Review - S 2587 Introduced – FY 2026 LHH Spending

Back in July Sen Capito (R,WV) introduced S 2587, the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2026. The Senate Appropriations Committee published their Report on the bill at the same time. There are two cybersecurity mentions in passing in the bill and five cybersecurity discussions in the Report. There are also three cybersecurity mentions in passing and six cybersecurity earmarks in the Report.

S 2587 is similar to S 4942, the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2025, that was introduced by Sen Baldwin (D,WI) in August 2025. No action was taken on that bill (or its House counterpart – HR 9029) in the Senate in the 118^th Congress.

Moving Forward

It has been reported that the Senate is considering adding the language from this bill to the substitute language that will be considered when the Senate takes up HR 4016, possibly as early as next week. As of yesterday, no amendments to HR 4016 have been proposed in the Senate, so we do not know what language will be considered.

 

For more information about the provisions of this bill, including a commentary about the reason that the Senate is resorting to multi-bill mini-bus spending bills.

House Begins Consideration of HR 5894, FY 2024 LHH Spending

Yesterday, the House began consideration of HR 5894, the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2024. This is the first time in a number of years that the House has considered an LHH spending bill because of the controversies (both ways) surrounding various abortion provisions typically included in the bill.

The House took up 78 of the 146 amendments listed in Part B of H Rept 118-272. None of the amendments were of specific interest there. Fifty-one of the amendments passed yesterday. One of those amendments was an en bloc amendment incorporating 51 of amendments listed in the report. Fifteen of the amendments considered still have recorded votes pending.

The House is scheduled to resume consideration of the bill today. There is a good chance that there will not be a final vote on the bill because of some Republican opposition to abortion language.

Review - HR 5894 Introduced – FY 2024 LHH Spending

Last month, Rep Aderholt (R,AL) introduced HR 5894, the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2024. There is no report from the House Appropriations Committee on this legislation, instead the Committee staff has published an explanatory materials document, reflecting the fact that the Committee has not held a markup hearing on the bill.

There are no cybersecurity mentions in the bill, but the explanatory document does outline cybersecurity spending and discussions. There are three mentions of spending for chemical emergency response in the bill and multiple discussions on the topic in the explanatory text.

Moving Forward

The House Rules Committee announced yesterday that they would hold a rules hearing on this bill on November 13^th, 2023. To date, 326 amendments have been proposed for consideration during this rule development hearing. None of the amendments are of specific interest here. With this hearing on Monday, the House could start consideration of the bill on Tuesday or Wednesday of next week.

 

For more details about the provisions of the bill and the Committee’s explanatory text, including cybersecurity spending and CBRN response issues, see my article at CFSN Detailed Analysis - https://patrickcoyle.substack.com/p/hr-5894-introduced - subscription required.