It would be understandable to have the impression that Congress is considering patent eligibility reform as the major (or even sole) patent-related legislation this session (see "Biotech Prospects for Patent Reform"; "What We Learned at Patent Reform Hearings"; "Senators Tillis and Coons Release Statement on Recent Patent Reform Hearings"; "Senate Subcommittee on Intellectual Property Holds Hearings on Proposed Revisions to 35 U.S.C. § 101"; "Senate Proposal for Section 101 Reform: Effect on Biotech/Pharma Inventions"; "Congress Proposes Draft Bill to Change 35 U.S.C. § 101"; and "Congress Releases Framework for Section 101 Reform").  That impression would be incorrect (see "FTC to the Rescue Regarding High Drug Prices and Patents"; "Even More Ill-Conceived Remedies from Congress Regarding Prescription Drug Costs"; "More Ill-conceived Remedies from Congress Regarding Prescription Drug Costs"; and "A Solution in Search of a Problem").  Another effort coming from the Subcommittee for Intellectual Property of the Senate Judiciary Committee (Sen. Tillis (R-NC), Chair, and Sen. Coons (D-DE), Ranking member) is the STRONGER Act (see "The STRONGER Patents Act of 2019: Weakening Post-Grant Proceedings"), a somewhat controversial attempt to mitigate the perceived inequities created by the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act.

The Subcommittee is holding hearings at 2:30 pm (ET) on Wednesday, September 11th in the Dirksen Senate Office Building, with a panel of witnesses comprising legal academics and patent counsel from (predominantly) high-tech industry representatives.  The hearings will be available for later viewing on the Subcommittee's website.

It is impossible (not to say foolhardy) to try to predict the fate of this or any of the patent-related bills percolating in the House of Representatives as well as the Senate.  While conventional wisdom counsels that Congressional consideration of patenting matters is both consistent with its proper role (after all, the Patent Clause is in Article I of the Constitution) and a welcome relief from judicial fiat regarding patents, the STRONGER Act (and the perceived need for it) just as strongly suggests that the patent community sometimes needs to be careful about what it collectively wishes for; after all, the AIA was the culmination of more than a decade of Congressional efforts to reform U.S. patent law and these efforts have had not entirely welcome consequences.  As always, the best advice for patent-savvy citizens is to contact your Congressional representatives, in each House.  At least you will know you did your part to change U.S. patent law for the better.