Our Take
Monday, May 29th, in addition to being Memorial Day would have been the 100th Birthday of President John F. Kennedy. As I was putting this week’s update together I may have scrolled through twitter a few times to procrastinate. I came across the following – which I am assuming is true, because you know, it’s on the Internet. According to historian Michael Beschloss, these were to be the final words of a speech that the President was to give in Austin Texas on November 22, 1963.
The Week in Review
Health care developments dominated most of the week, as the Trump Administration asked for a continued hold in the House v. Price case on cost-sharing payments, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released its latest score of the American Health Care Act (AHCA), and the White House released its proposed 2018 fiscal year budget outlining significant cuts to Medicaid and health research. Details on all of those developments are included in our health policy roundup below.
Both the House and Senate have completed their legislative business for the week and neither chamber is expected to convene again until after the Memorial Day recess. When the lower chamber returns, they will be joined by their newest member, Greg Gianforte, who won a special election for Montana’s at-large congressional seat last night. The election was held due to former Representative Ryan Zinke’s nomination to be Secretary of the Interior, and most observers expected for Republicans to hold on to the seat. However, a late controversy involving Gianforte physically assaulting a reporter gave Democratic challenger Rob Quist hope to pull off an upset in the deeply Republican state. Gianforte’s win – albeit by a relatively slim margin of six points – will give Republicans a sigh of relief as they look forward to the 2018 midterm elections. The next scheduled special election, set for June 20, is expected to be the most competitive; Republican Karen Handel and Democrat Jon Ossoff are locked in a close contest to replace Tom Price in Georgia’s 6th congressional district.
The Senate is expected to return on Monday, June 5, while the House is scheduled to reconvene the following day.
Jet fumes are in the air as lawmakers hope to finish their legislative business today and leave Washington tomorrow for a weeklong recess in honor of Memorial Day. The House will consider two measures pursuant to a rule today, both related to this week’s theme of protecting children from exploitation. One measure (H.R. 1973) would aim to prevent the sexual abuse of minors and amateur athletes by requiring individuals with knowledge to report abuse promptly, while another bill (H.R. 1761) would aim to produce more uniform criminal punishment for individuals who produce images of child abuse. Both bills were reported on voice vote out of the House Judiciary Committee. With only a pro forma session scheduled for tomorrow, votes on the two bills will likely be the last action for the lower chamber this week.
Continue reading “Today on the Hill: Congress to Wrap Up Work Before Memorial Day Recess”
Looking Ahead
Near Term
It’s budget day in Washington as the White House is expected to release its full spending proposal for the 2018 fiscal year. Many details of the budget have already leaked, outlining significant cuts to the Medicaid program, agriculture subsidies, and Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI), while continuing to increase the budget for defense and homeland security. The budget document also projects a balanced budget within 10 years, but that calculation relies upon economic growth figures that many economists believe to be unrealistic. Regardless, the budget has already been met with a cold shoulder on Capitol Hill, with Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn (R-TX) suggesting that the budget may be “dead on arrival” in Congress. Nevertheless, President Trump’s first full budget offers a glimpse into his Administration’s priorities in the coming years and will serve as a reference point for future spending considerations.
President Trump is on his first overseas trip this week – visiting the nations of Saudi Arabia, Israel, Vatican City, and Belgium – but the White House will still make domestic headlines with the expected release of its complete budget proposal for the 2018 fiscal year. The initial “skinny budget” outlined in March detailed significant cuts to domestic discretionary programs, most notably the budgets for the State Department and Environmental Protection Agency. The full budget, expected to be released tomorrow, will spark conversations on Capitol Hill, where some Republican lawmakers have expressed skepticism of the President’s plan to drastically reduce spending on bipartisan priorities, such as the National Institutes of Health. Regardless of the President’s proposal, however, Congress is well-behind schedule on the appropriations process for the 2018 fiscal year, which will likely necessitate the use of a stopgap solution this fall.
In an Inside Health Policy article published yesterday, Thorn Run Partners’ Senior Vice President Shea McCarthy weighed in the potential auto-enrollment of individuals into health plans, an idea spearheaded by Senators Bill Cassidy (R-LA) and Susan Collins (R-ME) in their healthcare bill entitled The Patient Freedom Act. “Aside from helping Republicans improve the dismal coverage numbers estimated for House bill, auto-enrolling people in low-cost plans could also help keep the individual market balanced,” noted McCarthy. “Assuming some logistical concerns could be assuaged, insurance carriers would have plenty of incentive to participate in a market where the federal government were directly enrolling healthy people who might not otherwise purchase coverage — potentially reducing premiums for other enrollees. The policy could ultimately be a more powerful tool than the individual mandate to bring younger and healthier individuals into the market.” McCarthy also acknowledged that while the rollout of an auto-enrollment policy would likely be challenging, there are avenues that can be explored to make the process feasible. “States could supplement federal data by requiring residents to say whether they are insured when they pay state taxes or renew their driver’s license. The states also could allow hospitals and physicians to identify uninsured patients to be enrolled into no-premium plans.”
Our Take
That sound you heard emanating from our nation’s capital last week was the collective scream of the city’s establishment trying to deal with the President’s firing of FBI Director Comey and then subsequent responses from the White House. Without commenting on the specifics of the situation, the impact on the future of legislation remains unclear.
The Week in Review
With the House in a week-long district work period, floor action was overshadowed by the shock announcement on Tuesday night that President Trump fired Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director James Comey. The news set off a firestorm in Washington as lawmakers from both parties were concerned over the timing and reasoning of the firing, and whether it would impact the ongoing investigation of ties between Russia and the Trump Administration. However, most Republicans rejected calls for a special prosecutor, and beyond headlines, it is unclear whether Comey’s dismissal will have any tangible impact on Capitol Hill.