This week (July 20-24)

Congress: The House and Senate are in session.

A House floor vote on the FY2027 budget resolution providing for reconciliation is planned for next week — the last week the House is scheduled to be in session prior to the August recess. The Senate will be in session longer but there are questions about how the resolution will be received in that chamber. Additionally, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) on Thursday proposed bringing up a continuing resolution (CR) to fund the government through the November election before the House recesses for August.

Hearings: U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer is scheduled to testify before the Senate Finance Committee on July 22 at 10 a.m. for the annual hearing on the 2026 Trade Policy Agenda. The hearing was previously scheduled for April 23 but was postponed after a late-night Senate budget vote-a-rama.

Last week (July 13-17)

Reconciliation: This was the week when tax issues were shut out of a Reconciliation 3.0 package, at least in the manner that such a package was provided for under an FY2027 budget resolution approved by the House Budget Committee on Thursday, July 16. Reconciliation instructions for a $95 billion bill — focused on defense funding and with some voter ID and farm aid provisions — are only provided to the Agriculture, Armed Services, Intelligence, and House Administration committees. Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith (R-MO) had pushed for tax issues to be included. Budget Committee Chairman Jodey Arrington (R-TX) wanted spending-cut offsets, but that approach was not taken, citing dynamics in the Senate. "Senior House Republicans say if they tried to offset the bill with spending cuts, the Senate would have a field day with amendments," Punchbowl News reported July 15. Including tax provisions could open the process to tax amendments that can pass by simple-majority vote, and Democrats could offer any number of amendments related to the "One Big Beautiful Bill Act" (OBBBA/OB3) and other issues.

A July 16 Wall Street Journal editorial, "The GOP's Budget Reconciliation Bust," derided the absence of tax and spending-cut provisions. "Republicans could adjust capital gains taxes for inflation, at least for home sales. This would reduce a disincentive for seniors to sell as they need less space and open more housing stock for younger buyers," the editorial said. "Or how about raising the income thresholds for the 3.8% ObamaCare net investment income tax, which isn't indexed for inflation and hits at $200,000 for singles and $250,000 for couples?"

There are open questions about the future of the budget resolution and follow-on reconciliation bill in both chambers. Some House Republicans expressed concerns about the lack of offsets. Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI), who is set to take over the Budget Committee chairmanship following the passing of Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC), had deficit concerns ahead of the last reconciliation measure, the OBBBA/OB3, and has indicated that there will be members who want the current package paid for. In a Bloomberg story, "GOP Senators Give Frosty Reception to House Budget Blueprint," Senate Appropriations Chair Susan Collins (R-ME) was quoted as saying, "In general, my view is that we should not be using reconciliation, we should work through the normal appropriations process." The story said of Republican reluctance generally, "The hesitant reactions stemmed from concerns senators said they had about the lack of pay-fors offsetting the spending, the merits of including portions of the voter ID election push Trump has advocated, and the protracted timeline before lawmakers depart Washington for the annual August recess."

"Reconciliation, as you know, is very different in the House than it is in the Senate," Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) said this week. "So, we'll see what they — they're going to try and mark it up in the committee, and we'll see if they can report it, get it across the floor of the House" and what it includes.

Treasury: Press stories on the reported departure of Treasury Assistant Secretary for Tax Policy Ken Kies, who has also been Acting IRS Chief Counsel, have included a focus on the impact on implementation of the "One Big Beautiful Bill Act" (OBBBA/OB3). President Trump on June 23 sent to the Senate the nomination of James Gadwood, a tax controversy lawyer, to be IRS Chief Counsel.

On Thursday, July 16, the Senate Finance Committee held a hearing on the nominations of:

• Francis Brooke to be Deputy Secretary of the Treasury
• Erin Browne to be Under Secretary of the Treasury for International Affairs
• Sriprakash Kothari to be Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Economic Policy
• George McMaster to be Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Financial Markets

Ranking Member Ron Wyden (D-OR) asked about the IRS audit immunity deal. Brooke referred questions to the Justice Department and also cited the importance of taxpayer confidentiality. Wyden also cited a digital asset tax framework "that I've been developing over the past year," which he said would "reduce unnecessary complexity, increase compliance, protect the tax base and keep digital asset jobs and the innovation here in the United States," as opposed to giving the industry preferential treatment. Brooke said regarding the issue: "We need to make sure that the United States is the leader that we're the ones setting the standards. We need to incentivize that the innovation takes place in the United States not abroad. This allows us to have more compliance with tax laws." Under similar questioning from Senator Steve Daines (R-MT), Kothari said, "If the U.S. has to have maintain a leadership position in digital assets, digital currency, then we need a regime that is clear in terms of rules of engagement."

Bill introductions: On July 16, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) and other Democrats (Senators Warren, Merkley, Van Hollen, and Welch) introduced the Curtailing Executive Overcompensation (CEO) Act (S. 5011) to impose an excise tax on excessively disparate wages paid to chief executive officers. According to a release, the CEO Act would apply an excise tax:

• on both publicly traded and privately held companies that have at least a 50 to one CEO-to-median-worker pay disparity
• only on large companies with over $100 million in gross receipts and $10 million in payroll
• that is "proportional to the size of the executive's compensation (including salary, bonuses, and stock awards and options) and the degree the pay ratio exceeds 50 to one"
• limited to 1% of the company's gross receipts

Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) and Rep. Brittany Pettersen (D-CO) on Thursday reintroduced the Disclosure of Tax Havens and Offshoring Act (S. 5019), which would require U.S. multinationals to disclose their profits, taxes, employees and tangible assets on a country-by-country basis. Van Hollen said the bill will "provide critical transparency to both the American public and investors as to how these corporations abuse our broken tax system and the risks they are taking in the use of offshore tax havens." The sponsors' press release accused corporations of "scheming our tax system to hide their profits."

Rep. Lloyd Smucker (R-PA) introduced the Fiscal Sponsorship Transparency Act of 2026 (H.R. 9721) to require reporting by certain charitable organizations relating to fiscal sponsorship arrangements.

Rep. Blake Moore (R-UT) and others, including Ways and Means members Claudia Tenney (R-NY) and Nathaniel Moran (R-TX), introduced the Fair Treatment of Religious Organizations Act of 2026 (H.R. 9722) to ensure fair treatment of certain charitable organizations.

On July 15, Senate Finance Committee member Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) introduced a bill (S. 4994) to provide for credits against tax for domestic manufacturing of critical medical supplies and drugs.