The Senate returns for what is scheduled to be its final week in session until after the November 3 midterm elections. A vote on final Senate passage of the college sports bill has been set for today (Monday, September 28) at 5:30 p.m. The bill would establish requirements for name, image or likeness (NIL) agreements for college student athletes and provide a limited antitrust exemption for schools and conferences to pool and sell certain college sports media rights.

The agenda for the week isn't yet clear beyond expected consideration of the House-passed Ratepayer Protection Act (H.R. 9340) addressing recovery of data center costs. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) is also reportedly considering holding a vote on the House-passed congressional stock trading ban and voter ID requirement bill (H.R. 7008).

At the committee level, and potentially on the Senate floor, there is still consideration of nominations.

On Wednesday, September 30 at 9:45 a.m., the Senate HELP Committee is holding a hearing on several health care nominations, including:

• Nicole Saphier to be Surgeon General
• Timothy Westlake to be Assistant Secretary for Mental Health and Substance Use at HHS
• Mary Lazare to be Assistant Secretary for Aging at HHS, and
• Loren E. Sweatt and Douglas Ralph to be members of the National Mediation Board.

Rescissions package — There will surely be additional reaction to President Trump's Friday (September 25) night announcement of a pocket rescission of $810 million in appropriations that Congress has already enacted. "The money his administration will claw back is for immigration services, support to foreign countries, education programs, health research efforts and assistance for businesses owned by minorities," Politico reported. President Trump has used the maneuver before, including a rescission of $5 billion in foreign aid in summer 2025.

The latest move has already drawn criticism from some Republicans. "This is the most recent attempt by this Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to undermine Congress's Constitutional power of the purse … " Senate Appropriations Chair Susan Collins (R-ME) posted on social media. "The independent Government Accountability Office has concluded that pocket rescissions are unlawful and not permitted by the Impoundment Control Act. Any effort to rescind appropriated funds without congressional approval is a clear violation of the law. I will work with my colleagues to address these illegal actions."

The Congressional Research Service said in a report updated September 25, "'Pocket rescission' does not appear in statute. The term is an informal label attached to a use of the [Impoundment Control Act] that, according to some, could result in a President reducing government outlays unilaterally, without needing to secure congressional approval of a rescission proposal."

Politico said: "By law, the president is allowed to send Congress a request to rescind federal funding, then withhold that money for 45 days while lawmakers consider whether to approve, reject or ignore it. Trump administration officials also argue they have the power to cancel funding without any congressional action by sending Congress a rescission request with less than 45 days left in the fiscal year. The argument is that the money automatically gets canceled on Sept. 30, when funding lapses at the end of the fiscal year."

Congress — Most of the attention has turned from the business of Congress to the midterm elections, and there were multiple stories over the weekend about Republicans in competitive races diverging from President Trump. A New York Times story, "Some Republicans Issue a New Call on Trump's War with Iran: End It Now," cited Rep. Ashley Hinson (R-IA), the Iowa GOP Senate nominee; former Rep. Mike Rogers (R-MI), who is running for the Michigan Senate seat; and Senator Jon Husted (R-OH) as all calling for an end to the war. The story said that while Republicans are cautious about crossing President Trump, "With no clear resolution in sight, the war has sent the prices of gasoline, diesel and heating oil upward, and cost increases have spilled across the economy. Mortgage rates have also climbed to 7 percent … "

An earlier WSJ report said, "Over the past week, Republican candidates in critical races across the country have received new internal polling data that underscored the headwinds facing the GOP, setting off a fresh round of hand-wringing among campaign strategists," as well as assertions by some that voters now associate the President with higher gas, food and housing costs. The story additionally cited an unnamed Trump adviser as saying the President "understands that candidates must do what they need to do to win their races, even if that means backing away from the president or [his] policies."

With the House planning to be out of session until after the elections and the Senate planning to recess after this week, there is plenty of unfinished business that awaits a post-election session that will certainly be influenced by the outcome of the elections.

Some Republicans continue to highlight the tax benefits enacted in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) and the potential for more. On "Fox Sunday Morning Futures," House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith (R-MO) said: "I have been pushing that we continue to push tax cuts for working families. Imagine if we wouldn't have passed the Big Beautiful Bill. Every single American would have faced a 21% tax increase. There never would have been no tax on tips, no tax on overtime, no tax on Social Security."

Asked about the tax relief being considered for the future, Chairman Smith said, "There's a lot of tax relief that we can continue to do for working families, small businesses, and farmers. And that's in fact what we need to do … You look at the child tax credit. That is something that has deeply benefited Americans. Also, the standard deduction is what 91% of Americans use to file their taxes. We could juice that, create more relief for everyday average Americans. And then you look from a pro-growth, pro-economic perspective.

There's numerous, numerous provisions that we have talked about … "

On the same program, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent also highlighted the OBBBA, saying, "I think the beauty of the tax bill was the symmetry, on one side for business, full expensing for equipment, full expensing for factories, full expensing for [agricultural] structures. So, we are seeing a boom like we have not seen for more than a decade in nonstructured construction, factory building — a manufacturing boom. On the other side, the president kept his four signature promises: no tax on tips, no tax on overtime, reduced taxes on Social Security … and deductibility of interest on American-made cars."

There will essentially be two options for moving tax and health legislation during the lame-duck session of Congress scheduled to start on November 9: additional Republican-only reconciliation legislation and a bipartisan bill that could potentially be attached to an extension of government funding, which is currently scheduled to expire on December 11.

"One school of thought is that a change in chamber control — either House or Senate — will galvanize the party in power to jam through its last-minute priorities," Punchbowl News reported last night (September 27). "Others believe that a Republican hold on power could make Democrats more open to cut bipartisan deals. The charged months leading up to an election raise the bar for bipartisan compromise a good deal higher." The report additionally said, "Tax bills are notoriously tricky to pass, and there's already a sense this lame duck could be dicier."

The Sunday Punchbowl News Vault report also said that US-Taiwan tax relief held over from the last Congress doesn't need momentum but does need a vehicle and noted that Senate Finance Committee Chairman Mike Crapo (R-ID) has said his confidence that a year-end tax bill is inevitable has waned. "Tax watchers say Taiwan is always in the back pocket, for if — or when — an appropriations bill pops up with room for extraneous measures. But even then, the precarious horse trading for riders could leave the policy on the chopping block," the report said, noting the issue can't move in a reconciliation bill because it has no budget impact.

International tax — An EY Tax Alert, "OECD/G20 Inclusive Framework releases package of Global Minimum Tax documents," is available here.