Month: August 2017

The Week in Review

While Congress continued their congressional recess, last week brought several news-worthy developments that will shape the political debate when lawmakers return in September. Tropical Storm Harvey battered the coast of Texas over the weekend, with total rainfall expected to reach 50 inches, causing significant damage in Houston and surrounding areas. Some confounding political dynamics are likely to ensue, as Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and other Texas Republicans were among opponents of bi-state aid after Hurricane Sandy wreaked havoc in 2012, saying the federal relief package had become laden with unrelated “pork” spending. The irony wasn’t lost on Rep. Peter King (R-NY), who tweeted Sunday, “Ted Cruz & Texas cohorts voted [against] NY/NJ aid after Sandy but I’ll vote [for] Harvey aid. NY won’t abandon Texas. One bad turn doesn’t deserve another.”

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The Week in Review

At the end of a chaotic week for the Trump Administration, the White House announced on Friday that Chief Strategist Steve Bannon had resigned from his post. Bannon is considered one of the primary architects of Trump’s rise to power and is likely to remain an influential voice through his position at far-right news outlet Breitbart News, which he immediately returned to following his departure from the White House. The chief strategist position is not a traditional formal White House position and it is unclear whether Bannon will be replaced with another adviser. 

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The Week in Review

The House and Senate have adjourned for August recess. Both chambers are scheduled to reconvene for legislative business on Tuesday, September 5. The Senate will meet in “pro-forma” sessions every few days during the recess, which will effectively block President Trump from being able to make recess appointments over the break.

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The Week in Review

While the House adjourned at the end of July for the traditional August recess, the upper chamber was in session last week to handle legislative business that had been delayed due to Republican’s consideration of their Affordable Care Act (ACA) repeal bill. The Senate passed sweeping legislation to reauthorize user fees that fund the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) review of drugs and medical-devices, along with a pair of targeted health care bills addressing opioids and experimental drugs (more on these below).

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After reaching an agreement to pass key health care legislation and approve dozens of President Trump’s nominations, the Senate has adjourned for August recess — trimming a week from their previously-extended summer work period. The Senate passed sweeping legislation (H.R.2430) yesterday to renew and enhance the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) drug, medical-device, biosimilar, and generic-drug user-fee provisions. The Senate also passed an unrelated pair of pharmaceutical-related bills: (1) a right-to-try bill (S. 204), which provides terminally ill patients access to experimental drugs and treatments outside of clinical trials, and (2) a bipartisan opioids bill (S. 581) that would require the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to develop standards for hospitals and physicians to denote a patient’s history of opioid addiction in medical records.

Continue reading “Today on the Hill: Senate Approves FDA User Fees, Dozens of Nominations Before August Recess”