What Happened in the Senate Today: Votes, Bills, and Nominations

Here is what happened in the Senate today, Thursday, December 11, 2025: two Democratic health care bills failed to clear the 60-vote cloture threshold, a bipartisan 75-22 vote opened debate on the annual defense authorization bill, senators adopted a resolution setting up a package vote on executive and judicial nominations, and more than a dozen other bills passed by unanimous consent. Cloture was filed on the defense bill and several nominations, pointing the chamber toward a busy Monday.

The Four Roll Call Votes

Two cloture motions on health care legislation failed on identical 51-48 tallies. S. 3385, the Lower Health Care Costs Act, would have extended the enhanced Affordable Care Act premium tax credits through 2028, lowering out-of-pocket costs for marketplace enrollees.¹ Cloture requires 60 votes, so 51 was not enough to break the filibuster and bring the bill to the floor. A companion cloture vote on S. 3386 fell short by the same 51-48 margin along the same partisan lines.²

The Senate then adopted S.Res. 532 by a 52-47 vote. The resolution does not confirm anyone. It authorizes the chamber to consider a large slate of executive and judicial nominations together as a single package at a future session, in place of individual roll calls for each nominee.²

The fourth recorded vote was the day’s most bipartisan. Senators voted 75-22 on the motion to proceed to the House message on S. 1071, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2026.³ Majority Leader Thune then filed cloture on the motion to concur in the House amendment, scheduling the next test vote for Monday evening.

Bills Passed Without Objection

Between roll calls, senators cleared a large batch of legislation by unanimous consent. A few of these matter directly to the public.

Disaster Tax Relief

H.R. 1491, the Disaster Related Extension of Deadlines Act, passed after being discharged from the Finance Committee. It closes two gaps in how the IRS treats taxpayers in federally declared disaster areas. It aligns the deadline for IRS payment demand letters with the postponed payment deadline, so victims are not penalized while still inside their extended window. It also makes the postponement period count toward the lookback period for claiming missed refunds and credits, preserving the full three years after the extended deadline to file. The President signed the bill on December 26, 2025.⁴

VA Acquisition Reform

S. 1591, the Acquisition Reform and Cost Assessment Act of 2025, passed with an amendment. It reorganizes procurement at the Department of Veterans Affairs and creates a new Director of Cost Assessment and Program Evaluation who reports directly to the VA Secretary, tasked with independent oversight of major acquisition programs and their budgets.⁵

Tribal Land and Water Bills

Three tribal measures cleared without objection. H.R. 165, the Wounded Knee Massacre Memorial and Sacred Site Act, directs the Interior Secretary to place certain South Dakota land into restricted fee status for the Oglala Sioux Tribe and the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe; the President signed it on December 19, 2025.⁶ H.R. 504, the Miccosukee Reserved Area Amendments Act, would have expanded protections for structures within the Osceola Camp in Everglades National Park; the President vetoed it on December 26, 2025.⁷ S. 240 makes improvements to the Crow Tribe Water Rights Settlement Act of 2010.⁸

Other Bills

The Senate also passed S. 390, S. 546, S. 610, S. 620, S. 621, S. 622, S. 640 (with an amendment on investment earnings), S. 642, S. 719, S. 723, S. 766, and S. 1744 by unanimous consent.²

Nominations Queued Up

Along with the S.Res. 532 slate, cloture was filed on two individual nominations: Jared Isaacman to be Administrator of NASA and Douglas Weaver to be a Member of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.⁹ Those votes are not expected Monday, but cloture will ripen for later action.

What’s Next

The Senate reconvenes at 3:00 p.m. on Monday, December 15. The deadline to file first-degree amendments to the NDAA is 4:00 p.m. At about 5:30 p.m., senators will vote on cloture on the motion to concur in the House amendment to S. 1071, a 60-vote threshold.⁹

1
Congressional Budget Office. Estimated Budgetary Effects of S. 3385, the Lower Health Care Costs Act
2
United States Senate. Senate Floor Activity – Thursday, December 11, 2025
3
Congress.gov. S. 1071 – National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2026
4
Taxpayer Advocate Service. A Win for Taxpayers: Disaster Related Extension of Deadlines Act
5
U.S. Government Publishing Office. S. 1591 (ES) – Acquisition Reform and Cost Assessment Act of 2025
6
The White House. Congressional Bill H.R. 165 Signed into Law
7
The White House. Congressional Bill H.R. 504 Vetoed
8
Congress.gov. S. 240 – 119th Congress
9
The Senate Democratic Caucus. Schedule for Monday, December 15, 2025