PSW Weekly Round-Up - 6/15

Legislative Update

House. The House is in recess this week.

Senate. The Senate is planning to vote this week on an updated version of its housing affordability bill. Like the legislation approved by the Senate in March and the House in May, the new version would reportedly include language to ban large institutional investors from buying single-family homes. However, it drops a provision that would require large institutional investors to sell newly built rental houses to individuals within seven years of purchase, a proposal that has been opposed by House lawmakers and was not included in the House-passed version. If the Senate approves the new version, it will then go to the House, where the outlook for passage is unclear.

FY 2027 Appropriations. The House Appropriations Committee has now cleared 11 of the 12 FY 2027 appropriations measures. The remaining bill, which funds defense programs, will be marked up by the full committee on June 24. Two of the 12 have been approved by the full House – Agriculture-FDA and Military Construction-Veterans Affairs.

The Senate Appropriations Committee, meanwhile, has postponed action on its bills as Chair Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Ranking Member Patty Murray (D-Wash.) have been unable to agree on a top-line spending number. The main point of contention is that Democrats want the defense number to be lower than the President’s $1.15 trillion appropriations request and want an increase in the President’s requested level for non-defense spending.

Committee Action of Note:

Tuesday, June 16

• Senate Budget Committee Hearing: “The Nomination of Hal Duncan to be Deputy Director of the Office of Management and Budget”

Wednesday, June 17

• Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Hearing on nominations including:
  • David Cummins to be Administrator, Transportation Security Administration, U.S. Department of Homeland Security
  • Cameron Hamilton to be Administrator, Federal Emergency Management Agency, U.S. Department of Homeland Security
  • Jeffrey Brodsky, William Gallo, Anthony Lomangino, and Robert Steffens to be Governors, United States Postal Service
• Senate Foreign Relations Committee Markup to consider:
  • S.4259 – To promote the development, production, and deployment of Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) to enhance U.S. national security and support Taiwan.
  • S.4723 – To strengthen the capacity of law enforcement agencies in Latin America and the Caribbean to prosecute Chinese organized criminal groups.
  • S.4665 – To require a strategy for countering Iranian and Hezbollah influence operations in Latin America.
• Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee Markup to consider legislation including:
  • S. 2658, Medication Affordability and Patent Integrity Act
  • S. 3014, Ensuring Timely Access to Generics Act of 2025
  • S. 1954, Biosimilar Red Tape Elimination Act
• Senate Intelligence Committee Hearing on the nomination of Walter “Jay” Clayton III to be Director of National Intelligence

Thursday, June 18

• Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee Markup to consider S.4668 – To protect the name, image, and likeness rights of, and provide protections for, student athletes and to promote fair competition among intercollegiate athletics.

Executive Actions of Note:

On June 11, President Trump nominated Jay Clayton to succeed Tulsi Gabbard as Director of National Intelligence. Clayton, a former chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission, is currently the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York. The Senate Intelligence Committee quickly scheduled a hearing for Clayton’s nomination for this Wednesday. The President said last week that Bill Pulte will take over as acting Director on June 19, while also continuing to serve as Director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency.

• Nomination of Todd Blanche to be Attorney General - June 8, 2026
• Nomination of Brian Johnson to be Director, Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection - June 10, 2026
• Restoring American Commercial Fishing in the Pacific - June 11, 2026
• Nomination of Walter Clayton to be Director of National Intelligence - June 11, 2026
• National Security Presidential Memorandum/NSPM-12 - June 12, 2026

Political Update

June 16 Elections. In Oklahoma, Republican Rep. Kevin Hern is favored to win the GOP nomination for the seat that was held by Senator Markwayne Mullin (R) until he was confirmed as Homeland Security Secretary. However, there are five candidates in the race and if no candidate wins a majority, the top two vote-getters will face off on Aug. 25.

Runoff races in two states are also on Tuesday’s schedule. In Georgia, Republican voters will choose their party’s nominee to oppose Democratic Senator Jon Ossoff in November. The GOP candidates in the runoff are Rep. Mike Collins, who was endorsed Sunday by President Trump, and former football coach Derek Dooley, who has the backing of Gov. Brian Kemp. In Alabama, Rep. Barry Moore, who has Trump’s endorsement, and former Navy SEAL Jared Hudson are competing in the Republican Senate runoff for the seat of Senator Tommy Tuberville (R), who is running for Governor.

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