It’s Probably Time to Look to Next Year

The policy ecosystem in DC is largely focused on one last issue before the end of the year – a healthcare package that seems to be questionably possible, at best.  With days left, the House and Senate have their hands full with this legislation.  So, maybe it is a good idea to begin thinking about what DC will be focusing on after the holidays when Congress returns.  Here are a few thoughts to consider:

Preventing Another Government Shutdown: Nobody in Congress “won” the shutdown (recorded as the longest in history), and there seems to be little appetite to go down that road again early next year. Of course, avoiding it will take a lot of bipartisan agreement, which is also difficult to imagine at this point.  This is the top priority for leadership, and they will be exclusively focused on shutdown avoidance until the January 30^th deadline.

Passing Spending Bills: The House and Senate are nine bills short of passing all twelve appropriations bills for Fiscal Year 2026.  While there is little to no chance all will get done, policymakers will be working hard to find bipartisan agreement on as many as possible – something that may be necessary to get agreement on another continuing resolution.  The expectation is that some of these bills will get over the finish line, and the rest will likely get pushed until a later date. 

Trade: A Supreme Court decision on the President’s authority around the International Emergency Economic Protection Act decision is expected late this year or early next.  Regardless of timing, if the ruling results in changes needing to be made (i.e., the Supreme Court upholds the lower court’s ruling), there will be a big focus on how the White House will address impacted tariffs next year.  

Healthcare 2.0:  Depending on what happens with the healthcare package in the remaining days of the legislative session, the House and Senate may be restarting their efforts to find agreement around healthcare.  Momentum is growing around finding a solution (although there is no agreement on which solution), and a growing bipartisan coalition is developing to move legislation forward. 

Affordability:  Headed into the 2026 election year, affordability (and the economy more broadly) will clearly be a theme on both sides of the political aisle.  It is very possible that policy proposals emerge around this space that fit two key categories – good policy and good politics.  Since there will be such a focus here, expect quite a bit of activity in both Congress and the Administration. 

There is a lot that could make its way on the agenda for next year.  For more information, join our webinar on Thursday (December 18^th) at 12pm!