Author: Thornrun

The Week in Review

The inception of the 115^th 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. 

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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.

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The Week in Review

It was a quiet week in Washington as lawmakers and their staff trickled out of town ahead of the holidays. One event of note was a meeting of the Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) Payment and Access Commission (MACPAC), who approved their recommendations on the reauthorization of the CHIP program. CHIP is currently slated to expire at the end of the 2017 fiscal year – September 30, 2017 – and a full summary of the Commission’s decision is included in our roundup below.

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The Week in Review

The 114^th Congress closed a week early after both chambers were able to clear a stopgap spending bill (H.R. 2028) and water resources measure (S. 612) that were keeping lawmakers from leaving Washington for the holidays. In the House, the continuing resolution (CR) – which funds the government through April 28 at a $1.07 trillion annualized rate – passed rather smoothly in a 326-96 vote on Thursday. The Senate struggled to do the same on Friday as a group of coal state Democrats led by Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) threatened to derail the process due to a provision addressing expiring health benefits for coal miners that they deemed inadequate. The power of jet fumes and a bipartisan majority in the House proved to overpower their concerns, however, and the spending bill passed 63-36 after the Democrats’ hold was lifted late Friday evening. The water infrastructure bill – which includes funds for Flint, Michigan to clean up its water supply – was passed soon thereafter.

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After six years of campaigning to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and over 50 votes held to undercut the law, Republicans in Congress will be ‘shooting with real bullets’ in the 115^th Congress – thanks in part to the election of Donald Trump – and will finally be positioned to deliver on their long-held position that President Obama’s healthcare law should be repealed as expeditiously as possible. But without a concrete replacement plan in place, Republicans remain at a crossroads over what set of policies should encompass their ACA alternative, and face the politically challenging prospect of deciding how – and how quickly – they will be able to achieve consensus.

Continue reading “What We Know About ACA Repeal & Replace”