On Nov. 12, President Donald Trump signed into law a fiscal year (FY) 2026 minibus appropriations package and a continuing resolution (CR), ending the government shutdown that began on Oct. 1 [refer to Washington Highlights, Oct. 3]. The minibus provides FY 2026 appropriations for three annual spending bills, including funding for the Department of Veterans Affairs, which maintains the Medical and Prosthetic Research program at the FY 2025 level of $945 million. The CR temporarily extends funding for the remaining nine annual appropriations bills, including the Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education bill, through Jan. 30, 2026, while lawmakers complete work on those bills.
The final agreement includes a limited number of health care and public health provisions of interest to academic medicine, including a short-term extension of key telehealth waivers and the Acute Hospital Care at Home program, and a delay of scheduled cuts to the Medicaid Disproportionate Share Hospital program through Jan. 30, 2026. Additionally, the bill clears the Statutory “Pay-As-You-Go” scorecard, avoiding the 4% across-the-board Medicare sequester. Finally, the CR also extends key health care workforce programs, including the Health Resources and Services Administration’s National Health Service Corps and the Teaching Health Center Graduate Medical Education program.
However, the CR does not contain an agreement to extend the enhanced premium tax credits established under the American Rescue Plan Act (P.L. 117-2, PDF). These credits are set to expire at the end of 2025 and were a key factor contributing to the funding impasse and subsequent shutdown.