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On September 2, 2026, President Trump signed the Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act, 2027 (H.R. 6500) that provides continuing fiscal year (FY) 2027 appropriations for federal agencies and extends various expiring programs and authorities. Under the bill, appropriations and funds made available and authority granted pursuant to H.R. 6500 will be available until: The enactment into law of an appropriation for any project or activity provided for in H.R. 6500; The enactment into law of...

On August 6, 2026, Senators Pete Ricketts (R-NE) and Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) introduced the Biotech Investment National Security Act (BINSA) (S. 5316). According to Ricketts’s August 6, 2026, press release, the bill would ensure American investment in “adversary biotechnology” is subject to the review requirements of the Comprehensive Outbound Investment National Security (COINS) Act. Enacted in December 2025, the COINS Act directs the Secretary of the Treasury to issue regulations...

On August 4, 2026, the Senate Finance Subcommittee on Health Care will hold a hearing on “Building a Resilient Health Care Future with Biotechnology.” The Subcommittee will hear from the following witnesses: Alan D. Palkowitz, Ph.D., President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Indiana Biosciences Research Institute (IBRI); Michelle Rozo, Ph.D., Vice Chair, National Security Commission on Emerging Biotechnology (NSCEB); Vera P. Luther, M.D., MS, Section Chief of Infectious Disease and...

The House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Environment will hold a hearing on April 28, 2026, on the fiscal year (FY) 2027 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) budget. The only scheduled witness is EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin. The hearing memo states that the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) budget request for FY 2027 is $1.8 trillion in discretionary budget authority for executive branch departments and agencies. For EPA, President Trump seeks $4.2 billion in base...

Many residents of the Washington, D.C., area have spent some time in their careers as congressional employees, staff to a member of Congress (House or Senate), or staff members of the many committees of Congress on both sides of Capitol Hill. Put aside how many former staffers may comment on how much better the “old days” were, as Easter approaches, it is time to reflect on how much time, effectively, it has taken to enact legislation in this session of Congress. (Side note: For many, “old...

The release of a discussion draft to amend the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) offers an early window into how chemical policy may evolve in Congress, even as the legislative path forward remains uncertain. While the proposal itself has already been examined in detail elsewhere, its broader significance lies in what it reveals about congressional priorities, institutional pressures, and the ongoing effort to recalibrate chemical regulation nearly a decade after the 2016 TSCA amendments. The...

On October 21, 2025, comments by James V. Aidala were featured in The New York Times’s article regarding Kyle Kunkler's appointment as Deputy Assistant Administrator at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention (OCSPP). James V. Aidala, who headed E.P.A.’s chemical-safety office under President Bill Clinton, said Mr. Kunkler could bring a much-needed agricultural industry perspective. “Coming from a farm group, he’ll have...

Current news on the government efficiency and reform front concerns the near-miss of a government shutdown last week (the budget would have lapsed at midnight on March 14, 2025). One reason some cited against allowing a shutdown to occur is how it might encourage or otherwise aid in attempts to eliminate positions if they were deemed “essential” or not. As one who has gone through the “who is essential” exercise in a senior management position at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency...

It was reported this weekend that all federal employees received an e-mail from the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) telling employees to report “five bullets about what you did last week.” The e-mail also states that failure to do so would be interpreted to mean that the employee is offering their resignation. This is reported as part of the drive to shake up or reform, review, or rebuke the federal workforce. Whatever one speculates about motivation, this will likely be taken by many...

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lee Zeldin on February 4, 2025, announced the “Powering the Great American Comeback Initiative” (PGAC Initiative). It consists of five pillars and is intended to serve as a roadmap to guide EPA’s actions under Administrator Zeldin. The five pillars are:  Clean Air, Land, and Water for Every American; Restore American Energy Dominance; Permitting Reform, Cooperative Federalism, and Cross-Agency Partnership; Make the United States...