The House has started their August recess already (after an early departure to dodge ongoing questions about the Epstein saga), but the Senate is still in Washington to address big tasks like nominations and key parts of FY’26 funding.  

Senate LHHS Appropriations Bill for FY’26 

On Thursday, the Senate Appropriations Committee passed the LHHS Appropriations bill for FY 2026. The most notable takeaway from the LHHS budget bill for FY’26 is how normal it looks. The Senate’s proposal does not follow the lead of the White House’s proposed 2026 budget, which reorganized entire government agencies – and that’s the point. The Senate Appropriations Committee has drawn a line in the sand by passing a funding bill that retains the shape of the federal government by keeping agencies like CDC largely intact and funds many programs at similar levels to FY’25. The Senate bill also makes no mention of the Administration for a Health America (AHA) proposed by the president. After months of tension between the administration and Congress over federal spending, the Senate committee’s more traditional budget appears to be a rebuke of the administration’s proposals to cut longstanding programs and reshape the government. The Senate LHHS Appropriations Bill is only one of the steps in finalizing appropriations for FY’26. The House will release their bills in September, after the August recess, and the House’s bill will likely be more similar to what the administration has proposed. The two will have to be reconciled.  

Find the Senate LHHS Appropriations bill here.  

Find the report language accompanying the bill here.  

STIs in the Senate LHHS Appropriations Bill  

The Senate LHHS Appropriations Bill for FY’26 continues funding for the STD Program at CDC at $164M – a $10M cut from FY’25. Report language makes it clear that the $10M cut is a removal of the funds previously provided to move the STD PCHD grant year and that the overall program spending should be the same.  

Note: We will cover the LHHS Appropriations Bill in depth in our Tuesday, August 5, PriorityONE Live Briefing. Register here.  

Dr. Susan Monarez Confirmed as CDC Director  

On Tuesday, the US Senate confirmed Dr. Susan Monarez as the new CDC Director by a party-line vote of 51-47. The CDC Director position had been vacant since March when Dr. Monarez stepped down as the acting director after being nominated to be the CDC’s permanent director.