Senate Aims to Pass Spending Package, Confirm Trump Nominees

The Senate will return for legislative business on Monday as the chamber looks to move its first fiscal year (FY) 2026 spending bills through before the end of the summer work period. Late yesterday, Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Susan Collins (R-ME) “hotlined” a three-bill spending package containing the bills for Agriculture-FDA, Commerce-Justice-Science, and Military Construction-VA to determine whether there’s unanimous support from all 100 senators to proceed with floor consideration. However, it’s possible that only the MilCon-VA bill moves through the Senate as leadership works through outstanding disagreements over the topline spending figures for the next fiscal year.

Senators will also resume consideration of pending presidential nominations after President Donald Trump called on Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) to cancel the August state work period in order to work through the queue of nominees still awaiting confirmation. While the Senate could stay in session late Friday or part of next weekend to work through the nominations backlog, it’s not clear if Leader Thune is willing to acquiesce to votes beyond next week. Key nominations up in the Senate next week include:

• Samuel Brown to be Under Secretary of Veterans Affairs (VA) for Memorial Affairs;
• David Wright to be a Member of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC);
• Earl Matthews to be General Counsel of the Department of Defense (DoD);
• William Kimmitt to be Under Secretary of Commerce for International Trade; and
• Susan Monarez to be Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).