Articles and Blogs

Government Shutdown Looms Even as House Passes Funding Provision This week, Congress returned from its holiday break for a limited schedule of business as lawmakers were sworn in for the 116th session of Congress. On Thursday evening, the House passed (241-190) a measure to fully fund the government agencies that have been shut down... READ MORE

Negotiations to Secure Funding and Avoid Government Shutdown Collapse At the time of this writing, the federal government is on the brink of a partial shutdown at midnight if Congress and President Trump do not come to an agreement on outstanding government funding legislation. The process began Wednesday with the Senate passing a continuing... READ MORE

Congress Tackles Multiple Health Provisions This Week The standstill on progress over finalizing the remaining fiscal year 2019 spending bills has given Congress the opportunity to advance some outstanding health care measures. This week, the House of Representatives passed legislation including the ACE Kids Act to allow state Medicaid programs to use a home... READ MORE

Congress Passes Two-Week Stopgap Funding Measure On December 6, Congress passed a continuing resolution that extends current funding for select federal agencies for two weeks. The extension became necessary after the services for former President George H.W. Bush halted almost all legislative activity on Capitol Hill this week. Lawmakers will now have until December... READ MORE

Congress Unlikely to Make Progress on Health Care Bills Before Year-End  As government funding battles overtake Capitol Hill, it appears Congress will not use the lame duck to resolve outstanding health care issues. While the desire to steer clear of health care fights is something different from prior years, outgoing House Ways and Means... READ MORE

Democrats Set to Control Key Health Committees in Next Session of Congress The Democratic takeover of the House of Representatives following the recent midterm elections will significantly change the political landscape for health care issues when lawmakers return for the 116th Session of Congress next year. Overall, the election results will mean divided government... READ MORE

Congress Sends Health Funding Package to President Congress completed the funding package for the 2019 Labor-HHS appropriations measure, which hikes funding for most Health and Human Services (“HHS”) agencies. On Wednesday, the House of Representatives voted, 361 to 61, to pass legislation to provide $178.1 billion in discretionary funding for the departments of Defense,... READ MORE

Hospitals Release Voluntary 340B Principles as Alternative to Legislation The battle over 340B continued this week as hospital groups announced a new voluntary 340B reporting program as an alternative to congressional legislation that would further regulate the program. Under the American Hospital Association-led initiative, hospitals would commit to publicly disclosing their 340B savings annually.... READ MORE

Senate and House Appropriators Nail Down HHS Funding Bill On September 13, a conference committee of House and Senate appropriators finalized details of the fiscal year 2019 Health and Human Services (“HHS”) spending bill, H.R. 6157, which was combined with legislation to fund the Department of Defense. The conference agreement paves a path for... READ MORE

Medicaid Bills Advance in the House On September 7, the House Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee advanced a series of health care-related bills that full Committee Chairman Greg Walden (R-OR) hopes to move to the floor before the end of September. Among the bills marked up by the subcommittee this week was the ACE Kids... READ MORE