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Duke Government Relations

Duke in DC's Top News Today:

Appropriations Updates as Congress Returns from Recess
Senate Advances NDAA in Procedural Vote
Judge Rules Federal Funding Freeze at Harvard Illegal
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Budget & Appropriations

The latest coverage on Fiscal Year 2026 appropriations that are relevant to Duke.

Duke Government Relations' primer on the federal appropriations process.

APPROPRIATIONS UPDATES AS CONGRESS RETURNS FROM RECESS

Congress has been busy upon its return from recess, with action taken on the House side with its Energy-Water, Labor-Health and Human Services-Education bills. As a reminder, here is our recap of the appropriations state-of-play before August recess began.

Energy-Water: The House Appropriations Committee narrowly passed the Energy-Water bill, which includes set funding for the Energy Department, Army Corps of Engineers and Bureau of Reclamation, about $766 million below the current enacted level and would shift dollars into boosting nuclear energy, critical minerals and water resources projects. The Senate has not yet released its text of this bill.
L-HHS-Education: On Tuesday, the House Labor, Health and Human Services (HHS), and Education Appropriations Subcommittee held a markup of its FY 2026 spending bill and advanced it along a party-line vote. The House Appropriations Committee is expected to consider the bill next week. The bill provides a discretionary total of $108 billion to HHS, which would be a cut of $7 billion (six percent) below the FY 2025 enacted level. The FY26 House LHHSEd bill provides $46.9 billion for NIH--less than a one percent increase from FY25--and maintains funding for each of NIH’s 27 Institutes and Centers, rejecting the administration’s proposed restructuring. It also repeats last year’s cap on F&A costs for certain universities but omits the Senate’s long-standing “Sec 228” provision that blocks unilateral OMB changes. Additionally, it includes a proposed 15 percent cut to the U.S. Department of Education’s budget for the 2026 fiscal year, though its maintains the current $7,395 Max Pell which is the same as the Senate’s bill. The full committee is tentatively expected to mark up the bill next Tuesday.

As a reminder, government funding expires on September 30, and Congress is scheduled to be in session for a little more than two weeks to reach some sort of spending deal before FY 2026 begins on October 1. With both chambers in recess the week of September 22, there are only 11 legislative days remaining for Congress and the White House to avert a shutdown.

SENATE ADVANCES NDAA IN PROCEDURAL VOTE

The Senate version of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) cleared an initial procedural vote Tuesday as the upper chamber works to pass the policy bill this month. Senators voted 84-14 to advance the bill. Sixty votes were needed for the procedural vote to succeed, making it an early test of bipartisan support.

Additional Federal Relations Items of Interest to Duke

JUDGE RULES FEDERAL FUNDING FREEZE AT HARVARD ILLEGAL

A federal judge in Boston ruled that the Trump administration violated Harvard University’s First Amendment rights by freezing more than $2 billion in research funding. Judge Allison Burroughs found the freeze unlawful under both free speech protections and the U.S. Civil Rights Act, "there is, in reality, little connection between the research affected by the grant terminations and antisemitism."

Judge's Ruling

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