Essential Advocacy Points for January 2026

Congress is back in Washington D.C. following the holiday season. Lawmakers have turned their attention to the FY 26 budget with only a short window before the current Continuing Resolution (C.R.). expires on January 30^th and February, when we typically expect to see both the President’s State of the Union Address and the White House’s budget proposal for FY 27.  

• Appropriations Chairs in the House and Senate (Rep. Tom Cole R-OK and Sen. Susan Collins R-ME) have agreed on topline numbers for the total government funding bill. 

• Appropriations staff are now deep into their negotiations as Government Funding is set to expire January 30th.  

• Appropriators will divide the 12 total appropriations bills into several smaller packages of bills (minibus bills). 

• Congress is considering the first grouping of those bills which contain less contested funding accounts. 

• We could see the THUD bill make it into one of the later groupings of bills. We’ve heard rumors that the bill could come out this Sunday. 

• NAHRO is expecting the THUD bill to align more closely with the Senate FY26 THUD proposal, which called for more funding than both the White House and House of Representatives proposals. 

• Congress’ behavior indicates that a shutdown at the end of January is unlikely. (neither side wants a shutdown during an election year). 

• We may see another short-term Continuing Resolution if additional time is needed to pass the THUD appropriations bill beyond the January 30th deadline. 

NAHRO on the Hill 

NAHRO has been on the Hill for affordable housing related events on both the House and Senate sides. 

• Tuesday Jan. 13: Spotlight Forum with HUD Whistleblowers hosted by the Senate Banking Housing and Urban Affairs Committee (Minority Staff) to discuss the dismantling of fair housing and civil rights enforcement at HUD. 

• Wednesday Jan. 14: Housing Affordability Roundtable hosted by the New Democrat Coalition (group of 115 center-left House Democrats focused on bipartisan, pragmatic policymaking). 

Looking Ahead 

Feb. 24 State of the Union: The White House typically releases their FY 27 Proposal around this time. The White House sends their proposal to Congress (officially starting the FY 27 appropriations cycle). 

HUD Secretary Scott Turner will appear before the House Financial Services Committee on Jan. 21 in a HUD Oversight Hearing at 10 AM ET. This should provide some insight into how HUD has operated during the first full year of the Trump Administration’s second term and may be one of his last appearances before Congress before he returns to explain the Trump Administration’s FY 27 budget after the State of the Union.