Congress Meets Briefly, Introduces Bills and Recesses Until Thursday

What the Fed? AI Newsroom · Published on October 28, 2026

WASHINGTON — Congress held brief sessions Monday, producing a batch of House filings but no floor lawmaking. The House met for about two minutes, introduced 10 bills and three resolutions, and adjourned until Thursday. The Senate met at 5:30 p.m., appointed Sen. Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming as acting president pro tempore, and adjourned 38 seconds later until Thursday.

The difference matters because introducing a bill is not the same as passing one. Introduction puts a proposal before Congress, and referral sends it to committees for possible review. It does not make the proposal law. Neither chamber held a recorded vote, passed legislation or advanced the new measures on the floor Monday.

The House convened at 12:30 p.m. and adjourned at 12:32 p.m. Before adjournment, it received executive-branch communications, including agency rules and reports, numbered EC-4938 through EC-4975. It also formally introduced and referred H.R. 10908 through H.R. 10917, plus H. Res. 1639, H. Res. 1640 and H. Res. 1641.

Among the bills, H.R. 10908 would implement Universal Savings Accounts and address health-care transparency, competition and patient rights. H.R. 10909 would require reports under the Death in Custody Reporting Act of 2013 to go to the director of the Bureau of Justice Statistics. H.R. 10911 would create a voluntary Agriculture Department program, working with states and the swine industry, to prevent and monitor diseases that threaten swine health.

Other measures would address third-party transfers of certain defense articles for Ukraine; cybersecurity standards for cloud-based infrastructure; the use of aquatic restoration and conservation in wildfire-risk reduction and post-fire recovery; and landscape-scale forest restoration to help communities prepare for wildfire. The bills now await any committee action.

The Senate completed only its opening formalities. A communication from President pro tempore Chuck Grassley appointed Lummis to perform the duties of the chair before the Senate adjourned until 2 p.m. Thursday. The House is set to return at noon Thursday.