Legislative Update: Members to Return to a Crowded Post-Recess To-Do List

Members to Return to a Crowded Post-Recess To-Do List

The House and Senate are away on a two‑week recess and are scheduled to return the week of April 13. When they reconvene, lawmakers will confront an increasingly crowded legislative agenda and limited floor time before the next set of deadlines. The sections below highlight the key issues competing for committee attention and floor consideration in both chambers.

End Partial Shutdown: The first order of business for Republican leadership will be to implement a two-track plan to end the prolonged partial government shutdown. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) and Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD), who had previously rejected a clean funding approach for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), announced a plan advancing a stopgap measure to reopen the agency while deferring additional immigration enforcement funding to a forthcoming budget reconciliation package. They emphasized that future reconciliation legislation will provide multi-year funding for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP). The approach aligns with President Donald Trump’s call to secure immigration enforcement funding by June 1 and would fund the agencies for three years, effectively insulating immigration enforcement operations from future appropriations battles.

SAVE America Act: Senate Republicans plan to continue consideration of the SAVE America Act (S. 1383), a voter identification and election integrity bill backed by President Donald Trump, when lawmakers return from recess, despite limited legislative progress to date. Given the absence of Democratic support and the inability to overcome the 60-vote threshold, the bill has a limited path to passage. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) has rejected calls to force a “talking filibuster,” citing insufficient support within the conference. Republican leadership is exploring using budget reconciliation to advance portions of the election bill.

FY27 Budget and Reconciliation 2.0: The fiscal year 2027 appropriations cycle is expected to unfold under significant fiscal strain and heightened political tension, following a historically prolonged partial government shutdown and unresolved disputes over immigration funding. The administration is preparing a budget request that includes a substantial increase in defense spending—potentially up to $1.5 trillion—alongside the possibility of additional supplemental funding for military operations. However, congressional appropriators in both chambers have expressed caution, noting the absence of a detailed plan and the challenges of accommodating such increases within existing budget constraints. Republicans face internal pressure to maintain overall spending discipline, while large increases in defense spending would likely necessitate steep cuts to nondefense programs, complicating efforts in an election year.

At the same time, the reconciliation process is emerging as a potential vehicle to address both defense and immigration-related funding priorities, though it carries political and procedural risks. GOP leaders are considering using reconciliation to bypass spending caps and partisan gridlock, particularly as they seek to resolve stalled DHS funding and potentially include additional defense resources. However, this approach could intensify partisan divisions, as Democrats are unlikely to support significant increases in defense spending without corresponding growth in nondefense spending. The Senate’s 60-vote threshold for most legislation further reinforces the need for bipartisan compromise, which remains elusive given competing priorities and fiscal philosophies.  Beyond defense, domestic programs are facing mounting financial pressures that will complicate budget negotiations.

Housing: The House will need to decide on how to respond to the Senate’s amended version of a major housing package looking to increase housing affordability.   The House approved the Housing for the 21st Century Act (H.R. 6644) on February 9, 2026, by a 390–9 vote as a bipartisan housing supply and HUD modernization package. On March 12, the Senate passed a broad substitute, the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, as an amendment to H.R. 6644 by a vote of 89–10, combining its ROAD to Housing framework with selected House provisions. That Senate-passed bill was returned to the House for further consideration, where House leadership must decide after recess whether to take up and pass the Senate version as-is, modify it,  or request a conference to negotiate their differences on some of the bill’s controversial pieces, such as the new limits on large institutional investors in single‑family homes.

Farm Bill: House Agriculture Committee Chairman GT Thompson (R-PA) is focused on advancing the Farm, Food, and National Security Act of 2026 (H.R. 7567) on the House floor in the weeks ahead, with timing highly contingent on leadership bandwidth and vote counting.   President Donald Trump supports the bill passed through the committee in March, with seven Democrats joining all Republicans.  Committee leaders had publicly targeted a House floor vote before the Easter recess, but that slipped amid unresolved disagreements over nutrition (SNAP) funding, climate-smart agriculture dollars, and conservation program priorities. On the Senate side, Chairman Boozman has committed to producing a bill that can get at least 60 votes but has not released text or a markup schedule, leaving the Senate Farm Bill process behind the House and reinforcing expectations that the 2018 Farm Bill extension, which runs through September 30, 2026, will remain the operative baseline while cross‑chamber negotiations ramp up after recess.

TSCA Reform: Both the House and Senate continue to work in the early, pre-legislative stage on TSCA, holding hearings and discussing drafts tied to reauthorizing EPA’s TSCA fee authority, which expires September 30, 2026.  House Energy and Commerce Republicans circulated a discussion draft in mid‑January that would pair a multi‑year fee reauthorization with broader structural changes across multiple TSCA sections. The Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Republicans followed on February 26 with their own discussion draft, focused more narrowly on streamlining the new‑chemicals review process and extending user fees.

The Vinyl Institute, the American Chemistry Council (ACC), and other industry manufacturers are working together to press leadership to use the current window after recess to move a “targeted fixes plus fee” package. Chris Jahn, president and CEO of the ACC, wrote a March 25 op-ed in the Washington Times emphasizing the importance of renewing the user fees that fund almost one-quarter of the program.  TSCA is poised to be an active committee‑level issue, but does not yet have a clear path to near‑term floor consideration the way higher‑priority items like housing and the Farm Bill.

Permitting Reform and the SPEED Act: The Senate EPW and Energy & Natural Resources members from both parties are continuing to negotiate a bipartisan comprehensive permitting reform bill that will likely be folded into a broader vehicle, such as the upcoming surface transportation or infrastructure bill, rather than moving the narrower, NEPA-focused,  House-passed SPEED Act (H.R. 4776) text alone. Business and local‑government coalitions are pressing Senate leaders to prioritize a compromise permitting package early this year, while Democratic negotiators insist that any deal must more clearly support clean energy and transmission projects, leaving the SPEED Act itself in a holding pattern but keeping permitting reform very much on the live agenda for when Congress returns.

Zeldin Emerges as Leading Candidate to Replace Bondi as Attorney General

Reports indicate that Attorney General Pam Bondi is likely to be replaced in the near term, with EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin emerging as the leading candidate to assume the role. President Donald Trump reportedly raised the possibility of appointing Zeldin during a recent White House meeting, reinforcing broader media reports that he is the preferred successor.   Zeldin has garnered consistent praise from Trump and a support base bolstered by his legal background.  As a former Member of Congress, he was a vocal ally in earlier legal and political battles. While the White House has issued statements expressing support for Bondi, these remarks have not dispelled expectations of an imminent leadership transition, with Zeldin’s potential appointment now central to the evolving situation.

Tax Proposal Aims to Expand Financing Flexibility for U.S. Manufacturers

The Ensuring Better Interest Treatment and Deductibility (EBITDA) Act, introduced by Sens. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), John Cornyn (R-TX), Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), and Jon Husted (R-OH), seeks to strengthen the competitiveness of U.S.-based manufacturers by restoring more favorable interest deductibility standards. Building on provisions in the One Big Beautiful Bill (OBBB), the legislation would revise Section 163(j) to allow companies to include certain categories of global income in their adjusted taxable income (ATI), thereby increasing the amount of interest expense that can be deducted.

For capital-intensive industries, the proposal would lower effective financing costs, improve access to capital, and enhance U.S. firms’ ability to compete with foreign-headquartered companies that benefit from more permissive interest deductibility rules.  Industry stakeholders, including the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM), the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and the American Chemistry Council (ACC), have endorsed the bill as a means of supporting domestic investment, job creation, and long-term industrial competitiveness.

Supply Shocks from Middle  East Tensions Reshape Petrochemical Flows and Reshape the Plastic Market

The escalation of conflict involving Iran has significantly disrupted global petrochemical supply chains, particularly through the Strait of Hormuz. These disruptions have constrained the availability of key plastics inputs, including polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP), driving prices to their highest levels in approximately four years. The Middle East, which accounts for over 40 percent of global polyethylene exports, has historically been a central supplier to markets across Asia and Europe. With a substantial portion of supply now offline or restricted, global buyers are scrambling to secure replacement resin at elevated prices, while tightening feedstock availability has further intensified cost pressures across the chemicals value chain.

The impact is uneven across regions, with Asia and Europe facing the most acute challenges due to their reliance on imported feedstocks and Middle Eastern supply. In contrast, North American producers are relatively advantaged, benefiting from access to substantial domestic natural gas-based feedstocks, which insulate them from some of the volatility affecting naphtha-dependent producers. This dynamic has enabled U.S. manufacturers to capitalize on higher global prices and strong export demand, with some reporting improved margins despite rising input costs. However, these cost increases are being passed through the value chain, ultimately affecting downstream industries and consumers.

EPA Proposes Extending TSCA Compliance Deadlines for Key Industrial Chemicals

The EPA has proposed extending certain compliance deadlines for its Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) risk management rules governing perchloroethylene (PCE) and carbon tetrachloride (CTC), while it undertakes revisions to ensure the regulations are practical and effectively implemented. The agency emphasized that the proposal does not alter the underlying determination that both chemicals pose unreasonable risks, nor does it weaken existing health and environmental protections. Instead, the adjustment is intended to provide regulated entities with additional time to comply while aligning their timelines with those applicable to federal agencies and contractors.

The proposal addresses stakeholder concerns that the original compliance timelines were operationally unworkable and risked incomplete or ineffective implementation of safety measures. The rules themselves are currently subject to legal challenges, and the agency indicated that revising timelines and provisions is intended to strengthen their durability against judicial or future administrative changes. EPA plans to issue updated proposed rules by summer 2026 and is soliciting public comment on the current proposal, signaling an ongoing effort to balance regulatory rigor with practical implementation considerations.

CBP Advances Tariff  Refund System, but Key Challenges Remain

On March 27, 2026, the U.S. Court of International Trade (CIT) broadened the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) tariff refund order initially issued earlier in March and has given 45 days to develop a refund process for the IEEPA tariffs and to continue updating the CIT on its progress.  CBP is advancing the development of a dedicated system to process refunds for tariffs and estimates, with overall development estimated at 45% to 80% complete.  However, key elements remain under development, raising uncertainty about when the system will be fully operational and how effectively it will handle large volumes and complex cases.  CBP has declined to note whether it would meet the April 20 deadline to implement the refund process.