This Week on the Hill
The House and Senate are in session this week with a focus on appropriations and opioid bills.
The House convenes Tuesday and over the course of the week will consider 39 bills aimed at combating the opioid crisis, with additional items possible. Several committees scheduled hearings this week: the Education and the Workforce Committee will hold a hearing Wednesday on charter schools; the Small Business Committee will hold a hearing Thursday on shrinking the skills gap; and the Energy and Commerce Committee will hold a hearing Friday on public health biopreparedness.
The Senate convenes today and will begin consideration of S. 2987, the National Defense Reauthorization Act. Several committees scheduled hearings this week: the Environment and Public Works Committee will hold a hearing Wednesday on autonomous technologies’ effect on roads and bridges and the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee will hold a hearing Tuesday on prescription drug prices.
Fiscal Year 2019 Budget Update
The House approved the first “mini-bus” on the floor last week and the Senate continues to advance bills through committee.
- Mini-bus: The House voted 235-179 to approve a three-bill spending package (R. 5895) on Friday covering the Energy-Water, Legislative Branch, and Military Construction-Veterans Affairs appropriations bills. The chamber added $1.14 billion for veterans’ health care in the community and funded a total of $86.4 billion for the Department of Veterans Affairs.
- Interior-Environment: The House Appropriations Committee voted 25-20 to approve the $35.3 billion spending measure, which is equal to the fiscal year 2018 enacted level. The bill provides $3.9 billion for wildland firefighting and prevention programs, $500 million for Payments in Lieu of Taxes (PILT), $75 million for the Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (WIFIA) and $2.6 billion for the Clean Water and Drinking Water State Revolving Loan fund.
- Transportation-Housing and Urban Development: The Senate Appropriations Committee voted 31-0 to approve $71.4 billion in discretionary funding, an increase of $1.1 billion over the fiscal year 2018 enacted level. The bill provides $1 billion for BUILD grants (previously known as TIGER grants), $46 billion for the Federal-aid Highways Program, and $44.5 billion in discretionary appropriations for the Department of Housing and Urban Development, an increase of $1.8 billion over the fiscal year 2018 enacted level. The summary from the Ranking Member can be found here.
- Military Construction-Veterans Affairs: The Senate Appropriations Committee voted 31-0 to approve $97.1 billion in discretionary funding, an increase of $5.1 billion above the fiscal year 2018 enacted level. The bill provides $86.4 billion in discretionary funding for the Department of Veterans Affairs, including $78.3 billion for health care and $1.8 billion for veterans homelessness. The summary from the Ranking Member can be found here.
This week the Senate will hold subcommittee markups on the Interior-Environment and Commerce-Justice-Science spending bills on Tuesday with full committee consideration, in addition to the Legislative Branch spending bill, on Thursday. The House will hold a subcommittee markup on the State-Foreign Operations bill and a full committee markup on the Defense and Financial Services bills on Wednesday.
Senate Releases Farm Bill
On Friday the Senate Agriculture Committee released the bipartisan Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018, sponsored by Committee Chairman Pat Roberts (R-KS) and Ranking Member Debbie Stabenow (D-MI). The bill includes provisions to address fraud in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and keep current work requirements; unlike the House version, the bill does not expand work requirements or tighten eligibility requirements. The bill also legalizes industrial hemp and removes it from the Controlled Substances Act. Other provisions in the bill include: maintains the Conservation Stewardship Program; ends a bonus program designed to reward states for reducing error rates in SNAP benefit payments; and authorizes pilot projects for developing better and more accurate ways of confirming a SNAP applicant’s or beneficiary’s work income. Bill text can be found here and a section-by-section summary here. The committee will mark up the bill on Wednesday and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has indicated he wants a floor vote before the Fourth of July recess. The current Farm Bill expires September 30.
House Passes Water Infrastructure Bill
The House voted 408-2 on Wednesday to pass H.R. 8, the Water Resources Development Act of 2018 (WRDA). The bipartisan legislation authorizes $3.5 billion of Army Corps of Engineers projects and programs, including funding for seven new corps projects. The House Rules Committee removed a provision from the bill that would allow spending from the Harbor Maintenance Fund without approval from appropriators; the trust fund, mostly supported by a 0.125 percent tax on imported goods, has a surplus of approximately $10.5 billion. The Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works passed its version on May 22, which is broader than the House version and addresses financing for drinking water, wastewater, and water storage programs.
DOT Announces Infrastructure Awards in 23 States
On Friday the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) announced nearly $1.5 billion in proposed grants through the Infrastructure for Rebuilding America (INFRA) discretionary grant program. The 26 grants will provide funding for projects in 23 states and include 13 projects in rural areas; grants are classified as large projects (grant must be at least $25 million) and small projects (grant must be at least $5 million). The INFRA grant program is a revised version of the FASTLANE grant program authorized in the FAST Act of 2015, with a greater focus on federal funds as a supplement or leverage for other funding sources. More information on the INFRA program can be found here.
Update on State Election Security Grant Awards
The U.S. Election Assistance Commission released an updated chart on election security grant funding requests received as of Friday, showing states have requested 59 percent of available funds. The Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2018, signed into law on March 23, included $380 million in grants for states to improve the administration of elections, including to enhance technology and make certain election security improvements. Additional information on the elections security funds can be found here.
House Passes Adjusted Rescission Bill, Uncertain Future in Senate
The House voted 210-206 on Thursday to advance a rescission package (H.R. 3) after the White House adjusted the nearly $15 billion request. In a letter from the President, the administration withdrew four previously proposed rescissions and made changes to six rescissions previously sent to Congress. Under the new request, no rescissions would be applied to funds to combat an Ebola virus outbreak or funds remaining from the Superstorm Sandy recovery effort; the bill still includes a $7 billion rescission to the Children’s Health Insurance Program. The Congressional Budget Office said the package would rescind $14.7 billion in budget authority but would reduce actual spending by $1.1 billion over a decade. The Senate has not yet scheduled the legislation for a vote.
Medicare and Social Security Trustees’ Reports Released
Last week the trustees of the Social Security and Medicare trust funds released their reports on the current and projected financial status of the two programs. The Medicare trustee’s report estimates the depletion date for the Hospital Insurance trust fund is 2026, three years earlier than in last year’s report. Trust fund income is projected to be lower than last year’s estimates due to lower payroll taxes attributable to lower wages for 2017 and lower levels of projected GDP and lower income from the taxation of Social Security benefits as a result of legislation. Meanwhile, Medicare Part B outpatient care and the Part D prescription drug program are projected to remain adequately financed into the “indefinite future” with money from general revenues and beneficiary premiums. The Social Security trustee’s report found that while the program’s total cost is projected to exceed its total income in 2018 for the first time since 1982, the reserves of the trust funds along with projected program income are adequate to cover projected costs over the next ten years; the combined trust funds are projected to deplete reserves in 2034.
CMS Launches New System to Measure State Medicaid Performance
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released a Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) Scorecard, to provide greater transparency and accountability for the programs’ administration and outcomes. The new system includes measures voluntarily reported by states in three areas: state health system performance, state administrative accountability, and federal administrative accountability. The metrics included in the first Scorecard reflect a range of health issues such as well child visits, immunizations for adolescents, and follow-up after hospitalization for mental illness. In future years, the Scorecard will be updated annually with new functionality and metrics.
Administration Will Not Defend ACA in Legal Challenge
Last Thursday Attorney General Jeff Sessions sent a letter to Congressional leadership informing them that the Department of Justice (DOJ) would not defend the Affordable Care Act in the latest legal challenge against it brought by several states. In a court filing, DOJ argues a provision in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act that will eliminate the penalty for not having insurance coverage makes some parts of the 2010 health care law unconstitutional. The Supreme Court ruled in 2012 that the individual mandate was constitutional because it provided revenue for the federal government and was therefore considered a tax; DOJ argues the elimination of the mandate removes its classification as a source of revenue and makes the individual mandate unconstitutional. Further, DOJ argues that certain regulations under the law that are meant to protect patients with pre-existing conditions from facing higher costs or from being denied coverage by an insurer are inseparable from the mandate and therefore are also unconstitutional. A court ruling on the case is not expected for several months.
Recently Released Reports
Trends in State Suicide Rates 1999-2016
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
50-State Comparison: State Kindergarten-Through-Third Grade Policies
Education Commission of the States
CMS Should Take Steps to Mitigate Program Risks in Managed Care
U.S. Government Accountability Office
HUD-HHS Partnerships: A Prescription for Better Health
Bipartisan Policy Center
Economic News
Job Openings Reach 6.7 Million in April
The number of job openings was little changed at 6.7 million on the last business day of April, according to data recently released by the U.S. Department of Labor (up from 6.6 million in March). Job openings increased in April for durable goods manufacturing (+33,000) and information (+26,000) but decreased in finance and insurance (-84,000), with little change for government. The number of hires was little changed at 5.6 million in April and the hires rate was little changed at 3.8 percent. The number of separations saw little change at 5.4 million. The 3.4 million quits reported in April were down slightly from March; many economists closely watch the number of quits as a measure of employee confidence in finding another job. Finally, layoffs and discharges edged up to 1.7 million. Over the 12 months ending in April, hires totaled 66.1 million and separations totaled 63.7 million, yielding a net employment gain of 2.4 million.