This bill provides annual appropriations for the Legislative Branch for fiscal year 2026, allocating current-operation funds across House and joint entities and making specific payments to heirs of recently deceased Members. It also attaches a package of policy provisions that affect House operations and procurement: technology procurement bans tied to Chinese-related lists, limits on certain telecommunication and vehicle leases, rules for cybersecurity assistance to the House, and restrictions on workplace training and certain contractor awards.
Those riders convert an annual funding bill into an operational directive. They create new procurement and vendor exclusion rules for House offices, centralize some Capitol Police appointment authorities, require unused Members’ Representational Allowance balances to be deposited to the Treasury for deficit reduction, and repurpose existing revolving funds for childcare centers.
For compliance officers, contractors, and House administrative staff, the bill changes both what can be bought and how senior personnel are appointed or removed — so operational checklists, vendor inventories, and contracting practices will need review if this text is enacted.
At a Glance
What It Does
Appropriates FY2026 resources for the Legislative Branch and imposes multiple operational limitations and authorities: procurement prohibitions for specified telecommunications and video surveillance equipment, a $1,000/month cap on leased vehicles for Members’ allowances, a requirement to remit any unspent Members’ Representational Allowance to the Treasury for deficit reduction, and new personnel authority changes for Capitol Police senior roles.
Who It Affects
House offices (Members, leadership, committees), Capitol Police and Architect of the Capitol operations, Library of Congress/Copyright Office/CRS, the Government Publishing Office and GAO, and vendors of telecommunications/video-surveillance equipment — particularly manufacturers or affiliates tied to Chinese entities named in Federal lists.
Why It Matters
The bill pairs routine legislative-branch funding with substantive policy levers that change acquisition rules, limit certain trainings, and alter internal governance. That combination creates immediate compliance obligations for procurement, changes senior Capitol Police appointment procedures, and sets a precedent for using appropriations to enforce supply‑chain and programmatic policy in the legislative branch.
More articles like this one.
A weekly email with all the latest developments on this topic.
What This Bill Actually Does
The Appropriations portion of the bill funds operations across the House, joint congressional entities, the Library of Congress, the Government Publishing Office, the Capitol Police, and other legislative offices. It contains routine line items—salaries and expenses, committee budgets, building operations, and directed program money for things like intern allowances, the Veterans History Project, and specific modernization projects.
Operational appropriations include funds with multi-year availability for specified capital and modernization activities.
Embedded in the bill are several operational rules that offices must apply on top of annual spending authority. One requires unspent Members’ Representational Allowances for FY2026 to be deposited into the Treasury and applied to deficit reduction (or debt reduction if no deficit exists).
Another places a monthly cap on amounts from representational allowances that may be used to lease a vehicle for a Member (excluding mobile district offices). The bill also widens permissible uses of a congressional child care revolving fund to cover telecommunications costs for the center and salaries for assistant directors.The bill creates two overlapping sets of procurement restrictions.
A House-specific provision bars Members, committees, officers, and employees from buying certain ‘‘covered information technology equipment’’—defined narrowly to include computers, printers, and interoperable videoconferencing devices—when the manufacturer or related parent/subsidiary appears on designated DOD, Treasury, Commerce, or DHS lists. Separately, a broader provision (with staggered effective dates) prohibits agencies, offices, or entities from using appropriated funds to procure or contract for equipment, systems, or services that rely on covered telecommunications or video-surveillance equipment (with limited exceptions and a one-time waiver process tied to a documented phase-out plan).Other notable non‑appropriations mechanics: the bill mandates that any federal entity helping the House with cybersecurity must apply minimization procedures to preserve privileged House or Member information; it prohibits use of funds for certain kinds of diversity, equity, and inclusion training that endorse ‘‘divisive concepts’’ about race or sex; it prevents incentive/award payments to Architect of the Capitol contractors who are behind schedule or over budget except in narrow circumstances; and it centralizes appointment/termination authorities for several senior Capitol Police and related positions, requiring Board approval for certain designations and making those positions serve at the pleasure of the Chief and Capitol Police Board.
The Five Things You Need to Know
Sec. 110 requires any amounts remaining in Members’ Representational Allowances after FY2026 payments be deposited into the Treasury and used for deficit reduction (or to reduce federal debt if no deficit remains).
Sec. 111 caps the amount available from a Member’s representational allowance for leasing a vehicle (excluding mobile district offices) at $1,000 per vehicle per month.
Sec. 115 prohibits House Members, committees, officers, and employees from procuring covered information technology equipment (computers, printers, interoperable videoconferencing devices) manufactured or controlled by entities appearing on specified DOD, Treasury, Commerce, or DHS lists; cloud services are explicitly excluded from that definition.
Sec. 209 establishes a broader legislative-branch prohibition on use of appropriated funds to procure covered telecommunications or video-surveillance equipment or to contract with entities that use it; the prohibition takes effect for direct procurements in FY2026 and for contracts with entities that use such equipment beginning in FY2027 and includes a one-time waiver process (up to two years) requiring a phase‑out plan.
Sec. 117 changes appointment and termination mechanics for Capitol Police senior staff: certain Assistant/Deputy Chief, Chief Administrative Officer, and General Counsel roles now require Capitol Police Board approval for designation and serve at the pleasure of the Chief and Board.
Section-by-Section Breakdown
Every bill we cover gets an analysis of its key sections.
Unused Members’ Allowances must fund deficit reduction
This provision limits the availability of Members’ Representational Allowances to FY2026 and directs any leftover balances after FY2026 obligations to the Treasury for deficit reduction (or debt reduction if no deficit exists). The Committee on House Administration is authorized to issue implementing regulations. Practically, offices must close out their MRA ledgers for the fiscal year and coordinate with House administrative accounts to ensure remittance of any residual funds.
Cap of $1,000/month on leased vehicles from MRAs
The bill bars the Chief Administrative Officer from using Members’ Representational Allowance funds to lease vehicles that cost more than $1,000 per vehicle per month in aggregate — mobile district offices are excluded. This creates a hard procurement cost ceiling for vehicles paid from MRAs and requires offices that use leased vehicles to verify monthly lease charges against the cap.
Cybersecurity assistance must respect House privilege
Federal entities providing cybersecurity help to the House must take steps to preserve the constitutional separation of the branches and apply minimization measures to limit the spread or sharing of privileged House and Member information. Operationally, this requires written protocols with third‑party or agency cyber teams, strict data segregation, and agreed minimization rules before assistance is accepted.
House-specific ban on certain covered IT equipment
This section prohibits House Members, committees, officers, and employees from procuring covered information technology equipment (computers, printers, interoperable videoconferencing equipment) whose manufacturer or parent/subsidiary is listed on specified Defense, Treasury, Commerce, or DHS lists, including the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act list. The text excludes cloud services from the definition of covered equipment and applies to contracts entered into by the House. Offices must update vendor approval processes and product inventories to conform.
Broad procurement prohibition on covered telecommunications and video surveillance equipment
This provision, applicable to agencies, offices, and entities, bars obligating appropriated funds to procure equipment, systems, or services that use covered telecommunications or video‑surveillance equipment (naming Huawei, ZTE, Hytera, Hikvision, Dahua, and a catch‑all for entities tied to a foreign adversary). It also bars contracts with entities that use such equipment. The prohibition phases in (procurements in FY2026; contracts with entities using such equipment in FY2027) and creates a one-time waiver path of up to two years if the requester submits a documented phase‑out plan and compelling justification. Grant and loan programs must prioritize support to help affected recipients transition away from covered technologies.
Amendments to long-term lease rules
The bill amends section 303(f) of the Energy Policy Act of 1992 to remove a discrete carve-out that had treated the House differently for certain long-term lease acquisitions. The change applies to FY2026 and beyond and may tighten or standardize approval and reporting requirements for long-term leases involving legislative entities.
Capitol Police senior appointment and termination authority
Multiple statutory provisions are revised so that certain senior Capitol Police positions (Assistant Chiefs, Deputy Chiefs, the Chief Administrative Officer reporting to the Chief, and the General Counsel) serve at the pleasure of the Chief of the Capitol Police and the Capitol Police Board and require Board approval for designation. The change centralizes hiring/termination authority, affecting checks on executive staffing decisions and internal civil service practices.
Prohibition on certain diversity, equity, and inclusion training
The bill denies funding for any office, program, or activity that uses DEI training or implementation promoting so-called 'divisive concepts' related to race or sex—examples listed in the text include claims about inherent racial or sex-based superiority or determinations of moral character based on race or sex. Offices providing training will need to certify content compliance or reallocate funds to permissible programs.
No bonuses for contractors behind schedule or over budget
This administrative provision bars the Architect of the Capitol from paying incentive or award fees to contractors who are behind schedule or over budget, unless deviations are due to unforeseeable events, government-driven scope changes, or are immaterial to the project. Contract administration and award fee plans must be adjusted and documented to align with the new limitation.
This bill is one of many.
Codify tracks hundreds of bills on Government across all five countries.
Explore Government in Codify Search →Who Benefits and Who Bears the Cost
Every bill creates winners and losers. Here's who stands to gain and who bears the cost.
Who Benefits
- Designated heirs of deceased Members — the bill includes direct payments to named widows/heirs, providing one-time statutory compensation.
- Interns in House offices and committees — the bill funds multiple intern allowance pools and sets allocation rules (including absolute amounts allocated between majority and minority offices), preserving and specifying intern compensation availability for 2026.
- Capitol Police — the bill provides substantial salary and general‑expense funding increases, authorizes retention and recruitment incentives, and secures training and mutual aid reimbursement lines, supporting hiring and retention efforts.
- Library of Congress, Copyright Office, and Congressional Research Service — the bill directs multi-year and project-specific funds for modernization, digitization (including Veterans History Project), teaching programs, and modernization initiatives that these entities can use to upgrade systems and public access.
- House administrative offices — the carve-outs expanding uses of the Child Care Center revolving fund and funding for Business Continuity, transition activities, and House modernization provide operational flexibility and new resources.
Who Bears the Cost
- Vendors and manufacturers named or tied to Chinese-affiliated lists — explicit procurement bans and expanded prohibitions will remove these suppliers from many legislative branch contracts and limit downstream contracting opportunities.
- House offices that rely on current vendor ecosystems — offices must audit equipment inventories (computers, printers, videoconferencing hardware), replace prohibited devices, and potentially incur transition costs if their vendors are affected.
- Contracting and administrative teams — the new waiver, phase‑out, and minimization requirements impose new documentation, compliance, and reporting burdens across procurement, cybersecurity, and grant/loan programs.
- Members’ offices — the requirement that leftover MRAs be deposited to the Treasury reduces any ability to carry unspent representational funds forward as informal cushions and may sharpen year‑end spending races or create administrative frictions.
- Architect of the Capitol contractors — the ban on incentive payments for behind-schedule or over-budget work reduces contractor upside on poorly performing projects and may change contractor pricing and claims strategies.
Key Issues
The Core Tension
The central dilemma is balancing security, fiscal discipline, and control against operational flexibility and the separation-of-powers norms of congressional operations: the bill uses annual appropriations to enforce supply‑chain and personnel policies designed to reduce security risks and federal spending exposure, but those same measures constrain how congressional offices procure, operate, and staff themselves — creating implementation headaches, potential legal friction, and a heavier compliance burden for offices that must both execute legislative work and now follow detailed procurement and governance directives.
The bill tightly couples appropriations with content-heavy operational rules, which raises multiple implementation questions. The procurement prohibitions rely on named federal lists and a catch-all for entities tied to 'foreign adversary countries.' That means procurement officers must build compliant product/contract inventories and determine whether parent/subsidiary relationships trigger exclusions — a nontrivial supply‑chain tracing task.
The separate House-only and broader agency-level prohibitions (with differing effective dates and definitions) could create enforcement inconsistencies between House procurement practices and other legislative branch or federal office activities.
The cybersecurity assistance language requires external entities to apply minimization procedures to preserve privileged House or Member information. In practice, defining what qualifies as privileged, implementing technical minimization, and auditing third‑party access to logs and backups will require formal agreements and likely new access controls.
The centralization of appointment authority for Capitol Police senior posts increases the Chief and Board’s control but reduces the previous consultation model; that can streamline decisions but risks politicizing otherwise careerized functions. Finally, provisions that limit certain DEI trainings and bar contractor incentive payments introduce programmatic risk: training programs will need content reviews against statutory criteria, and AOC contractors may shift contract pricing to account for reduced award fees.
Try it yourself.
Ask a question in plain English, or pick a topic below. Results in seconds.