On Wednesday, both the Senate Finance Committee and the House Energy and Commerce Committee moved their version of a CHIP reauthorization. The Senate bill sponsored by Senate Finance Chair Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and Ranking Member Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), the Keeping Kids’ Insurance Dependable and Secure (KIDS) Act (S. 1827), would extend CHIP for five years
The two 2018 budget resolutions adopted in the House and Senate Committees have two broad themes: larger tax reductions and larger budget cuts. The budget resolutions are different in the extent of their cuts with the House version being much grander in its mandatory and entitlement cuts and its cuts to the annual appropriations. Their
Last Thursday the Senate HELP Committee focused on the topic of spreading opioid addiction and what current Administration leaders and departments were doing about it. One of the starkest statistics (from the CDC) is that for every opioid related overdose death, there are another 60 addicts out there. The witnesses were Food and Drug Administration
Last Wednesday, the Senate gave approval to Eric Hargan to the position of Deputy Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services. As the official second in command at HHS, Hargan becomes the acting HHS leader. For a week, Deputy Assistant Health Secretary Don Wright served as Acting Secretary. Hargan served at HHS in
On Tuesday, October 3, the Senate Judiciary Committee held its first hearing since the President’s controversial executive order reversing President Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood arrivals, or DACA. That order was quickly followed by a controversial informal announcement of a deal with Democratic leaders. The hearing, Oversight of the Administration’s Decision to End Deferred Action
Last week Congressional Republicans released an outline of their tax reform proposal for 2017. They hope to move the package on a fast track both in process and time. The process part is that they will try and use a new 2018 budget resolution and reconciliation tool to fast track the legislation through the Senate
On Friday evening September 29, Secretary of Health and Human Services Tom Price stepped down unexpectedly during the controversy over his private chartered flights. The resignation marks the first cabinet secretary to leave the Trump Administration less than eight months after he was confirmed by the Senate. Deputy Assistant Health Secretary Don Wright was appointed
What is next for ACA repeal may be clearer later this week when and if Congressional leaders decide whether to include in the 2018 budget resolution an instruction to repeal the ACA. Such a provision would muddy the fast track for tax cuts but would keep alive another shot at the Graham-Cassidy-Johnson-Heller block grant/Medicaid per
Last week, the President’s Commission on combating Drug Addiction and the Opioid Crisis held its third formal public hearing. The Commission which had an original date of October 1 for recommendations has delayed that date until November 1. Opening comments included the testimony of Dr Francis Collins, Director of the National Institutes of Health. He
The Senate is expected to vote on the Graham-Cassidy-Johnson-Heller Medicaid block grant/per capita cap this week, with shifting odds of passage. Over the weekend, more questions than answers were being raised about its prospects, especially after Senator John McCain (R-AZ) said on Friday that he could not vote for the bill yet due to the