118th Congress Prepares to Adjourn

As the end of the calendar year approaches, the 118^th Congress has been moving to resolve key agenda items before adjourning and giving way to new, unified Republican control of government in 2025, when the 119^th Congress will be sworn in on January 3 and President Trump inaugurated on January 20.  

After twice failing, the House tonight passed (366-34) an end-of-year legislative package made up of three bills that includes a continuing resolution (CR) to extend government funding forward into the new year. It is expected the Senate will pass the legislation later tonight and avoid a shutdown. The legislation also provides supplemental disaster relief, assistance to farmers, and an extension of the farm bill. Separately, Congress approved the annual Defense policy bill and sent it to the White House for signature.

What follows is an update on the status of funding, a high-level summary of the Defense bill, and an overview of the University’s engagement in DC as we anticipate a new policy landscape next year.

FY25 Funding

With Congressional leaders unable to reach a deal on a top line funding number for FY25, the Congress was unable to complete any of the FY25 funding measures and instead is moving to extend current funding until March 14, leaving final decisions on FY25 spending to the new Congress and incoming President Donald Trump. The CR will extend funding for federal agencies and programs at FY24 levels. This is not a full-year funding agreement so, for example, new starts will continue to be on hold and non-competing research awards may be funded at a level below that indicated on the Notice of Award. But funding will continue uninterrupted through the term of this CR.

It is unclear how FY25 will be resolved, given the disagreements not just between the parties but also among the Republican majority and incoming Administration. It may be that in negotiating final FY25 funding, President-elect Trump will look for some early wins around recommendations on spending from his external Department of Government Efficiency. However, the fiscal year will be nearly halfway through, potentially limiting the impact of changes. In addition, very narrow Republican majorities in both chambers and the 60-vote threshold in the Senate suggest that any final spending package will ultimately need to be bipartisan to pass.

In addition, we anticipate particularly with these narrow majorities that the President-elect and Republican leaders will, early in the year, move a reconciliation bill, which bypasses the Senate filibuster and provides an expedited pathway to consideration of changes in mandatory funding and, potentially, taxes. As a result, it seems likely that the focus will be on reconciliation – not the conclusion of the FY25 process or the submission of the President’s FY26 budget request – meaning that there may be an additional CR and delays in the start of the FY26 budget process.

National Defense Authorization Act

On December 7, House and Senate negotiators unveiled a final agreement on the FY25 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that would authorize a top-line spending level of $883.7 billion in discretionary defense spending—one percent more than FY24 and equal to the current statutory spending cap. On authorization levels for DOD research, the agreement recommends cuts to both basic (-5.5 percent) and applied (-21.6 percent) research accounts. Among research-university concerns in the bill, the final compromise agreement sheds the most problematic provisions in earlier drafts around research security and civil rights, although university engagements with entities in China continue to be of concern, particularly among some Republicans.

After the House passed (281-140) the NDAA compromise earlier this week, the Senate approved (85-14) the measure Wednesday, preparing it for the President, who has indicated that he will sign the bill into law.

119^th Congress Leadership

The last several weeks have also been consequential for party and committee leadership races in the House and Senate. While the top leadership teams for House Republicans and Democrats remained the same in both chambers for now, the Republican leadership team shifted significantly in the Senate following Sen. Mitch McConnell’s (R-KY) retirement from his Leader position. There also may be further fall out from this week’s bruising House debate on the FY25 CR in the January 3 election of the Speaker of the House; it is unclear if Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) will retain the nearly unanimous support from his party that he will need to be reelected Speaker. In addition to leadership shifts, there have been some changes in the chairmanships of committees of interest to the higher education and research communities.

Trump Administration Transition

The President-elect has also announced nominees for many Cabinet and senior roles. It is expected the Senate will begin formal confirmation hearings early in January and confirmation votes will come fairly swiftly after the Presidential Inauguration on January 20. A list of some key posts and alumni follows. 

                                                            Bold indicates position requires Senate confirmation

Harvard’s Engagement

Intensive and sustained efforts to support the University’s priorities in Washington will continue as we look ahead to the new year. In addition to the university’s broad engagement in the capital, key advocacy priorities in the coming year will include federal funding for student aid and research, tax and charitable giving including the endowment tax and provisions to assist students and families with affordability, higher education and research-related policy matters, and immigration and issues affecting international students and scholars.

In the past year, President Garber has made several trips to Washington D.C. to meet with leading policymakers across the ideological spectrum. He has also made time to meet with leaders visiting campus for academic or speaking engagements. These meetings have provided the opportunity to address questions about the campus environment and to reinforce the value and importance of the federal-university partnership that advances economic growth, competitiveness, talent development, and health and wellbeing across the country. We expect this level of outreach to continue with incoming Congressional and Administration leaders.

Harvard has also been working in collaboration with peers, along with leading higher education, scientific, and medical associations and others to identify shared priorities, redouble efforts to advance those priorities in Washington, and pursue strategies to share their impact more broadly through a range activities such as targeted media opportunities, congressional briefings, and advocacy from a wide range of institutions across higher education.

At the core of all this work is reinforcing the ways in which Harvard – along with other institutions of higher education – serve the public good through our core missions of education and research. America’s leadership in higher education and innovation is a critical asset for the nation, and we will continue to share examples of Harvard’s excellence and impact, along with the remarkable creativity, innovation, and commitment of our faculty and students, with audiences in Washington and across the country. 

Please feel free to be in touch with me, Kara Haas (kara_haas@harvard.edu), or Peter DeYoe (peter_deyoe@harvard.edu) with any questions.