Review – S 2431 Introduced – FY 2026 IER Spending

Back in July Sen Murkowski (R,AK) introduced S 2431, the Department of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2026. At the same time the Senate Appropriations Committee published their Report for the bill. The bill includes one cybersecurity mention and there were two related discussions in the Report. The Chemical Safety Board (CSB) was funded. There were seven additional chemical related discussions in the Report, including spending allocations and earmarks.

S 2431 is similar to S 4802, the Department of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2025, that was introduced by Sen Merkley in July 2024. No action was taken on that bill in the 118th Congress. HR 8988, the closely related House bill was passed in the House by a vote of 210 to 205, but no action was taken on the bill in the Senate.

Moving Forward

The plan in the House currently appears to be to add the language of S 2431 to the substitute language for the consideration of HR 4016, the Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 2026. The Senate has not yet held their first cloture vote that would allow actual debate to begin on the bill. This probably indicates that there is still some backroom dealing going on to determine the broad outline of what will end up in the Senate version of the bill. Then further dealing with determine what further amendments will be considered on the floor.

Right now, SA 3951 from Sen Collins (Chair of the Appropriations Committee) is the current candidate for the substitute language to be considered, and it includes the language from S 2431. But a lot can happen in the short legislative month of December.

 

For more information on the cyber and UAS provisions of this bill, including cyber earmarks, see my article at CFSN Detailed Analysis - https://patrickcoyle.substack.com/p/s-2431-introduced-fy-2026-ier-spending - subscription required.

Review - S 4802 Introduced – FY 2025 IER Spending

Last month, Sen Merkley (D,OR) introduced S 4802, the Department of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2025. The Senate Appropriations Committee published their Report on the bill. The bill contains one minor cybersecurity mention. It also includes funding for the Chemical Safety Board. The Committee Report includes two cybersecurity discussions, a discussion about the CSB, and three chemical safety issues.

The House version of this bill is HR 8998 [removed from paywall]. That bill passed in the House on July 24^th, by a straight party-line vote of 210 to 202.

Moving Forward

As noted above, the House passed HR 8998 last month. If the Senate takes up that bill (and the chances are rather slim), the language from this bill will be substituted for the House language as the starting point for the debate. While there will be sufficient bipartisan support for this language in the Senate for passage, there will be some Republicans that will attempt to stall debate.

Ultimately, the chances of any individual spending bill getting to the President’s desk this session are vanishingly small. We are most likely going to see a continuing resolution by the end of next month. With Republicans less confident in Trump's election we are likely to see an end date for that CR early in December. A positive (for the Republicans) election result will likely see a second CR pushing the final date of an omnibus (or two minibus) spending bill until next Spring. A negative result will likely see a spending bill on Biden’s desk in December.

 

For more details about the provisions in this bill and the discussions in the Committee Report, see my article at CFSN Detailed Analysis - https://patrickcoyle.substack.com/p/s-4802-introduced - subscription required.

Bills Introduced – 7-26-24

Yesterday, with both the House and Senate in Washington (and the House preparing to leave for their summer recess a week early) there were 109 bills introduced. Five of those bills will receive additional attention in this blog:

S 4795 An original bill making appropriations for the Departments of Commerce and Justice, Science, and Related Agencies for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2025, and for other purposes. Shaheen, Jeanne [Sen.-D-NH]

S 4796 An original bill making appropriations for the Departments of Transportation, and Housing and Urban Development, and related agencies for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2025, and for other purposes. Schatz, Brian [Sen.-D-HI]

S 4797 An original bill making appropriations for the Department of State, foreign operations, and related programs for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2025, and for other purposes. Coons, Christopher A. [Sen.-D-DE]

S 4802 An original bill making appropriations for the Department of the Interior, environment, and related agencies for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2025, and for other purposes. Merkley, Jeff [Sen.-D-OR] 

S 4813 A bill to establish a grant program within the Department of Labor to support the creation, implementation, and expansion of registered apprenticeship programs in cybersecurity. Rosen, Jacky [Sen.-D-NV] 

Bills Introduced – 9-8-22

Yesterday, with just the Senate in Washington, there were eleven bills introduced. One of those bills will receive additional attention in this blog: 

S 4802 A bill to authorize appropriations for the Coast Guard, and for other purposes. Cantwell, Maria [Sen.-D-WA]