End-of-2026 Health Policy Landscape: What Congress Could Address Before Year-End

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 115th Congress – thanks in part to the election of Donald Trump – and will finally be positioned to deliver on their long-held […]

The Week in Review Despite last-second concerns from some senators, the House easily passed the legislative vehicle (H.R. 34) for the 21st Century Cures medical research package on a 392-26 vote last Wednesday. Passage in the lower chamber sets up consideration in the Senate this week, where the bill is expected to pass and be […]

The Week in Review President-elect Donald Trump announced his choices for three more positions within his administration last week: South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley is to be U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations; Republican donor and school choice activist Betsy DeVos is to be Secretary of Education; and Trump campaign attorney Donald McGahn is to […]

The Week in Review Congress returned to Washington last week for the first time since Donald Trump was elected to be the 45th President of the United States earlier this month, which has drastically altered the political landscape and expectations for the lame duck session. Lawmakers had been planning on completing fiscal 2017 spending negotiations […]

The Week in Review Donald Trump significantly outperformed his standing in most public opinion polling, crashing through Hillary Clinton’s supposed Rust Belt “firewall” to win key battleground states including Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. Clinton called Trump to concede early Wednesday morning. In Congress, Republicans won most of the closely contested Senate races and will […]

The Week in Review A Friday announcement from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) over Hillary Clinton’s emails as Secretary of State has shifted the narrative in the presidential campaign, which has spent much of the last month focused on controversies within Donald Trump’s campaign. FBI Director James Comey wrote to inform Congress it had […]

The Week in Review In a week dominated by headlines about Donald Trump’s bawdy remarks and Hillary Clinton’s leaked emails, both candidates appear to be focused more on driving up the unfavorability of their opponents than driving a positive message in the campaign’s final weeks. Several Congressional Republicans rescinded their support for Trump last week, […]

The Week in Review   In a presidential debate on Sunday night that focused on personality more than policy, both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump briefly addressed their competing healthcare proposals in response to a question on the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Clinton said she would take steps to build on the ACA, and urged […]

The Week in Review Early optimism that the Senate could quickly agree upon a continuing resolution (CR) to fund the government and leave Washington at the end of the week faded as lawmakers disagreed on the policy riders to be included in the stopgap spending measure. Funding a White House request for emergency resources to […]

The Week in Review Following the Labor Day holiday on Monday, Congress made its long awaited return to Washington for a month-long legislative period before the body breaks again ahead of November’s elections. The Senate picked up exactly where it left off in July with a partisan impasse on both a defense spending bill (H.R. […]

The Week in Review While lawmakers spent the final week of summer campaigning in their districts and prepared for a sprint of a September session, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump made a high-profile trip to Mexico, followed by speech in Arizona where he outlined a 10-point plan on illegal immigration. Standing on a stage in […]

The Week in Review Last week, both presidential candidates sharpened their rhetoric against each other with Hillary Clinton seeking to link Donald Trump to white nationalism and the “alternative right” and Trump responding by casting Clinton as a “bigot.” While name-calling is hardly a new development in presidential campaigns, there is little doubt that Clinton […]