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This Week on the Hill: Republicans Plot Path Forward on Stalled Agenda

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As the summer churns along, Republican leaders are hoping to break the stalemate on their major priorities, namely health care legislation, tax reform, and the appropriations process for the 2018 fiscal year. All three appear to be deadlocked at the moment, with health care reform at the front of the queue. According to a report yesterday from Axios, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) is hoping to force a vote on the Senate’s version of health care reform – which has yet to be publicly released – as early as next week. That move would require legislative text to be sent to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) in order to be scored, meaning that negotiations would need to be finished this week. The remaining sticking points are well-known – Medicaid funding and the degree to which the bill will roll back restraints put on the insurance market by the Affordable Care Act (ACA) – but a formal whip count remains elusive as senators await legislative text.

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Health Policy Report

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The Week in Review

The week in Washington was marred by tragedy after a gunman opened fire at a baseball practice for Republican Members of Congress ahead of the annual Congressional Baseball Game, injuring four, including House Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-LA). Members of Congress were shaken by the event, particularly after it was apparent that the gunman was targeting lawmakers, and legislative schedules were altered as Congress grappled with their response to the attack. That response took the shape of a remarkable show of unity at the Congressional Baseball Game, and an emotional floor speech from House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI), speaking for lawmakers of all partisan stripes, saying, “For all the noise and all the fury, we are one family.” All of the victims of the shooting are expected to recover.

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Financial Services Report

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Our Take

Questions continue to swirl around how Congress will be able to address the ever-advancing deadline to raise the debt ceiling.  Will they pass a clean extension as Secretary Mnuchin as indicated is his preference?  Or, will Freedom Caucus members and OMB Director Mulvaney be able to successfully extract concessions in the negotiations to prevent the full faith and credit of the United States government from being questioned?   And, speaking of concessions, what will the Democrats ask for in exchange for their vote – revenue neutral tax reform, dropping efforts to repeal Obamacare, or something else?   With all of this uncertainty yet again surrounding the passage of legislation to extend the government’s borrowing authority, perhaps the time is ripe for a grand bargain on the issue.   Democrats, whose history under the Gephardt Rule shows they never wanted to make this a public issue, and who are tired of having to supply the votes and the campaign fodder for Republicans, have almost no incentive to bail out the GOP majority.  Republicans, in control of all three branches of Government for the first time during one of these crises, know that they can’t escape the blame for any repercussions to the Market for failing to raise the debt limit.  While few are publicly talking about it, the stars may be aligning so that this next extension is the final time Congress deals with this issue.  

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TRP’s Shea McCarthy Discusses Senate Plans for Community Rating Waivers for Inside Health Policy

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In an Inside Health Policy article published last week, Thorn Run Partners Senior Vice President Shea McCarthy noted that he has heard rumblings within the GOP that the Senate could get rid of the community rating waiver in the House's American Health Care Act. “Early reports indicate that the Senate plans to keep the House’s waivers allowing states to opt out of the ACA’s essential health benefits and age-rating band requirements, but that they plan to eliminate the waiver that would allow states to skirt the ACA’s requirement that insurers must offer coverage to people with pre-existing conditions," noted McCarthy. "The waiver from the pre-existing condition protection — the so-called “community rating” policy — has been subject to deep criticism from those who fear costs could skyrocket for many patients in states that seek the waivers. Conservatives would prefer to keep the waiver, and this issue hasn’t necessarily been settled.”  McCarthy also mentioned that a tax credit could be available for those making less than 250 percent of the poverty level, and that additional funding may bue dedicatyed for people aged 50-64. 

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TRP’s Jason Rosenstock Comments on the Debt Ceiling in Politico

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This morning's "Morning Money" piece from Politico featured comments from Thorn Run’s Jason Rosenstock, who offers his take on the current state of play between both parties on the debt limit. “Democrats whose history under the Gephardt Rule shows they never wanted to make this a public issue, and who are tired of having to supply the votes and the campaign fodder for Republicans, have almost no incentive to bail out the GOP majority,” noted Rosenstock. “Republicans, in control of all three branches of Government for the first time during one of these crises, know that they can’t escape the blame for any repercussions from the stock market for failing to raise the debt limit. While few are publicly talking about it, the stars may be aligning so that this next extension is the final time Congress deals with this issue.”

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Health Policy Report

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The Week in Review

Washington was abuzz as Congress returned from the Memorial Day recess with big-ticket items on its schedule. Namely, this included a House floor vote on a bill to revamp the nation’s financial regulations and the highly-anticipated testimony of former FBI Director James Comey in the Senate Intelligence Committee.

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Today on the Hill: Comey Hearing Headlines Big Day in Washington

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A big day in Washington will be marked by the highly-anticipated Senate Intelligence Committee hearing this morning featuring remarks from former Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) James Comey. Comey has been asked to testify on his interactions with the President, particularly those related to the Bureau’s investigation of ties between the Trump campaign and Russian government, which has been alleged to be the reason that the President decided to fire Comey last month. The Committee released Comey’s written testimony yesterday, providing details on his interactions with the President and detailing President Trump’s apparent request for “loyalty” from the former FBI Director. Some Democrats have suggested that the request, along with asking Comey to ease the probe on former National Security Agency advisor Mike Flynn, could constitute obstruction of justice – but Comey will reportedly stop short of making that allegation in today’s panel session. In short, today may be more about spectacle than substance, but nevertheless, it will be sure to dominate conversations on Capitol Hill.

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Health Policy Report

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The Week in Review

With Congress on recess, the Trump administration took the biggest action of the week in Washington by announcing their intention to withdraw the United States from the Paris Agreement on climate change. The Agreement, signed by nearly every nation on Earth, set out voluntary carbon emissions standards to be met in order to prevent global temperatures from rising more than 2 degrees Celsius from pre-industrial levels. In announcing the decision to withdraw, President Trump cited unfairness in the American targets compared to India and China, as well as U.S. contributions to the United Nations’ Green Climate Fund, which is intended to help developing countries invest in environmentally-friendly technologies as they industrialize. Other major signatories, including France, Germany, China, and Russia, have all suggested that they will remain in the Agreement and intend to meet their emissions targets. A handful of U.S. states with Democratic governors have also pledged that they will maintain their commitment to the Agreement’s conditions.  

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Financial Services Report

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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.

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Health Policy Report

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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.

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