, the name of the Senator from Pennsylvania (Mr. Fetterman) was added as a cosponsor of S. 3462, a bill to improve the retirement security of American families by increasing Social Security benefits for current and future beneficiaries while making Social Security stronger for future generations. At the request of Mr. McCormick, the names of the Senator from Indiana (Mr. Banks) and the Senator from Michigan (Ms. Slotkin) were added as cosponsors of S. 3519, a bill to amend the Export Control Reform Act of 2018 to provide for control of remote access to items, and for other purposes. At the request of Mr. Daines, the name of the Senator from Pennsylvania (Mr. McCormick) was added as a cosponsor of S. 3671, a bill to amend the Investment Company Act of 1940 with respect to the authority of closed-end companies to invest in private funds, and for other purposes. At the request of Ms. Duckworth, the name of the Senator from Oregon (Mr. Merkley) was added as a cosponsor of S. 3687, a bill to amend title 5, United States Code, to prohibit the appointment of political appointees as Inspectors General, and for other purposes. At the request of Mr. Budd, the name of the Senator from Pennsylvania (Mr. McCormick) was added as a cosponsor of S. 3830, a bill to amend the Federal Deposit Insurance Act to permit Federal banking agencies to examine qualifying insured depository institutions with under $6,000,000,000 in total assets not less than once during each 18-month period, and for other purposes. At the request of Mr. Sheehy, the name of the Senator from North Carolina (Mr. Budd) was added as a cosponsor of S. 3964, a bill to amend the Small Business Act to establish a goal for participation by small business concerns owned and controlled by veterans in procurement contracts, and for other purposes. At the request of Ms. Smith, the names of the Senator from Washington (Mrs. Murray) and the Senator from New York (Mrs. Gillibrand) were added as cosponsors of S. 3990, a bill to increase access to pre-exposure prophylaxis to reduce the transmission of HIV. At the request of Mr. Lankford, the name of the Senator from Pennsylvania (Mr. McCormick) was added as a cosponsor of S. 4016, a bill to amend title III of the Social Security Act and the Federal Unemployment Tax Act to require identity verification procedures and data matching, to prevent unemployment fraud, and to strengthen work search requirements, and for other purposes. At the request of Ms. Ernst, the name of the Senator from Pennsylvania (Mr. McCormick) was added as a cosponsor of S. 4130, a bill to put a public price tag on all projects supported with taxpayer dollars. At the request of Ms. Lummis, the name of the Senator from Pennsylvania (Mr. McCormick) was added as a cosponsor of S.
4146, a bill to amend the Endangered Species Act of 1973 with respect to the listing of threatened and endangered species, and for other purposes. At the request of Ms. Klobuchar, the name of the Senator from Georgia (Mr. Ossoff) was added as a cosponsor of S. 4148, a bill to direct the Secretary of Agriculture to provide grants and direct or guaranteed loans to increase domestic fertilizer production for United States farmers. At the request of Mr. Barrasso, the name of the Senator from Pennsylvania (Mr. McCormick) was added as a cosponsor of S. 4173, a bill to require that any debt limit increase or suspension be balanced by equal spending cuts over the next decade. At the request of Mrs. Moody, the name of the Senator from Pennsylvania (Mr. McCormick) was added as a cosponsor of S. 4176, a bill to amend title XIX of the Social Security Act to direct State medicaid fraud control units to investigate and prosecute instances of beneficiary fraud. At the request of Mr. Cotton, the name of the Senator from Indiana (Mr. Banks) was added as a cosponsor of S. 4327, a bill to require regulatory review of pharmaceutical products from Chinese entities, and for other purposes. At the request of Mr. Kennedy, the names of the Senator from Virginia (Mr. Kaine) and the Senator from Montana (Mr. Sheehy) were added as cosponsors of S. 4379, a bill to require the Secretary of State and the Secretary of Defense to jointly submit a report on efforts by the Government of the Russian Federation to violate the religious freedoms of the people of Ukraine, to require the President to impose all applicable sanctions with respect to foreign persons determined to have engaged in such efforts, and for other purposes. At the request of Mr. Heinrich, the name of the Senator from Hawaii (Mr. Schatz) was added as a cosponsor of S. 4425, a bill to prohibit the use of Federal funds to implement the Executive order entitled "Promoting the National Defense by Ensuring an Adequate Supply of Elemental Phosphorus and Glyphosate-Based Herbicides", and for other purposes. At the request of Mr. Moreno, the names of the Senator from New Mexico (Mr. Heinrich) and the Senator from Oklahoma (Mr. Armstrong) were added as cosponsors of S. 4429, a bill to prohibit the importation, manufacture, sale, resale, or introduction into interstate commerce in the United States of connected vehicles and related software and hardware associated with foreign adversaries. At the request of Mr. Banks, the names of the Senator from Pennsylvania (Mr. McCormick) and the Senator from Michigan (Ms. Slotkin) were added as cosponsors of S. 4456, a bill to require the Under Secretary of Commerce for Industry and Security to require a license for the export, reexport, or in-country transfer of certain integrated circuits, and for other purposes. At the request of Mr. Warner, the name of the Senator from Colorado (Mr. Hickenlooper) was added as a cosponsor of S. 4467, a bill to amend titles XVIII and XIX of the Social Security Act with respect to nursing facility requirements, and for other purposes. At the request of Ms. Ernst, the name of the Senator from New Hampshire (Mrs. Shaheen) was added as a cosponsor of S. 4505, a bill to require the United States Postal Service to designate ZIP Codes for certain communities. At the request of Ms. Lummis, the name of the Senator from Pennsylvania (Mr. McCormick) was added as a cosponsor of S. 4619, a bill to amend the Clean Air Act to exclude marginal wells from certain standards of performance and other requirements under that Act, and for other purposes. At the request of Mr. Scott of Florida, the name of the Senator from Pennsylvania (Mr. McCormick) was added as a cosponsor of S. 4674, a bill to direct the Chief Counsel for Advocacy of the Small Business Administration to establish a Red Tape Hotline to receive notifications of burdensome agency rules, and for other purposes. At the request of Mr. Budd, the name of the Senator from Pennsylvania (Mr. McCormick) was added as a cosponsor of S. 4690, a bill to amend the Securities Act of 1933 to expand the ability to use testing the waters and confidential draft registration submissions, and for other purposes. At the request of Mr. Moran, the name of the Senator from Mississippi (Mrs. Hyde-Smith) was added as a cosponsor of S. 4744, a bill to amend titles 10 and 38, United States Code, and other Federal laws, to improve benefits for veterans and the administration of the Department of Veterans Affairs. At the request of Ms. Ernst, the name of the Senator from Pennsylvania (Mr. McCormick) was added as a cosponsor of S. 4747, a bill to amend title 31, United States Code, to authorize pausing and segmenting payments, and for other purposes. At the request of Mr. Markey, the names of the Senator from Nevada (Ms. Rosen) and the Senator from California (Mr. Schiff) were added as cosponsors of S. 4814, a bill to require the Secretary of Homeland Security to designate Haiti for temporary protected status. At the request of Mr. Heinrich, the name of the Senator from Michigan (Mr. Peters) was added as a cosponsor of S. 4844, a bill to drive innovation in developing next-generation protection for firefighters by accelerating the development of PFAS-free turnout gear, and for other purposes. At the request of Mr. Kaine, the name of the Senator from Vermont (Mr. Welch) was added as a cosponsor of S. 4889, a bill to award grants for the creation, recruitment, training and education, retention, and advancement of the direct care workforce and to award grants to support family caregivers. At the request of Mr. Cotton, the name of the Senator from Indiana (Mr. Banks) was added as a cosponsor of S. 4939, a bill to require the Secretary of Health and Human Services to review certain medical devices manufactured in the People's Republic of China for potential cybersecurity issues, and for other purposes. At the request of Mr. Armstrong, the name of the Senator from Montana (Mr. Sheehy) was added as a cosponsor of S. 4944, a bill to streamline permitting under the Natural Gas Act, the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, and the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, and for other purposes. At the request of Ms. Lummis, the name of the Senator from Pennsylvania (Mr. McCormick) was added as a cosponsor of S. 4956, a bill to amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to clarify the scope of an exemption from permits for the discharge of dredged or fill material, and for other purposes. At the request of Mr. Coons, the name of the Senator from Colorado (Mr. Bennet) was added as a cosponsor of S. 5010, a bill to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to modify the rules governing the State administration of self-employment assistance programs. At the request of Ms. Rosen, the name of the Senator from Vermont (Mr. Welch) was added as a cosponsor of S. 5145, a bill to clarify the use of certain existing grants under the Clean Air Act to purchase air sensors, and for other purposes. At the request of Ms. Duckworth, the name of the Senator from Minnesota (Ms. Klobuchar) was added as a cosponsor of S. 5171, a bill to require a study of AI-enabled toys and development of a joint action plan regarding the marketing and sale of AI-enabled toys. At the request of Ms. Hirono, the names of the Senator from Virginia (Mr. Warner) and the Senator from California (Mr. Padilla) were added as cosponsors of S. 5189, a bill to amend title 10, United States Code, and the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1994, to codify and clarify gender neutral standards for members of certain Armed Forces, and for other purposes. At the request of Mr. Fetterman, the name of the Senator from Connecticut (Mr. Blumenthal) was added as a cosponsor of S. 5200, a bill to amend the Food, Agriculture, Conservation, and Trade Act of 1990 to include spotted lanternfly control research and development as a high-priority research and extension initiative, and for other purposes. At the request of Mr. Schumer, the name of the Senator from Vermont (Mr. Welch) was added as a cosponsor of S. 5212, a bill to amend title 18, United States Code, to reform executive clemency. At the request of Mr. Padilla, the name of the Senator from Oregon (Mr. Merkley) was added as a cosponsor of S. 5221, a bill to prohibit the purchase, sale, or exchange of nonpublic information, and for other purposes. At the request of Mr. Risch, the name of the Senator from Pennsylvania (Mr. McCormick) was added as a cosponsor of S. Res. 86, a resolution expressing the sense of the Senate regarding United Nations General Assembly Resolution 2758 (XXVI) and the harmful conflation of China's "One China Principle" and the United States' "One China Policy". At the request of Mr. Daines, the name of the Senator from Connecticut (Mr. Murphy) was added as a cosponsor of S. Res. 816, a resolution honoring 35 years of independence for the countries of Central Asia and recognizing the importance of the United States growing relationship with Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. At the request of Mr. Paul, the names of the Senator from Virginia (Mr. Kaine) and the Senator from Delaware (Ms. Blunt Rochester) were added as cosponsors of amendment No. 6715 intended to be proposed to H.R. 5334, a bill to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to allow early childhood educators to take the educator expense deduction, and for other purposes.
Senate Resolution 828--Expressing the Sense of the Senate That President Trump's Lawsuit Against the Internal Revenue Service, the Resulting Settlement from That Lawsuit, the Purported "Anti...
Page S4436 · Official textMr. BLUMENTHAL submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary:
Text printed in the Record (3,816 characters)
Whereas, between 2019 and 2020, an Internal Revenue Service (referred to in this preamble as the "IRS") contractor disclosed the tax information of hundreds of thousands of individual and other tax entities, including President Donald Trump;
Whereas, on January 29, 2026, President Trump, his sons, Eric Trump and Donald Trump, Jr., and the Trump Organization filed a lawsuit based on these disclosures against the IRS and the Department of the Treasury, both of which Trump, as the sitting President, controls;
Whereas President Trump sought $10,000,000,000 in damages in his lawsuit, even though the other individuals who sued the Federal Government for the same reason generally received no monetary compensation, such as Kenneth Griffin, who received only an apology from the IRS;
Whereas President Trump was free, during the statute of limitations period when he was a private citizen, to bring an improper tax disclosure lawsuit seeking a reasonable remedy;
Whereas President Trump did not pursue this lawsuit until well after the 2-year statute of limitations period for such improper tax disclosure claims had expired;
Whereas, on May 18, 2026, President Trump and the Department of Justice that he controls announced that they had agreed to a purported "settlement" of the lawsuit, under which the Federal Government would establish an "Anti-Weaponization Fund" to provide nearly $1,800,000,000 in taxpayer payouts to individuals who President Trump deemed to have "suffered weaponization and lawfare", including rioters who stormed the Capitol and attacked law enforcement on January 6, 2021;
Whereas, on May 19, 2026, the day after the announcement of the settlement, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche issued a unilateral "addendum" to the settlement that purported to immunize President Trump, his family, his companies, and his "affiliates" from IRS investigations, audits, or claims pertaining to any of their previous tax returns or other tax-related actions;
Whereas our Constitution affords all people "equal protection of the laws";
Whereas there is no reason that President Trump and the other plaintiffs in his lawsuit are entitled to special treatment different from others harmed in the same illegal disclosure of tax information;
Whereas, if the purported settlement with President Trump is allowed to stand, the principle of equal protection of the laws would give all victims of the same illegal tax disclosure an argument to claim the same immunity over retrospective tax audit investigations of their own filings;
Whereas affording such immunity to hundreds of thousands of individuals and other tax entities would likely cost the Federal Government millions, and perhaps even billions, of dollars in lost revenue;
Whereas there is no credible argument that all victims of the illegal disclosure should receive immunity covering all retrospective tax audit investigations; and
Whereas the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida held that President Trump's lawsuit was "non-adversarial, collusive, and jurisdictionally improper" and thus "was brought for an improper purpose" because "the [L]ead Plaintiff, President Trump, directs and controls the Defendants", the IRS, and the Treasury Department within the executive branch of which he is the head: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That it is the sense of the Senate that President Trump's lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service and the resulting settlement, the purported "Anti-Weaponization Fund", and the purported grant of immunity from tax investigations to the plaintiffs in President Trump's lawsuit, should be rejected, equal protection arguments by others with similar claims should be forestalled, and this settlement should not serve as a precedent and should never be repeated.
Senate Resolution 829--Reaffirming the Policy of the United States to Support a Peaceful Democratic Transition in Venezuela Through Free and Fair Elections
Page S4436 · Official textSENATE RESOLUTION 829--REAFFIRMING THE POLICY OF THE UNITED STATES TO SUPPORT A PEACEFUL DEMOCRATIC TRANSITION IN VENEZUELA THROUGH FREE AND FAIR ELECTIONS Mr. CRUZ (for himself, Mrs. Shaheen, Mr. Scott of Florida, Mr. Durbin, Mr. Kaine, Mr. Schiff, and Ms. Rosen) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations:
Text printed in the Record (3,490 characters)
Whereas the Venezuelan presidential election was held on July 28, 2024, and on August 1, 2024, the Department of State concluded that overwhelming--and meticulously gathered--evidence demonstrated that Nicolas Maduro did not win that election and that Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia received the most votes in that election;
Whereas Venezuela's Supreme Tribunal of Justice upheld the June 30, 2023, decision of the Office of the Comptroller General of the Republic imposing a 15-year ban on Maria Corina Machado and preventing her from appearing on the presidential ballot and holding public office after she won the Venezuelan opposition's independently administered presidential primary on October 22, 2023, with more than 90 percent of the vote;
Whereas the Venezuelan regime also blocked Corina Yoris from registering as a candidate for the election, and the Unitary Platform opposition coalition ultimately chose Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia as a provisional candidate;
Whereas, following the capture of Nicolas Maduro during Operation Absolute Resolve on January 3, 2026, Delcy Rodriguez assumed the interim presidency of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela;
Whereas, on January 28, 2026, Secretary of State Marco Rubio testified before the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate that the objective of the Trump Administration's policy is to achieve a friendly, stable, prosperous, and democratic Venezuela in which "all elements of society are represented in free and fair elections";
Whereas, on July 16, 2026, the Department of State reaffirmed that the United States will continue to support Venezuelan-led efforts that produce tangible progress toward a peaceful and democratic electoral transition;
Whereas Delcy Rodriguez does not have an electoral mandate from the people of Venezuela, has not taken meaningful steps toward convening free and fair presidential elections, and is broadly assessed as unable to win any such free and fair election;
Whereas the detention, assault, enforced disappearance, death, or other serious harm suffered by individuals seeking public office has long existed in Venezuela, and is fundamentally incompatible with the conduct of free and fair democratic elections; and
Whereas the structures that have sustained persecution in Venezuela for years have not yet been dismantled: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the Senate--
(1) reaffirms the policy of the United States to support a peaceful democratic transition in Venezuela through free and fair elections;
(2) urges that the interim authorities of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela take immediate steps to restore democratic governance through free, fair, and transparent presidential elections;
(3) calls for the unconditional and immediate release of all political prisoners in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, including those detained in relation to the July 2024 election; and
(4) declares that any arbitrary detention, sentence, assault, enforced disappearance, death, or other serious harm suffered by any individual seeking public office, including Maria Corina Machado, would--
(A) gravely undermine the freedom or fairness of future elections;
(B) be presumed as having been done with the knowledge, acquiescence, or approval of senior officials of the interim authorities of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela; and
(C) necessitate actions by the United States to hold accountable any person determined to be responsible for or complicit in such actions.
Senate Resolution 830--Recognizing the 80th Anniversary of the Fullbright Program
Pages S4436–S4437 · Official textMr. BOOZMAN (for himself, Mr. Booker, Mrs. Shaheen, and Mr. Cotton) submitted the following resolution; which was considered and agreed to:
Text printed in the Record (2,395 characters)
Whereas August 1, 2026, marks the 80th anniversary of President Harry S. Truman signing into law the Act of August 1, 1946 (60 Stat. 754, chapter 723) (commonly known as the "Fulbright Act of 1946");
Whereas the Fulbright Program was established by Senator James William Fulbright of Arkansas for the "promotion of international good will through the exchange of students in the fields of education, culture, and science";
Whereas the Fulbright Program is sponsored by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the Department of State;
Whereas the Fulbright Program provides approximately 9,000 grants annually and, as of 2026, operates in more than 160 countries, including 49 that have established cost-sharing binational commissions;
Whereas Fulbright students and scholars have hailed from all 50 States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, the United States Virgin Islands, and American Samoa;
Whereas the Fulbright Program provides unique opportunities for the people of the United States to receive the best cultural and academic education in the world;
Whereas more than 450,000 individuals from the United States and across the world have benefitted from the Fulbright program;
Whereas alumni of the Fulbright Program include 63 Nobel Prize laureates, 94 recipients of the Pulitzer Prize, 44 heads of State, 17 Presidential Medal of Freedom recipients, 11 members of Congress, a former Secretary-General of the United Nations, a former Secretary General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, and an astronaut who set foot on the moon;
Whereas the Fulbright Program promotes United States higher education abroad and remains a valuable diplomatic tool; and
Whereas the Fulbright Program advances national security by building international relationships and good will towards the United States: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the Senate--
(1) recognizes the 80th anniversary of the Fulbright Program;
(2) supports the work of the Fulbright Program and other educational and cultural affairs programs to advance the foreign policy and national security of the United States;
(3) congratulates all past and present recipients of Fulbright awards; and
(4) calls on students, scholars, and professionals around the world to seek out opportunities to engage with each other and promote international understanding and partnership.
Text of Amendments
Pages S4437–S4443 · Official textSA 6732. Ms. COLLINS submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by her to the bill H.R. 6500, to extend duty-free treatment provided with respect to imports from certain countries in Africa under the African Growth and Opportunity Act, to extend customs user fees, and for other purposes; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows: Strike all after the enacting clause and insert the following:
Text printed in the Record (10,623 characters)
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the "Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act, 2027".
SEC. 2. TABLE OF CONTENTS.
The table of contents for this Act is as follows:
Sec. 1. Short Title. Sec. 2. Table of Contents. Sec. 3. References.
DIVISION C--SURFACE TRANSPORTATION EXTENSION ACT OF 2026
SEC. 3. REFERENCES.
Except as expressly provided otherwise, any reference to "this Act" contained in any division of this Act shall be treated as referring only to the provisions of that division.
The following sums are hereby appropriated, out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, and out of applicable corporate or other revenues, receipts, and funds, for the several departments, agencies, corporations, and other organizational units of Government for fiscal year 2027, and for other purposes, namely:
Sec. 101. Such amounts as may be necessary, at a rate for operations as provided in the applicable appropriations Acts for fiscal year 2026 and under the authority and conditions provided in such Acts, for continuing projects or activities (including the costs of direct loans and loan guarantees) that are not otherwise specifically provided for in this Act, that were conducted in fiscal year 2026, and for which appropriations, funds, or other authority were made available in the following appropriations Acts:
(1) The Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agency Appropriations Act, 2026 (division B of Public Law 119-37).
(2) The Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2026 (division A of Public Law 119-74), except sections 521(c)(2) and 544.
(3) The Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 2026 (division A of Public Law 119-75).
(4) The Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2026 (division B of Public Law 119-74).
(5) The Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Act, 2026 (division E of Public Law 119-75), except the last proviso under the heading "Election Assistance Commission--Election Security Grants", and including section 143 of division A of Public Law 119-37.
(6) The Homeland Security and Further Additional Continuing Appropriations Act, 2026 (Public Law 119-86), except division B, and including sections 5013 through 5016 of division I of Public Law 119-75.
(7) The Department of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2026 (division C of Public Law 119-74), except section 444.
(8) The Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2026 (division B of Public Law 119-75), except section 528.
(9) The Legislative Branch Appropriations Act, 2026 (division C of Public Law 119-37).
(10) The Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2026 (division D of Public Law 119-37).
(11) The National Security, Department of State, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 2026 (division F of Public Law 119-75).
(12) The Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2026 (division D of Public Law 119-75), as amended by sections 153(b) and 156(a) of this Act.
Sec. 102. (a) No appropriation or funds made available or authority granted pursuant to section 101 for the Department of Defense shall be used for:
(1) the new production of items not funded for production in fiscal year 2026 or prior years;
(2) the increase in production rates above those sustained with fiscal year 2026 funds; or
(3) the initiation, resumption, or continuation of any project, activity, operation, or organization (defined as any project, subproject, activity, budget activity, program element, and subprogram within a program element, and for any investment items defined as a P-1 line item in a budget activity within an appropriation account and an R-1 line item that includes a program element and subprogram element within an appropriation account) for which appropriations, funds, or other authority were not available during fiscal year 2026.
(b) No appropriation or funds made available or authority granted pursuant to section 101 for the Department of Defense shall be used to initiate multi-year procurements utilizing advance procurement funding for economic order quantity procurement unless specifically appropriated later.
Sec. 103. Appropriations made by section 101 shall be available to the extent and in the manner that would be provided by the pertinent appropriations Act.
Sec. 104. Except as otherwise provided in section 102, no appropriation or funds made available or authority granted pursuant to section 101 shall be used to initiate or resume any project or activity for which appropriations, funds, or other authority were not available during fiscal year 2026.
Sec. 105. Appropriations made and authority granted pursuant to this Act shall cover all obligations or expenditures incurred for any project or activity during the period for which funds or authority for such project or activity are available under this Act.
Sec. 106. Unless otherwise provided for in this Act or in the applicable appropriations Act for fiscal year 2027, appropriations and funds made available and authority granted pursuant to this Act shall be available until whichever of the following first occurs:
(1) The enactment into law of an appropriation for any project or activity provided for in this Act.
(2) The enactment into law of the applicable appropriations Act for fiscal year 2027 without any provision for such project or activity.
(3) December 11, 2026.
Sec. 107. Expenditures made pursuant to this Act shall be charged to the applicable
appropriation, fund, or authorization whenever a bill in which such applicable appropriation, fund, or authorization is contained is enacted into law.
Sec. 108. Appropriations made and funds made available by or authority granted pursuant to this Act may be used without regard to the time limitations for submission and approval of apportionments set forth in section 1513 of title 31, United States Code, but nothing in this Act may be construed to waive any other provision of law governing the apportionment of funds.
Sec. 109. Notwithstanding any other provision of this Act, except section 106, for those programs that would otherwise have high initial rates of operation or complete distribution of appropriations at the beginning of fiscal year 2027 because of distributions of funding to States, foreign countries, grantees, or others, such high initial rates of operation or complete distribution shall not be made, and no grants shall be awarded for such programs funded by this Act that would impinge on final funding prerogatives.
Sec. 110. This Act shall be implemented so that only the most limited funding action of that permitted in the Act shall be taken in order to provide for continuation of projects and activities.
Sec. 111. (a) For entitlements and other mandatory payments whose budget authority was provided in appropriations Acts for fiscal year 2026, and for activities under the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008, activities shall be continued at the rate to maintain program levels under current law, under the authority and conditions provided in the applicable appropriations Act for fiscal year 2026, to be continued through the date specified in section 106(3).
(b) Notwithstanding section 106, obligations for mandatory payments due on or about the first day of any month that begins after October 2026 but not later than 30 days after the date specified in section 106(3) may continue to be made, and funds shall be available for such payments.
Sec. 112. Amounts made available under section 101 for civilian personnel compensation and benefits in each department and agency may be apportioned up to the rate for operations necessary to avoid furloughs within such department or agency, consistent with the applicable appropriations Act for fiscal year 2026, except that such authority provided under this section shall not be used until after the department or agency has taken all necessary actions to reduce or defer non-personnel-related administrative expenses.
Sec. 113. Funds appropriated by this Act may be obligated and expended notwithstanding section 10 of Public Law 91-672 (22 U.S.C. 2412), section 15 of the State Department Basic Authorities Act of 1956 (22 U.S.C. 2680), section 313 of the Foreign Relations Authorization Act, Fiscal Years 1994 and 1995 (22 U.S.C. 6212), and section 504(a)(1) of the National Security Act of 1947 (50 U.S.C. 3094(a)(1)).
Sec. 114. (a)(1) For each amount incorporated by reference in this Act that was previously designated by the Congress as an emergency requirement pursuant to section 251(b)(2)(A)(i) of the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985, each provision of law designating each such amount as an emergency requirement pursuant to such section shall not apply.
(2) Each amount incorporated by reference in this Act that was designated by the Congress as an emergency requirement pursuant to section 251(b)(2)(A)(i) of the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985, or pursuant to section 4001(a)(1) of S. Con. Res. 14 (117th Congress), the concurrent resolution on the budget for fiscal year 2022, and to legislation establishing fiscal year 2026 budget enforcement in the House of Representatives, and each amount provided, repurposed, or rescinded by sections 125 and 153(a) of this Act, is designated by the Congress as an emergency requirement pursuant to section 4001(a)(1) of S. Con. Res. 14 (117th Congress), the concurrent resolution on the budget for fiscal year 2022, and to legislation establishing fiscal year 2026 or 2027 budget enforcement in the House of Representatives, as applicable.
(b) Each amount incorporated by reference in this Act that was previously designated by the Congress as being for disaster relief pursuant to section 251(b)(2)(D) of the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 is designated by the Congress as being for disaster relief pursuant to a concurrent resolution on the budget.
(c) Each amount incorporated by reference in this Act that was previously designated in division B of Public Law 117-159, division J of Public Law 117-58, or in section 443(b) of division G of Public Law 117-328 by the Congress as an emergency requirement pursuant to a concurrent resolution on the budget shall continue to be treated as an amount specified in section 103(b) of division A of Public Law 118-5.
Sec. 115.
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(a) Rescissions or cancellations of discretionary budget authority that continue pursuant to section 101 in Treasury Appropriations Fund Symbols (TAFS)--
(1) to which other appropriations are not provided by this Act, but for which there is a current applicable TAFS that does receive an appropriation in this Act; or
(2) which are no-year TAFS and receive other appropriations in this Act, may be continued instead by reducing the rate for operations otherwise provided by section 101 for such current applicable TAFS, as long as doing so does not impinge on the final funding prerogatives of the Congress.
(b) Rescissions or cancellations described in subsection (a) shall continue in an amount equal to the lesser of--
(1) the amount specified for rescission or cancellation in the applicable appropriations Act referenced in section 101 of this Act; or
(2) the amount of balances available, as of October 1, 2026, from the funds specified for rescission or cancellation in the applicable appropriations Act referenced in section 101 of this Act.
(c) No later than November 20, 2026, the Director of the Office of Management and Budget shall provide to the Committees on Appropriations of the House of Representatives and the Senate a comprehensive list of the rescissions or cancellations that will continue pursuant to section 101: Provided, That the information in such comprehensive list shall be periodically updated to reflect any subsequent changes in the amount of balances available, as of October 1, 2026, from the funds specified for rescission or cancellation in the applicable appropriations Act referenced in section 101, and such updates shall be transmitted to the Committees on Appropriations of the House of Representatives and the Senate upon request.
Sec. 116. Amounts made available by section 101 for "Farm Service Agency--Agricultural Credit Insurance Fund Program Account" may be apportioned up to the rate for operations necessary to accommodate approved applications for direct and guaranteed farm ownership loans, as authorized by 7 U.S.C. 1922 et seq.
Sec. 117. Amounts made available by section 101 to the Department of Agriculture for "Domestic Food Programs--Food and Nutrition Service--Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC)" may be apportioned at the rate for operations necessary to maintain participation.
Sec. 118. Amounts made available by section 101 to the Department of Agriculture for "Domestic Food Programs--Food and Nutrition Service--Commodity Assistance Program" may be apportioned up to the rate for operations necessary to maintain current program caseload in the Commodity Supplemental Food Program.
Sec. 119. Section 260 of the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946 (7 U.S.C. 1636i) and section 942 of the Livestock Mandatory Reporting Act of 1999 (7 U.S.C. 1635 note; Public Law 106-78) shall be applied by substituting the date specified in section 106(3) of this Act for "September 30, 2026".
Sec. 120. Amounts made available by section 101 for "Department of Commerce--Bureau of the Census--Periodic Censuses and Programs" may be apportioned up to the rate for operations necessary to maintain the buildup and testing of all integrated systems and operations necessary for the 2030 Decennial Census Program.
Sec. 121. Amounts made available by section 101 for "Department of Commerce--National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration--Procurement, Acquisition and Construction" shall be apportioned at the rate for operations necessary to maintain the planned launch schedules for the Geostationary Extended Observations (GeoXO) satellite system.
Sec. 122. Amounts made available by section 101 for "Department of Justice--Legal Activities--Salaries and Expenses, General Legal Activities" may be apportioned up to the rate for operations necessary to support the legal activities of the Department of Justice.
Sec. 123. Amounts made available by section 101 for "Department of Justice--United States Marshals Service--Salaries and Expenses" may be apportioned up to the rate for operations necessary to maintain Federal judicial security programs and protective operations.
Sec. 124. Amounts made available by section 101 for "Department of Justice--Federal Bureau of Investigation--Salaries and Expenses" may be apportioned up to the rate for operations necessary to prepare for the 2028 Olympic Games, and for risk reduction and modification of National Security Systems.
Sec. 125. (a) The remaining unobligated balances, as of September 30, 2026, from amounts made available for "Department of Commerce--National Telecommunications and Information Administration--Middle Mile Deployment" in division J of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (Public Law 117-58) are hereby rescinded, and in addition to amounts otherwise provided by section 101, an amount of additional new budget authority equivalent to the amount rescinded pursuant to this subsection is hereby appropriated on September 30, 2026, for an additional amount for fiscal year 2026, to remain available until September 30, 2027, and shall be available for the same purposes for which such funds were originally appropriated, in addition to other funds as may be available for such purposes.
(b)(1) Subject to paragraph (2), this section shall become effective immediately upon enactment of this Act.
(2) If this Act is enacted after September 30, 2026, this section shall be applied as if it were in effect on September 30, 2026.
Sec. 126. Notwithstanding sections 102 and 104, amounts made available by section 101 to the Department of Defense for "Procurement--Shipbuilding and Conversion, Navy" may be apportioned up to the rate for operations necessary to fund prior year shipbuilding cost increases for the following programs funded in prior years under such heading:
(1) 2013/2027 Carrier Replacement Program, in an amount not to exceed $324,000,000;
(2) 2017/2027 DDG 51 Program, in an amount not to exceed $24,503,000;
(3) 2017/2027 LHA Replacement Program, in an amount not to exceed $164,300,000;
(4) 2018/2027 Virginia Class Submarine Program, in an amount not to exceed $44,244,000;
(5) 2018/2027 DDG 51 Program, in an amount not to exceed $69,919,000;
(6) 2018/2027 LPD (Flight II) Amphibious Transport Dock Program, in an amount not to exceed $58,800,000;
(7) 2019/2027 Virginia Class Submarine Program, in an amount not to exceed $561,131,000;
(8) 2019/2027 DDG 51 Program, in an amount not to exceed $83,802,000;
(9) 2019/2027 Littoral Combat Ship Program, in an amount not to exceed $9,450,000;
(10) 2020/2027 CVN Refueling Overhauls Program, in an amount not to exceed $379,200,000;
(11) 2020/2027 T-AO Fleet Oiler Program, in an amount not to exceed $16,020,000;
(12) 2021/2027 Columbia Class Submarine Program, in an amount not to exceed $566,542,000;
(13) 2021/2027 LPD (Flight II) Amphibious Transport Dock Program, in an amount not to exceed $44,689,000;
(14) 2022/2027 Expeditionary Sea Base Program, in an amount not to exceed $12,100,000;
(15) 2022/2027 Expeditionary Fast Transport Program, in an amount not to exceed $8,423,000;
(16) 2022/2027 T-AO Fleet Oiler Program, in an amount not to exceed $127,000,000;
(17) 2023/2027 T-AO Fleet Oiler Program, in an amount not to exceed $23,100,000;
(18) 2024/2027 Columbia Class Submarine Program, in an amount not to exceed $19,386,000;
(19) 2024/2027 T-AO Fleet Oiler Program, in an amount not to exceed $1,181,000; and
(20) 2026/2027 T-AO Fleet Oiler Program, in an amount not to exceed $74,200,000.
Sec. 127. Notwithstanding sections 102 and 104, amounts made available by section 101 to the Department of Defense for "Procurement--Procurement, Defense-Wide" may be apportioned up to the rate for operations necessary for National Security Systems in an amount not to exceed $2,853,000,000.
Sec. 128. Notwithstanding section 101, the first proviso in each of sections 8090 and 8094 of division A of Public Law 119-75 shall be applied by substituting "advances" for "reimbursements".
Sec. 129. During the period covered by this Act, section 103(f)(4)(A) of Public Law 108-361 (the Calfed Bay-Delta Authorization Act) shall be applied by substituting "$40,000,000" for "$32,600,000".
Sec. 130. (a) Notwithstanding section 104, amounts made available by section 101 for "Department of Energy--Atomic Energy Defense Activities--National Nuclear Security Administration--Weapons Activities" shall be available and may be apportioned up to the rate for operations necessary--
(1) to prevent project demobilization and shutdown activities for "17-D-640 U1a Complex Enhancements Project, NNSS" and "24-D-513 ZEUS Test Bed Facilities Improvement (ZTBFI), NNSS";
(2) to prevent termination of the design-build contract for "23-D-517 Electrical Power Capacity Upgrade, LANL"; and
(3) to maintain current level of activities and ongoing studies for "Studies and Assessments".
(b) Section 301(d) of division B of Public Law 119-74, as continued in effect by section 101, shall not apply to amounts used for the purposes specified in subsection (a).
(c) The Director of the Office of Management and Budget and the Secretary of Energy shall notify the Committees on Appropriations of the House of Representatives and the Senate not later than 3 days after each use of the authority provided in subsection (a).
Sec. 131. (a) Notwithstanding section 104, amounts made available by section 101 for "Department of Energy--Atomic Energy Defense Activities--Environmental and Other Defense Activities--Defense Environmental Cleanup" shall be available and may be apportioned up to the rate for operations necessary to carry out long-lead procurements within the CD-3A authorization for "21-D-401 Hoisting Capability Project" at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant.
(b) Section 301(d) of division B of Public Law 119-74, as continued in effect by section 101, shall not apply to amounts used for the purpose specified in subsection (a).
(c) The Director of the Office of Management and Budget and the Secretary of Energy shall notify the Committees on Appropriations of the House of Representatives and the Senate not later than 3 days after each use of the authority provided in subsection (a).
Sec. 132. Notwithstanding any other provision of this Act, except section 106, the District of Columbia may expend local funds made available under the heading "District of Columbia--District of Columbia Funds" for such programs and activities under the District of Columbia Appropriations Act, 2026 (title IV of division E of Public Law 119-75) at the rate set forth in the Fiscal Year 2027 Local Budget Act of 2026 (D.C. Act 26-379) as modified, as of the date of enactment of this Act.
Sec. 133. Amounts made available by section 101 for "Small Business Administration--Business Loans Program Account" may be apportioned up to the rate for operations necessary to accommodate increased demand for commitments for general business loans authorized under paragraphs (1) through (35) of section 7(a) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 636(a)), for guarantees of trust certificates authorized by section 5(g) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 634(g)), for commitments to guarantee loans under section 503 of the Small Business Investment Act of 1958 (15 U.S.C. 697), and for commitments to guarantee loans for debentures under section 303(b) of the Small Business Investment Act of 1958 (15 U.S.C. 683(b)).
Sec. 134. Section 1(b) of Public Law 117-25 (135 Stat. 297; 136 Stat. 2133; 136 Stat. 5984; 139 Stat. 46, 140 Stat. 629) shall be applied in each of paragraphs (3) and (4) by substituting the date specified in section 106(3) of this Act for "September 30, 2026".
Sec. 135.
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Notwithstanding section 104, amounts made available by section 101 to "Department of the Treasury--Departmental Offices--Salaries and Expenses" shall be available for operations necessary to host the G7 Financial Summit and other G7 related activities as proposed in the fiscal year 2027 President's Budget, submitted pursuant to section 1105(a) of title 31, United States Code, and accompanying justification materials.
Sec. 136. Notwithstanding section 101, section 747 of division E of Public Law 119-75 shall be applied by--
(1) substituting "2026" for "2025" each place it appears;
(2) substituting "2027" for "2026" each place it appears;
(3) substituting "2028" for "2027"; and
(4) substituting "section 747 of division E of Public Law 119-75" for "section 747 of division B of Public Law 118-47, as continued in effect and modified by section 1605 of title VI of division A of Public Law 119-4 (as continued in effect and modified by division A of Public Law 119-37)" each place it appears.
Sec. 137. Amounts made available by section 101 to the Department of Homeland Security under the heading "Federal Emergency Management Agency--Disaster Relief Fund" may be apportioned up to the rate for operations necessary to carry out response and recovery activities under the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5121 et seq.).
Sec. 138. During the period covered by this Act, section 225(e) of division A of Public Law 116-6 (49 U.S.C. 44901 note) shall be applied by substituting "fiscal years 2019 through 2027" for "fiscal years 2019 through 2026".
Sec. 139. (a) Sections 1309(a) and 1319 of the National Flood Insurance Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 4016(a) and 4026) shall be applied by substituting the date specified in section 106(3) of this Act for "September 30, 2026".
(b)(1) Subject to paragraph (2), this section shall become effective immediately upon enactment of this Act.
(2) If this Act is enacted after September 30, 2026, this section shall be applied as if it were in effect on September 30, 2026.
Sec. 140. Notwithstanding section 104, amounts made available by section 101 to the Department of the Interior for "Departmental Offices--Office of the Secretary--Departmental Operations" shall be available for the assumption of functions and activities performed by the Office of Navajo and Hopi Indian Relocation (ONHIR) as authorized by Public Law 93-531 (commonly known as the "Navajo-Hopi Land Settlement Act of 1974"), to ensure the full and complete discharge of the functions of ONHIR.
Sec. 141. Amounts made available by section 101 for "Department of the Interior--Department-Wide Programs--Wildland Fire Management", "Department of the Interior--Department-Wide Programs--Wildfire Suppression Operations Reserve Fund", "Department of Agriculture--Forest Service--Wildland Fire Management", and "Department of Agriculture--Forest Service--Wildfire Suppression Operations Reserve Fund" may be apportioned up to the rate for operations necessary for wildfire suppression activities.
Sec. 142. During the period covered by this Act, section 1701 of division B of Public Law 117-43 (5 U.S.C. 5547 note) shall be applied by substituting "calendar years 2021 through 2027" for "2021 or 2022 or 2023 or 2024" each place it appears.
Sec. 143. (a) In addition to amounts otherwise provided by section 101, amounts are provided for "Department of Health and Human Services--Indian Health Service--Indian Health Services" at a rate for operations of $75,774,000, for an additional amount for costs of staffing and operating facilities that were opened, renovated, or expanded in fiscal years 2022, 2026, and 2027, and such amounts may be apportioned up to the rate for operations necessary to staff and operate such facilities.
(b) In addition to amounts otherwise provided by section 101, amounts are provided for "Department of Health and Human Services--Indian Health Service--Indian Health Facilities" at a rate for operations of $8,296,000, for an additional amount for costs of staffing and operating facilities that were opened, renovated, or expanded in fiscal years 2022, 2026, and 2027, and such amounts may be apportioned up to the rate for operations necessary to staff and operate such facilities.
Sec. 144. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, no adjustment shall be made under section 601(a) of the Legislative Reorganization Act of 1946 (2 U.S.C. 4501) (relating to cost of living adjustments for Members of Congress) during the period covered by this Act.
Sec. 145. Notwithstanding any other provision of this Act, there is appropriated--
(1) for payment to Alfredia Scott, widow of David A. Scott, late a Representative from the State of Georgia, $174,000; and
(2) for payment to the heir at law of Lindsey O. Graham, late a Senator from the State of South Carolina, $174,000.
Sec. 146. Notwithstanding sections 102 and 104, amounts made available by section 101 for "Department of Defense--Military Construction, Army" and "Department of Defense--Military Construction, Navy and Marine Corps" and unobligated balances from prior year appropriations under these headings may be used by the Secretary of the Army and Secretary of the Navy to carry out military construction not otherwise authorized by law for Military Unaccompanied Housing facilities at the Medical Education Training Complex at Joint Base San Antonio: Provided, That no amounts may be made available pursuant to the matter preceding this proviso from amounts that were specified in the table referenced in the second proviso under each such heading in division J of Public Law 117-328, division A of Public Law 118-42, or division D of Public Law 119-37, or from amounts that were designated by the Congress as an emergency requirement pursuant to a concurrent resolution on the budget or the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985.
Sec. 147. Amounts made available by section 101 for "Department of Transportation--Office of the Secretary--Payments to Air Carriers" may be apportioned up to the rate for operations necessary to maintain Essential Air Service program operations.
Sec. 148. Notwithstanding section 101, the following language in title I of division D of Public Law 119-75 shall be applied as if it were struck:
(1) the fourth and fifth provisos in the undesignated paragraph under the second instance of the heading "Federal Aviation Administration--Grants-in-Aid for Airports";
(2) "of which $927,212,591" and ", and of which--" in the matter preceding the first proviso and all that follows through the end of the first paragraph (5) under the heading "Federal Highway Administration--Highway Infrastructure Programs";
(3) the second and third provisos under the heading "Federal Railroad Administration--Federal-State Partnership for Intercity Passenger Rail";
(4) the second and third provisos in the undesignated paragraph under the heading "Federal Railroad Administration--Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvements";
(5) ", of which--" in the second proviso in the undesignated paragraph and all that follows through the end of that proviso under the heading "Federal Transit Administration--Transit Infrastructure Grants", and the subsequent proviso; and
(6) ", and of which $129,000,000" in the matter preceding the first proviso and all that follows through such matter under the first instance of the heading "National Highway Traffic Safety Administration--Operations and Research", and the subsequent proviso.
Sec. 149. (a) Notwithstanding section 106, amounts made available in division L of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2018 (Public Law 115-141) under the heading "Department of Transportation--Federal Transit Administration--Capital Investment Grants" that were available for obligation through fiscal year 2021 shall remain available through fiscal year 2031 for the liquidation of valid obligations incurred in fiscal years 2018 through 2021.
(b)(1) Subject to paragraph (2), this section shall become effective immediately upon enactment of this Act.
(2) If this Act is enacted after September 30, 2026, this section shall be applied as if it were in effect on September 30, 2026.
Sec. 150. (a) The remaining unobligated balances, as of September 30, 2026, from amounts made available in paragraph (1) of the fourth proviso under the heading "Department of Transportation--Federal Highway Administration--Highway Infrastructure Programs" in division L of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023 (Public Law 117-328) are hereby rescinded, and in addition to amounts otherwise made available by section 101, an amount of additional new budget authority equivalent to the amount rescinded pursuant to this subsection is hereby appropriated on September 30, 2026, for an additional amount for fiscal year 2026, to remain available until September 30, 2027, and shall be available for the same purposes for which such funds were originally appropriated.
(b)(1) Subject to paragraph (2), this section shall become effective immediately upon enactment of this Act.
(2) If this Act is enacted after September 30, 2026, this section shall be applied as if it were in effect on September 30, 2026.
Sec. 151. (a) The remaining unobligated balances, as of September 30, 2026, from amounts made available for "Department of Transportation--Federal Aviation Administration--Research, Engineering, and Development" in division F of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2024 (Public Law 118-42) are hereby rescinded, and in addition to amounts otherwise provided by section 101, an amount of additional new budget authority equivalent to the amount rescinded pursuant to this subsection is hereby appropriated on September 30, 2026, for an additional amount for fiscal year 2026, to remain available until September 30, 2027, and shall be available for the same purposes for which such funds were originally appropriated, in addition to other funds as may be available for such purposes.
(b)(1) Subject to paragraph (2), this section shall become effective immediately upon enactment of this Act.
(2) If this Act is enacted after September 30, 2026, this section shall be applied as if it were in effect on September 30, 2026.
Sec. 152. (a) Section 239(b) of division F of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2024 (Public Law 118-42) is amended by striking "fiscal year 2026" and inserting "fiscal year 2027".
(b)(1) Subject to paragraph (2), the amendments made by this section shall become effective immediately upon enactment of this Act.
(2) If this Act is enacted after September 30, 2026, the amendments made by this section shall be applied as if they were in effect on September 30, 2026.
Sec. 153. (a) Notwithstanding section 106, during fiscal year 2027, the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development may use the unobligated balances of amounts made available in prior fiscal years under the heading "Department of Housing and Urban Development--Public and Indian Housing--Tenant-Based Rental Assistance", except amounts made available in paragraphs (4) and (5) under such heading in division D of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2026 (Public Law 119-75), to support additional allocations under subparagraph (D) of paragraph (1) of such heading only as needed to prevent the termination of rental assistance for families as the result of insufficient funding in the calendar year 2026 funding cycle.
(b) Paragraph (2) under the heading "Department of Housing and Urban Development--Public and Indian Housing--Tenant-Based Rental Assistance" in division D of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2026 (Public Law 119-75) is amended by--
(1) inserting "emergency housing vouchers (section 3202(b) of Public Law 117-2 (42 U.S.C.
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1437f)) for all dwelling units under lease as of September 30, 2026 (which shall not be replacement vouchers and shall be provided prior to the end of calendar year 2026)," after "mandatory and voluntary conversions,"; and
(2) striking the last proviso.
Sec. 154. (a) The remaining unobligated balances, as of September 30, 2026, from amounts made available for "Department of Housing and Urban Development--Community Planning and Development--Homeless Assistance Grants" in division F of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2024 (Public Law 118-42) are hereby rescinded, and in addition to amounts otherwise provided by section 101, an amount of additional new budget authority equivalent to the amount rescinded pursuant to this subsection is hereby appropriated on September 30, 2026, for an additional amount for fiscal year 2026, to remain available until September 30, 2027, and shall be available for the same purposes for which such funds were originally appropriated, in addition to other funds as may be available for such purposes.
(b)(1) Subject to paragraph (2), this section shall become effective immediately upon enactment of this Act.
(2) If this Act is enacted after September 30, 2026, this section shall be applied as if it were in effect on September 30, 2026.
Sec. 155. (a) The remaining unobligated balances, as of September 30, 2026, from amounts made available for "Department of Housing and Urban Development--Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity--Fair Housing Activities" by the Full-Year Continuing Appropriations Act, 2025 (division A of Public Law 119-4) are hereby rescinded, and in addition to amounts otherwise made available by section 101, an amount of additional new budget authority equivalent to the amount rescinded pursuant to this subsection is hereby appropriated on September 30, 2026, for an additional amount for fiscal year 2026, to remain available until September 30, 2027, and shall be available for the same purposes for which such funds were originally appropriated, in addition to other funds as may be available for such purposes.
(b)(1) Subject to paragraph (2), this section shall become effective immediately upon enactment of this Act.
(2) If this Act is enacted after September 30, 2026, this section shall be applied as if it were in effect on September 30, 2026.
Sec. 156. (a) Section 239 of division D of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2026 (Public Law 119-75) is hereby repealed and the unobligated balance of amounts made available under such section 239(d) is hereby rescinded.
(b) Notwithstanding section 106, for fiscal years 2027 through 2029, the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development ("Secretary") may, through competition, including a first-come, first served competition, satisfy the full indebtedness relating to any remaining principal and interest under financial assistance made available under section 201 of the Housing and Community Development Amendments of 1978 (12 U.S.C. 1715z-1a) ("Flex Sub loan").
(1) The Secretary may only satisfy a loan under this subsection for properties with--
(A) at least one, but fewer than 100 assisted units;
(B) a Flex Sub loan with an unpaid principal balance of $1,500,000 or more;
(C) not for profit ownership;
(D) a score of 90 or higher on the most recent REAC inspection from fiscal year 2025 or 2026; and
(E) a most recent management and occupancy review score of "above average" or "superior" from fiscal year 2025 or 2026.
(2) The Secretary may set such terms and conditions as the Secretary determines are appropriate to carry out this subsection, including:
(A) Different maturity dates or interest rate terms;
(B) Extension of affordability use agreements; and
(C) Other measures to ensure the long-term stability of operations at the property.
(3) There is hereby appropriated $6,258,174.91, to remain available until September 30, 2029, to carry out the purposes of this subsection, in addition to amounts otherwise available for such purposes.
(c) Of the unobligated balances in Treasury Appropriations Fund Symbol 86 X 0303 and made available prior to fiscal year 2020, $4,258,174.91 are hereby rescinded.
Sec. 157. (a) Notwithstanding section 106, through December 11, 2026, a rule to revise the Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements for Federal Awards (commonly known as the "Uniform Guidance"), arising out of the notice of proposed rulemaking titled "Regulation for Federal Financial Assistance", which was published in the Federal Register on May 29, 2026, or a substantially similar rule, shall not be issued or finalized.
(b) Notwithstanding section 106, if a rule described in subsection (a) is issued or finalized prior to the enactment of this Act, such rule shall not have force or take effect through December 11, 2026.
(c) This section shall become effective immediately upon enactment of this Act.
This division may be cited as the "Continuing Appropriations Act, 2027".
SEC. 2001. UNITED STATES GRAIN STANDARDS ACT EXTENSION.
(a) In General.--Sections 7(j)(5), 7A(l)(4), and 21(e) of the United States Grain Standards Act (7 U.S.C. 79(j)(5), 79a(l)(4), 87j(e)) shall be applied by substituting "December 11, 2026" for "September 30, 2025" each place it appears.
(b) Certain Limitations and Authorizations.--Sections 7D and 19(a) of the United States Grain Standards Act (7 U.S.C. 79d, 87h(a)) shall be applied by substituting "2027" for "2025" each place it appears.
SEC. 2002. FOREST SERVICE PARTICIPATION IN ACES PROGRAM.
Section 8302(b) of the Agricultural Act of 2014 (16 U.S.C. 3851a(b)) shall be applied by substituting "December 11, 2026" for "October 1, 2023".
SEC. 2003. FOOD FOR PEACE ACT.
Section 408 of the Food for Peace Act (7 U.S.C. 1736b) shall be applied by substituting "December 11, 2026" for "December 31, 2023".
SEC. 2004. EXTENSION OF DEFENSE PRODUCTION ACT OF 1950.
Section 717(a) of the Defense Production Act of 1950 (50 U.S.C. 4564(a)) is amended by striking "September 30, 2026" and inserting "December 11, 2026".
SEC. 2005. TOXIC SUBSTANCES CONTROL ACT FEE AUTHORITY.
Section 26(b) of the Toxic Substances Control Act (15 U.S.C. 2625(b)) is amended by striking paragraph (6) and inserting the following:
"(6) Termination.--The authority provided by this subsection shall terminate on December 11, 2026, unless otherwise reauthorized or modified by Congress.".
SEC. 2006. DISASTER RELIEF FOR THE NORTHERN MARIANA ISLANDS.
Section 1108(g) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1308(g)) is amended--
(1) in paragraph (2), in the matter preceding subparagraph (A), by striking "paragraphs (3), (5), and (14)" and inserting "the succeeding provisions of this subsection"; and
(2) by adding at the end the following new paragraph:
"(15) Temporary disaster relief for the northern mariana islands.--
"(A) In general.--The Secretary shall increase the total amount otherwise determined under this subsection for the Northern Mariana Islands for the period beginning on October 1, 2025, and ending on September 30, 2026, by $21,400,000. The additional amount made available under the preceding sentence shall remain available until expended.
"(B) Special rules.--The increase described in subparagraph (A)--
"(i) shall apply to the total amount certified by the Secretary under title XIX for payment to the Northern Mariana Islands for services attributable to fiscal year 2026, notwithstanding that payments for any such services are made by the Northern Mariana Islands in fiscal year 2027; and
"(ii) shall be in addition to the amount calculated under paragraph (2) for the Northern Mariana Islands for fiscal year 2026 and shall not be taken into account in calculating an amount under paragraph (2) for the Northern Mariana Islands for fiscal year 2027 or a subsequent fiscal year.".
SEC. 2007. MEDICARE IMPROVEMENT FUND.
Section 1898(b)(1) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395iii(b)(1)) is amended by striking "$2,062,000,000" and inserting "$2,041,000,000".
SEC. 2008. EXTENSION OF AFRICAN GROWTH AND OPPORTUNITY ACT.
(a) Trade Act of 1974.--Section 506B of the Trade Act of 1974 (19 U.S.C. 2466b) is amended by striking "2026" and inserting "2028".
(b) African Growth and Opportunity Act.--
(1) In general.--Section 112(g) of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (19 U.S.C. 3721(g)) is amended by striking "2026" and inserting "2028".
(2) Regional apparel article program.--Section 112(b)(3)(A) of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (19 U.S.C. 3721(b)(3)(A)) is amended--
(A) in clause (i), by striking "each of the 23 succeeding 1-year periods" and inserting "each succeeding 1-year period until December 31, 2028"; and
(B) in clause (ii)(II), by striking "2026" and inserting "2028".
(3) Third-country fabric program.--Section 112(c)(1) of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (19 U.S.C. 3721(c)(1)) is amended--
(A) in the paragraph heading, by striking "2026" and inserting "2028";
(B) in subparagraph (A), by striking "2026" and inserting "2028"; and
(C) in subparagraph (B)(ii), by striking "2026" and inserting "2028".
SEC. 2009. EXTENSION OF HAITI ECONOMIC LIFT PROGRAM.
Section 213A(h) of the Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery Act (19 U.S.C. 2703a(h)) is amended by striking "2026" and inserting "2028".
SEC. 2010. EXTENSION OF CUSTOMS USER FEES.
(a) In General.--Section 13031(j)(3) of the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985 (19 U.S.C. 58c(j)(3)) is amended--
(1) in subparagraph (A), by striking "December 31, 2031" and inserting "March 31, 2032"; and
(2) in subparagraph (B)(i), by striking "December 31, 2031" and inserting "March 31, 2032".
(b) Rate for Merchandise Processing Fees.--Section 503 of the United States-Korea Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act (Public Law 112-41;19 U.S.C. 3805 note) is amended by striking "December 31, 2031" and inserting "March 31, 2032".
SEC. 2011. CYBERSECURITY INFORMATION SHARING ACT OF 2015.
Section 111(a) of the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act of 2015 (6 U.S.C. 1510(a)) is amended by striking "September 30, 2026" and inserting "December 11, 2026".
SEC. 2012. FEDERAL CYBERSECURITY ENHANCEMENT ACT OF 2015.
Section 227(a) of the Federal Cybersecurity Enhancement Act of 2015 (6 U.S.C. 1525(a)) is amended by striking "September 30, 2026" and inserting "December 11, 2026".
SEC. 2013. JOINT TASK FORCES.
Section 708(b)(13) of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 348(b)(13)) shall be applied by substituting "December 11, 2026" for "September 30, 2026".
SEC. 2014. EXTENSION OF THE TECHNOLOGY MODERNIZATION FUND AND
BOARD.
Section 1078(f)(1) of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2018 (40 U.S.C. 11301 note) is amended by striking "September 30, 2026" and inserting "December 11, 2026".
SEC. 2015. FEE SETTING AUTHORITY OF THE UNITED STATES PATENT
AND TRADEMARK OFFICE.
Section 10(i)(2) of the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act (35 U.S.C. 41 note; Public Law 112-29) is amended by striking "upon the expiration of the 15-year period beginning on the date of the enactment of this Act" and inserting "on December 11, 2026".
SEC. 2016. UNITED STATES COMMISSION ON INTERNATIONAL
RELIGIOUS FREEDOM.
Section 209 of the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 (22 U.S.C. 6436) is amended by striking "September 30, 2026" and inserting "December 11, 2026".
SEC. 2017. WESTERN HEMISPHERE TRAVEL INITIATIVE PASSPORT
FEES.
Section 1(b)(2) of the Passport Act of June 4, 1920 (22 U.S.C. 214(b)(2)) is amended by striking "September 30, 2010" and inserting "December 11, 2026".
SEC. 2018.
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BUDGETARY EFFECTS.
(a) Statutory PAYGO Scorecards.--The budgetary effects of this division and each succeeding division shall not be entered on either PAYGO scorecard maintained pursuant to section 4(d) of the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2010.
(b) Senate PAYGO Scorecards.--The budgetary effects of this division and each succeeding division shall not be entered on any PAYGO scorecard maintained for purposes of section 4106 of H. Con. Res. 71 (115th Congress).
(c) Classification of Budgetary Effects.--Notwithstanding Rule 3 of the Budget Scorekeeping Guidelines set forth in the joint explanatory statement of the committee of conference accompanying Conference Report 105-217 and section 250(c)(8) of the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985, the budgetary effects of this division and each succeeding division shall not be estimated--
(1) for purposes of section 251 of such Act;
(2) for purposes of an allocation to the Committee on Appropriations pursuant to section 302(a) of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974; and
(3) for purposes of paragraph (4)(C) of section 3 of the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2010 as being included in an appropriation Act.
SEC. 2019. SECTION 781 EXTENSION.
Until December 11, 2026, the amendments made by section 781 of division B of Public Law 119-37 (7 U.S.C. 1639o note) shall only apply with respect to products described in paragraphs (1)(C)(ii)(I) and (1)(C)(iv)(I) of section 297A of the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946 (7 U.S.C. 1639o) (as amended by such section 781).
DIVISION C--SURFACE TRANSPORTATION EXTENSION ACT OF 2026
SEC. 3001. SHORT TITLE.
This division may be cited as the "Surface Transportation Extension Act of 2026".
SEC. 3002. DEFINITIONS.
In this division:
(1) Covered law.--The term "covered law" means any of the following:
(A) Division A, division B, and division C of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (Public Law 117-58; 135 Stat. 429).
(B) Titles I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII, VIII, XI, and XXIV of the FAST Act (Public Law 114-94; 129 Stat. 1312).
(C) Division A, division B, subtitle A of title I and title II of division C, and division E of MAP-21 (Public Law 112-141; 126 Stat. 405).
(D) Titles I, II, and III of the SAFETEA-LU Technical Corrections Act of 2008 (Public Law 110-244; 122 Stat. 1572).
(E) Titles I, II, III, IV, V, and VI of SAFETEA-LU (Public Law 109-59; 119 Stat. 1144).
(F) Titles I, II, III, IV, and V of the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (Public Law 105-178; 112 Stat. 107).
(G) Titles II, III, and IV of the National Highway System Designation Act of 1995 (Public Law 104-59; 109 Stat. 568).
(H) Titles I, II, III, IV, V, and VI of the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991 (Public Law 102-240; 105 Stat. 1914).
(I) Title 23, United States Code.
(J) Sections 116, 117, 330, 5128, 5505, and 24905 and chapters 53, 67, 139, 303, 311, 313, 701, and 702 of title 49, United States Code.
(2) Extension end date.--The term "extension end date" means December 11, 2026.
(3) Extension fraction.--The term "extension fraction" means the quotient, expressed as a fraction, obtained by dividing--
(A) the number of days in the extension period; by
(B) 365.
(4) Extension period.--The term "extension period" means the period that begins on October 1, 2026, and ends on the extension end date.
(5) Highway account.--The term "Highway Account" means the portion of the Highway Trust Fund that is not the Mass Transit Account.
(6) Mass transit account.--The term "Mass Transit Account" means the portion of the Highway Trust Fund established under section 9503(e)(1) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986.
SEC. 3101. EXTENSION OF FEDERAL SURFACE TRANSPORTATION
PROGRAMS.
(a) In General.--Except as otherwise provided in this division, the requirements, authorities, conditions, eligibilities, limitations, and other provisions authorized under the covered laws, which would otherwise expire on or cease to apply after September 30, 2026, are incorporated by reference and shall continue in effect through the extension end date.
(b) Authorization of Appropriations.--
(1) Highway trust fund.--
(A) Highway account.--There is authorized to be appropriated from the Highway Account for fiscal year 2027, for each program with respect to which amounts are authorized to be appropriated from such account for fiscal year 2026, an amount equal to the extension fraction of the amount authorized for appropriation with respect to the program from such account under the covered laws for fiscal year 2026.
(B) Mass transit account.--There is authorized to be appropriated from the Mass Transit Account for fiscal year 2027, for each program with respect to which amounts are authorized to be appropriated from such account for fiscal year 2026, an amount equal to the extension fraction of the amount authorized for appropriation with respect to the program from such account under the covered laws for fiscal year 2026.
(2) General fund.--There is authorized to be appropriated for fiscal year 2027, for each program under the covered laws with respect to which amounts are authorized to be appropriated for fiscal year 2026 from an account other than the Highway Account or the Mass Transit Account, an amount that is not less than the extension fraction of the amount authorized for appropriation with respect to the program under the covered laws for fiscal year 2026.
(c) Use of Funds.--
(1) In general.--Amounts authorized to be appropriated for fiscal year 2027 with respect to a program under subsection (b) shall be distributed, administered, limited, and made available for obligation in the same manner as amounts authorized to be appropriated with respect to the program for fiscal year 2026 under the covered laws.
(2) Apportionment notice to states.--Section 104(e)(2) of title 23, United States Code, shall not apply for fiscal year 2027.
(d) Obligation Limitation.--A program for which amounts are authorized to be appropriated under subsection (b)(1) shall be subject to a limitation on obligations for fiscal year 2027 in an amount equal to the extension fraction of the limitation on obligations for the program for fiscal year 2026 and in the same manner as the limitation applicable with respect to the program for fiscal year 2026.
SEC. 3102. APPALACHIAN REGIONAL COMMISSION.
(a) In General.--During the extension period, section 14703 of title 40, United States Code, shall be applied--
(1) in subsection (a)(6), by substituting "2027" for "2026";
(2) in subsection (c), by substituting "2027" for "2026"; and
(3) in subsection (d), by substituting "2027" for "2026".
(b) Termination.--During the extension period, section 14704 of title 40, United States Code, shall be applied by substituting "2027" for "2026".
SEC. 3103. SPORT FISHING.
During the extension period, section 4 of the Dingell-Johnson Sport Fish Restoration Act (16 U.S.C. 777c) shall be applied--
(1) in subsection (a), in the matter preceding paragraph (1), by substituting "2027" for "2026"; and
(2) in subsection (b)--
(A) in paragraph (1)(A), in the first sentence, by substituting "2027" for "2026"; and
(B) in paragraph (2)(A), in the first sentence, by substituting "2027" for "2026".
SEC. 3104. EXTENSION OF CERTAIN FUNDING.
(a) In General.--Notwithstanding section 118(b) of title 23, United States Code, any funds authorized from the Highway Trust Fund (other than the Mass Transit Account) under section 11101 of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (Public Law 117-58; 135 Stat. 443) for a program described in subsection (b) that would otherwise lapse on September 30, 2026, shall be available until September 30, 2027.
(b) Program Described.--A program referred to in subsection (a) is a program other than a program for which funding is apportioned under section 104(b) or section 130(f) of title 23, United States Code.
SEC. 3201. EXTENSION OF EXPENDITURE AUTHORITY FOR HIGHWAY
TRUST FUND, SPORT FISH RESTORATION AND BOATING
TRUST FUND, AND LEAKING UNDERGROUND STORAGE
TANK TRUST FUND.
(a) Highway Trust Fund.--Section 9503 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended--
(1) by striking "October 1, 2026" in subsections (b)(6)(B), (c)(1), and (e)(3) and inserting "December 12, 2026", and
(2) by striking "Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act" in subsections (c)(1) and (e)(3) and inserting "Surface Transportation Extension Act of 2026".
(b) Sport Fish Restoration And Boating Trust Fund.--Section 9504 of such Code is amended--
(1) by striking "Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act" each place it appears in subsection (b)(2) and inserting "Surface Transportation Extension Act of 2026", and
(2) by striking "October 1, 2026" in subsection (d)(2) and inserting "December 12, 2026".
(c) Leaking Underground Storage Tank Trust Fund.--Section 9508(e)(2) of such Code is amended by striking "October 1, 2026" and inserting "December 12, 2026".
SEC. 4101. EXTENSION OF AUTHORITY FOR COLLECTION OF
COPAYMENTS FOR HOSPITAL CARE AND NURSING HOME
CARE.
Section 1710(f)(2)(B) of title 38, United States Code, is amended by striking "September 30, 2026" and inserting "December 11, 2026".
SEC. 4102. EXTENSION OF REQUIREMENT TO PROVIDE NURSING HOME
CARE TO CERTAIN VETERANS WITH SERVICE-CONNECTED
DISABILITIES.
Section 1710A(d) of title 38, United States Code, is amended by striking "September 30, 2026" and inserting "December 11, 2026".
SEC. 4103. EXTENSION OF FUNDING FOR EXPANSION OF RURAL ACCESS
NETWORK FOR GROWTH ENHANCEMENT PROGRAM.
Section 2(d) of the Sgt. Ketchum Rural Veterans Mental Health Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-21; 38 U.S.C. 1712A note) is amended by striking "$1,200,000 for each of fiscal years 2022 through 2026 to carry out this section." and inserting "to carry out this section, for--
"(1) each of fiscal years 2022 through 2026, $1,200,000; and
"(2) the period beginning on October 1, 2026, and ending on December 11, 2026, $236,713.".
SEC. 4104. EXTENSION OF STAFF SERGEANT PARKER GORDON FOX
SUICIDE PREVENTION GRANT PROGRAM.
Section 201(j) of the Commander John Scott Hannon Veterans Mental Health Care Improvement Act of 2019 (Public Law 116-171; 38 U.S.C. 1720F note) is amended by striking "September 30, 2026" and inserting "December 11, 2026".
SEC. 4105. EXTENSION OF FUNDING FOR GRANTS OR CONTRACTS TO
PROVIDE MENTAL HEALTH SUPPORT TO FAMILY
CAREGIVERS OF VETERANS.
Section 1720K(n) of title 38, United States Code, is amended by striking ", for each of fiscal years 2025 and 2026, $10,000,000 to carry out this section" and inserting "to carry out this section, for--
"(1) each of fiscal years 2025 and 2026, $10,000,000; and
"(2) the period beginning on October 1, 2026, and ending on December 11, 2026, $1,972,603.".
SEC. 4106. EXTENSION OF REQUIREMENT FOR REIMBURSEMENT FOR
AMBULANCE COST FOR CARE FOR CERTAIN RURAL
VETERANS.
Section 143(c) of the Senator Elizabeth Dole 21st Century Veterans Healthcare and Benefits Improvement Act (Public Law 118-210; 38 U.S.C. 1728 note) is amended by striking "September 30, 2026" and inserting "December 11, 2026".
SEC. 4107. EXTENSION OF INCENTIVE PROGRAM FOR SHARING OF
HEALTH CARE RESOURCES OF DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS
AFFAIRS AND DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE.
Section 8111(d)(3) of title 38, United States Code, is amended by striking "September 30, 2026" and inserting "December 11, 2026".
SEC. 4201. EXTENSION OF AUTHORITY TO MAINTAIN REGIONAL OFFICE
IN REPUBLIC OF PHILIPPINES.
Section 315(b) of title 38, United States Code, is amended by striking "September 30, 2026" and inserting "December 11, 2026".
SEC. 4202. EXTENSION OF REQUIREMENT RELATING TO RESTORATION
OF ENTITLEMENT TO EDUCATIONAL ASSISTANCE IN
CASES OF CLOSURE OR DISAPPROVAL OF EDUCATIONAL
INSTITUTIONS.
Section 3699(c)(2)(C) of title 38, United States Code, is amended by striking "September 30, 2026" and inserting "December 11, 2026".
SEC. 4301.
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EXTENSION OF AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS FOR
HOMELESS WOMEN VETERANS AND HOMELESS VETERANS
WITH CHILDREN REINTEGRATION GRANT PROGRAM.
Section 2021A(f)(1) of title 38, United States Code, is amended by striking "to carry out this section $1,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2011 through 2026." and inserting "to carry out this section--
"(A) $1,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2011 through 2026; and
"(B) $197,261 for the period beginning on October 1, 2026, and ending on December 11, 2026.".
SEC. 4302. EXTENSION OF AUTHORITY FOR TREATMENT AND
REHABILITATION FOR SERIOUSLY MENTALLY ILL AND
HOMELESS VETERANS.
(a) General Treatment.--Section 2031(b) of title 38, United States Code, is amended by striking "September 30, 2026" and inserting "December 11, 2026".
(b) Additional Services at Certain Locations.--Section 2033(d) of title 38, United States Code, is amended by striking "September 30, 2026" and inserting "December 11, 2026".
SEC. 4303. EXTENSION OF AUTHORITY FOR HOUSING ASSISTANCE FOR
HOMELESS VETERANS.
Section 2041(c) of title 38, United States Code, is amended by striking "September 30, 2026" and inserting "December 11, 2026".
SEC. 4304. EXTENSION OF FUNDING FOR FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE FOR
SUPPORTIVE SERVICES FOR VERY LOW-INCOME VETERAN
FAMILIES IN PERMANENT HOUSING.
Section 2044(e) of title 38, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following new paragraph:
"(10) $130,191,781 for the period beginning on October 1, 2026, and ending on December 11, 2026.".
SEC. 4305. EXTENSION OF FUNDING FOR GRANT PROGRAM FOR
HOMELESS VETERANS WITH SPECIAL NEEDS.
Section 2061(d)(1) of title 38, United States Code, is amended by striking "for each of fiscal years 2007 through 2026, $5,000,000 shall be available for each such fiscal year for the purposes of the program under this section." and inserting ", the following shall be available for the purposes of the program under this section:
"(A) For each of fiscal years 2007 through 2026, $5,000,000.
"(B) For the period beginning on October 1, 2026, and ending on December 11, 2026, $986,302.".
SEC. 4306. EXTENSION OF AUTHORITY FOR ADVISORY COMMITTEE ON
HOMELESS VETERANS.
Section 2066(d) of title 38, United States Code, is amended by striking "September 30, 2026" and inserting "December 11, 2026".
SEC. 4307. EXTENSION OF AUTHORITY TO PROVIDE ASSISTANCE FOR
SPECIALLY ADAPTED HOUSING FOR DISABLED VETERANS
RESIDING TEMPORARILY IN HOUSING OWNED BY A
FAMILY MEMBER.
Section 2102A(e) of title 38, United States Code, is amended by striking "September 30, 2026" and inserting "December 11, 2026".
SEC. 4308. EXTENSION OF AUTHORITY FOR SPECIALLY ADAPTED
HOUSING ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGY GRANT PROGRAM.
Section 2108(g) of title 38, United States Code, is amended by striking "September 30, 2026" and inserting "December 11, 2026".
SEC. 4401. EXTENSION OF AUTHORITY FOR SECRETARY OF VETERANS
AFFAIRS TO TRANSPORT INDIVIDUALS TO AND FROM
FACILITIES OF DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS.
Section 111A(a)(2) of title 38, United States Code, is amended by striking "September 30, 2026" and inserting "December 11, 2026".
SEC. 4402. EXTENSION OF SUBPOENA AUTHORITY OF INSPECTOR
GENERAL OF DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS.
Section 312(d)(7)(A) of title 38, United States Code, is amended by striking "September 30, 2026" and inserting "December 11, 2026".
SEC. 4403. EXTENSION OF AUTHORITY FOR ADAPTIVE SPORTS
PROGRAMS FOR DISABLED VETERANS AND MEMBERS OF
THE ARMED FORCES.
Section 521A of title 38, United States Code, is amended--
(1) in subsection (g)(1), by adding at the end the following:
"(C) $3,156,165 for the period beginning on October 1, 2026, and ending on December 11, 2026."; and
(2) in subsection (l), by striking "fiscal years 2010 through 2026" and inserting "the period beginning on October 1, 2009, and ending on December 11, 2026".
SEC. 4404. EXTENSION OF AUTHORITY FOR ADVISORY COMMITTEE ON
MINORITY VETERANS.
Section 544(e) of title 38, United States Code, is amended by striking "September 30, 2026" and inserting "December 11, 2026".
SEC. 4405. EXTENSION OF AUTHORITY RELATING TO PLOT
ALLOWANCES.
Section 301(c)(2) of the Senator Elizabeth Dole 21st Century Veterans Healthcare and Benefits Improvement Act (Public Law 118-210; 38 U.S.C. 2303 note) is amended by striking "October 1, 2026" and inserting "December 12, 2026".
SEC. 4406. EXTENSION OF AUTHORITY RELATING TO VENDEE LOAN
PROGRAM.
Section 3733(a)(8) of title 38, United States Code, is amended--
(1) in the matter preceding subparagraph (A), by striking "September 30, 2026" and inserting "December 11, 2026"; and
(2) in subparagraph (C), by striking "September 30, 2026" and inserting "December 11, 2026".
SEC. 4407. EXTENSION OF AUTHORITY FOR TRANSFER OF REAL
PROPERTY.
Section 8118(a)(5) of title 38, United States Code, is amended by striking "September 30, 2026" and inserting "December 11, 2026".
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SA 6733. Mr. BUDD (for himself, Mr. Ricketts, Mr. Lankford, Mr. Grassley, Mr. Rounds, Mr. Cornyn, and Mr. McConnell) submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by him to the bill H.R. 6500, to extend duty-free treatment provided with respect to imports from certain countries in Africa under the African Growth and Opportunity Act, to extend customs user fees, and for other purposes; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows: Strike section 2019. ______ SA 6734. Mr. KENNEDY submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by him to the bill H.R. 6500, to extend duty-free treatment provided with respect to imports from certain countries in Africa under the African Growth and Opportunity Act, to extend customs user fees, and for other purposes; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows: Strike section 157. ______ SA 6735. Mr. PADILLA submitted an amendment intended to be proposed to amendment SA 6732 submitted by Ms. Collins and intended to be proposed to the bill H.R. 6500, to extend duty-free treatment provided with respect to imports from certain countries in Africa under the African Growth and Opportunity Act, to extend customs user fees, and for other purposes; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows: At the appropriate place in division A, insert the following: Sec. ___. (a) No agency or entity that receives funds pursuant to section 101(4) may terminate a Federal award in whole or in part, require a renegotiation or rescoping of the Federal award, decide not to fund a budget period of a Federal award, or fail to approve a no cost time extension on the basis that the Federal award no longer effectuates the program goals or agency priorities, including pursuant to section 200.340(a)(4) of title 2, Code of Federal Regulations. (b) Any Federal award that was terminated by any of the agencies or entities described in subsection (a) after September 30, 2024, for no longer effectuating the program goals or agency priorities, including pursuant to section 200.340(a)(4) of title 2, Code of Federal Regulations, shall be reinstated by such agency or entity under the previous terms and conditions for that Federal award.
Text of Senate Amendment 6732
Pages S4437–S4443 · Official textSA 6732. Ms. COLLINS submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by her to the bill H.R. 6500, to extend duty-free treatment provided with respect to imports from certain countries in Africa under the African Growth and Opportunity Act, to extend customs user fees, and for other purposes; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows: Strike all after the enacting clause and insert the following:
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SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the "Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act, 2027".
SEC. 2. TABLE OF CONTENTS.
The table of contents for this Act is as follows:
Sec. 1. Short Title. Sec. 2. Table of Contents. Sec. 3. References.
DIVISION C--SURFACE TRANSPORTATION EXTENSION ACT OF 2026
SEC. 3. REFERENCES.
Except as expressly provided otherwise, any reference to "this Act" contained in any division of this Act shall be treated as referring only to the provisions of that division.
The following sums are hereby appropriated, out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, and out of applicable corporate or other revenues, receipts, and funds, for the several departments, agencies, corporations, and other organizational units of Government for fiscal year 2027, and for other purposes, namely:
Sec. 101. Such amounts as may be necessary, at a rate for operations as provided in the applicable appropriations Acts for fiscal year 2026 and under the authority and conditions provided in such Acts, for continuing projects or activities (including the costs of direct loans and loan guarantees) that are not otherwise specifically provided for in this Act, that were conducted in fiscal year 2026, and for which appropriations, funds, or other authority were made available in the following appropriations Acts:
(1) The Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agency Appropriations Act, 2026 (division B of Public Law 119-37).
(2) The Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2026 (division A of Public Law 119-74), except sections 521(c)(2) and 544.
(3) The Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 2026 (division A of Public Law 119-75).
(4) The Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2026 (division B of Public Law 119-74).
(5) The Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Act, 2026 (division E of Public Law 119-75), except the last proviso under the heading "Election Assistance Commission--Election Security Grants", and including section 143 of division A of Public Law 119-37.
(6) The Homeland Security and Further Additional Continuing Appropriations Act, 2026 (Public Law 119-86), except division B, and including sections 5013 through 5016 of division I of Public Law 119-75.
(7) The Department of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2026 (division C of Public Law 119-74), except section 444.
(8) The Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2026 (division B of Public Law 119-75), except section 528.
(9) The Legislative Branch Appropriations Act, 2026 (division C of Public Law 119-37).
(10) The Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2026 (division D of Public Law 119-37).
(11) The National Security, Department of State, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 2026 (division F of Public Law 119-75).
(12) The Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2026 (division D of Public Law 119-75), as amended by sections 153(b) and 156(a) of this Act.
Sec. 102. (a) No appropriation or funds made available or authority granted pursuant to section 101 for the Department of Defense shall be used for:
(1) the new production of items not funded for production in fiscal year 2026 or prior years;
(2) the increase in production rates above those sustained with fiscal year 2026 funds; or
(3) the initiation, resumption, or continuation of any project, activity, operation, or organization (defined as any project, subproject, activity, budget activity, program element, and subprogram within a program element, and for any investment items defined as a P-1 line item in a budget activity within an appropriation account and an R-1 line item that includes a program element and subprogram element within an appropriation account) for which appropriations, funds, or other authority were not available during fiscal year 2026.
(b) No appropriation or funds made available or authority granted pursuant to section 101 for the Department of Defense shall be used to initiate multi-year procurements utilizing advance procurement funding for economic order quantity procurement unless specifically appropriated later.
Sec. 103. Appropriations made by section 101 shall be available to the extent and in the manner that would be provided by the pertinent appropriations Act.
Sec. 104. Except as otherwise provided in section 102, no appropriation or funds made available or authority granted pursuant to section 101 shall be used to initiate or resume any project or activity for which appropriations, funds, or other authority were not available during fiscal year 2026.
Sec. 105. Appropriations made and authority granted pursuant to this Act shall cover all obligations or expenditures incurred for any project or activity during the period for which funds or authority for such project or activity are available under this Act.
Sec. 106. Unless otherwise provided for in this Act or in the applicable appropriations Act for fiscal year 2027, appropriations and funds made available and authority granted pursuant to this Act shall be available until whichever of the following first occurs:
(1) The enactment into law of an appropriation for any project or activity provided for in this Act.
(2) The enactment into law of the applicable appropriations Act for fiscal year 2027 without any provision for such project or activity.
(3) December 11, 2026.
Sec. 107. Expenditures made pursuant to this Act shall be charged to the applicable
appropriation, fund, or authorization whenever a bill in which such applicable appropriation, fund, or authorization is contained is enacted into law.
Sec. 108. Appropriations made and funds made available by or authority granted pursuant to this Act may be used without regard to the time limitations for submission and approval of apportionments set forth in section 1513 of title 31, United States Code, but nothing in this Act may be construed to waive any other provision of law governing the apportionment of funds.
Sec. 109. Notwithstanding any other provision of this Act, except section 106, for those programs that would otherwise have high initial rates of operation or complete distribution of appropriations at the beginning of fiscal year 2027 because of distributions of funding to States, foreign countries, grantees, or others, such high initial rates of operation or complete distribution shall not be made, and no grants shall be awarded for such programs funded by this Act that would impinge on final funding prerogatives.
Sec. 110. This Act shall be implemented so that only the most limited funding action of that permitted in the Act shall be taken in order to provide for continuation of projects and activities.
Sec. 111. (a) For entitlements and other mandatory payments whose budget authority was provided in appropriations Acts for fiscal year 2026, and for activities under the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008, activities shall be continued at the rate to maintain program levels under current law, under the authority and conditions provided in the applicable appropriations Act for fiscal year 2026, to be continued through the date specified in section 106(3).
(b) Notwithstanding section 106, obligations for mandatory payments due on or about the first day of any month that begins after October 2026 but not later than 30 days after the date specified in section 106(3) may continue to be made, and funds shall be available for such payments.
Sec. 112. Amounts made available under section 101 for civilian personnel compensation and benefits in each department and agency may be apportioned up to the rate for operations necessary to avoid furloughs within such department or agency, consistent with the applicable appropriations Act for fiscal year 2026, except that such authority provided under this section shall not be used until after the department or agency has taken all necessary actions to reduce or defer non-personnel-related administrative expenses.
Sec. 113. Funds appropriated by this Act may be obligated and expended notwithstanding section 10 of Public Law 91-672 (22 U.S.C. 2412), section 15 of the State Department Basic Authorities Act of 1956 (22 U.S.C. 2680), section 313 of the Foreign Relations Authorization Act, Fiscal Years 1994 and 1995 (22 U.S.C. 6212), and section 504(a)(1) of the National Security Act of 1947 (50 U.S.C. 3094(a)(1)).
Sec. 114. (a)(1) For each amount incorporated by reference in this Act that was previously designated by the Congress as an emergency requirement pursuant to section 251(b)(2)(A)(i) of the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985, each provision of law designating each such amount as an emergency requirement pursuant to such section shall not apply.
(2) Each amount incorporated by reference in this Act that was designated by the Congress as an emergency requirement pursuant to section 251(b)(2)(A)(i) of the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985, or pursuant to section 4001(a)(1) of S. Con. Res. 14 (117th Congress), the concurrent resolution on the budget for fiscal year 2022, and to legislation establishing fiscal year 2026 budget enforcement in the House of Representatives, and each amount provided, repurposed, or rescinded by sections 125 and 153(a) of this Act, is designated by the Congress as an emergency requirement pursuant to section 4001(a)(1) of S. Con. Res. 14 (117th Congress), the concurrent resolution on the budget for fiscal year 2022, and to legislation establishing fiscal year 2026 or 2027 budget enforcement in the House of Representatives, as applicable.
(b) Each amount incorporated by reference in this Act that was previously designated by the Congress as being for disaster relief pursuant to section 251(b)(2)(D) of the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 is designated by the Congress as being for disaster relief pursuant to a concurrent resolution on the budget.
(c) Each amount incorporated by reference in this Act that was previously designated in division B of Public Law 117-159, division J of Public Law 117-58, or in section 443(b) of division G of Public Law 117-328 by the Congress as an emergency requirement pursuant to a concurrent resolution on the budget shall continue to be treated as an amount specified in section 103(b) of division A of Public Law 118-5.
Sec. 115.
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(a) Rescissions or cancellations of discretionary budget authority that continue pursuant to section 101 in Treasury Appropriations Fund Symbols (TAFS)--
(1) to which other appropriations are not provided by this Act, but for which there is a current applicable TAFS that does receive an appropriation in this Act; or
(2) which are no-year TAFS and receive other appropriations in this Act, may be continued instead by reducing the rate for operations otherwise provided by section 101 for such current applicable TAFS, as long as doing so does not impinge on the final funding prerogatives of the Congress.
(b) Rescissions or cancellations described in subsection (a) shall continue in an amount equal to the lesser of--
(1) the amount specified for rescission or cancellation in the applicable appropriations Act referenced in section 101 of this Act; or
(2) the amount of balances available, as of October 1, 2026, from the funds specified for rescission or cancellation in the applicable appropriations Act referenced in section 101 of this Act.
(c) No later than November 20, 2026, the Director of the Office of Management and Budget shall provide to the Committees on Appropriations of the House of Representatives and the Senate a comprehensive list of the rescissions or cancellations that will continue pursuant to section 101: Provided, That the information in such comprehensive list shall be periodically updated to reflect any subsequent changes in the amount of balances available, as of October 1, 2026, from the funds specified for rescission or cancellation in the applicable appropriations Act referenced in section 101, and such updates shall be transmitted to the Committees on Appropriations of the House of Representatives and the Senate upon request.
Sec. 116. Amounts made available by section 101 for "Farm Service Agency--Agricultural Credit Insurance Fund Program Account" may be apportioned up to the rate for operations necessary to accommodate approved applications for direct and guaranteed farm ownership loans, as authorized by 7 U.S.C. 1922 et seq.
Sec. 117. Amounts made available by section 101 to the Department of Agriculture for "Domestic Food Programs--Food and Nutrition Service--Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC)" may be apportioned at the rate for operations necessary to maintain participation.
Sec. 118. Amounts made available by section 101 to the Department of Agriculture for "Domestic Food Programs--Food and Nutrition Service--Commodity Assistance Program" may be apportioned up to the rate for operations necessary to maintain current program caseload in the Commodity Supplemental Food Program.
Sec. 119. Section 260 of the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946 (7 U.S.C. 1636i) and section 942 of the Livestock Mandatory Reporting Act of 1999 (7 U.S.C. 1635 note; Public Law 106-78) shall be applied by substituting the date specified in section 106(3) of this Act for "September 30, 2026".
Sec. 120. Amounts made available by section 101 for "Department of Commerce--Bureau of the Census--Periodic Censuses and Programs" may be apportioned up to the rate for operations necessary to maintain the buildup and testing of all integrated systems and operations necessary for the 2030 Decennial Census Program.
Sec. 121. Amounts made available by section 101 for "Department of Commerce--National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration--Procurement, Acquisition and Construction" shall be apportioned at the rate for operations necessary to maintain the planned launch schedules for the Geostationary Extended Observations (GeoXO) satellite system.
Sec. 122. Amounts made available by section 101 for "Department of Justice--Legal Activities--Salaries and Expenses, General Legal Activities" may be apportioned up to the rate for operations necessary to support the legal activities of the Department of Justice.
Sec. 123. Amounts made available by section 101 for "Department of Justice--United States Marshals Service--Salaries and Expenses" may be apportioned up to the rate for operations necessary to maintain Federal judicial security programs and protective operations.
Sec. 124. Amounts made available by section 101 for "Department of Justice--Federal Bureau of Investigation--Salaries and Expenses" may be apportioned up to the rate for operations necessary to prepare for the 2028 Olympic Games, and for risk reduction and modification of National Security Systems.
Sec. 125. (a) The remaining unobligated balances, as of September 30, 2026, from amounts made available for "Department of Commerce--National Telecommunications and Information Administration--Middle Mile Deployment" in division J of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (Public Law 117-58) are hereby rescinded, and in addition to amounts otherwise provided by section 101, an amount of additional new budget authority equivalent to the amount rescinded pursuant to this subsection is hereby appropriated on September 30, 2026, for an additional amount for fiscal year 2026, to remain available until September 30, 2027, and shall be available for the same purposes for which such funds were originally appropriated, in addition to other funds as may be available for such purposes.
(b)(1) Subject to paragraph (2), this section shall become effective immediately upon enactment of this Act.
(2) If this Act is enacted after September 30, 2026, this section shall be applied as if it were in effect on September 30, 2026.
Sec. 126. Notwithstanding sections 102 and 104, amounts made available by section 101 to the Department of Defense for "Procurement--Shipbuilding and Conversion, Navy" may be apportioned up to the rate for operations necessary to fund prior year shipbuilding cost increases for the following programs funded in prior years under such heading:
(1) 2013/2027 Carrier Replacement Program, in an amount not to exceed $324,000,000;
(2) 2017/2027 DDG 51 Program, in an amount not to exceed $24,503,000;
(3) 2017/2027 LHA Replacement Program, in an amount not to exceed $164,300,000;
(4) 2018/2027 Virginia Class Submarine Program, in an amount not to exceed $44,244,000;
(5) 2018/2027 DDG 51 Program, in an amount not to exceed $69,919,000;
(6) 2018/2027 LPD (Flight II) Amphibious Transport Dock Program, in an amount not to exceed $58,800,000;
(7) 2019/2027 Virginia Class Submarine Program, in an amount not to exceed $561,131,000;
(8) 2019/2027 DDG 51 Program, in an amount not to exceed $83,802,000;
(9) 2019/2027 Littoral Combat Ship Program, in an amount not to exceed $9,450,000;
(10) 2020/2027 CVN Refueling Overhauls Program, in an amount not to exceed $379,200,000;
(11) 2020/2027 T-AO Fleet Oiler Program, in an amount not to exceed $16,020,000;
(12) 2021/2027 Columbia Class Submarine Program, in an amount not to exceed $566,542,000;
(13) 2021/2027 LPD (Flight II) Amphibious Transport Dock Program, in an amount not to exceed $44,689,000;
(14) 2022/2027 Expeditionary Sea Base Program, in an amount not to exceed $12,100,000;
(15) 2022/2027 Expeditionary Fast Transport Program, in an amount not to exceed $8,423,000;
(16) 2022/2027 T-AO Fleet Oiler Program, in an amount not to exceed $127,000,000;
(17) 2023/2027 T-AO Fleet Oiler Program, in an amount not to exceed $23,100,000;
(18) 2024/2027 Columbia Class Submarine Program, in an amount not to exceed $19,386,000;
(19) 2024/2027 T-AO Fleet Oiler Program, in an amount not to exceed $1,181,000; and
(20) 2026/2027 T-AO Fleet Oiler Program, in an amount not to exceed $74,200,000.
Sec. 127. Notwithstanding sections 102 and 104, amounts made available by section 101 to the Department of Defense for "Procurement--Procurement, Defense-Wide" may be apportioned up to the rate for operations necessary for National Security Systems in an amount not to exceed $2,853,000,000.
Sec. 128. Notwithstanding section 101, the first proviso in each of sections 8090 and 8094 of division A of Public Law 119-75 shall be applied by substituting "advances" for "reimbursements".
Sec. 129. During the period covered by this Act, section 103(f)(4)(A) of Public Law 108-361 (the Calfed Bay-Delta Authorization Act) shall be applied by substituting "$40,000,000" for "$32,600,000".
Sec. 130. (a) Notwithstanding section 104, amounts made available by section 101 for "Department of Energy--Atomic Energy Defense Activities--National Nuclear Security Administration--Weapons Activities" shall be available and may be apportioned up to the rate for operations necessary--
(1) to prevent project demobilization and shutdown activities for "17-D-640 U1a Complex Enhancements Project, NNSS" and "24-D-513 ZEUS Test Bed Facilities Improvement (ZTBFI), NNSS";
(2) to prevent termination of the design-build contract for "23-D-517 Electrical Power Capacity Upgrade, LANL"; and
(3) to maintain current level of activities and ongoing studies for "Studies and Assessments".
(b) Section 301(d) of division B of Public Law 119-74, as continued in effect by section 101, shall not apply to amounts used for the purposes specified in subsection (a).
(c) The Director of the Office of Management and Budget and the Secretary of Energy shall notify the Committees on Appropriations of the House of Representatives and the Senate not later than 3 days after each use of the authority provided in subsection (a).
Sec. 131. (a) Notwithstanding section 104, amounts made available by section 101 for "Department of Energy--Atomic Energy Defense Activities--Environmental and Other Defense Activities--Defense Environmental Cleanup" shall be available and may be apportioned up to the rate for operations necessary to carry out long-lead procurements within the CD-3A authorization for "21-D-401 Hoisting Capability Project" at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant.
(b) Section 301(d) of division B of Public Law 119-74, as continued in effect by section 101, shall not apply to amounts used for the purpose specified in subsection (a).
(c) The Director of the Office of Management and Budget and the Secretary of Energy shall notify the Committees on Appropriations of the House of Representatives and the Senate not later than 3 days after each use of the authority provided in subsection (a).
Sec. 132. Notwithstanding any other provision of this Act, except section 106, the District of Columbia may expend local funds made available under the heading "District of Columbia--District of Columbia Funds" for such programs and activities under the District of Columbia Appropriations Act, 2026 (title IV of division E of Public Law 119-75) at the rate set forth in the Fiscal Year 2027 Local Budget Act of 2026 (D.C. Act 26-379) as modified, as of the date of enactment of this Act.
Sec. 133. Amounts made available by section 101 for "Small Business Administration--Business Loans Program Account" may be apportioned up to the rate for operations necessary to accommodate increased demand for commitments for general business loans authorized under paragraphs (1) through (35) of section 7(a) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 636(a)), for guarantees of trust certificates authorized by section 5(g) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 634(g)), for commitments to guarantee loans under section 503 of the Small Business Investment Act of 1958 (15 U.S.C. 697), and for commitments to guarantee loans for debentures under section 303(b) of the Small Business Investment Act of 1958 (15 U.S.C. 683(b)).
Sec. 134. Section 1(b) of Public Law 117-25 (135 Stat. 297; 136 Stat. 2133; 136 Stat. 5984; 139 Stat. 46, 140 Stat. 629) shall be applied in each of paragraphs (3) and (4) by substituting the date specified in section 106(3) of this Act for "September 30, 2026".
Sec. 135.
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Notwithstanding section 104, amounts made available by section 101 to "Department of the Treasury--Departmental Offices--Salaries and Expenses" shall be available for operations necessary to host the G7 Financial Summit and other G7 related activities as proposed in the fiscal year 2027 President's Budget, submitted pursuant to section 1105(a) of title 31, United States Code, and accompanying justification materials.
Sec. 136. Notwithstanding section 101, section 747 of division E of Public Law 119-75 shall be applied by--
(1) substituting "2026" for "2025" each place it appears;
(2) substituting "2027" for "2026" each place it appears;
(3) substituting "2028" for "2027"; and
(4) substituting "section 747 of division E of Public Law 119-75" for "section 747 of division B of Public Law 118-47, as continued in effect and modified by section 1605 of title VI of division A of Public Law 119-4 (as continued in effect and modified by division A of Public Law 119-37)" each place it appears.
Sec. 137. Amounts made available by section 101 to the Department of Homeland Security under the heading "Federal Emergency Management Agency--Disaster Relief Fund" may be apportioned up to the rate for operations necessary to carry out response and recovery activities under the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5121 et seq.).
Sec. 138. During the period covered by this Act, section 225(e) of division A of Public Law 116-6 (49 U.S.C. 44901 note) shall be applied by substituting "fiscal years 2019 through 2027" for "fiscal years 2019 through 2026".
Sec. 139. (a) Sections 1309(a) and 1319 of the National Flood Insurance Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 4016(a) and 4026) shall be applied by substituting the date specified in section 106(3) of this Act for "September 30, 2026".
(b)(1) Subject to paragraph (2), this section shall become effective immediately upon enactment of this Act.
(2) If this Act is enacted after September 30, 2026, this section shall be applied as if it were in effect on September 30, 2026.
Sec. 140. Notwithstanding section 104, amounts made available by section 101 to the Department of the Interior for "Departmental Offices--Office of the Secretary--Departmental Operations" shall be available for the assumption of functions and activities performed by the Office of Navajo and Hopi Indian Relocation (ONHIR) as authorized by Public Law 93-531 (commonly known as the "Navajo-Hopi Land Settlement Act of 1974"), to ensure the full and complete discharge of the functions of ONHIR.
Sec. 141. Amounts made available by section 101 for "Department of the Interior--Department-Wide Programs--Wildland Fire Management", "Department of the Interior--Department-Wide Programs--Wildfire Suppression Operations Reserve Fund", "Department of Agriculture--Forest Service--Wildland Fire Management", and "Department of Agriculture--Forest Service--Wildfire Suppression Operations Reserve Fund" may be apportioned up to the rate for operations necessary for wildfire suppression activities.
Sec. 142. During the period covered by this Act, section 1701 of division B of Public Law 117-43 (5 U.S.C. 5547 note) shall be applied by substituting "calendar years 2021 through 2027" for "2021 or 2022 or 2023 or 2024" each place it appears.
Sec. 143. (a) In addition to amounts otherwise provided by section 101, amounts are provided for "Department of Health and Human Services--Indian Health Service--Indian Health Services" at a rate for operations of $75,774,000, for an additional amount for costs of staffing and operating facilities that were opened, renovated, or expanded in fiscal years 2022, 2026, and 2027, and such amounts may be apportioned up to the rate for operations necessary to staff and operate such facilities.
(b) In addition to amounts otherwise provided by section 101, amounts are provided for "Department of Health and Human Services--Indian Health Service--Indian Health Facilities" at a rate for operations of $8,296,000, for an additional amount for costs of staffing and operating facilities that were opened, renovated, or expanded in fiscal years 2022, 2026, and 2027, and such amounts may be apportioned up to the rate for operations necessary to staff and operate such facilities.
Sec. 144. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, no adjustment shall be made under section 601(a) of the Legislative Reorganization Act of 1946 (2 U.S.C. 4501) (relating to cost of living adjustments for Members of Congress) during the period covered by this Act.
Sec. 145. Notwithstanding any other provision of this Act, there is appropriated--
(1) for payment to Alfredia Scott, widow of David A. Scott, late a Representative from the State of Georgia, $174,000; and
(2) for payment to the heir at law of Lindsey O. Graham, late a Senator from the State of South Carolina, $174,000.
Sec. 146. Notwithstanding sections 102 and 104, amounts made available by section 101 for "Department of Defense--Military Construction, Army" and "Department of Defense--Military Construction, Navy and Marine Corps" and unobligated balances from prior year appropriations under these headings may be used by the Secretary of the Army and Secretary of the Navy to carry out military construction not otherwise authorized by law for Military Unaccompanied Housing facilities at the Medical Education Training Complex at Joint Base San Antonio: Provided, That no amounts may be made available pursuant to the matter preceding this proviso from amounts that were specified in the table referenced in the second proviso under each such heading in division J of Public Law 117-328, division A of Public Law 118-42, or division D of Public Law 119-37, or from amounts that were designated by the Congress as an emergency requirement pursuant to a concurrent resolution on the budget or the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985.
Sec. 147. Amounts made available by section 101 for "Department of Transportation--Office of the Secretary--Payments to Air Carriers" may be apportioned up to the rate for operations necessary to maintain Essential Air Service program operations.
Sec. 148. Notwithstanding section 101, the following language in title I of division D of Public Law 119-75 shall be applied as if it were struck:
(1) the fourth and fifth provisos in the undesignated paragraph under the second instance of the heading "Federal Aviation Administration--Grants-in-Aid for Airports";
(2) "of which $927,212,591" and ", and of which--" in the matter preceding the first proviso and all that follows through the end of the first paragraph (5) under the heading "Federal Highway Administration--Highway Infrastructure Programs";
(3) the second and third provisos under the heading "Federal Railroad Administration--Federal-State Partnership for Intercity Passenger Rail";
(4) the second and third provisos in the undesignated paragraph under the heading "Federal Railroad Administration--Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvements";
(5) ", of which--" in the second proviso in the undesignated paragraph and all that follows through the end of that proviso under the heading "Federal Transit Administration--Transit Infrastructure Grants", and the subsequent proviso; and
(6) ", and of which $129,000,000" in the matter preceding the first proviso and all that follows through such matter under the first instance of the heading "National Highway Traffic Safety Administration--Operations and Research", and the subsequent proviso.
Sec. 149. (a) Notwithstanding section 106, amounts made available in division L of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2018 (Public Law 115-141) under the heading "Department of Transportation--Federal Transit Administration--Capital Investment Grants" that were available for obligation through fiscal year 2021 shall remain available through fiscal year 2031 for the liquidation of valid obligations incurred in fiscal years 2018 through 2021.
(b)(1) Subject to paragraph (2), this section shall become effective immediately upon enactment of this Act.
(2) If this Act is enacted after September 30, 2026, this section shall be applied as if it were in effect on September 30, 2026.
Sec. 150. (a) The remaining unobligated balances, as of September 30, 2026, from amounts made available in paragraph (1) of the fourth proviso under the heading "Department of Transportation--Federal Highway Administration--Highway Infrastructure Programs" in division L of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023 (Public Law 117-328) are hereby rescinded, and in addition to amounts otherwise made available by section 101, an amount of additional new budget authority equivalent to the amount rescinded pursuant to this subsection is hereby appropriated on September 30, 2026, for an additional amount for fiscal year 2026, to remain available until September 30, 2027, and shall be available for the same purposes for which such funds were originally appropriated.
(b)(1) Subject to paragraph (2), this section shall become effective immediately upon enactment of this Act.
(2) If this Act is enacted after September 30, 2026, this section shall be applied as if it were in effect on September 30, 2026.
Sec. 151. (a) The remaining unobligated balances, as of September 30, 2026, from amounts made available for "Department of Transportation--Federal Aviation Administration--Research, Engineering, and Development" in division F of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2024 (Public Law 118-42) are hereby rescinded, and in addition to amounts otherwise provided by section 101, an amount of additional new budget authority equivalent to the amount rescinded pursuant to this subsection is hereby appropriated on September 30, 2026, for an additional amount for fiscal year 2026, to remain available until September 30, 2027, and shall be available for the same purposes for which such funds were originally appropriated, in addition to other funds as may be available for such purposes.
(b)(1) Subject to paragraph (2), this section shall become effective immediately upon enactment of this Act.
(2) If this Act is enacted after September 30, 2026, this section shall be applied as if it were in effect on September 30, 2026.
Sec. 152. (a) Section 239(b) of division F of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2024 (Public Law 118-42) is amended by striking "fiscal year 2026" and inserting "fiscal year 2027".
(b)(1) Subject to paragraph (2), the amendments made by this section shall become effective immediately upon enactment of this Act.
(2) If this Act is enacted after September 30, 2026, the amendments made by this section shall be applied as if they were in effect on September 30, 2026.
Sec. 153. (a) Notwithstanding section 106, during fiscal year 2027, the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development may use the unobligated balances of amounts made available in prior fiscal years under the heading "Department of Housing and Urban Development--Public and Indian Housing--Tenant-Based Rental Assistance", except amounts made available in paragraphs (4) and (5) under such heading in division D of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2026 (Public Law 119-75), to support additional allocations under subparagraph (D) of paragraph (1) of such heading only as needed to prevent the termination of rental assistance for families as the result of insufficient funding in the calendar year 2026 funding cycle.
(b) Paragraph (2) under the heading "Department of Housing and Urban Development--Public and Indian Housing--Tenant-Based Rental Assistance" in division D of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2026 (Public Law 119-75) is amended by--
(1) inserting "emergency housing vouchers (section 3202(b) of Public Law 117-2 (42 U.S.C.
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1437f)) for all dwelling units under lease as of September 30, 2026 (which shall not be replacement vouchers and shall be provided prior to the end of calendar year 2026)," after "mandatory and voluntary conversions,"; and
(2) striking the last proviso.
Sec. 154. (a) The remaining unobligated balances, as of September 30, 2026, from amounts made available for "Department of Housing and Urban Development--Community Planning and Development--Homeless Assistance Grants" in division F of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2024 (Public Law 118-42) are hereby rescinded, and in addition to amounts otherwise provided by section 101, an amount of additional new budget authority equivalent to the amount rescinded pursuant to this subsection is hereby appropriated on September 30, 2026, for an additional amount for fiscal year 2026, to remain available until September 30, 2027, and shall be available for the same purposes for which such funds were originally appropriated, in addition to other funds as may be available for such purposes.
(b)(1) Subject to paragraph (2), this section shall become effective immediately upon enactment of this Act.
(2) If this Act is enacted after September 30, 2026, this section shall be applied as if it were in effect on September 30, 2026.
Sec. 155. (a) The remaining unobligated balances, as of September 30, 2026, from amounts made available for "Department of Housing and Urban Development--Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity--Fair Housing Activities" by the Full-Year Continuing Appropriations Act, 2025 (division A of Public Law 119-4) are hereby rescinded, and in addition to amounts otherwise made available by section 101, an amount of additional new budget authority equivalent to the amount rescinded pursuant to this subsection is hereby appropriated on September 30, 2026, for an additional amount for fiscal year 2026, to remain available until September 30, 2027, and shall be available for the same purposes for which such funds were originally appropriated, in addition to other funds as may be available for such purposes.
(b)(1) Subject to paragraph (2), this section shall become effective immediately upon enactment of this Act.
(2) If this Act is enacted after September 30, 2026, this section shall be applied as if it were in effect on September 30, 2026.
Sec. 156. (a) Section 239 of division D of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2026 (Public Law 119-75) is hereby repealed and the unobligated balance of amounts made available under such section 239(d) is hereby rescinded.
(b) Notwithstanding section 106, for fiscal years 2027 through 2029, the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development ("Secretary") may, through competition, including a first-come, first served competition, satisfy the full indebtedness relating to any remaining principal and interest under financial assistance made available under section 201 of the Housing and Community Development Amendments of 1978 (12 U.S.C. 1715z-1a) ("Flex Sub loan").
(1) The Secretary may only satisfy a loan under this subsection for properties with--
(A) at least one, but fewer than 100 assisted units;
(B) a Flex Sub loan with an unpaid principal balance of $1,500,000 or more;
(C) not for profit ownership;
(D) a score of 90 or higher on the most recent REAC inspection from fiscal year 2025 or 2026; and
(E) a most recent management and occupancy review score of "above average" or "superior" from fiscal year 2025 or 2026.
(2) The Secretary may set such terms and conditions as the Secretary determines are appropriate to carry out this subsection, including:
(A) Different maturity dates or interest rate terms;
(B) Extension of affordability use agreements; and
(C) Other measures to ensure the long-term stability of operations at the property.
(3) There is hereby appropriated $6,258,174.91, to remain available until September 30, 2029, to carry out the purposes of this subsection, in addition to amounts otherwise available for such purposes.
(c) Of the unobligated balances in Treasury Appropriations Fund Symbol 86 X 0303 and made available prior to fiscal year 2020, $4,258,174.91 are hereby rescinded.
Sec. 157. (a) Notwithstanding section 106, through December 11, 2026, a rule to revise the Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements for Federal Awards (commonly known as the "Uniform Guidance"), arising out of the notice of proposed rulemaking titled "Regulation for Federal Financial Assistance", which was published in the Federal Register on May 29, 2026, or a substantially similar rule, shall not be issued or finalized.
(b) Notwithstanding section 106, if a rule described in subsection (a) is issued or finalized prior to the enactment of this Act, such rule shall not have force or take effect through December 11, 2026.
(c) This section shall become effective immediately upon enactment of this Act.
This division may be cited as the "Continuing Appropriations Act, 2027".
SEC. 2001. UNITED STATES GRAIN STANDARDS ACT EXTENSION.
(a) In General.--Sections 7(j)(5), 7A(l)(4), and 21(e) of the United States Grain Standards Act (7 U.S.C. 79(j)(5), 79a(l)(4), 87j(e)) shall be applied by substituting "December 11, 2026" for "September 30, 2025" each place it appears.
(b) Certain Limitations and Authorizations.--Sections 7D and 19(a) of the United States Grain Standards Act (7 U.S.C. 79d, 87h(a)) shall be applied by substituting "2027" for "2025" each place it appears.
SEC. 2002. FOREST SERVICE PARTICIPATION IN ACES PROGRAM.
Section 8302(b) of the Agricultural Act of 2014 (16 U.S.C. 3851a(b)) shall be applied by substituting "December 11, 2026" for "October 1, 2023".
SEC. 2003. FOOD FOR PEACE ACT.
Section 408 of the Food for Peace Act (7 U.S.C. 1736b) shall be applied by substituting "December 11, 2026" for "December 31, 2023".
SEC. 2004. EXTENSION OF DEFENSE PRODUCTION ACT OF 1950.
Section 717(a) of the Defense Production Act of 1950 (50 U.S.C. 4564(a)) is amended by striking "September 30, 2026" and inserting "December 11, 2026".
SEC. 2005. TOXIC SUBSTANCES CONTROL ACT FEE AUTHORITY.
Section 26(b) of the Toxic Substances Control Act (15 U.S.C. 2625(b)) is amended by striking paragraph (6) and inserting the following:
"(6) Termination.--The authority provided by this subsection shall terminate on December 11, 2026, unless otherwise reauthorized or modified by Congress.".
SEC. 2006. DISASTER RELIEF FOR THE NORTHERN MARIANA ISLANDS.
Section 1108(g) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1308(g)) is amended--
(1) in paragraph (2), in the matter preceding subparagraph (A), by striking "paragraphs (3), (5), and (14)" and inserting "the succeeding provisions of this subsection"; and
(2) by adding at the end the following new paragraph:
"(15) Temporary disaster relief for the northern mariana islands.--
"(A) In general.--The Secretary shall increase the total amount otherwise determined under this subsection for the Northern Mariana Islands for the period beginning on October 1, 2025, and ending on September 30, 2026, by $21,400,000. The additional amount made available under the preceding sentence shall remain available until expended.
"(B) Special rules.--The increase described in subparagraph (A)--
"(i) shall apply to the total amount certified by the Secretary under title XIX for payment to the Northern Mariana Islands for services attributable to fiscal year 2026, notwithstanding that payments for any such services are made by the Northern Mariana Islands in fiscal year 2027; and
"(ii) shall be in addition to the amount calculated under paragraph (2) for the Northern Mariana Islands for fiscal year 2026 and shall not be taken into account in calculating an amount under paragraph (2) for the Northern Mariana Islands for fiscal year 2027 or a subsequent fiscal year.".
SEC. 2007. MEDICARE IMPROVEMENT FUND.
Section 1898(b)(1) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395iii(b)(1)) is amended by striking "$2,062,000,000" and inserting "$2,041,000,000".
SEC. 2008. EXTENSION OF AFRICAN GROWTH AND OPPORTUNITY ACT.
(a) Trade Act of 1974.--Section 506B of the Trade Act of 1974 (19 U.S.C. 2466b) is amended by striking "2026" and inserting "2028".
(b) African Growth and Opportunity Act.--
(1) In general.--Section 112(g) of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (19 U.S.C. 3721(g)) is amended by striking "2026" and inserting "2028".
(2) Regional apparel article program.--Section 112(b)(3)(A) of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (19 U.S.C. 3721(b)(3)(A)) is amended--
(A) in clause (i), by striking "each of the 23 succeeding 1-year periods" and inserting "each succeeding 1-year period until December 31, 2028"; and
(B) in clause (ii)(II), by striking "2026" and inserting "2028".
(3) Third-country fabric program.--Section 112(c)(1) of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (19 U.S.C. 3721(c)(1)) is amended--
(A) in the paragraph heading, by striking "2026" and inserting "2028";
(B) in subparagraph (A), by striking "2026" and inserting "2028"; and
(C) in subparagraph (B)(ii), by striking "2026" and inserting "2028".
SEC. 2009. EXTENSION OF HAITI ECONOMIC LIFT PROGRAM.
Section 213A(h) of the Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery Act (19 U.S.C. 2703a(h)) is amended by striking "2026" and inserting "2028".
SEC. 2010. EXTENSION OF CUSTOMS USER FEES.
(a) In General.--Section 13031(j)(3) of the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985 (19 U.S.C. 58c(j)(3)) is amended--
(1) in subparagraph (A), by striking "December 31, 2031" and inserting "March 31, 2032"; and
(2) in subparagraph (B)(i), by striking "December 31, 2031" and inserting "March 31, 2032".
(b) Rate for Merchandise Processing Fees.--Section 503 of the United States-Korea Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act (Public Law 112-41;19 U.S.C. 3805 note) is amended by striking "December 31, 2031" and inserting "March 31, 2032".
SEC. 2011. CYBERSECURITY INFORMATION SHARING ACT OF 2015.
Section 111(a) of the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act of 2015 (6 U.S.C. 1510(a)) is amended by striking "September 30, 2026" and inserting "December 11, 2026".
SEC. 2012. FEDERAL CYBERSECURITY ENHANCEMENT ACT OF 2015.
Section 227(a) of the Federal Cybersecurity Enhancement Act of 2015 (6 U.S.C. 1525(a)) is amended by striking "September 30, 2026" and inserting "December 11, 2026".
SEC. 2013. JOINT TASK FORCES.
Section 708(b)(13) of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 348(b)(13)) shall be applied by substituting "December 11, 2026" for "September 30, 2026".
SEC. 2014. EXTENSION OF THE TECHNOLOGY MODERNIZATION FUND AND
BOARD.
Section 1078(f)(1) of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2018 (40 U.S.C. 11301 note) is amended by striking "September 30, 2026" and inserting "December 11, 2026".
SEC. 2015. FEE SETTING AUTHORITY OF THE UNITED STATES PATENT
AND TRADEMARK OFFICE.
Section 10(i)(2) of the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act (35 U.S.C. 41 note; Public Law 112-29) is amended by striking "upon the expiration of the 15-year period beginning on the date of the enactment of this Act" and inserting "on December 11, 2026".
SEC. 2016. UNITED STATES COMMISSION ON INTERNATIONAL
RELIGIOUS FREEDOM.
Section 209 of the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 (22 U.S.C. 6436) is amended by striking "September 30, 2026" and inserting "December 11, 2026".
SEC. 2017. WESTERN HEMISPHERE TRAVEL INITIATIVE PASSPORT
FEES.
Section 1(b)(2) of the Passport Act of June 4, 1920 (22 U.S.C. 214(b)(2)) is amended by striking "September 30, 2010" and inserting "December 11, 2026".
SEC. 2018.
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BUDGETARY EFFECTS.
(a) Statutory PAYGO Scorecards.--The budgetary effects of this division and each succeeding division shall not be entered on either PAYGO scorecard maintained pursuant to section 4(d) of the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2010.
(b) Senate PAYGO Scorecards.--The budgetary effects of this division and each succeeding division shall not be entered on any PAYGO scorecard maintained for purposes of section 4106 of H. Con. Res. 71 (115th Congress).
(c) Classification of Budgetary Effects.--Notwithstanding Rule 3 of the Budget Scorekeeping Guidelines set forth in the joint explanatory statement of the committee of conference accompanying Conference Report 105-217 and section 250(c)(8) of the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985, the budgetary effects of this division and each succeeding division shall not be estimated--
(1) for purposes of section 251 of such Act;
(2) for purposes of an allocation to the Committee on Appropriations pursuant to section 302(a) of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974; and
(3) for purposes of paragraph (4)(C) of section 3 of the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2010 as being included in an appropriation Act.
SEC. 2019. SECTION 781 EXTENSION.
Until December 11, 2026, the amendments made by section 781 of division B of Public Law 119-37 (7 U.S.C. 1639o note) shall only apply with respect to products described in paragraphs (1)(C)(ii)(I) and (1)(C)(iv)(I) of section 297A of the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946 (7 U.S.C. 1639o) (as amended by such section 781).
DIVISION C--SURFACE TRANSPORTATION EXTENSION ACT OF 2026
SEC. 3001. SHORT TITLE.
This division may be cited as the "Surface Transportation Extension Act of 2026".
SEC. 3002. DEFINITIONS.
In this division:
(1) Covered law.--The term "covered law" means any of the following:
(A) Division A, division B, and division C of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (Public Law 117-58; 135 Stat. 429).
(B) Titles I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII, VIII, XI, and XXIV of the FAST Act (Public Law 114-94; 129 Stat. 1312).
(C) Division A, division B, subtitle A of title I and title II of division C, and division E of MAP-21 (Public Law 112-141; 126 Stat. 405).
(D) Titles I, II, and III of the SAFETEA-LU Technical Corrections Act of 2008 (Public Law 110-244; 122 Stat. 1572).
(E) Titles I, II, III, IV, V, and VI of SAFETEA-LU (Public Law 109-59; 119 Stat. 1144).
(F) Titles I, II, III, IV, and V of the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (Public Law 105-178; 112 Stat. 107).
(G) Titles II, III, and IV of the National Highway System Designation Act of 1995 (Public Law 104-59; 109 Stat. 568).
(H) Titles I, II, III, IV, V, and VI of the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991 (Public Law 102-240; 105 Stat. 1914).
(I) Title 23, United States Code.
(J) Sections 116, 117, 330, 5128, 5505, and 24905 and chapters 53, 67, 139, 303, 311, 313, 701, and 702 of title 49, United States Code.
(2) Extension end date.--The term "extension end date" means December 11, 2026.
(3) Extension fraction.--The term "extension fraction" means the quotient, expressed as a fraction, obtained by dividing--
(A) the number of days in the extension period; by
(B) 365.
(4) Extension period.--The term "extension period" means the period that begins on October 1, 2026, and ends on the extension end date.
(5) Highway account.--The term "Highway Account" means the portion of the Highway Trust Fund that is not the Mass Transit Account.
(6) Mass transit account.--The term "Mass Transit Account" means the portion of the Highway Trust Fund established under section 9503(e)(1) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986.
SEC. 3101. EXTENSION OF FEDERAL SURFACE TRANSPORTATION
PROGRAMS.
(a) In General.--Except as otherwise provided in this division, the requirements, authorities, conditions, eligibilities, limitations, and other provisions authorized under the covered laws, which would otherwise expire on or cease to apply after September 30, 2026, are incorporated by reference and shall continue in effect through the extension end date.
(b) Authorization of Appropriations.--
(1) Highway trust fund.--
(A) Highway account.--There is authorized to be appropriated from the Highway Account for fiscal year 2027, for each program with respect to which amounts are authorized to be appropriated from such account for fiscal year 2026, an amount equal to the extension fraction of the amount authorized for appropriation with respect to the program from such account under the covered laws for fiscal year 2026.
(B) Mass transit account.--There is authorized to be appropriated from the Mass Transit Account for fiscal year 2027, for each program with respect to which amounts are authorized to be appropriated from such account for fiscal year 2026, an amount equal to the extension fraction of the amount authorized for appropriation with respect to the program from such account under the covered laws for fiscal year 2026.
(2) General fund.--There is authorized to be appropriated for fiscal year 2027, for each program under the covered laws with respect to which amounts are authorized to be appropriated for fiscal year 2026 from an account other than the Highway Account or the Mass Transit Account, an amount that is not less than the extension fraction of the amount authorized for appropriation with respect to the program under the covered laws for fiscal year 2026.
(c) Use of Funds.--
(1) In general.--Amounts authorized to be appropriated for fiscal year 2027 with respect to a program under subsection (b) shall be distributed, administered, limited, and made available for obligation in the same manner as amounts authorized to be appropriated with respect to the program for fiscal year 2026 under the covered laws.
(2) Apportionment notice to states.--Section 104(e)(2) of title 23, United States Code, shall not apply for fiscal year 2027.
(d) Obligation Limitation.--A program for which amounts are authorized to be appropriated under subsection (b)(1) shall be subject to a limitation on obligations for fiscal year 2027 in an amount equal to the extension fraction of the limitation on obligations for the program for fiscal year 2026 and in the same manner as the limitation applicable with respect to the program for fiscal year 2026.
SEC. 3102. APPALACHIAN REGIONAL COMMISSION.
(a) In General.--During the extension period, section 14703 of title 40, United States Code, shall be applied--
(1) in subsection (a)(6), by substituting "2027" for "2026";
(2) in subsection (c), by substituting "2027" for "2026"; and
(3) in subsection (d), by substituting "2027" for "2026".
(b) Termination.--During the extension period, section 14704 of title 40, United States Code, shall be applied by substituting "2027" for "2026".
SEC. 3103. SPORT FISHING.
During the extension period, section 4 of the Dingell-Johnson Sport Fish Restoration Act (16 U.S.C. 777c) shall be applied--
(1) in subsection (a), in the matter preceding paragraph (1), by substituting "2027" for "2026"; and
(2) in subsection (b)--
(A) in paragraph (1)(A), in the first sentence, by substituting "2027" for "2026"; and
(B) in paragraph (2)(A), in the first sentence, by substituting "2027" for "2026".
SEC. 3104. EXTENSION OF CERTAIN FUNDING.
(a) In General.--Notwithstanding section 118(b) of title 23, United States Code, any funds authorized from the Highway Trust Fund (other than the Mass Transit Account) under section 11101 of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (Public Law 117-58; 135 Stat. 443) for a program described in subsection (b) that would otherwise lapse on September 30, 2026, shall be available until September 30, 2027.
(b) Program Described.--A program referred to in subsection (a) is a program other than a program for which funding is apportioned under section 104(b) or section 130(f) of title 23, United States Code.
SEC. 3201. EXTENSION OF EXPENDITURE AUTHORITY FOR HIGHWAY
TRUST FUND, SPORT FISH RESTORATION AND BOATING
TRUST FUND, AND LEAKING UNDERGROUND STORAGE
TANK TRUST FUND.
(a) Highway Trust Fund.--Section 9503 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended--
(1) by striking "October 1, 2026" in subsections (b)(6)(B), (c)(1), and (e)(3) and inserting "December 12, 2026", and
(2) by striking "Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act" in subsections (c)(1) and (e)(3) and inserting "Surface Transportation Extension Act of 2026".
(b) Sport Fish Restoration And Boating Trust Fund.--Section 9504 of such Code is amended--
(1) by striking "Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act" each place it appears in subsection (b)(2) and inserting "Surface Transportation Extension Act of 2026", and
(2) by striking "October 1, 2026" in subsection (d)(2) and inserting "December 12, 2026".
(c) Leaking Underground Storage Tank Trust Fund.--Section 9508(e)(2) of such Code is amended by striking "October 1, 2026" and inserting "December 12, 2026".
SEC. 4101. EXTENSION OF AUTHORITY FOR COLLECTION OF
COPAYMENTS FOR HOSPITAL CARE AND NURSING HOME
CARE.
Section 1710(f)(2)(B) of title 38, United States Code, is amended by striking "September 30, 2026" and inserting "December 11, 2026".
SEC. 4102. EXTENSION OF REQUIREMENT TO PROVIDE NURSING HOME
CARE TO CERTAIN VETERANS WITH SERVICE-CONNECTED
DISABILITIES.
Section 1710A(d) of title 38, United States Code, is amended by striking "September 30, 2026" and inserting "December 11, 2026".
SEC. 4103. EXTENSION OF FUNDING FOR EXPANSION OF RURAL ACCESS
NETWORK FOR GROWTH ENHANCEMENT PROGRAM.
Section 2(d) of the Sgt. Ketchum Rural Veterans Mental Health Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-21; 38 U.S.C. 1712A note) is amended by striking "$1,200,000 for each of fiscal years 2022 through 2026 to carry out this section." and inserting "to carry out this section, for--
"(1) each of fiscal years 2022 through 2026, $1,200,000; and
"(2) the period beginning on October 1, 2026, and ending on December 11, 2026, $236,713.".
SEC. 4104. EXTENSION OF STAFF SERGEANT PARKER GORDON FOX
SUICIDE PREVENTION GRANT PROGRAM.
Section 201(j) of the Commander John Scott Hannon Veterans Mental Health Care Improvement Act of 2019 (Public Law 116-171; 38 U.S.C. 1720F note) is amended by striking "September 30, 2026" and inserting "December 11, 2026".
SEC. 4105. EXTENSION OF FUNDING FOR GRANTS OR CONTRACTS TO
PROVIDE MENTAL HEALTH SUPPORT TO FAMILY
CAREGIVERS OF VETERANS.
Section 1720K(n) of title 38, United States Code, is amended by striking ", for each of fiscal years 2025 and 2026, $10,000,000 to carry out this section" and inserting "to carry out this section, for--
"(1) each of fiscal years 2025 and 2026, $10,000,000; and
"(2) the period beginning on October 1, 2026, and ending on December 11, 2026, $1,972,603.".
SEC. 4106. EXTENSION OF REQUIREMENT FOR REIMBURSEMENT FOR
AMBULANCE COST FOR CARE FOR CERTAIN RURAL
VETERANS.
Section 143(c) of the Senator Elizabeth Dole 21st Century Veterans Healthcare and Benefits Improvement Act (Public Law 118-210; 38 U.S.C. 1728 note) is amended by striking "September 30, 2026" and inserting "December 11, 2026".
SEC. 4107. EXTENSION OF INCENTIVE PROGRAM FOR SHARING OF
HEALTH CARE RESOURCES OF DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS
AFFAIRS AND DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE.
Section 8111(d)(3) of title 38, United States Code, is amended by striking "September 30, 2026" and inserting "December 11, 2026".
SEC. 4201. EXTENSION OF AUTHORITY TO MAINTAIN REGIONAL OFFICE
IN REPUBLIC OF PHILIPPINES.
Section 315(b) of title 38, United States Code, is amended by striking "September 30, 2026" and inserting "December 11, 2026".
SEC. 4202. EXTENSION OF REQUIREMENT RELATING TO RESTORATION
OF ENTITLEMENT TO EDUCATIONAL ASSISTANCE IN
CASES OF CLOSURE OR DISAPPROVAL OF EDUCATIONAL
INSTITUTIONS.
Section 3699(c)(2)(C) of title 38, United States Code, is amended by striking "September 30, 2026" and inserting "December 11, 2026".
SEC. 4301.
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EXTENSION OF AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS FOR
HOMELESS WOMEN VETERANS AND HOMELESS VETERANS
WITH CHILDREN REINTEGRATION GRANT PROGRAM.
Section 2021A(f)(1) of title 38, United States Code, is amended by striking "to carry out this section $1,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2011 through 2026." and inserting "to carry out this section--
"(A) $1,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2011 through 2026; and
"(B) $197,261 for the period beginning on October 1, 2026, and ending on December 11, 2026.".
SEC. 4302. EXTENSION OF AUTHORITY FOR TREATMENT AND
REHABILITATION FOR SERIOUSLY MENTALLY ILL AND
HOMELESS VETERANS.
(a) General Treatment.--Section 2031(b) of title 38, United States Code, is amended by striking "September 30, 2026" and inserting "December 11, 2026".
(b) Additional Services at Certain Locations.--Section 2033(d) of title 38, United States Code, is amended by striking "September 30, 2026" and inserting "December 11, 2026".
SEC. 4303. EXTENSION OF AUTHORITY FOR HOUSING ASSISTANCE FOR
HOMELESS VETERANS.
Section 2041(c) of title 38, United States Code, is amended by striking "September 30, 2026" and inserting "December 11, 2026".
SEC. 4304. EXTENSION OF FUNDING FOR FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE FOR
SUPPORTIVE SERVICES FOR VERY LOW-INCOME VETERAN
FAMILIES IN PERMANENT HOUSING.
Section 2044(e) of title 38, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following new paragraph:
"(10) $130,191,781 for the period beginning on October 1, 2026, and ending on December 11, 2026.".
SEC. 4305. EXTENSION OF FUNDING FOR GRANT PROGRAM FOR
HOMELESS VETERANS WITH SPECIAL NEEDS.
Section 2061(d)(1) of title 38, United States Code, is amended by striking "for each of fiscal years 2007 through 2026, $5,000,000 shall be available for each such fiscal year for the purposes of the program under this section." and inserting ", the following shall be available for the purposes of the program under this section:
"(A) For each of fiscal years 2007 through 2026, $5,000,000.
"(B) For the period beginning on October 1, 2026, and ending on December 11, 2026, $986,302.".
SEC. 4306. EXTENSION OF AUTHORITY FOR ADVISORY COMMITTEE ON
HOMELESS VETERANS.
Section 2066(d) of title 38, United States Code, is amended by striking "September 30, 2026" and inserting "December 11, 2026".
SEC. 4307. EXTENSION OF AUTHORITY TO PROVIDE ASSISTANCE FOR
SPECIALLY ADAPTED HOUSING FOR DISABLED VETERANS
RESIDING TEMPORARILY IN HOUSING OWNED BY A
FAMILY MEMBER.
Section 2102A(e) of title 38, United States Code, is amended by striking "September 30, 2026" and inserting "December 11, 2026".
SEC. 4308. EXTENSION OF AUTHORITY FOR SPECIALLY ADAPTED
HOUSING ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGY GRANT PROGRAM.
Section 2108(g) of title 38, United States Code, is amended by striking "September 30, 2026" and inserting "December 11, 2026".
SEC. 4401. EXTENSION OF AUTHORITY FOR SECRETARY OF VETERANS
AFFAIRS TO TRANSPORT INDIVIDUALS TO AND FROM
FACILITIES OF DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS.
Section 111A(a)(2) of title 38, United States Code, is amended by striking "September 30, 2026" and inserting "December 11, 2026".
SEC. 4402. EXTENSION OF SUBPOENA AUTHORITY OF INSPECTOR
GENERAL OF DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS.
Section 312(d)(7)(A) of title 38, United States Code, is amended by striking "September 30, 2026" and inserting "December 11, 2026".
SEC. 4403. EXTENSION OF AUTHORITY FOR ADAPTIVE SPORTS
PROGRAMS FOR DISABLED VETERANS AND MEMBERS OF
THE ARMED FORCES.
Section 521A of title 38, United States Code, is amended--
(1) in subsection (g)(1), by adding at the end the following:
"(C) $3,156,165 for the period beginning on October 1, 2026, and ending on December 11, 2026."; and
(2) in subsection (l), by striking "fiscal years 2010 through 2026" and inserting "the period beginning on October 1, 2009, and ending on December 11, 2026".
SEC. 4404. EXTENSION OF AUTHORITY FOR ADVISORY COMMITTEE ON
MINORITY VETERANS.
Section 544(e) of title 38, United States Code, is amended by striking "September 30, 2026" and inserting "December 11, 2026".
SEC. 4405. EXTENSION OF AUTHORITY RELATING TO PLOT
ALLOWANCES.
Section 301(c)(2) of the Senator Elizabeth Dole 21st Century Veterans Healthcare and Benefits Improvement Act (Public Law 118-210; 38 U.S.C. 2303 note) is amended by striking "October 1, 2026" and inserting "December 12, 2026".
SEC. 4406. EXTENSION OF AUTHORITY RELATING TO VENDEE LOAN
PROGRAM.
Section 3733(a)(8) of title 38, United States Code, is amended--
(1) in the matter preceding subparagraph (A), by striking "September 30, 2026" and inserting "December 11, 2026"; and
(2) in subparagraph (C), by striking "September 30, 2026" and inserting "December 11, 2026".
SEC. 4407. EXTENSION OF AUTHORITY FOR TRANSFER OF REAL
PROPERTY.
Section 8118(a)(5) of title 38, United States Code, is amended by striking "September 30, 2026" and inserting "December 11, 2026".
Text of Senate Amendment 6733
Page S4443 · Official textSA 6733. Mr. BUDD (for himself, Mr. Ricketts, Mr. Lankford, Mr. Grassley, Mr. Rounds, Mr. Cornyn, and Mr. McConnell) submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by him to the bill H.R. 6500, to extend duty-free treatment provided with respect to imports from certain countries in Africa under the African Growth and Opportunity Act, to extend customs user fees, and for other purposes; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows: Strike section 2019.
Text of Senate Amendment 6734
Page S4443 · Official textSA 6734. Mr. KENNEDY submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by him to the bill H.R. 6500, to extend duty-free treatment provided with respect to imports from certain countries in Africa under the African Growth and Opportunity Act, to extend customs user fees, and for other purposes; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows: Strike section 157.
Text of Senate Amendment 6735
Page S4443 · Official textSA 6735. Mr. PADILLA submitted an amendment intended to be proposed to amendment SA 6732 submitted by Ms. Collins and intended to be proposed to the bill H.R. 6500, to extend duty-free treatment provided with respect to imports from certain countries in Africa under the African Growth and Opportunity Act, to extend customs user fees, and for other purposes; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows: At the appropriate place in division A, insert the following: Sec. ___. (a) No agency or entity that receives funds pursuant to section 101(4) may terminate a Federal award in whole or in part, require a renegotiation or rescoping of the Federal award, decide not to fund a budget period of a Federal award, or fail to approve a no cost time extension on the basis that the Federal award no longer effectuates the program goals or agency priorities, including pursuant to section 200.340(a)(4) of title 2, Code of Federal Regulations. (b) Any Federal award that was terminated by any of the agencies or entities described in subsection (a) after September 30, 2024, for no longer effectuating the program goals or agency priorities, including pursuant to section 200.340(a)(4) of title 2, Code of Federal Regulations, shall be reinstated by such agency or entity under the previous terms and conditions for that Federal award.
Authority for Committees to Meet
Pages S4443–S4444 · Official textMr. President, I have five requests for committees to meet during today's session of the Senate. They have the approval of the Majority and Minority Leaders.
Pursuant to rule XXVI, paragraph 5(a), of the Standing Rules of the Senate, the following committees are authorized to meet during today's session of the Senate:
The Committee on Indian Affairs is authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Tuesday, August 4, 2026, at 4 p.m., to conduct a hearing.
The Committee on the Judiciary is authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Tuesday, August 4, 2026, at 9 a.m., to conduct an executive business meeting.
The Committee on the Judiciary is authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Tuesday, August 4, 2026, at 2:30 p.m., to conduct a hearing.
The Select Committee on Intelligence is authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Tuesday, August 4, 2026, at 3 p.m., to conduct a closed hearing.
The Subcommittee on Health Care of the Committee on Finance is authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Tuesday, August 4, 2026, at 10 a.m., to conduct a hearing.
Privileges of the Floor
Page S4444 · Official textMr. President, I ask unanimous consent for the following interns of my office to be granted floor privileges until August 25, 2026: Lawson Patterson and Ella Chapman.
The PRESIDING OFFICER
Without objection, it is so ordered.
Orders for Wednesday, August 5, 2026
Page S4444 · Official textMadam President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it stand adjourned until 10:30 a.m. on Wednesday, August 5; that following the prayer and pledge, the Journal of proceedings be approved to date, the morning hour be deemed expired, the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day, morning business be closed, and the Senate resume consideration of the motion to proceed to H.R. 6500, postcloture, upon conclusion of leader remarks; further, if cloture is invoked on the Schwartz nomination, the Senate vote on confirmation of the nomination at 2:15 p.m.; finally, that if any nominations are confirmed during Wednesday's session of the Senate, the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table and the President be immediately notified of the Senate's actions.
The PRESIDING OFFICER
Without objection, it is so ordered.
Adjournment Until 10:30 A.m. Tomorrow
Page S4444 · Official textMadam President, if there is no further business to come before the Senate, I ask that it stand adjourned under the previous order.
There being no objection, the Senate, at 10:21 p.m., adjourned until Wednesday, August 5, 2026, at 10:30 a.m.
Nominations
Pages S4444–S4445 · Official textExecutive nominations received by the Senate:
Text printed in the Record (9,921 characters)
THE FOLLOWING NAMED OFFICER FOR APPOINTMENT IN THE UNITED STATES NAVY TO THE GRADE INDICATED WHILE ASSIGNED TO A POSITION OF IMPORTANCE AND RESPONSIBILITY UNDER TITLE 10, U.S.C., SECTION 601:
REAR ADM. OLIVER T. LEWIS
THE FOLLOWING NAMED OFFICERS FOR APPOINTMENT TO THE GRADE INDICATED IN THE UNITED STATES AIR FORCE UNDER TITLE 10, U.S.C., SECTION 624:
TIMOTHY R. ADAMS BRIAN T. ALLEN HILLERY N. ANDERSON MOZAMBIQUE L. BATTS LINDSEY L. BERGERON SEAN N. BLAS DANIEL P. BOYARSKI JASON D. BROWN CHRISTOPHER H. CHIN JOSEPH A. CITRO TIMOTHY E. COWAN JAMES M. COX JOSHUA G. DANIELS ANDREW R. DARTT BRIAN V. DAVIS MEGAN N. DAVIS SAHEBA B. DEHENRE KRISTINA M. DEMPSEY JESSE J. ELLIS BRENDA R. FELLOWS CLINTON J. FORE TYREL J. GIBSON AXEL GONZALEZ CHRISTINA H. GUSTAFSON EDDY G. GUTIERREZ ALYCIA M. HACKENBURG DIANA L. HALLERAN JASON S. HAMILTON JOSEPH HARRIS HAYLEY L. HARTSTEIN CHRISTOPHER A. HERGENRETER BRIAN T. HIGGINS MICHAEL D. HOERBER WALKER P. HOFMANN JEREMY J. HOMAN JULIE A. JANSON JOHN D. JARZABEK JENNIFER M. JONES KAITLIN W. KENNY MELISSA H. KIM JARED W. KING AMANDA L. KOSTURKO MARY T. KUCONIS CLEO A. LAMKIN STEVEN I. LEE JOSH A. LEV KORRY W. LEVERETT ALLEN W. LITTLE JEFFREY T. LUCY JENELL MACIAS DOMENIC MAGAZU III JONATHAN J. MALDA SETH D. MARTIN DYLAN MCDERMOTT SCOTT W. MCGREGOR RHOSHONDA A. MCGRUDER BRENDEN A. MCLEAN CORNITA L. MCQUITERY CECIL T. MCSPADDEN ADAM J. MESSER ALLISON P. MINNIG JOSELYN A. MOLINARI DANIEL B. MORABITO AMAL NAZZALL SETH A. NEWFANG BEAU NUNNALLY BRENDAN M. ONEAL RYAN M. ORTIZ CHANDRA M. PASILLAS CORRIE A. PECORARO LOREN M. PETERKIN JUSTIN D. PUCKETT STACEY S. RAMBO MICHAEL P. RAYKOWSKI JOHN W. ROSS JENNIFER J. RUPP STEVEN C. SANOCKI PAUL SCHEGLOV HEIDI K. SCHIANO RACHEL E. SEABLOM JASON W. SEITZ THOMAS P. SHALLUE JOHN X. SITU MATTHEW V. STREETON BRIAN STURDEVANT WILLIAM M. TOMPKINS DANIEL J. TRIMBOLI EVAN VALDEZ NATHAN J. VAN LOON ROBERT S. VOGT WHITNEY P. WALKER MATTHEW W. WEAVER CHRISTOPHER W. WEIMER TRAVIS J. WHITE KEVIN C. WHITLATCH KEVIN D. WILLIAMS ANDRE WOLF THE FOLLOWING NAMED OFFICERS FOR APPOINTMENT TO THE GRADE INDICATED IN THE UNITED STATES AIR FORCE UNDER TITLE 10, U.S.C., SECTION 624:
JOSEPH A. BOUDREAU PHILIP D. FREEMAN JOHN R. GRAVES ANGELICA MARIA S. HEIDERICH ERIC M. LOPEZ PATRICK T. MCAFEE FRANCES V. MERCADO MICHAEL NERENBERG JACQUELINE B. POSTELL STEVEN C. REDWINE MICHAEL C. VALDIVIA ISAAC C. WILLIAMS ADRIAN A. ZOLLINGER THE FOLLOWING NAMED OFFICERS FOR APPOINTMENT TO THE GRADE INDICATED IN THE UNITED STATES AIR FORCE UNDER TITLE 10, U.S.C., SECTION 624:
COLIN V. BARCUS PAUL J. BERNARDS DENISHA D. BRINKMAN LUIS O. CALVO JASON S. CARNEY MARGOT C. CUNNINGHAM FREDERICK A. FLORES JUSTIN L. HAUFFE BRANDON L. HORII ASIM A. KHAN WIKROM KITCHAIYA STEVE I. LANUZO PETER C. LARSEN JAMES S. LEE MATTHEW N. MUMM JEFFREY R. PAQUETTE CHAD D. POLUMBO SANAM M. QADRI THOMAS A. SANDERS SIMONE SHEN JONATHAN J. ST PETER JETTA M. WEBER NORMAN K. WILSON THE FOLLOWING NAMED OFFICERS FOR APPOINTMENT TO THE GRADE INDICATED IN THE UNITED STATES AIR FORCE UNDER TITLE 10, U.S.C., SECTION 624:
RYAN G. ALLEN JOHN A. ANDERSON TIMOTHY D. ANDERSON RYAN D. ANDREASEN PETER M. BARRETT, JR. JOHN D. BARRINGER CHRISTOPHER C. BEETS DANIELLE BENHAMOU DUSTIN R. BENNETT JULIAN G. BERMUDEZ JAMES R. BERNINGHAUSEN BRIAN F. BERRY MICHAEL W. BIEN JOSEPH M. BISSON WILLIAM B. BOOTH PAUL D. BOZZO SCOTT BRANCO APRIL E. BROWN JESSICA E. BROWN MATTHEW J. BRYAN ANDREW R. BURNS BENJAMIN M. BURR JOHN J. CAMPION SETH M. CANNON CLINT E. CARLISLE BRANDON M. CARTER JOHN G. CASEY STEPHEN M. CASTLEN HUMBERTO J. CENTENO ROBERT T. CHANCE, JR. CARL R. CHEN NICOLAIS R. CHIGHIZOLA JAMES A. CHONGRIS DYSART R. CLEETON STEPHEN A. CLINE CHRISTOPHER D. COLEMAN JAMES E. COLLINS CARLO S. CORDERO ADAM S. CRANE DAVID N. CRISCIONE ALEXANDER G. CRISS CASEY R. CUNNINGHAM ANTHONY V. DAGOSTINO MATTHEW W. DAHLIN JOSHUA M. DALEIDEN KYLE L. DALZIEL JOSEPH D. DAVIS MATTHEW L. DAVIS MICHAEL W. DAVIS BRANDON R. DEWEY MATTHEW J. DIAMOND KYLE B. DINWIDDIE JAY B. DOERFLER JOHN W. DONALDSON R. J. DONALDSON DAVID M. DUBEL MICHAEL R. DUMAS PETER J. DYRUD CHRISTOPHER S. EHLERS JOSEPH E. EHRENFELD TRAVIS R. EPP GIOVANNA ESPEGIO JUSTIN E. ESTES SEAN M. FAZANDE BRANDEN M. FELKER BRANDON J. FERGUSON ALLEN M. FERKOVICH
JONATHAN G. FERRO SHAWN E. FINNEY ERIC J. FORSYTH HARRISON M. GARLICK GREGORY S. GAUDET JOHN A. GERLACH II JARED P. GILMER ALBERTO Y. GILROY DANIEL P. GIPPER HUDSON D. GRAHAM JOHN S. GRAHAM, SR. ANDREW M. GRAY JASON D. GUEST TIMOTHY G. HAHN MATTHEW A. HATT JAMES D. HAYWARD ANDERS J. HEDBERG NATHAN C. HEDDEN NATHAN D. HEGUY SCOTT R. HENDRIX PHILLIP V. HENRIKSON JONDAVID K. HERTZEL TIMOTHY L. HEWITT WESTON G. HIGBEE CHRISTOPHER M. HILL JAYMES C. HINES ROSS S. HOBBS BENJAMIN A. HOFFMAN MICHAEL J. HOFFMAN ROBERT M. HOGAN, JR. DANIEL B. HUHMANN LAURA HUNSTOCK TANYA J. IWANENKO NICOLE J. JANSEN MICHAEL E. JOANOS ALEXANDER D. JOHNS DAMIEN T. JOHNSON OLIN JOHNSON DAVID N. JONES NATHAN W. JURGENS MICHAEL B. KENDALL RAYMOND J. KILROY III ELLIOTT D. KIPP MATTHEW J. KLESS JONATHAN F. KOCH JOHN R. KOYAMA ROBERT J. KURPIEL PATRICK D. LANGE JARED M. LEMMONS BRANDON A. LIABENOW ASHLEY J. LINCOLN CHRISTOPHER D. LYELLS BURLEY J. MALBROUGH ALLISON K. MANDAS MICHAEL J. MARCHAND CHRISTOPHER M. MARR LUKE W. MARRON BRADLEY G. MAXON ERICA L. MCCASLIN WILLIAM R. MCCORMICK JOHN C. MCDANIEL PETER M. MCGAVIN IAN D. MCLAUGHLIN ROBERT D. MELE SCOTT B. MESKIMEN STUART T. MEYERS CURTIS R. MICHAEL MICHAEL S. MICKUS MAXWELL W. MILLER JOSHUA C. MOFFAT THOMAS C. MONCURE CHRISTOPHER T. MORRISON JUSTIN M. MULLER MORGAN L. MUSSER ERIC L. MYATT PATRICIA A. NADEAU CHARLES C. NAPIER ROBERT A. NEWTON CHAD R. NISHIZUKA DOMINIK D. NIZIOL LOUIS G. NOLTING BENJAMIN F. OSLER CLAYTON M. PASCO JOHN PATRICH III PHILLIP M. PERRY SCOTT A. PONTZER KENT S. PORTUE JEREMY W. POWELL DOUGLAS C. PRICE MICHAEL J. QUINN JACKSON M. RANES CHRISTOPHER P. REDMOND TYLER A. RHYNE JERAD M. RICH DANIEL J. RITTER KRISTIN M. RUSSELL MICHAEL S. RYAN CARRI M. SALAS MICHAEL J. SAVAGE PHILLIP L. SAVAGE JOHN E. SCHADE JAMES L. SCHMIDT RYAN D. SEALY SETH D. SHIPLEY SEAN O. SIDDIQUI KURT R. SKARSTEDT GRANT J. SMITH JACK L. SMITH JORDAN C. SMITH KEVIN P. SMITH MATTHEW C. SMITH ROBERT A. SMITH STEPHEN E. SMITH HARRY H. STARNES NICOLE M. STENSTAD CHRISTOPHER J. STEWART RYAN N. STRENGTH PHILLIP A. SUMMERS JONATHAN P. SWARD CHAD E. SWINEHART ROLF D. TELLEFSEN CHRISTOFFER J. TIDWELL BARRY M. TUCKER KRISALYN J. VAUGHN ADAM J. VOGEL JONATHAN F. VOGEL MATTHEW R. VOKE JOSEPH K. WALKER BRENT J. WARREN RUSSEL M. WEBB JAMES B. WENTZEL BRANDON J. WHEELER JOHN R. WIDMER JORDAN M. WIERSCH RYAN E. YOUNG THE FOLLOWING NAMED OFFICERS FOR APPOINTMENT TO THE GRADE INDICATED IN THE UNITED STATES AIR FORCE UNDER TITLE 10, U.S.C., SECTION 624:
CHIKAODI H. AKALAONU JOSHUA B. ALLEN LENORA F. ALVA LEE E. ANDERSON KYLE W. BAILEY ALLISON M. BARKALOW JOSEPHINE BEACHAM JACOB A. BOTELLO STEVEN C. BRENOSKIE DAVID E. BULLOCK ANDREW B. BURRIS STEPHEN M. CASH RUSSELL C. CHANCE WILLIAM Y. CHANG BENJAMIN R. CHAPMAN GREGG R. CHILSON BYUNGSUK CHOI IAN Y. COLEMAN ELIZABETH CRAMER WINELL S. DEMESA SCOTT R. EBERLE STEPHEN P. EMBORSKI CLAUS E. FASTING PHILLIP B. FERRIS BRYCE J. FIACCO MATTHEW R. FORNEY ALISON L. FREIMAN JUSTIN R. GABBARD COURTNEY E. GARFIELD NESTA J. GARNER DANIEL F. GEBHARDT CHRISTINA L. GELLER ANTHONY E. GENOCHIO ANDREW P. GLINDMEYER ELIZABETH M. GOLDSMITH JEREMY S. GRACY KADY N. GRIFFIN JAMES L. GUTIERREZ CHELSEA A. HALL DANIEL R. HALL JAMES M. HARRIS CHRISTOPHER HIGGINS CHRISTOPHER D. HORSFALL BRENNAN J. HOWELL JON D. JONES AMY L. JUSTUS MICHAEL J. KENNEDY MATTHEW T. KINARD JOSHUA KING JEREMY P. KINNE AIMEE T. KIRCHNER FRANCINE Y. KWARTENG ANTHONY E. LAMAGNA JOSEPH D. LANGAN SARAH B. LARK JEFFREY E. LEDOUX SAMUEL W. LOGAN BENJAMIN T. LOWRY DAVID A. LYCAN TRAVIS J. LYTTON DAMON R. MACE BAILEY M. MARK JOHN W. MARSHALL LEAH M. MEYER MICHAEL J. MILLARD CORRINE MILLER DANIEL S. MINNOCCI KYLE A. MOATS ADAM MORGAN JAMES W. MORRISON TODD W. MURRAY DAVID Q. MUSGRAVE ANDREW R. MYERS JONATHAN D. NEEDHAM RYAN H. OOT TAMEKIA A. PAYNE ERIC S. PEELE JOSE PEREZ IV JOSHUA D. RENO TAYLOR E. REYNOLDS BRANDON R. ROCKER JENNIFER A. ROGERS ELIZABETH N. ROMERO TITO M. RUIZ TOMMY A. RUTHERFORD NICK SACCONE JESSICA S. SCHNEIDER SCOTT A. SCHNEIDER KRISTEN S. SCHNELL SHAWN M. SCHULZ CLAYTON T. SEILER ROBERT Z. SHANNON ABRAHAM B. SMITH JAMES E. SMITH DANIEL O. STEPHENS JENNIFER M. TITKEMEIER JACKYLIN C. UNROE GREGORY J. WARD CHAD M. WHARTON RYAN M. WHITAKER CHANELLE M. WILLIS HANS U. WINKLER SABRINA N. WINTER JOANNA A. WRIGHT TABATHA R. ZELLHART THE FOLLOWING NAMED OFFICERS FOR APPOINTMENT TO THE GRADE INDICATED IN THE UNITED STATES AIR FORCE UNDER TITLE 10, U.S.C., SECTION 624:
CHRISTOPHER R. ALBA BLYTHE A. ANDREWS MICHAEL S. BELLISS ERIC C. BLATTNER NICHOLAS C. BRAUN WILLIAM D. BRIDGES TIMOTHY W. BUCHER JAMES D. BULLOCK JARRED L. BURLEY MARVIN G. CARDER, JR. JEFFERY S. DENNISON AUSTIN R. EMERY MATTHEW T. FOERTSCH GREGORY R. FREY JENNIFER A. FUKA MATTHEW N. FUQUA CHRISTOPHER M. GROVER ALEXANDER C. GRUENTHER TREVOR A. GUSTAFSON GLENN HAMMOND CAROLINE HAWKINS JAMES V. HEROLD CHRISTOPHER M. HOCKING STEPHEN M. JIMENEZ JOHN F. KOVACIC JAMES R. LIEVSAY DANIEL L. LUCZAK ROBERT B. MACDERMOTT JOHN A. MAGELITZ CHUCK A. MCLEOD TODD P. MYERS ABIGAIL R. ONO KRISTIN L. ORMAZA JORGE G. PADRO AUSTIN M. PAGE AARON PAULI ALEXANDER E. QUINIA JUAN D. RAMIREZ JENNA R. REDERUS DAVID S. RICHARDSON RYNE P. ROADY NICHOLAS A. ROBINSON GREGORY R. ROTH JARED M. RUPP BENJAMIN F. SCHUMACHER ROBERT C. SMALL CHRISTOPHER L. STILSON JONATHAN D. STUECKLE TREVOR V. STUTTING JEFFREY M. TETRAULT DREW P. TURNER ROBERT A. VINCENT STEPHEN M. VISALLI JOSEPH A. WAHLQUIST GENE M. WILKINS CHRISTOPHER S. WILLEY JONATHAN B. WING JOANNE C. YOUNG FARAKH B. ZAMAN THE FOLLOWING NAMED AIR NATIONAL GUARD OFFICER FOR APPOINTMENT TO THE GRADE INDICATED IN THE RESERVE OF THE AIR FORCE UNDER TITLE 10, U. S.C., SECTIONS 12203 AND 12212:
KYLE E. CARPENTER