This Week on the Hill
The House and Senate are in session this week as much of the focus will be on a tax bill.
The House convenes tomorrow and will consider four bills under suspension of the rules mostly related to agriculture and natural resources. On Wednesday, the House will consider eight bills under suspension of the rules and will also consider H.R. 2936, the Resilient Federal Forests Act. The bill creates a mechanism to fund the costs of fighting major wildfires through FEMA’s Disaster Relief Fund and modifies federal forest management practices to increase timber production. For Thursday and the balance of the week, the chamber will consider a bill (H.R. 849) repealing the Medicare Payment Board and legislation to extend funding for the Children’s Health Insurance Program (see story below). Several committees scheduled hearings this week: the Energy and Commerce Committee will hold a hearing Wednesday on state perspectives of FirstNet; the Homeland Security Committee will hold a hearing Monday on port security; and the Science, Space and Technology Committee will hold a hearing Thursday on the importance of agriculture research.
The Senate convenes today to resume consideration of the nomination of Trevor McFadden to be U.S. district judge for the District of Columbia. Several committees scheduled hearings this week: the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee will hold a hearing Tuesday on implementation of the 21st Century Cures Act; the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee will hold a hearing Tuesday on the federal response to the 2017 hurricane season; and the Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing Tuesday on Russian disinformation online.
The President is widely expected to name his Federal Reserve Chair nominee on Thursday; this nomination is subject to confirmation by the Senate. The term of the current Fed Chair, Janet Yellen, expires on February 3.
House Passes Budget, Sets Up Tax Legislation
On Thursday the House voted 216-212 to approve a final fiscal year 2018 budget resolution (H. Con. Res. 71), paving the way for tax policy changes under the reconciliation process. Several Republicans from states that utilize the state and local tax deduction voted against the resolution. With a final budget resolution adopted, a timeline for a tax bill is emerging. A bill draft is expected to be released in the House on Wednesday, with a markup in the Ways and Means Committee scheduled for the following Monday; Senate leadership has indicated they aim to pass a bill out of the Senate by Thanksgiving. On the issue of state and local tax deduction, according to media reports Ways and Means Committee Chair Kevin Brady (R-TX) released a statement on Saturday indicating the bill will include a tax deduction for state and local property taxes, but not income or sales taxes. It is unknown if changes to the tax treatment of retirement accounts will be included in the bill.
House Scheduled to Vote on CHIP Bill This Week
The House announced a vote this week on H.R. 3921, the bill to reauthorize the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), which expired on September 30. The bill passed out of committee on October 4th on a party-line vote due to Democratic objections to the identified offsets used to pay for the bill; negotiations over the offsets have not yielded changes and a floor vote was scheduled. Democrats objected to offsets that would decrease funding to public health programs under the Affordable Care Act and increase premiums for high-earning seniors enrolled in Medicare with income of more than $500,000 a year. Nine states and territories have received redistribution funds from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services that are left over from previous fiscal year allotments to support their programs. A recent report from Georgetown University examined the consequences of delaying a renewal of CHIP and looked at when states might exhaust their funding. The House is also expected to vote on H.R. 3922, which renews other federal health care programs.
President Signs Disaster Supplemental Spending Bill
Last week the Senate voted 82-17 to pass H.R. 2266, a supplemental disaster spending bill that appropriates $36.5 billion in emergency funds; the President signed the bill into law on Thursday. The bill provides $18.67 billion for FEMA’s disaster relief fund, $16 billion in debt forgiveness for the National Flood Insurance Program, $1.27 billion in supplemental nutrition assistance program (SNAP) funds for Puerto Rico, and $576.5 million for wildfire suppression. This is the second disaster spending bill passed this fall and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is expected to submit a third disaster aid request to Congress in November.
CBO Releases Score for Bipartisan Health Care Bill, Judge Rules Against Restoring Cost Sharing Payments
Two weeks ago Senators Lamar Alexander (R-TN) and Patty Murray (D-WA) released the Bipartisan Health Care Stabilization Act of 2017 that would appropriate money for cost-sharing reductions (CSRs) through 2019, make several changes to the state innovation waiver process under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), allow anyone in the nongroup market to purchase a catastrophic plan, and require some existing funding for health insurance marketplace operations to be used for outreach and enrollment activities for 2018 and 2019. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released its estimate of the bill last week, estimating that implementing the legislation would reduce the deficit by $3.8 billion over the 2018-2027 period relative to CBO’s baseline. Also, the legislation would not substantially change the number of people with health insurance coverage, on net, compared with that baseline projection. Also last week, U.S. District Court Judge Vince Chhabria ruled against a preliminary injunction brought by 19 states to restore funding for the cost-sharing reduction subsidy payments that the President had ended. In his ruling, Judge Chhabria said the vast majority of states have already prepared for the termination of the payments.
Administration Declares Public Health Emergency Over Opioids
On Thursday President Trump issued a presidential memorandum to the heads of executive departments and agencies on combatting the opioid crisis. Specifically, the memorandum directs the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to declare the opioid crisis a nationwide public health emergency under the Public Health Service Act. No specific funding request accompanied the declaration, though it will allow for changes such as expanding access for telemedicine, allowing HHS and states to request temporary appointments of specialists, and allowing the Department of Labor to issue dislocated worker grants within available funding to those displaced from the workforce due to the opioid crisis. A public health emergency can only last for 90 days though it can be renewed. The Congressional Research Service recently released a report on federal efforts to address the opioid epidemic, which can be found here.
HHS Releases LIHEAP Funding for Fiscal Year 2018
On October 20 the Division of Energy Assistance in the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued an initial release of approximately $3.03 billion of fiscal year 2018 regular block grant funding to Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) grantees. The funding is provided under the continuing resolution for fiscal year 2018 (P.L. 115-56), signed into law on September 8th and effective until December 8th. According to the release, each grantee that submitted a complete LIHEAP plan for fiscal year 2018 received 90 percent of the funding available under the CR, after accounting for a 0.6791 percent rescission in the CR and the annual updates to the LIHEAP allocation formula data used to calculate the block grant allocation award amounts. Tables detailing the allocations to state and territory grantees can be found here and tribal grantees can be found here.
President Signs Executive Order on Drone Pilot Program
Last Wednesday the President signed a presidential memorandum for the Secretary of Transportation related to an unmanned aircraft systems (drones) integration pilot program. The pilot program allows state and local governments to test various regulation models for drone operations that are currently prohibited, including flights over people, nighttime operations and flying beyond the visual line of sight; these models will inform the development of future federal guidelines and regulatory decisions nationwide. The Secretary of Transportation will solicit proposals from state, local and tribal governments to test the integration of civil and public drone operations into the national airspace system below 200 feet above ground level, or up to 400 feet above ground level if approved by the secretary. The goal of the memorandum is to have five agreements with governments within 180 days of the establishment of the pilot program; the program is scheduled to expire in three years unless extended by the Secretary of Transportation.
GAO Issues Report on Potential Economic Effects from Climate Change
The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) recently released a report highlighting estimates on the potential economic effects of climate change in the United States. GAO was asked to review the potential economic effects and risks to the federal government, and the report covers methods used to estimate the potential economic effects, information known about these effects, and the extent to which information about these effects could inform federal efforts to manage climate risks. The report found that methods to estimate the potential economic effects of climate change are based on developing research, and the two available national-scale studies suggested that potential economic effects could be significant and unevenly distributed across sectors and regions. For example, one study found the southeast likely faces greater effects than other regions because of coastal property damages.
Recently Released Reports
2017 Race for Results: Building a Path to Opportunity for All Children
The Annie E. Casey Foundation
Seeking Support: State Financial Aid Programs and Adult Students
Education Commission of the States
Succession Planning: October 2017
Center for State and Local Government Excellence
A National and Across-State Profile on Adverse Childhood Experiences Among U.S. Children and Possibilities to Heal and Thrive
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
The Economic Impact of Increasing College Completion
Moody’s Analytics
Economic News
GDP Increased 3.0 Percent in the Third Quarter of 2017
Last week the U.S. Department of Commerce Bureau of Economic Analysis released data on the gross domestic product (GDP) for the third quarter of 2017 (advance estimate), showing an increase at an annual rate of 3.0 percent. In the second quarter, real GDP increased 3.1 percent. Real gross domestic product is the value of goods and services produced by the nation’s economy less the value of the goods and services used up in production, adjusted for price changes. The increase in real GDP in the second quarter reflected positive contributions from personal consumption expenditures (up 2.4 percent), nonresidential fixed investment (up 3.9), exports (up 2.3) and federal government spending (up 1.1). Negative contributions were due to residential fixed investment (down 6.0 percent) and state and local government spending (down 0.9). The “second” estimate for the third quarter, based on more complete data, will be released on November 29.
BLS Issues Employment Projections for the Next Decade
The Bureau of Labor Statistics released data last week projecting employment levels over the next decade, covering the period of 2016-2026. In the report, employment is projected to increase by 11.5 million over this decade, an increase from 156.1 million to 167.6 million. This projected growth – 0.7 percent annually – is faster than the 0.5 percent rate of growth during the 2006-2016 decade, a period heavily affected by the 2007-09 recession. Health care industries and their related occupations are expected to account for a large share of new jobs projected through 2026, as the population ages and drives demand for health care services. The aging population is also projected to result in a decline in the overall labor force participation rate over the 2016-2026 decade; the overall participation rate is projected to decrease to 61.0 percent in 2026, down from 62.8 percent in 2016.