Senate Pivots Away from Border Security Deal

The Senate will meet today to hold a procedural vote on the recently introduced supplemental appropriations package, but this vote is almost certain to fail amid opposition from the GOP conference. As such, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) intends to call up an amended version of the supplemental that only includes funding for Ukraine, Israel, and the Indo-Pacific. If enough senators vote in favor of advancing the package, Senate leadership could push to reach a “time agreement” that would queue up expedited passage of the funding bill before senators leave for their scheduled two-week state work period. However, it is too early to tell whether all 100 senators will cooperate on this proposed maneuver, especially given the staunch opposition to Ukraine funding from Freedom Caucus conservatives.

House lawmakers will gavel in for consideration of an Energy and Commerce (E&C) Committee bill that seeks to prohibit the use of certain cost-effectiveness metrics in federal health care programs. Specifically, the Protecting Health Care for All Patients Act would prohibit the use of the quality-adjusted life years (QALY) metric and similar measures in coverage and payment determinations under Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), Medicare prescription drug plans, and health programs at the Departments of Defense (DoD) and Veterans’ Affairs (VA).