HR 4016 to be Considered in Senate – DOD Spending bill

On Tuesday and Wednesday of last week the Congressional Record noted that the “Senate began consideration of the motion to proceed to consideration of H.R. 4016, making appropriations for the Department of Defense for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2026.” No amendments were listed as having been submitted on either day. The Senate had started to consider the bill back in October, going so far as the filing of a cloture motion to proceed to consideration of the bill, but the cloture vote never happened.

On Thursday Sen Collins submitted SA 3951 as substitute language that the Senate would consider as the first amendment to HR 4016. That amendment would include language from the following Senate bills:

S 2752 (Div A), DOD spending,

S 2354 (Div B), CJS spending,

S 2431 (Div C), IER spending,

S 2587 (Div D), LHH spending, and

S 2465 (Div E), THUD spending.

NOTE: the bills listed above without links have yet to be covered in detail in this blog. I will look at them in the coming week before the Senate comes back to Washington in December.

There is still a lot of political posing, wrangling, and deal making before the Senate gets to a final vote on HR 4016. And then the bill will have to go back to the House where Johnson will require votes from Democrats to pass any language that would meet the minimal bipartisan requirements of the Senate. More likely, the House would insist on their single-bill language and the Senate version would disappear in conference until it was brought back in whole cloth in the January 30^th version of a spending bill/CR.

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.

Review - House to Consider HR 4365 – FY 2024 DOD Spending

Last night the House Rules Committee completed their development of a rule for the consideration of HR 4365 [removed from paywall], the Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 2024. They provided a structured rule (limited debate of specifically approved amendments) with 184 amendments approved for consideration. These include two cybersecurity related amendments and two chemical related amendments.

Moving Forward

The House is scheduled to begin consideration of HR 4365 today. There is a possibility that the Rules Committee will meet again this afternoon to consider additional amendments that may be added for consideration tomorrow. It is unlikely that there will be significant support for this bill by Democrats. It currently looks like there will be sufficient Republican support to pass the bill.

Commentary

While this bill in its current form has little chance of consideration, much less passage, in the Senate (and that will only get worse after the partisan amendment process we will see in the House this week), there was never any chance that the Senate would actually take up the House language. The first thing the Senate will do is substitute the language from S 2587 for the House language and amend things from there. The heavy lifting of getting language that can pass in both the House and Senate will be accomplished in a conference committee. That process will not be completed by the September 30^th deadline to keep the military funded. A continuing resolution will be necessary.

 

For more details about the amendments of interest here, see my article at CFSN Detailed Analysis - https://patrickcoyle.substack.com/p/house-to-consider-hr-4365 - subscription required.

Review - S 2587 Introduced – FY 2024 DOD Spending

Last month, Sen Tester introduced S 2587, the Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 2024. The Senate Appropriations Committee published their Report on the bill. There are no specific cybersecurity or counter-UAS mentions in the bill, but the Report contains discussions on both topics.

Moving Forward

See my post about the problems facing spending bills in the 118^th Congress.

 

For more details about those discussions, see my article at CFSN Detailed Analysis - https://patrickcoyle.substack.com/p/s-2587-introduced - subscription required.

Bills Introduced – 7-27-23

Yesterday, with the House and Senate preparing to recess until September, there were 305 bills introduced. Eight of those bills may receive additional coverage in this blog:

HR 5017 To direct the Secretary of Homeland Security to issue guidance with respect to space systems, services, and technology as critical infrastructure, and for other purposes. Lieu, Ted [Rep.-D-CA-36] 

HR 5067 To require the Secretary of Energy to establish a task force to study and report on supply chains for local electric distribution grids in the United States, and for other purposes. Wittman, Robert J. [Rep.-R-VA-1]

S 2587 An original bill making appropriations for the Department of Defense for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2024, and for other purposes. Tester, Jon [Sen.-D-MT] 

S 2605 An original bill making appropriations for the Department of the Interior, environment, and related agencies for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2024, and for other purposes. Merkley, Jeff [Sen.-D-OR]

S 2618 A bill to rename the Office of Technology Assessment as the Congressional Office of Technology, to revise the functions and duties of the Office, and for other purposes. Lujan, Ben Ray [Sen.-D-NM]

S 2624 An original bill making appropriations for the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and related agencies for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2024, and for other purposes. Baldwin, Tammy [Sen.-D-WI]

S 2625 An original bill making appropriations for the Department of Homeland Security for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2024, and for other purposes. Murphy, Christopher [Sen.-D-CT]

S 2715 A bill to authorize the Secretary of Defense to conduct detection, monitoring, and other operations in cyberspace to counter Mexican transnational criminal organizations that are engaged in certain activities that cross the southern border of the United States, and for other purposes. Rounds, Mike [Sen.-R-SD]

I will be covering S 2587, S 2605, S 2624, S 2625, and S 2715,

I will be watching HR 5017, HR 5067, and S 2618 for language and definitions that would include control system cybersecurity within the scope of the coverage of the bill.

Mention in Passing

I would like to mention one bill in passing:

S 2597 A bill to amend the Clayton Act to establish a new Federal commission to regulate digital platforms, including with respect to competition, transparency, privacy, and national security. Warren, Elizabeth [Sen.-D-MA]

The Clayton Act is an outcome based anti-trust statute. It’s use to regulate ‘digital platforms’ looks to be a novel way to control the internet, especially the inclusion of ‘national security’ as one of the areas for potential regulations. With Warren being the sponsor it would be easy to pass this off as a liberal bill with little chance of proceeding, but her sole Cosponsor is Sen Graham (R,SC) who is anything but liberal.