State of Play: Five Things We Are Tracking

State of Play: Five Things We Are Tracking 


As Congress limps into the July 4th recess, it appears that the legislative agenda will remain in gridlock. The ongoing disagreements will ultimately define the remainder of the summer and fall calendar. 


SAVE America Act rebellion is freezing the House floor. 

A group of House conservatives have twice blocked procedural rules this week, demanding that leadership force action on the SAVE America Act. The faction has stalled many must-pass items and sent members home early for the second week in a row. Speaker Johnson needs near-unanimous GOP support to move anything with such a razor-thin majority.


FY27 NDAA a victim of House Gridlock. 

The House Armed Services Committee has released a $1.15 trillion topline NDAA, with Chairman Rogers framing it around industrial base revitalization and getting to the administration's defense spending target. As of this week, the bill is caught in the SAVE America Act crossfire, with Rep. Anna Paulina Luna's push to attach the voter ID measure via amendment threatening to sink it in the Senate, where it needs Democratic votes to clear a filibuster.


FY27 appropriations are inching forward. 

The House has passed two FY27 spending bills (MilCon-VA and Agriculture-FDA) and was set to take up the State Foreign Operations bill this week before the SAVE Act revolt punted it again. With the Senate in recess for two weeks, and the end of the fiscal year fast approaching, the path to a full-year deal versus another continuing resolution remains in question.


Surface transportation reauthorization is racing against a September 30 deadline. 

With the IIJA's five-year authorization set to expire on September 30, the House T&I Committee advanced the bipartisan $580 billion BUILD America 250 Act (H.R. 8870) out of committee with a bipartisan 62-2 vote in May championed by Chairman Graves and Ranking Member Larsen. Floor time has not yet been announced, but committee leadership is hopeful it will be secured before the August recess. The Senate hasn't released its proposal yet, but early signals suggest strong continuity with the House version, with a streamlined return to the legislation’s original core functions. The urgency to move is driven by a very real funding problem: the Highway Trust Fund is projected to run dry by 2028, the House bill addresses this with a new EV and hybrid fees. 


Senate Appropriations markups keep getting delayed. 

Movement is expected once the Senate returns from its two-week recess. Senate Appropriations has postponed its full-committee markups of Agriculture-FDA, Commerce-Justice-Science, Legislative Branch, and MilCon-VA for the fourth time. Defense Subcommittee Chairman Mitch McConnell's hospitalization left Republicans short a vote. He is anticipated to return later this month. 


Kelly McElhaney

BSN, RN, CCRN

Senior Advisor

More Than a Phone Call: The Real Work of Effective Advocacy

By Mischa Martin • June 26, 2026
More Than a Phone Call: The Real Work of Effective Advocacy Government relations is not just about knowing who to call. It is about identifying the right person, knowing why to call them, and how to frame the conversation when you do. Recently, a client who is a healthcare provider reached out for support. They had supported a licensing change that moved them into a new category, a shift that made sense as a way to better align oversight with the services being delivered. What nobody anticipated was that the change triggered simultaneous obligations under two separate, similar state statutes. Two divisions within the same agency were now required to conduct independent maltreatment investigations of the same event on sequential timelines, leaving staff on administrative leave for months and operations significantly disrupted — with most allegations ultimately unfounded. The provider had attempted to resolve the issues but was frustrated. They needed a strategy. Step One: Understand the Law A side-by-side analysis of both statutes mapped jurisdiction, investigation requirements, and timelines. It identified the precise point of overlap and, just as importantly, room within existing law to coordinate that had not yet been explored. Without that foundation, there is no credible position, no realistic solution, and no productive conversation with anyone who has authority to act. Step Two: Know Your Audience The framing had to acknowledge what both statutes were designed to protect while making clear the current process was producing a significant burden without additional protective value. Understanding the agency's own position and constraints was essential to developing a message they could act on rather than defend against. Step Three: Engage the Agency First The first call was not to a legislator. It was to the agency. Going to them first signals good faith and allows them to be part of the solution. A legislative fix takes a session. An administrative accommodation can be processed within weeks. The agency reviewed the analysis, agreed that the duplication did not serve the intent of either statute, and agreed to streamline the process within existing authority. Step Four: Build Toward a Long-Term Solution The streamlining was a meaningful win and not the finish line. The statutory ambiguity remains, and both sides recognized that a legislative fix is likely necessary to fully resolve the issue. The short-term work built the trust to get there together. Effective advocacy is not a single conversation. Done well, it does not just solve the problem at hand. It builds the foundation to resolve greater future issues. And the agencies and legislators who are part of that process are far more likely to become partners in solving the next problem too.

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Ashlee Rich Stephenson Joins SiriusXM POTUS

By Bob Salera • June 2, 2026
President Ashlee Rich Stephenson joined Steve Scully on SiriusXM POTUS to discuss the latest political developments, including the Maine Senate race, the emerging field for the 2028 presidential election, and renewed scrutiny of President Biden's 2024 campaign. The conversation covered former Vice President Mike Pence's political future, the growing attention surrounding Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio as potential Republican standard-bearers, and former First Lady Jill Biden's recent reflections on the 2024 election cycle.  Listen to the full conversation here:

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A Spring Congressional Update: What to Watch in the Months Ahead

By Bob Salera • May 11, 2026
A Spring Congressional Update: What to Watch in the Months Ahead After a busy first four months of the year and with the remaining legislative calendar shrinking, it’s time to take a fresh look at the outlook for the three-month Congressional sprint to August. Appropriations: A Fresh Start — and Early Pressure In our January outlook , Congress was staring down a January 30th funding deadline. After one of the most turbulent funding cycles in recent memory — including a 43-day government shutdown last fall that became the longest in modern history — Congress managed to complete 11 of the 12 FY2026 appropriations bills. Congress recently released funding for the Department of Homeland Security – sans ICE and CBP – but only after swiftly approving a budget resolution to tee up a second reconciliation bill intended to provide multi-year funding for the immigration and border enforcement agencies. Now the clock is already ticking on FY2027 funding. The House is well underway, having reported out five Appropriations bills in the last two weeks of April. The House Appropriations Committee has laid out an ambitious markup schedule to complete its committee work by June. On the other side of the Hill, the Senate has held a flurry of hearings in April to examine the Administration’s budget request, with Administration officials making regular appearances before the Committee as the Senate charts its path for FY2027 funding bills. Whether Congress can complete some or any of these bills before the October 1 deadline, or whether the government once again stumbles into another continuing resolution or shutdown, remains the central fiscal question of the year. Whether it’s Vegas or Kalshi, the safe money is on a continuing resolution at least through the end of the year in order to avoid a messy spending fight a month before the midterm elections. Defense: Boosting the Budget, Expanding Priorities Boosting defense spending remains a top Administration priority, which has taken on increased importance as the military engagement with Iran has dragged on and strained military stockpiles. The Administration's new budget request proposes boosting defense spending to roughly $1.5 trillion — a sharp increase that Congress will have to grapple with as it approaches the NDAA and Appropriations bills this year. Traditionally, Congressional Appropriators tee up the defense funding bill early in the process, but in the House, it is currently scheduled to be the last bill to move through Committee, reflecting uncertainty over how to tackle the Administration’s request. A third reconciliation or a separate bipartisan supplemental funding bill are also options but face significant headwinds in the near term. The FY2027 NDAA is on the (short) list of bills Congress should get done this year with a June 4th mark-up scheduled in the House. The question is whether it becomes a lame duck Christmas tree. Transportation: A Must-Pass Deadline Looms Aside from the annual defense and appropriations work, the biggest legislative item on Congress's plate is the surface transportation reauthorization. The current authorization expires on September 30, 2026. Congress must either pass a new multi-year highway bill or risk leaving states without the long-term funding certainty they need to execute major infrastructure projects. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy has been vocal about his "America is Building Again" agenda, pushing to streamline permitting and give states more control over environmental reviews. On the Hill, all eyes are on House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Sam Graves and Ranking Member Rick Larsen as speculation over a markup date and an impending deal continues to dominate conversations in transportation circles. Optimists (me included) believe that the Graves-Larsen dynamic duo will strike a deal that will bring along a bipartisan coalition and reinvigorate business and labor stakeholders, and that a bill is possible this year. The theory goes that momentum from the House could spur action in the Senate, yet every week that passes makes it more difficult.  Additionally, water infrastructure, aviation safety and additional funding for air traffic control are on the agenda, and Congress is likely to act on these issues before the year concludes. The Bottom Line Congress enters the second half of the fiscal year with a full agenda and real deadlines but as the saying goes, the outlook is as clear as mud. A second and possibly third reconciliation bill shows that Republicans are looking to create additional pathways to advance their remaining priorities. A possible surface transportation bill, defense authorization, and end of year funding will all be big targets as the ‘last trains to leave the station’ after the midterms.