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Author: Thornrun

Health Policy Report

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The Week in Review

Congress continued to take aim at Obama-era regulations last week, with both chambers passing disapprovals of a Securities and Exchange Commission rule requiring companies to publish the payments they make to foreign governments as a part of their attempts to extract natural resources (H.J. Res. 41), an environmental regulation that aims to protect U.S. streams from waste (H.J. Res. 38), and a Bureau of Land Management rule related to the emission of the powerful greenhouse gas methane (H.J. Res. 36). Democrats opposed the moves, but the provisions of the Congressional Review Act (CRA) allow for Congress to disapprove of rules finalized within the last 60 legislative days of the previous session on a simple majority vote in both chambers. President Trump joined in on the regulatory rollback, signing executive orders that would require the repeal of two regulations for every new one implemented and another that targets the implementation of Dodd-Frank financial regulatory reforms.

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Financial Services Report

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Looking Ahead

Near Term

  • The House starts up the Congressional Review Act process by teeing up votes on a handful of regulations, including on Dodd-Frank era SEC rule requiring disclosure of payments made for mineral extraction. 
  • In the Senate, lawmakers will continue to work through President Trump’s Cabinet nominees, with floor votes scheduled for Secretary of State pick Rex Tillerson, and Transportation nominee Elaine Chao   At the committee level, votes for Treasury Secretary Mnuchin, Energy Secretary nominee Rick Perry, Office of Management and Budget Director nominee Mick Mulvaney, and Small Business Administrator nominee Linda McMahon are all expected.

Further Out

  • Fed Chair Yellen comes to the Hill for the semi-annual testimony.  She will be on the Senate side on the 14th of February and then on the House side the next day.
  • President Trump is scheduled to speak before a joint session of Congress on February 28th.

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Today on the Hill: DeVos Vote Set for Monday as Congress Reverses More Obama Rules; Trump Signs Dodd-Frank EO

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Despite efforts from Democrats to slow down the process, the Senate is moving forward on confirming President Trump’s Cabinet nominees, starting with a final vote on Betsy DeVos’ nomination to be Education Secretary scheduled for Monday. The upper chamber successfully invoked cloture on DeVos’ confirmation this morning on a 52-48 party-line vote. However, Republican Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME) and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) have both signaled that they will oppose DeVos in the final vote, meaning that Vice President Mike Pence will need to vote to break the tie – assuming there are no other Republican defections. Following the DeVos vote, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) plans to race through floor action on the nominations of Sen. Jeff Sessions to be Attorney General, Rep. Tom Price to be Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary, Steven Mnuchin to be Treasury Secretary, and Scott Pruitt to be Environmental Protection Agency Administrator. Democrats are largely opposed to all of those selections, but without Republican defections, they are powerless to stop them from moving forward.

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Today on the Hill: Both Chambers to Target Obama Rules; DeVos Nomination on Senate Floor

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One of President Trump’s most controversial selections for his Cabinet is – Education Secretary nominee Betsy DeVos – due to hit the Senate floor today, with another contentious pick, Attorney General nominee Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), next in line for floor consideration. DeVos will be first because Republicans want to make sure that Sessions – who will have voting power in the Senate until he is confirmed as Attorney General – can cast his vote to confirm the school choice advocate as the nation’s head of education policy in what is expected to be a very close vote. Republican Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME) and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) announced yesterday that they will oppose her confirmation, meaning that Republicans cannot afford any more defections from their 52-vote majority. Assuming there are no other surprises, DeVos would be confirmed on a 51-50 vote with Vice President Mike Pence casting the tie-breaking vote. The cloture vote for her confirmation is expected tomorrow, meaning that Sessions’ floor consideration will likely slip into next week.

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Today on the Hill: Executive Order Fallout, SCOTUS Nominee Precede Floor Action on Confirmations, Regulatory Rollback

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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.

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Health Policy Report

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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.

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Financial Services Report

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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.

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Health Policy Report

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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.

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Financial Services Report

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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.         

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Health Policy Report

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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.

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