National Association of Towns and Townships - www.natat.org

How Townships can access clean energy tax credits in the form of direct pay/transferability

2025 NATAT Policy Platform

NATaT Tax Priorities

NATaT Transportation Reauthorization Priorities

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

January 12, 2026

Congressional Outlook

Both chambers are in session this week as Congress continues to work through the remaining nine FY 2026 spending bills before the current Continuing Resolution (CR) expires on January 30.

Congress is continuing its rapid new year pace to pass the outstanding appropriations bills ahead of the January 30 deadline. On Sunday, the leadership of the House and Senate Appropriations Committees released text for the next minibus package Congress will consider, consisting of the final versions of the FY26 Financial Services-General Government and FY26 National Security-Department of State spending bills (H.R. 7006). The House Rules Committee will consider the minibus on Tuesday afternoon before sending the bill to the full House floor for consideration later this week. The final version of the FY26 Homeland Security spending bill was left out of the latest minibus package as House and Senate Democrats push for the inclusion of accountability measures regarding Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). It is unclear whether lawmakers will opt to include the Homeland Security spending bill in the last minibus likely to be considered later this month, which will include the FY26 Defense, Labor-HHS-Education, and Transportation-HUD spending bills. Last Thursday, the House passed, by an overwhelming bipartisan vote of 397-28, a three-bill minibus package consisting of the final versions of the FY26 Commerce-Justice-Science; Energy-Water Development; and Interior-Environment spending bills (H.R. 6938) spending bills. The only real change came as some conservative members successfully removed a $1 million FY26 Community Project Funding project supported by Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) from the Commerce-Justice-Science spending bill. Later this week, the Senate will likely take a final vote on the House-passed $184 billion package, sending it to President Trump’s desk to be signed into law, while awaiting the House to complete the next two-bill FY26 minibus.

Challenges still exist for Congress to complete all 12 appropriations bills, given the way the chamber’s schedules are set. Next week, the House is in session while the Senate is in recess, and the following week, the Senate is in session while the House is in recess. Coordinating votes on the remaining four FY26 spending bills that have yet to get organized into minibuses will prove difficult, especially as they require congressional action by Friday, Jan. 30. The Defense, Labor-HHS-Education, Homeland Security, and Transportation-Housing and Urban Development spending bills feature the majority of discretionary funding in the appropriations process and all have potentially controversial issues complicating the road to final agreement and passage through both chambers.

After the House passed the Breaking the Gridlock Act (H.R. 1834), a three-year extension of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) enhanced premium tax credits (EPTCs), which lapsed on December 31, action now heads to the Senate. The House vote featured 17 Republicans breaking with House GOP leadership to join all 213 House Democrats in passing the legislation by a vote of 230-196. A vote in the Senate to extend these tax credits, which were used by 22 million Americans in 2025, faces a different road in the Senate as the chamber failed to pass a similar three-year extension in December. Now, Senators will continue to work on a compromise bill to extend and reform the current ACA EPTCs.

The House will be in session through Thursday and is set to advance nine bills under suspension of the rules, including the Crime Victims Fund Stabilization Act of 2025 (H.R. 909), which adds a new source of revenue for the Crime Victims Fund (CVF) through FY 2029 to boost federal, state, and local programs that provide financial support to victims of crime; and three bills (H.R. 6715, H.R. 6719, and H.R. 6732) aimed at combatting sexual exploitation of children. Throughout the remainder of the week, the chamber will consider six bills pursuant to a rule, including the Flexibility for Workers’ Education Act (H.R. 2262), which allows employers to offer voluntary training and career growth opportunities outside of work hours without counting the time towards overtime pay; the Empowering Employer Child and Elder Care Solutions Act (H.R. 2270), which allows employers to not be required to include the value of child and dependent care benefits when paying overtime to their workers; the Tipped Employee Protection Act (H.R. 2312), which modifies the federal definition of a “tipped employee” to streamline the classification of a worker as a “tipped employee”; the Protecting Prudent Investment of Retirement Savings Act (H.R. 2988), which requires private pension plan fiduciaries to prioritize achieving maximum returns for beneficiaries over environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors when making investment and plan management decisions; the Save Local Businesses Act (H.R. 4366), which redefines the federal standard for “joint employer” in order to protect employers against certain liability and clarify responsibilities for contractors and franchises; and the Saving Homeowners from Overregulation With Exceptional Rinsing (SHOWER) Act (H.R. 4593), which modifies the definition of a “showerhead” as applied by federal water efficiency regulations.

The House will hold numerous committee hearings and markups over the course of the week, including an Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Energy hearing on Protecting America’s Energy Infrastructure in Today’s Cyber and Physical Threat Landscape; a Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation hearing on Drugs, Thugs, and Fish: Examining Coast Guard Law Enforcement Efforts; an Education and the Workforce Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education hearing on Who's Watching the Kids? How Employers, Innovators, and Parents are Solving America's Child Care Crunch; an Oversight and Government Reform Subcommittee on Government Operations hearing on Curbing Federal Fraud: Examining Innovative Tools to Detect and Prevent Fraud in Federal Programs; a Science, Space, and Technology Subcommittee on Research and Technology hearing on Assessing America's AI Action Plan; an Education and Workforce hearing on Building an AI-Ready America; a Natural Resources Subcommittee on Water, Wildlife and Fisheries hearing on Hunting and Fishing Access in the Great American Outdoors; an Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trade hearing to address 12 bills to Strengthen Motor Vehicle Safety, Ensure Consumer Choice and Affordability, and Cement U.S. Automotive Leadership; and a Veterans' Affairs Subcommittee on Disability Assistance and Memorial Affairs hearing on Reevaluating the Rating Schedule: Examining VA’s Efforts to Modernize Disability Benefits.

The Senate will also be in session through Thursday, with a cloture vote scheduled on Monday evening on the House-passed FY26 Commerce-Justice-Science/Energy-Water Development/Interior-Environment minibus. Throughout the week, the chamber will likely continue work on appropriations legislation and perhaps vote on executive and judicial nominations. The Senate will hold numerous committee hearings and markups including: a Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee hearing to examine chemical abortion drugs; an Aging Committee hearing on Made in China, Paid by Seniors: Stopping the Surge of International Scams; a Commerce, Science, and Transportation hearing to examine the impact of technology on America's youth; a Judiciary Committee meeting to consider legislation governing conflicts of interest following federal employment and advance federal judicial nominations; and a Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee hearing to examine growing the small business agricultural economy.