Legislative Activity Senate Finance to Discuss CHRONIC Care Act On Tuesday, May 16, the Senate Committee on Finance will hold a hearing titled “Examining Bipartisan Medicare Policies that Improve Care for Patients with Chronic Conditions.” The Committee will discuss S. 870, Creating High-Quality Results and Outcomes Necessary to Improve Chronic (CHRONIC) Care Act of 2017, … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity AHCA’s Final Act? On Friday, April 28, Congress passed a short-term continuing resolution (CR) to fund the government until Friday, May 5. The extension gives Republicans until the end of the week to fund the government through the end of the fiscal year. Then, House Republican leadership will likely turn again to addressing … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Gottlieb Confirmation Hearing Set for April 5 On Wednesday, April 5, the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) will hold a confirmation hearing for Dr. Scott Gottlieb, President Trump’s nominee for Commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Dr. Gottlieb held a number of senior positions at the … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Health Reform Benched By Republican Leadership Repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act (ACA) has been the goal of Republicans in Congress for the last seven years. Health reform was front and center during the campaign and it was President Trump and Speaker Ryan’s first priority out of the starting blocks in 2017. … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity The Repeal and Replace Effort Moves to the House Budget Committee After two marathon markups, the Republican repeal and replace effort is expected to continue on to the House Committee on the Budget. The House Committee on Energy and Commerce and the House Committee on Ways and Means endured partisan markups due to … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Potential for Reconciliation Language to Move Through Committees This Week With reports that reconciliation language was available for House Republicans to review last week, sources indicate that the House Committee on Energy and Commerce and the House Committee on Ways and Means may mark up their respective reconciliation language this Wednesday, March 8, … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Repeal and Replace or Repair and Rebrand? With reconciliation instructions in the FY 2017 spending bill that initiate the House and Senate committees with health care jurisdiction to reduce the deficit, Republicans in both chambers are eager to use the fast-track, fifty-vote process to repeal and replace as much of the Affordable Care … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Price Finance Confirmation Hearing Set for Tuesday Last week, Rep. Tom Price (R-GA) visited the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) for the first of two Senate confirmation hearings that resulted in the longest HELP confirmation hearing in over twenty years. The HELP hearing was heated, partisan, and merely a … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Senate to Vote on the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act (CARA) Conference Report Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) announced the Senate is expected to vote on the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act (S. 524) conference report this week. The bipartisan legislation authorizes grant programs; creates a task force on pain management; expands … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity 114th Congress Prepares for Busy Appropriations and Budget Season Legislators are gearing up for a busy agenda at the start of the 114th Congress, including several key appropriations and budget priorities. On December 16, 2014, President Obama signed the Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act (also known as the “CRomnibus”). The CRomnibus funds … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Next Steps Uncertain for Terrorism Risk Insurance Bill On July 17, the Senate passed the Terrorism Risk Insurance Program Reauthorization Act (S. 2244) by a bipartisan margin of 93-4. This bill, introduced by Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), would extend the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act (TRIA) to December 31, 2021; TRIA is currently set … Continue Reading
Senate Legislative Activity The Senate Appropriations Committee will continue to hold hearings on the FY 2015 Budget this week. See this week’s Budget and Appropriations Capital Thinking Blog Post for further details. The Senate will convene today, Monday, March 31, at 2:00 pm. After any leader remarks, the Senate will proceed to consideration of H.R. 4302, the … Continue Reading
Executive and Legislative Branch Activity Egypt The State Department continues to call for an end to perceived arbitrary arrests in Egypt. Despite reported calls in Egypt by Islamists and the opposition for U.S. Ambassador Ann Patterson to leave Cairo, the State Department maintains its support for the embattled veteran Foreign Service officer. Meanwhile, Deputy Secretary … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Senate Appropriations Committee Membership. On Thursday, June 20, Senate Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) announced that Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE) has joined the committee to fill the seat held by the late Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ). In a statement released last week, the Chairwoman expressed her confidence in the value Sen. Coons … Continue Reading
Legislative Branch Activity National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) Last week the House Armed Services Committee marked-up and passed, by a vote of 59-2, its FY 2014 NDAA bill. H.R. 1960 complies with the House Budget Act, funding national defense at pre-sequester levels but within the sequester budget cap of $966 billion for discretionary funding. Next week, … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Budget and Appropriations On May 22, the House Appropriations Committee approved the FY 2014 Homeland Security appropriations bill, which provides $38.9 billion in discretionary funding to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) overall: $35 million below the president’s request, $618 million below the fiscal 2013 enacted amount and $981 million above the … Continue Reading
