2026 Congressional Outlook: A Narrowing Window Before the Midterms

The Week in Review The second session of the 115th Congress got off to a slow start as the House elected to take the week off and the Senate’s work was hampered by severe weather along the Atlantic Coast. The week’s most significant legislative development saw the swearing in of two new Democratic senators, Tina […]

The Week in Review The House and Senate both adjourned for the year after passing a four-week stopgap spending bill that will keep the government open until Jan. 19 and prevent $136 billion in automatic under congressional PAYGO rules. The Senate overwhelmingly rejected a proposal from Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) on PAYGO to strip the […]

In an Inside Health Policy article published December 15, Thorn Run Partners Senior Vice President Shea McCarthy discusses the possibility of entitlement reform next year. Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) has said that Republicans plan to pass entitlement reform through the reconcilation process next year. McCarthy astutely points out that GOP leadership has been reading from the same playbook with respect […]

The conference report for the GOP-backed Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) is expected to reach the floor of both chambers today, as Republicans in Congress are poised to deliver on their promise to overhaul the nation’s tax regime for both individuals and businesses. In the Senate — where the bill will likely be passed […]

Looking Ahead Near Term The House and Senate are poised to approve the tax reform bill and if everything goes according to plan, it will be on the President’s desk by mid-week. Funding for the government expires on Friday.  A continuing resolution to punt the hard choices of what to include in a long-term spending […]

The Week in Review The twin battles over government funding and tax reform both took steps forward last week. On the funding track, a proposed continuing resolution (CR) backed by House Republicans would provide defense spending for a year and domestic spending for five weeks — an approach viewed as a non-starter in the Senate, […]

The twin battles over government funding and tax reform both took steps forward yesterday as House Republicans released the text of their preferred version of a continuing resolution (CR) and tax conferees reached an “agreement in principle” on the final form of a legislative package. On the former issue, the House Republican CR (text) would […]

In an Inside Health Policy article published Monday, Thorn Run Partner’s Senior Vice President Shea McCarthy discusses possible next steps for CMS and the Trump administration following the end of the 2018 Affordable Care Act (ACA) enrollment period. The article notes that industry lobbysts expect CMS to take some sort of action following the end of the enrollment period, possibly […]

Political observers will be waiting eagerly for the returns from today’s special election in Alabama to select Jeff Sessions’ replacement in the U.S. Senate. The unusually competitive race between Republican Roy Moore and Democrat Doug Jones has attracted national attention and resources, making today’s result another indicator for both parties as they plot their strategies […]

Our Take While not known as a prescient sage, back in 2006 John Mayer may have seen the future when wrote   "And when you trust your television What you get is what you got Cause when they own the information, oh They can bend it all they want"   Much has been written about […]

While government funding and tax reform remain at the forefront of lawmakers’ concerns, this week’s work is likely to focus on behind-the-scenes negotiations. On tax reform, the first public conference meeting is set for Wednesday and reports suggest that Republicans are making progress in working out the differences between the House and Senate tax bills. […]

The Week in Review Lawmakers temporarily avoided a government shutdown by passing a two-week continuing resolution (CR) in both chambers last week, setting up Dec. 22 as the new deadline to fund the government. That effort is expected to be a lot more contentious as Democrats will be seeking policy concessions in exchange for their […]