S. 2257 explained · 119th Congress · Pending in Congress
Legislative Branch Appropriations Act, 2026
Cosponsors: none · per Congress.gov, 2026-10-11
Introduced: 2025-07-10
Latest action (2025-07-10): Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 113.
What S. 2257 does, in plain terms
Legislative Branch Appropriations Act, 2026 This bill provides FY2026 appropriations for the legislative branch, including the Senate and joint items such as the Joint Economic Committee, the Joint Committee on Taxation, the Office of the Attending Physician, and the Office of Congressional Accessibility Services. In addition, the bill provides FY2026 appropriations for the Capitol Police; the Office of Congressional Workplace Rights; the Congressional Budget Office; the Architect of the Capitol; the Library of Congress, including the Congressional Research Service and the Copyright Office; the Government Publishing Office; the Government Accountability Office; the Congressional Office for International Leadership Fund; and the John C. Stennis Center for Public Service Training and Development. (Pursuant to the longstanding practice of each chamber of Congress determining its own requirements, funds for the House are not included in the Senate bill.) The bill also sets forth requirements and restrictions for using funds provided by this bill.
Official summary by the Congressional Research Service, via Congress.gov.
Constitution Index
“VFA Constitution grade”
Constitutionally sound
Graded 2026-10-11
SI-generated grade · five published checks · not individually reviewed by a person · methodology
The Legislative Branch Appropriations Act, 2026, funds the internal operations of Congress, an authority explicitly granted by the Constitution. It does not infringe on any enumerated rights, respects individual sovereignty, and appropriately operates at the federal level for federal legislative functions. The bill's exclusion of House funds respects each chamber's constitutional authority over its own proceedings.
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✓ Passes · Enumerated powers
Article I, Section 8, Clause 18 grants Congress the power to make all laws necessary and proper for carrying into execution its enumerated powers. Funding the legislative branch is a necessary incident of the legislative power vested in Congress by Article I, Section 1. The bill appropriates funds for the Senate and joint legislative branch agencies, all of which support Congress's constitutional … -
✓ Passes · Bill of Rights
The bill does not regulate speech, religion, assembly, press, petition, arms, quartering, searches, seizures, self-incrimination, due process, takings, trial rights, or cruel and unusual punishment. It is a routine appropriations measure that imposes no restrictions on the rights protected by the first ten amendments. -
✓ Passes · Individual sovereignty
The bill does not restrict the person, property, speech, labor, or belief of any individual. It merely allocates funds for the operation of the legislative branch. No individual is compelled to act or refrain from acting, and no property is taken or regulated. -
✓ Passes · Decentralization
The bill funds the federal legislative branch, a function that inherently requires federal action. An individual, local community, or state cannot fund the United States Congress. The action does not consolidate decision-making upward; it is the federal government exercising its own constitutional authority. -
✓ Passes · Due process and takings
The bill does not deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, nor does it take private property for public use. It imposes no penalties, no adjudicative procedures, and no confiscations. It is a straightforward appropriations bill that does not implicate the Due Process or Takings Clauses of the Fifth Amendment.
Sources: Congress.gov: S 2257 summary
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