Capital Alpha Partners Capital Alpha Outlook The Week Ahead from Washington September 8, 2026

THE WEEK AHEAD FROM WASHINGTON September 8, 2026

Capital Alpha Outlook Rich Linville

Courtney Oldham A cross-sector sampling of developments we are tracking. Please be in touch for more detailed analysis. Paul Murray

Please join our team tomorrow, September 9, at 10 AM ET / 3 PM BST for a RELATED RESEARCH discussion of the policy issues and catalysts to watch this fall (registration link), Capital Alpha Outlook including: August 24, 2026

James Lucier (Midterm Elections): How AI and Data Centers are Ripping Through Capital Alpha Outlook August 17, 2026 the Political Landscape

Ian Katz (Financials): Warsh and the Fed, Clarity and crypto regulations, Capital Alpha Outlook August 10, 2026 upcoming bank rules

Kim Monk and Rob Smith (Health Care): Chinese biotechs, health reg watch, FDA Capital Alpha Outlook August 03, 2026 commissioner; demos; outlook for post-election legislation

Robert Kaminski (Tech, Media, & Telecom): Privacy and AI legislation, FCC commissioner changes, deregulation and M&A

Byron Callan (Defense & Industrials): Middle East and Ukraine Wars, FY27 DoD budget, and other factors shaping defense

James Lucier and Bridget DiCosmo (Energy & Power): Permitting reform prospects; Venezuela oil, RFS/SREs, and Trump's efforts to lower oil prices

If you’d like to attend but cannot, please register, and we’ll share the replay afterwards.

Clarity Not Getting Help The Clarity Act, already facing an uphill struggle, will have to deal with another setback. The House’s apparent decision to cut the September session short essentially guarantees that a bill won’t reach the president’s desk before the midterm elections. Our odds that the bill becomes law this year are now below 20%.

SEC Moves Capital Alpha Partners, LLC / 600 Pennsylvania Ave. SE / Suite 220 / Washington, DC 20003 1 of 5

SEC Moves The SEC has submitted for OMB approval a proposal that would “better facilitate retail investor exposure to private markets” and “allow investment advisers to charge performance fees to an expanded set of clients.” That follows an SEC proposal on crypto custody. And the agency is also taking on proxy advisory firm ISS.

CFTC Scoffs at CME’s Perps Lawsuit The CFTC asked a judge to throw out CME’s lawsuit against the agency’s treatment of perpetuals, saying the exchange has no standing because it hasn’t demonstrated financial harm from the CFTC’s approval of Kalshi’s bitcoin perpetuals contract.

Health Care – Kim Monk and Rob Smith

Congress Checks Out; Health Bills To Watch in Lame Duck With both the House and Senate expected to shorten their legislative schedules ahead of the midterm election, several incremental health transparency and affordability measures will likely slip to the lame-duck session, where their fate could depend on the outcome of the election.

Trump’s New Pharma Deals The deals with mid-sized pharmas will presumably entitle them to the same exemptions from industry tariffs and Medicare drug pricing demos that have yet to be finalized or applied.

Appropriations Committee Dems Target NIH-DOD Agreement House and Senate appropriations committee leaders DeLauro (D-CT) and Murray (D-WA) allege that a recently exposed agreement between NIH's NIAID and the DOD to shift up to $2b in NIH funding to DOD research is a backdoor way to help finance the Iran war.

House Committee Eyes No Surprises Act Fix; Pallone Launches IDR Investigation The House W&Ms Committee is eyeing some fixes to the troubled No Surprises Act IDR process, but legislative action is unlikely this year.

Survey Says: Employer Health Benefit Costs Rising Well Past Projections Employers name the No Surprises Act, GLP-1s, AI, and provider consolidation among the cost pressures associated with the projected 8.2-9.5% increase for 2027, the fourth consecutive year of near double-digit increases in health benefit costs.

ICHRA Rebranded to CHOICE Arrangements Per a September 3 announcement by CMS Administrator Oz, CMS has rebranded Individual Coverage Health Reimbursement Accounts (ICHRA) to Custom Health Option and Individual Care Expense Arrangements (CHOICE Arrangements) in an effort to better promote the model, especially for small businesses.

Telecom, Media & Technology – Robert Kaminski