Lawmakers are returning to Capitol Hill today to a busy legislative schedule as well as a chaotic political environment due to the fallout from President Trump’s executive order issued on Friday suspending the nation’s refugee program and temporarily barring visitors from seven Muslim-majority countries. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said over the weekend that the minority party will introduce legislation to overturn the President’s orders and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) is organizing a protest to be held outside of the Supreme Court tonight. A few Senate Republicans have also expressed their concerns with the order, including foreign policy hawks Sens. Lindsay Graham (R-SC) and John McCain (R-AZ), but Democrats will need the support of a dozen Republican senators in order to advance any legislation to the Republican-dominated House.
Month: January 2017
Health Policy Report
The Week in Review
President Trump’s first week in office was marked by a flurry of executive orders filling some of his most prominent campaign promises, including measures to begin construction of a wall along the nation’s southern border, put a four-month hold on allowing refugees into the United States, and temporarily ban travelers from Syria and six other Muslim-majority countries from entering the country. Those moves have all been met with bitter resistance from Democrats, particularly the travel ban, which was partly halted by a federal judge in an emergency ruling over the weekend.
Financial Services Report
Looking Ahead
Near Term
- A short week in the House as Republicans leave on Wednesday for their Caucus retreat.
- The Senate will continue to move through the nominations process with votes scheduled for Mike Pompeo (R-KS) for CIA Director as well as numerous committee votes for those who have had hearings.
- The Trump administration is expected to start kicking things into a higher gear on Monday, with a slew of executive orders expected to be signed. Rumors continue to swirl that one of those orders will be a delay of the Department of Labor’s Fiduciary Rule.
Health Policy Report
The Week in Review
After taking the oath of office on Friday, Donald Trump is officially the 45th president of the United States, turning the page on the mostly gridlock-ridden two terms of former President Barack Obama and ushering in a unified Republican government. While Trump did not mention health reform in his inaugural address, he signed an executive order that night that aims to give federal agencies the authority to waive parts of the law they deem to be too expensive, among other changes. But it's unclear exactly how much additional power the order really gives agencies.
Financial Services Report
Our Take
One looking for a juxtaposition that may shed some light on the current state of world events needs not look any further than this week which starts with the commencement of the World Economic Forum in Davos and concludes with the inauguration of Donald Trump as the 45th President of the United States. As has been reported, the exclusive attendees at Davos need to take a good look into their echo chamber to determine if their love of open markets and globalization has sown the seeds of the populist “revolutions” that sprung up in 2017. Whether the reports of the demise of the western world order are real or greatly exaggerated, this new administration is certainly going to do things differently. Perhaps the thread the combines these two divergent events is that no matter how much things seem like they are changing, they really are just the same.
Health Policy Report
The Week in Review
As Donald Trump prepares to take the oath of office, his incoming administration was rattled by the publishing of an unverified document alleging Russia had compromising material on him. The contents of the document were reportedly shared with Trump during his briefing with U.S. intelligence officials the week prior. Trump denied the dossier's validity during his first news conference since being elected, but did say he believes Russia was involved in the hacks of the 2016 election. Trump also provided more information on how he would hand over control of his businesses to his adult sons, but would not fully divest. He also again refused to release his tax returns, saying he would not as long as he was under audit.
Health Policy Report
The Week in Review
The inception of the 115th Congress was marked by controversy last Tuesday, after a day typically reserved for the pomp and circumstance of swearing new Members of Congress into office quickly devolved into a firestorm over a rules change that would have gutted the independent Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE). Rank-and-file members of the Republican caucus, led by Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-VA), overruled the party’s leadership in proposing the change, which would have limited the OCE’s powers and placed it beneath the authority of the Republican-controlled House Ethics Committee. The move was quickly reversed after Democrats successfully rallied public opinion and the Republican party standard bearer, President-elect Donald Trump, criticized the change as a poor use of Congress’s time.
Today on the Hill: ACA Repeal Debate Begins; House to Counter Obama on Regs, Israel
The Senate made its opening move in the repeal process of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) yesterday, voting 51-48 to begin fifty hours of debate on a budget resolution (S. Con. Res. 3) that will direct relevant committees to craft a budget reconciliation bill including the language necessary to dismantle the 2010 health care reform law. Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) broke with his party voting against the resolution, citing concerns that the repeal plan without a viable replacement would add to the federal debt. Debate on the resolution will likely spill into next week, which will then lead into a vote-a-rama on an open-ended number of amendments that Democrats can use as a means to slow down the process.
Health Policy Report
The Week in Review
No major legislative stories broke during the holidays, but political observers continue to monitor the presidential transition process as President-elect Donald Trump prepares to take office on Jan. 20. Over the break, Trump sent mixed messages about the transition, claiming in comments to the press that it was going “smoothly,” but then tweeting that the Obama White House was creating obstacles for the incoming administration. Look for President Obama to give his impression of the incoming administration in farewell remarks on Jan. 10.