As Congress ends the seven-week federal government shutdown, it is worth looking at what policy debates lie ahead. Here are several items awaiting Congress that may receive immediate attention, as well as broader issues that may receive attention in 2026.

Possible Consideration Before the End of 2025

Discretionary Program Funding. The continuing resolution (CR)…

On February 28 President Biden issued an Executive Order “to protect Americans’ sensitive personal data from exploitation by countries of concern.” (EO 14117, “Preventing Access to Americans’ Bulk Sensitive Personal Data by Countries of Concern.”)

On March 5 the National Security Division of the Department of Justice (DOJ) published an advanced notice of proposed rulemaking…

On July 25, 2023, the Senate voted 91 to 6 to approve the Outbound Investment Transparency Act as an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act. The legislation was proposed by Sens. John Cornyn (R-TX) and Bob Casey (D-PA). It would require companies to disclose investments or acquisitions involving entities in China, Russia, Iran, and…

House Stablecoin Legislation

In late July the House Financial Services Committee made tentative plans to consider legislation to regulate stablecoins and require the Federal Reserve to study development of a central bank digital currency. A draft proposal reportedly had the bipartisan support of Chairwoman Maxine Waters (D-CA) and ranking Republican Patrick McHenry (R-NC). However, last…

Congress has been working for several months on “China competitiveness” legislation, which may turn out to be the most far-reaching legislation of 2022. On February 17th, the House-passed “America COMPETES Act” (“COMPETES”) was officially received in the Senate, which may clear the way to begin a formal “conference committee” to resolve differences between that bill…

The legislative process is never straightforward, and this weekend’s news about Sen. Joe Manchin opposing the Build Back Better Act (BBB) is the latest proof. But despite what you may be hearing, there is still a potential path forward for the bill, albeit likely in a scaled down form.

With the possibility of a smaller…

On Nov. 19, 2021, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Build Back Better Act, which contains many of the major Biden administration policy proposals on health care, education, climate change, and other areas. To offset the cost of these proposals, the Joint Committee on Taxation has estimated that the bill contains $1.476 trillion in…

“There won’t be an infrastructure bill unless we have a reconciliation bill. Plain and simple.”    — U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, June 24, 2021

What’s happening on infrastructure? On August 10th, the U.S. Senate passed a bipartisan infrastructure package (the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act) by a vote of 69 to 30.  The…