Overturning the HHS Administrative Procedure Act Policy

Official title: A joint resolution providing for congressional disapproval under chapter 8 of title 5, United States Code, of the rule submitted by the Office of the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services relating to "Policy on Adhering to the Text of the Administrative Procedure Act".

What this does

This joint resolution would have overturned a Department of Health and Human Services rule titled Policy on Adhering to the Text of the Administrative Procedure Act, published on March 3, 2025. Using the Congressional Review Act, it states that Congress disapproves the rule and that the rule shall have no force or effect. The resolution rests on a Government Accountability Office letter of opinion, dated August 27, 2025 and printed in the Congressional Record on September 3, 2025, concluding that the policy statement is a rule under that Act. The Senate rejected it on a 50 to 50 tie, so the rule was not overturned.

Senate vote · 50-50

Democrats

45-0

Republicans

3-50

Independents

2-0

How we know · 5 sourced claims

Congress disapproves the rule submitted by the Office of the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services relating to Policy on Adhering to the Text of the Administrative Procedure Act, and that rule would have no force or effect.Source: Resolving clause
The rule was published on March 3, 2025.Source: Resolving clause (parenthetical)
The resolution acts under chapter 8 of title 5, United States Code, the Congressional Review Act.Source: Title and resolving clause
The resolution cites a Government Accountability Office letter of opinion dated August 27, 2025, printed in the Congressional Record on September 3, 2025 at pages S6003 to S6005, concluding that the policy statement is a rule under chapter 8 of title 5, United States Code.Source: Resolving clause (parenthetical)
The Senate did not pass the resolution. The recorded vote was 50 yeas to 50 nays.Source: Senate roll call, Record Vote 654, 2025-12-18, 50 to 50

Read the bill on congress.gov ↗

Reported lobbying

At least

organizations named this measure in a lobbying filing.

A floor, not a total. Those organizations were counted by the client name on 4 quarterly reports filed by 1 lobbying firm and by 2 organizations lobbying for themselves in 2025 Q4. The disclosure form takes a free text description of the issue, so an organization that lobbied this measure without naming it is not counted here.

The filings record that lobbying was reported on the measure. The form has no per-bill dollar figure and no field for a position (a filer may describe one in its own words), so nothing here says how much was spent or which side an organization took.

The organizations named

AMERICAN FEDERATION OF STATE COUNTY AND MUNICIPAL EMPLOYEES
NATIONAL WOMEN'S LAW CENTER ACTION FUND
NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF PEDIATRIC NURSE PRACTITIONERS

Listed as filed. They are every client name on the filings counted here.

From the LD-2 quarterly lobbying filings published at lda.gov by the Senate Office of Public Records. Read for 2025 Q1, 2025 Q2, 2025 Q3, 2025 Q4, 2026 Q1 and 2026 Q2. Our copy holds 2 fewer filings for 2025 Q4 and 7 fewer filings for 2026 Q2 than the Senate's register counts, so those quarters are the filings we could read rather than every one filed. 2026 Q3 is still inside its filing window, so that quarter is only the filings posted so far.

Your representatives

How did your member vote on this?

Senate roll call

The full roll call

R3-50D45-0I2-0

Position

Party

State