Congress Not Likely to Return Early for Disaster Relief
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) reiterated this past weekend that Congress will not return to Washington early to pass a supplemental funding measure for disaster relief. While acknowledging that Congress will need to act to provide the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) with additional funds for recovery efforts, the Speaker has maintained that it will take […]
- February 14, 2022
Health Policy Report (2/14)
Capitol Hill Update The Senate will reconvene for legislative business today eyeing action on legislation that would implement a series of reforms to the U.S. Postal Service. Specifically, the Postal Service Reform Act (H.R. 3076) would, among other things: (1) provide USPS with $50 billion in additional funding over 10 years; (2) require future retirees […]
- February 7, 2022
Health Policy Report (2/7)
Capitol Hill Update Late last week, House lawmakers passed [222-210] the America Creating Opportunities for Manufacturing Pre-Eminence in Technology and Economic Strength (America COMPETES) Act (text; fact sheet; section-by-section). The roughly $350 billion technology research and innovation package would provide $52 billion toward domestic semiconductor production, as well as $45 billion to bolster domestic supply chains and manufacturing […]
- January 31, 2022
Health Policy Report (1/31)
Capitol Hill Update Both chambers of Congress will return to kick off the February legislative session this week. The Senate will return first later today and will primarily focus on clearing the queue of President Joe Biden’s pending nominations. On the House side, lawmakers are scheduled to resume legislative business tomorrow and consider legislation that […]
- January 24, 2022
Health Policy Report (1/24)
Late last week, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) provided lawmakers with an update on the chamber’s schedule for next month. At the top of the list is government funding for fiscal year (FY) 2022, as Congress has less than a month until the February 18 deadline. Leadership has expressed optimism that appropriators can reach an agreement on an […]
- January 10, 2022
Health Policy Report (1/10)
Capitol Hill Update House lawmakers will kick off the second session of the 117th Congress today, followed by votes on a pair of legislative items throughout the balance of the week. In a “Dear Colleague” letter to Members late Friday, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer announced that lawmakers will take up a bipartisan bill that would […]
- December 20, 2021
Health Policy Report: (12/20)
Capitol Hill Update Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) delivered a serious setback to President Joe Biden’s legislative agenda over the weekend after he announced that he will not support the Build Back Better Act (BBBA). The centrist West Virginia Senator — who was heavily engaged in negotiations with leadership on the overall size and scope of […]
- December 6, 2021
Health Policy Report (12/6)
Capitol Hill Update After punting the government funding deadline to February 2022, Congress will meet this week and turn its attention to other year-end legislative priorities, starting with the federal debt ceiling. The Treasury Department has circled December 15 as its “X Date,” at which point it will no longer be able to utilize “extraordinary […]
- November 23, 2021
Health Policy Report (11/22)
Capitol Hill Update Congress has adjourned for the Thanksgiving district work period following House passage of the Build Back Better Act (BBBA) late last week. Lawmakers will return on Monday, November 29, when they will have less than five days to act on the looming December 3 government funding deadline. With Democrats and Republicans still […]
- November 15, 2021
Health Policy Report (11/15)
Capitol Hill Update Congress will resume legislative business this week as House Democrats anxiously await the Congressional Budget Office’s (CBO) score on the $1.75 trillion reconciliation package. While analyses for certain parts of the Build Back Better Act (BBBA) — including the Science, Homeland Security, Small Business, and Veterans’ Affairs Committee Titles — were released late last week, CBO cautioned lawmakers that […]
- November 8, 2021
Health Policy Report (11/8)
Capitol Hill Update The House clinched a key pillar of President Joe Biden’s legislative agenda late last week, sending the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act to his desk for signature. The measure was buoyed with support from 13 House Republicans, while six progressive lawmakers — who have pushed for action on the Build Back […]
- November 1, 2021
Health Policy Report (11/1)
Capitol Hill Update Both chambers of Congress cleared another short-term funding measure for federal surface transportation programs as Democrats again failed to reach consensus on a path forward for President Joe Biden’s legislative agenda. Despite renewed optimism that the bipartisan infrastructure deal would pass last week, Democratic lawmakers did not fully coalesce behind an updated framework for […]
- October 25, 2021
Health Policy Report (10/25)
Capitol Hill Update Negotiations on floor action for both the bipartisan infrastructure deal and the Build Back Better Act (BBBA) are expected to continue throughout this week as Democratic leadership looks to broker a path forward on President Joe Biden’s legislative agenda. The White House is pushing an ambitious goal of floor consideration for both […]