(Aug. 1, 2025) - Congress is about to enter fully into its August recess. Yesterday, the Senate Appropriations Committee ended on a high note by marking up the fiscal year 2026 Labor, Health and Human Services and Education Appropriations bill. The Senate will shortly join the House on its traditional summer break, which started earlier than expected last week. Both Chambers are in recess until the Tuesday after Labor Day.
The Senate's fiscal year 2026 Labor-H bill largely ignores many of the cuts the Trump Administration submitted to Congress as part of its budget recommendation. For example, research funding for the National Institutes of Health, which was slated for a substantial cut in the president's budget, got an increase over its FY 2025 amount by $400 million.
Kansas Hospital Association staff expressed concern to the Kansas Congressional Delegation that the president's budget zeroed out the Medicare Rural Hospital Flexibility Grant program and the Small Rural Hospital Improvement Grant program. Both programs provide technical support and direct funding to the state's rural hospitals. Unsurprisingly, Kansas is one of the largest beneficiaries of these funds.
KHA submitted requests to Senator Jerry Moran's office to keep both important programs funded. He is a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee and collaborated with his colleagues to not only maintain their funding streams but also increase them over the enacted FY 2025 amount. FLEX received a $2 million increase, bringing its total FY 2026 funding to $32 million. The State Health Insurance Assistance Program received a $1 million increase, bringing its total FY 2026 funding to nearly $22 million.
The House Appropriations Committee expects to mark up its version of the bill after Congress returns in September. Both chambers are moving quickly through their FY 2026 bills. The Senate has marked up eight of 12 bills and could, by the end of the week, have passed three. The House has marked up nine and passed two. Although it may seem possible that many parts of the federal government could be funded before the start of the federal fiscal year 2026 on Oct. 1, hurdles remain. A continuing resolution extending debate on remaining appropriations bills into late fall seems likely.