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Category: Health/Medical

House and Senate Pass Approps and then Done Until September

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After three days of amendments, the House passed yesterday the FY2017 Interior Appropriations Bill (H.R. 5538) by a vote of 231 to 196. The $32.1 billion spending bill passed the House for the first time since 2009.

The measure that takes aim at the Obama’s environment and climate change agenda would cut by $64 million the budget for the EPA, the Interior Department and other similar agencies. Funding under the bill is also $1 billion below the Administration’s request. The White House had already promised to veto the measure.

Earlier in the week, the Senate voted to clear the final version of legislation to combat prescription opioid and heroin abuse, sending the conference report to President Barack Obama, who is likely to sign it. The measure passed by a vote of 92-2. The vote followed a similarly lopsided 90-2 vote earlier Wednesday to end debate on the measure.

The measure would authorize new grant programs at the Department of Justice and Department of Health and Human Services. However, it does not include appropriations for the programs. Democrats fear funding will be short-changed when the annual spending bills are finalized later this year.

With the passage of both bills, the House and Senate, respectively, recessed until after Labor Day. Next week is the Republican National Convention and the following week the Democrats hold their convention.

 

House Approves Opioid Conference Report

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In a remarkable change of pace, the House and Senate came to a conference agreement on S.524, Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act this Wednesday. The agreement contains numerous provisions to combat increasing rates of opioid drug abuse, including through modifications to prescribing and pain management practices, by creating or modifying programs to expand access to treatment, particularly access to opioid overdose reversal drugs or medication-assisted treatment that eases withdrawal symptoms, and by establishing or strengthening specific programs for vulnerable groups such as drug-addicted infants. It also requires the Veterans Affairs Department (VA) to take several actions to better manage and track the use of opioids by veterans.

In both chambers and in the conference committee process, Democrats sought to add hundreds of millions of dollars in appropriations to ensure that individuals suffering from opioid addiction would have access to treatment; however, those efforts were blocked. Because of the lack of funding, the Administration has expressed opposition to the agreement — but has not issued a formal veto threat.

Today, the House almost unanimously approved legislation, by a vote of 407-5, to combat opioid overdoses after Democrats dropped their opposition to the bill at the last minute. The vote all but assures that the bill will sail through the Senate and head to President Obama’s desk next week. The legislation, a top priority for GOP leaders, is expected to be one of Congress’s biggest achievements this year.

House Committee Moves Forward with Labor-H

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The House Appropriations subcommittee marked up the FY 2017 Labor-H appropriations measure today. The legislation includes funding for programs within the Department of Labor, the Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of Education, and other related agencies. No report language has been released, so details of the bill will likely remain unclear until full committee consideration next week.

Full committee markup of the bill is scheduled for Wednesday, July 13, at 10:00 a.m. EDT in 2359 Rayburn House Office Building.

The measure would increase funding for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to $33.3 billion, an increase of $1.25 billion above the FY16 level, but does not include the Senate bill’s funding to restore the year-round Pell Grant. The bill includes a provision to prohibit the Department of Labor from implementing its new overtime rule.

Highlights of accounts of note include:

NIH 

The $33.3 billion in NIH funding includes $165 million for the National Children’s Study, $511.5 million for Clinical and Translational Sciences Awards, and $333.3 million for Institutional Development Awards (IDeA) programs. Other details include:

  • $1.26 billion, a $350 million increase, for the Alzheimer’s disease research initiative;
  • $195 million, a $45 million increase, for the Brain Research through Application of Innovative Neuro-technologies (BRAIN) initiative; and
  • $300 million for the Precision Medicine Initiative.

The bill also maintains the salary cap on external NIH grants at Executive Level II of the Federal Executive pay scale.

Higher Education

The Pell Grant maximum award would be increased to $5,935 through a combination of discretionary and mandatory funds, which is the same as the Administration’s request and the Senate bill. The bill also would prohibit the Department of Education from moving ahead on regulations on teacher preparation, defining “gainful employment” and “credit hour,” and how states license institutions of higher education.

The Senate committee-passed bill funds NIH at $34 billion, a $2 billion increase, and uses part of the Pell Grant program surplus to restore the year-round Pell Grant.

Federal Relations will continue to update as we learn more details.

Zika Deal Reached

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Early Thursday morning, the House approved a Zika funding package, the product of a House-Senate conference report that was crafted just hours before.

House Democrats’ unusual daylong protest over gun control finally ended early Thursday morning after Republican leaders moved to adjourn the House through the July 4 recess – without a gun vote.

As a result, House hearings and legislation that had been planned for this week are now delayed at least 11 days. Another consequence, and shocking bonus — a surprisingly speedy vote on a major Zika funding deal.

What’s in the $1.1 billion package: 

  • $476 million to CDC for mosquito control
  • $230 million to NIH for vaccines
  • $165 million to the State Department and USAID to respond to outbreaks overseas
  • $86 million for emergency response research through the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority.

The package is offset by about $750 million from unspent Ebola and Obamacare funds, in addition to another $100 million from HHS’s administrative fund. It now heads to the Senate for a vote, where it’s expected to face resistance.

Democrats on the House Appropriations Committee said they won’t support the deal and called for negotiations to continue.

After the measure passed, the House recessed for the Fourth of July work period.

Labor-HHS-Ed Passes Senate Appropriations

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This week the Senate Committee on Appropriations took action on the Labor-HHS-Education appropriations measure.  Most notably, the measure provides a $2 billion bump for the National Institutes of Health and restores year-round Pell Grants. 

National Institutes of Health is funded at $34 billion in the proposal, a 6.3% increase above FY2016. This includes:

  • $300 million for the Precision Medicine Initiative, an increase of $100 million;
  • $1.39 billion for Alzheimer’s disease research, an increase of $400 million;
  • $250 million, an increase of $100 million, for the BRAIN Initiative to map the human brain;
  • $333.4 million, an increase of $12.5 million, for the Institutional Development Award;
  • $463 million, an increase of $50 million, to Combat Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria;
  • $297.3 million for Title VII Health Professions, a 13.3 percent increase above the FY 2016 level.

Notably, the measure would restore the year-round Pell Grant, benefitting an estimated one million students. The reinstated year-round Pell program is modeled after the program included in S. 1062, the “Year-Round Pell Grant Restoration Act,” which does not have a minimum credit requirement or acceleration clause for eligibility.The bill would also raise the maximum Pell Grant award from $5,815 to $5,935. In addition, the provision would provide level funding year-over-year for Federal Work Study at $990 million, TRIO at $900 million, and GEAR UP at $323 million. Title VI International Education is funded at $67 million, which is a $5 million cut to the Fulbright Hayes program and level funding for the domestic programs.