On Friday night (1/30/2026), the federal government entered a partial shutdown, as Congress could not agree on a deal to pass several spending bills to fund a number of government departments and agencies. Unfortunately, these include two of the departments that most directly impact the brain tumor community:
- The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS): HHS houses the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the National Cancer Institute (NCI), and programs run out of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS)
- The Department of Defense (DoD): DoD houses the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs, including the Peer-Reviewed Cancer Research Program (PRCRP), Glioblastoma Research Program (GBMRP), and Rare Cancer Research Program
While there is hope that the shutdown will be of very limited duration—possibly ending as soon as tomorrow—the outcome remains in political limbo at this moment.
This partial shutdown came after Congress passed a continuing resolution (CR) to end the last government shutdown this past fall. That CR, and the funding it provided, expired Friday at midnight. While both chambers of Congress—the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate—successfully passed several funding bills for various federal departments, the spending package (termed a “minibus”) that includes funding for programs and agencies within HHS and DoD was altered in the Senate—though importantly, the HHS and DoD portions remained intact—after having passed the House in January.
The minibus package includes policy “wins” for our community. Funding for the NIH, NCI, and the PRCRP would increase, while dedicated line-item funding for the GBMRP would be restored. NBTS and its network of advocates have been actively working to achieve these important successes. Further, the minibus also became the vehicle for a set of favorable health care policies, including two critical pediatric cancer bills—the Accelerating Kids’ Access to Care Act (AKACA) and the Give Kids a Chance Act (GKAC)—as well as a two-year extension of Medicare telehealth flexibilities and other priority provisions for NBTS and our advocates.
This package had been poised to sail through the Senate on a bipartisan basis last week—before the January 30 funding deadline—but became stuck as the parties debated how to proceed with the contentious funding bill for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
As a path forward, the Senate separated out the DHS bill and then passed the remaining spending measures together, including those for HHS and DoD. Because the Senate-passed package differed from what the House had passed, that chamber must now consider and ratify the Senate’s version. However, the House was out of session last week (meaning most representatives were back in their home districts throughout the U.S.) and therefore was unable to act before the Friday midnight deadline, resulting in the shutdown.
The House reconvened today and is expected to begin consideration of the new package as early as this evening. However, the intensity of the debate around DHS does not ensure swift adoption or a quick end to the shutdown. It is our hope that the House will promptly pass the minibus containing its significant funding wins for HHS and DoD, along with the pediatric cancer bills that we and others worked so hard to secure, even as it buys more time to work out a deal on DHS. We are cautiously optimistic this will happen and will keep the community informed.
To learn more about the federal budget process and what implications shutdowns have for the brain tumor community, check out this previous Update from the Capital.
