The Senate is clearing its desk before recess. The Appropriations Committee moved to freeze OMB’s grants rewrite, the Finance Health Subcommittee delivered the biotech competitiveness hearing we previewed last week, Senate Agriculture released farm bill text that codifies a USDA biotechnology policy office, and the CDC has a confirmed director for the first time in a year. With Senate heading home for the rest of the month, Congress will be quiet before what is expected to be a busy Fall.
Senate CR Would Freeze OMB’s Grants Rewrite Through December 11: Senate appropriators released continuing resolution text on August 2 that would fund the government through December 11. Included within is language temporarily pausing implementation of OMB’s revisions to federal grant funding rules. The proposal, which MassBio submitted comment in strong opposition, would require pre-issuance review of discretionary grants by political appointees, expand authority to terminate active awards, and restrict allowable costs including publication and open-access fees. Chairwoman Collins highlighted the provision in releasing the bill. The House version did not include similar language so the the difference has to be resolved before anything reaches the President’s desk. MassBio will remain engaged on this issue in support of the early-stage researchers developing the next generation of breakthroughs.
Finance Health Subcommittee Holds Hearing on Biotech Resilience: Chairman Todd Young (R-IN) and Ranking Member Maggie Hassan (D-NH) used the August 4 hearing to tie China’s biopharmaceutical ascent and the antimicrobial resistance crisis to a single weakness: American science leads at discovery and falls short at translation. Alan Palkowitz of the Indiana Biosciences Research Institute testified that federally funded discoveries are routinely too advanced for academic funding, too early for industry, and too risky for private capital, and that investor appetite for AI is pulling money further from early-stage biotech. He called BIOSECURE a necessary defensive measure and pressed for a complementary offensive strategy built on translational infrastructure, regional hubs, workforce, domestic biomanufacturing, and federal risk-reduction incentives. NSCEB Vice Chair Michelle Rozo reported that multinationals signed more than 150 licensing deals with Chinese biotechs last year worth over $135 billion, close to triple the prior record, and recommended roughly $1 billion in strategic capital to de-risk technologies. On AMR, Kevin Outterson of Boston University, who directs CARB-X, shared that of the eleven small companies that brought an FDA-approved antibiotic to market over the past decade, all nine with meaningful time on the market went bankrupt or its economic equivalent. Senator Cassidy also warned that pulling small biotech into IRA negotiation in 2028 will impair the sector’s ability to raise capital.
Senate Farm Bill Codifies a USDA Office of Biotechnology Policy: Chairman John Boozman (R-AR) released revised text for the Agricultural Act of 2026 last week. Section 10211 of the nearly 1,000 page draft legislation establishes an Office of Biotechnology Policy at USDA, directing it to coordinate departmental policy on biotechnology, biomanufacturing, synthetic biology, and related emerging technologies across research, extension, regulation, labeling, and commercialization, and to coordinate with EPA and FDA. The office is funded at $1 million per year through 2031. The House-passed bill carries the same office, and both derive from the Padilla-Young Agricultural Biotechnology Coordination Act, an NSCEB recommendation intended to consolidate biotechnology work currently spread across multiple USDA agencies. Bicameral inclusion means the provision should survive conference. The inclusion of this office is another reminder of how biotechnology is increasingly factoring into priorities across Congress and the Federal government.
Schwartz Confirmed as CDC Director: The Senate confirmed Dr. Erica Schwartz 51-44 on August 5, largely along party lines, with Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA) joining Republicans. She is the agency’s first Senate-confirmed permanent director in nearly a year and succeeds Jay Bhattacharya, who had been running CDC while also serving as NIH Director. CDC has lacked permanent leadership since August 2025, when Secretary Kennedy removed Susan Monarez 29 days into her tenure following a dispute over independent review of advisory panel vaccine guidance. Schwartz holds medical, law, and public health degrees and served as deputy surgeon general in the first Trump administration, previously as a Navy physician and chief medical officer of the Coast Guard. Chairman Cassidy supported her after initially questioning her independence; Ranking Member Sanders opposed, arguing she was not prepared to push back on the Secretary.
