On March 25, the Senate voted 53-47, along party lines, to confirm Jayanta Bhattacharya, M.D., PhD to be Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Following the vote, Senator Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-La.), Chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, issued a statement saying “The NIH needs a leader that will restore Americans’ trust in public health institutions and find unbiased solutions to Americans’ most challenging health problems,” and “Dr. Bhattacharya is ready to take on this responsibility and implement President Trump’s vision to Make America Healthy Again.”
News and updates
NIH & FDA Director Nominees Advance
Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, President Trump’s pick to lead the National Institutes of Health, was advanced by the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. The Committee voted 12-11 along party lines, with all Republicans voting in favor and all Democrats voting against.
Similarly, Trump’s pick to head the Food and Drug Administration, Marty Makary, was advanced out of the committee by a 14-9 vote, with Democrats Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire and John Hickenlooper of Colorado joining all Republicans in voting to advance.
Bhattacharya and Makary will now appear for a confirmation vote before the entire Senate, with the Republican majority all but ensuring that they will be confirmed.
Continuing Resolution Unveiled
On Saturday, House Republicans unveiled a stopgap measure to fund the government through September, setting up a vote on the resolution that would avert an impending government shutdown. The 99-page continuing resolution (CR) is expected to be considered by the House Rules Committee on Monday, with a floor vote expected Tuesday, though it remains unclear whether Republicans have the votes for passage.
The proposed CR would maintain current discretionary spending levels through the end of the fiscal year, though it does include some anomalies. In total, these anomalies increase defense spending by $6 billion, including funds for shipbuilding and military pay raises, and decrease nondefense spending by $13 billion. Also included are a number of extensions for healthcare programs, including: Medicare telehealth flexibilities and the Acute Hospital Care at Home Program, funding for the National Health Service corps and the Teaching Health Centers Graduate Medical Education Program, and the delaying of scheduled cuts to Medicaid Disproportionate Share Hospitals.
Notably, the CR does not raise the debt limit, which Congress must adjust in the coming months. It also does not include any earmarks for individual legislators.
While President Trump came out in support of the bill shortly after its unveiling on Saturday, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) still faces an uphill battle as he works towards whipping enough votes for passage. House Democrats have quickly come out in opposition to the CR, voicing their frustrations over having been left out of the negotiations. Many Democrats have also cited concerns over the lack of guardrails on President Trump and his adviser Elon Musk’s attempts to unilaterally slash government spending.
If all members are present and voting, Johnson can afford just one Republican defection. If House Republicans are able to unify and pass the CR, it will face an even more difficult challenge in the Senate, where it will need 60 votes to cut off debate on the bill to get to a vote. With a 53-47 majority, and one member already voicing their opposition (Republican Rand Paul of Kentucky), Republicans will need Democratic votes for passage. So far, not a single Democratic member in either chamber has said they will vote yes.
As a reminder, Congress must pass and the President must sign a CR by midnight on the 14th to prevent a partial government shutdown.
McMahon confirmed as Secretary of Education
The Senate voted along party lines on Monday evening to confirm Linda McMahon as the next Secretary of Education. McMahon, a former professional wrestling executive and wealthy Republican donor, served as the administrator of the Small Business Administration in the first Trump Administration. She now leads a department that President Trump has proposed eliminating.
A former CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment and chairman of America First Action, a pro-Trump Super PAC, McMahon has been a longtime ally of President Trump. She launched two unsuccessful campaigns to represent Connecticut in the Senate and previously served on the Connecticut State Board of Education for one year. She has also served as a trustee at Sacred Heart University for over a decade.
McMahon told reporters during her confirmation process that she “wholeheartedly” agrees with President Trump’s mission to dismantle the “bureaucracy in Washington” and return education to the states. She added that her goal is to make the Education Department “operate more efficiently,” not to defund programs. Her confirmation, however, comes in the midst of an aggressive government overhaul project, led by Elon Musk, that has targeted the department and its employees. On Friday, employees in the department were given an offer of up to $25,000 if they agreed to retire or resign by the end of the day. President Trump has also told reporters that he hopes McMahon will “work herself out of a job.”
McMahon will now take over leadership of the department of over 4,200 employees in charge of sending federal money to schools, administering college financial aid, and managing federal student loans.
House Passes Budget Resolution
On Tuesday, the House of Representatives narrowly passed a Republican budget resolution that would advance much of President Donald Trump’s legislative agenda in one “big, beautiful bill.” After weeks of infighting and doubt surrounding the passage of the resolution, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) and other House GOP leaders were able to successfully advance the resolution in a 217 to 215 party-line vote. Only one Republican, Rep. Massie (R-KY) defected, citing concerns over measures that would increase the deficit.
House and Senate GOP leaders had been at odds over the strategy behind this legislative package, with Senate leaders preferring a two-pronged approach in which defense, immigration, and energy would be tackled in one bill and taxes in another bill later in the year. House leaders, on the other hand, with the backing of President Trump, stood firmly behind their one-bill approach.
The Senate passed their own version of the resolution last week, so now leaders from both chambers will need to coalesce around a single plan. The largest roadblocks will likely be the $4.5 trillion in tax cuts called for by the House plan, which would be paid for in part by the proposed cuts to programs such as Medicaid and SNAP. Moderates in both chambers have voiced concerns over these provisions, while hardline conservatives have demanded more severe spending cuts to offset the tax plan.
While significant challenges lie ahead for President Trump’s agenda, the passage of the House resolution is a major hurdle that has now been cleared. If House and Senate Republicans can build support behind a single bill, they will unlock the ability to pass it through the reconciliation process which, crucially, is not subject to filibuster in the Senate.
All of this is occurring while top appropriators in both chambers scramble to stave off the government shutdown slated to take effect later this month if a spending agreement is not reached. The continuing resolution reached late last year is set to expire after March 14th, and negotiations appear to have stalled as Democrats seek assurances from congressional Republicans that President Trump will spend any money that is appropriated.