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NATaT December 2024 Annual Meeting

Jerry B. Crabtree, Heidi Fought (Ohio ED), Past President Neil Sheradin (Michigan Ed), and NATaT President Dave Sanko (PA ED)

NATaT Weekly Legislative Report

April 20, 2026

Congressional Outlook

The House and Senate are in session this week.

The partial government shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) continues, hitting Day 66 on Monday. The Senate begins its work this week to attempt to fast-track funding for the immigration-related agencies within DHS through a second budget reconciliation bill, including three years’ worth of funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP). Senate Budget Committee Republicans are preparing to meet and advance a "skinny" budget resolution, which GOP leadership hopes to adopt within days in order to unlock the budget reconciliation process and authorize roughly $70 billion in mandatory spending for ICE and CBP. Senate Majority Leader John Thune’s (R-S.D.) goal of keeping the bill “skinny” is meant to limit additional scrutiny by the Senate Parliamentarian, though others within the Senate GOP believe it could be the last chance to add priorities like defense funding, modifications to capital gains taxes and longer term funding for ICE and CBP as many believe Democrats are likely to take over at least one chamber in Congress beginning next year, following this November’s midterm elections. This effort is part of a broader strategy to address the ongoing funding lapse at DHS, which has become the longest agency shutdown in US history.

Republicans are pursuing a two-track approach, pushing immigration enforcement funding through a party-line reconciliation bill to avoid Democratic demands for policy changes, while separately negotiating a bipartisan package to fund the remainder of DHS in Fiscal Year (FY) 2026 through the Further Additional Continuing Appropriations Act, 2026 (H.R. 7147), which the Senate passed on April 2^nd by voice vote. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) has said he would hold up consideration of H.R. 7147 until the budget reconciliation bill providing funding for those agencies is passed. The Trump administration has set a June 1 deadline for enactment of the budget reconciliation bill, which could mean another six weeks of the DHS shutdown.

After President Donald Trump signed a 10-day extension of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) through April 30, leaders of both chambers are hoping to land on a compromise before the extension runs out, though there is still contention around several issues. In the House, Speaker Johnson attempted to push a bill through late last week, however, a dozen House Republicans blocked a proposal that included subtle reforms. 20 House Republicans then joined with House Democrats to block the Speaker’s attempt to pass a straightforward 18-month extension of FISA, striking a blow to Speaker Johnson. FISA, or Section 702, gives warrantless spying authority to national security agencies to collect communications in specific situations, something that Republicans and Democrats have found issue with.

House Appropriations Committee Chair Tom Cole (R-Okla.) will continue the aggressive pace of marking up FY 2027 appropriations bills this week. On Tuesday, the full committee will markup the FY27 Military Construction-VA and Financial Services spending bills and will begin consideration of the National-Security State and Agriculture-FDA-Rural Development bills later this week, with subcommittee markups scheduled for Thursday morning.

The House returns on Monday and is scheduled to advance 11 bills under suspension of the rules, including the First Responder Network Authority Reauthorization Act of 2026 (H.R.7386), which extends through FY2037 and modifies the management of the First Responder Network (FirstNet) Authority, specifically by removing the FirstNet Authority’s independent status and establishes an associate administrator in the National Telecommunications and Information Administration to manage the FirstNet Authority’s operations; the Mystic Alerts Act (H.R.7022), which provides for wireless emergency alerts to be transmitted to mobile devices via satellite; the Expediting Federal Broadband Deployment Reviews Act (H.R.1681), which establishes an interagency strike force to support federal land management agencies' review of requests for communications use authorizations; Federal Broadband Deployment Tracking Act (H.R.1343), which requires the National Telecommunications and Information Administration to submit a plan to Congress for tracking the acceptance, processing, and disposition of applications for communications use authorizations; the Emergency Reporting Act (H.R.5200), which requires the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to investigate and report on emergency communications outages; the Rural Broadband Protection Act of 2025 (S.98), which requires the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to establish a process to vet applicants for certain funding programs that support affordable broadband deployment in high-cost areas; the Improving Care in Rural America Reauthorization Act of 2025 (H.R.2493), which reauthorizes through FY2030 grant programs administered by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) that provide funding to health care service providers and related entities in rural areas; and H.R.3419, which reauthorizes through FY2030 grant programs to support telehealth networks and telehealth resource centers. The chamber will also consider six bills pursuant to a rule; including the HEATS Act (H.R.5587), which exempts certain geothermal activities on state and private lands (except Indian lands) from drilling permit requirements as well as environmental and historic preservation review requirements; and the FIRE Act (H.R.6387), which modifies the definition of exceptional events under the Clean Air Act and requires the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to revise its regulations regarding exceptional events or actions to mitigate wildfire risk. It is important to note that the American Broadband Deployment Act of 2025 (H.R.2289), which excludes certain requests to modify an existing wireless tower or base station from specified environmental and historic preservation review requirements was pulled from floor consideration after strong opposition from local governments.

The House will hold numerous committee hearings and markups over the course of the week, including a Ways and Means Committee hearing on Protecting Patients and Taxpayers: Cracking Down on Medicare Fraud; a Ways and Means Committee hearing on the Trump Administration’s 2026 Trade Policy Agenda with United States Trade Representative Jamieson Greer; an Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Environment hearing on The impact of U.S. Environmental Laws on Critical Material Supply Chains, National Security, and Economic Growth; a Homeland Security Committee hearing on Funding Lapse and Security Gaps: Assessing the Harmful Impacts of the DHS Shutdown on Americans; a Homeland Security Subcommittee on Border Security and Enforcement hearing on Online Scams, Crypto Fraud, and Digital Extortion: An Examination of How Transnational Criminal Networks Target Americans; a Small Business Committee hearing on Independent Work, Real Opportunity: The Gig Economy and the Future of Entrepreneurship; and 11 hearings scheduled across multiple committees to consider various aspects of the President’s FY27 Budget Request.

The Senate also returns Monday and is scheduled to vote on the nomination of Andrew B. Davis to United States District Judge for the Western District of Texas. Throughout the week, the chamber will hold numerous committee hearings, including an Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry hearing on the nomination of Glen Smith to be Under Secretary of Agriculture for Rural Development; a Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs hearing on the nomination of Kevin Warsh to be a Member and Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System; Judiciary Committee hearing to examine China's ongoing theft of U.S. innovation; and 12 hearings on different parts of the President’s FY27 Budget Request.