The House was in session for two minutes on Thursday. The Senate lasted 29 seconds in a pro forma meeting. There were no votes, no quorum calls and no hearings.
The Record still carried real business.
The President sent Congress four notices continuing national emergencies past their anniversaries (EC-5061 through EC-5064). They cover weapons of mass destruction proliferation, Nicaragua, Iran and Chinese securities investments. The Iran emergency dates to November 1979 and is nearly 47 years old.
Iran surfaced again in an unlikely place. A tribute to Pentagon budget official Anne McAndrew, entered by Rep. Ken Calvert, says she helped with “the recent supplemental request related to the contingencies in Iran.” The Record gives no amount and no detail. It is a passing mention of a supplemental that has not been covered in this edition’s source material.
Committees filed nine reports. Six came from Energy and Commerce, and all six amend the Atomic Energy Act or nuclear oversight. The six reports cover these changes.
- Exclude certain reprocessing equipment from the definition of “production facility” (H.R. 3978)
- Speed hearings on facility construction applications (H.R. 5549)
- Add transparency to Energy Department facility authorizations (H.R. 9084)
- Update licensing for uranium enrichment plants (H.R. 9612)
- Change the role of the Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards (H.R. 9613)
- Create compensation authority for certain career appointees (H.R. 9614)
Read as a set, they reshape how nuclear facilities get licensed and reviewed.
Two other reports stand out. H.R. 5723 would require the VA to identify and report fraud on disability benefit questionnaires. H.R. 9605 would put the Department of Health and Human Services in charge of accreditation for foreign medical schools.
The Congressional Budget Office also entered a cost estimate for H.R. 8183, the Modernizing Access to Talents, Credentials, and Hiring Act. The bill sets up a Labor Department pilot program for state workforce data systems and talent marketplaces. It would be funded from 5 to 10 percent of the Dislocated Worker Assistance national reserve.
CBO assumes the full 10 percent. That works out to $29 million in 2027 and $155 million in grants over five years. With administration and technical assistance, outlays reach $136 million through 2031.
The estimate also notes that the underlying workforce law’s authorization expired after 2020. Congress has kept funding it through annual appropriations. Of $1.4 billion appropriated for dislocated workers in 2026, $301 million went to the national reserve.
New bills include H.R. 10960 from Rep. Walkinshaw, which would convert certain time-limited federal employees to career status. H.R. 10959 would require special enrollment periods when an ACA plan’s provider network changes. H.Res. 1648 would require House members to post monthly activity reports on their official websites.
Next week opens Monday. The Senate votes at 5:30 p.m. on cloture for the motion to proceed to H.R. 2347, the Survivor Justice Tax Prevention Act. The Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee meets that evening on fiscal 2027 medical facility lease authorizations. The House Rules Committee hears H.R. 1013 at 4 p.m.
Finally, the Extensions of Remarks ran seven pages. Rep. Brittany Pettersen filed ten recognitions of Colorado students, and all ten use the same text with only the name and school changed. One of them even mixes pronouns for the same student.
