Month: October 2015

The Week in Review

 Legislative action last week was highlighted by ongoing deliberation on how to raise the nation’s debt limit by a November 3 deadline – the date the Treasury Department has determined the country’s borrowing capacity will be exceeded. House Republicans have been deliberating on a solution and considered a proposal last week from the Republican Study Committee (RSC) that would link a $1.5 trillion increase in the borrowing authority with a freeze on all major regulations through July 1, 2017, and a vote on a balanced budget amendment by the end of 2015. However on Thursday, House Republicans backed away from the RSC plan, and a clear path forward has yet to emerge. The issue is expected to dominate discourse in Congress this week as the country slowly inches towards default and the financial turmoil that would likely accompany it. 

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This post, penned by Thorn Run's Billy Wynne, originally appeared in Health Affairs Blog.

In a previous post—now almost one and a half years ago—I described “the coming storm” I anticipated would develop around the 340B drug discount program. After a brief tornado hit the House Energy and Commerce Committee when they considered including 340B reforms in their 21st Century Cures initiative, a slower, hurricane-style churn over the Administration’s proposed guidance on the topic has settled in.

With the October 27 comment window steadily approaching, let’s take a look at what the rule says and what it could mean for interested stakeholders.

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The Week in Review
 
The House and Senate were in a week-long recess for the Columbus Day holiday last week. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has scheduled the Senate to return this afternoon at 4:00 PM and the House is set to return tomorrow morning.

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The Week in Review 

Legislative action in Congress last week was overshadowed by the surprising announcement from Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) that he would no longer seek to be Speaker of the House John Boehner’s (R-OH) successor. While McCarthy’s decision caught most observers by surprise, it can be, at least partially, explained by to two key factors. First, the Republican Conference was voting on a rules change that would force candidates for leadership positions within the party to give up their previously held position, meaning that if McCarthy pursued the Speakership, he would be forced out as Majority Leader. Second, even if McCarthy won the majority of votes from the Republican Conference, it is unlikely that he would have secured the 218 votes necessary to be elected as Speaker on the House floor in a vote due later this month – Democratic abstention and opposition from the more conservative members of the Republican caucus would prevent him from reaching the necessary majority on the House floor. 

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The Week in Review

The showdown over government funding fizzled last week as Speaker John Boehner’s (R-OH) decision to step down cleared the way for a continuing resolution (CR) to pass through Congress and extend government funding through December 11, 2015. A “clean” CR—one devoid of a provision defunding Planned Parenthood—passed the Senate last Tuesday night by a vote  of 78-20 before passing the House by a vote of 277-151 on Wednesday afternoon, leaving the President just hours to sign the measure before funding expired at midnight. The House vote brought together a coalition of moderate Republicans and Democrats as many conservative lawmakers in the House voted against the bill due to the maintenance of funding for Planned Parenthood. While the passage of the CR avoids an embarrassing misstep for Congress, it may have just postponed the shutdown fight until mid-December when the stopgap measure expires.

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