The Week Ahead

Posted on February 8, 2013February 8, 2013

Both the House and Senate are out of session today. The Senate returns to work at 2:00pm Monday and will vote on a series of amendments to the Violence Against Women Act (S 47). A vote on final passage could come as early as Monday night. The House returns to work on Tuesday.

President Obama will deliver his State of the Union address on Tuesday evening. It is widely expected that he will focus on fiscal issues, including the deficit and taxes, and will call for Congress to come together to avoid the next fiscal cliff. It is also expected that he will address energy and climate issues, as well as gun control and immigration. All of these priorities will likely be reflected in his budget request, which will be released to Congress in early March.

On Tuesday morning the Senate Budget Committee, chaired by Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), will hold a hearing on the budget and economic outlook prepared by the Congressional Budget Office, and then on Wednesday that same committee will hold a hearing on the impact of budget decisions on families and communities. The House Budget Committee will hold also hold a hearing on the economic outlook on Wednesday.

Also on Wednesday, the House Armed Services Committee will hold a hearing titled “Impacts of a Continuing Resolution and Sequestration on Defense.” Congressman Adam Smith (D-WA) is the ranking member on this committee.

The Senate Judiciary Committee will hold hearings on comprehensive immigration revision Wednesday morning, this first of many hearings on this topic.

On Thursday (Valentine’s Day), the House Ways and Means Committee will hold a hearing on the itemized deduction for charitable contributions and on previous proposals to modify the deduction and its value. Congressmen Jim McDermott (D-WA) and Dave Reichert (R-WA) are both members of this committee.

Also on Thursday, the House Energy and Commerce Committee will hold a hearing titled “Sustainable Growth Rate: Data, Measures and Models; Building a Future Medicare Physician Payment System.”

Bill Introduced to Protect NIH from Sequestration

Posted on February 5, 2013

Today, Congressman Jim McDermott (D-WA) joined his colleagues to introduce a bill to stop the across-the-board budget cuts scheduled for March 1^st with a balance of increased revenue and sensible investments. The Balancing Act will halt impending automatic federal budget cuts, known as “sequester,” which would threaten important national investments like those in medical research—a staple of Washington State’s economy. Read more here.

GME Legislation Introduced

Posted on February 5, 2013

Yesterday Congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) and Congressman Mike Thompson (D-CA) introduced the Primary Care Workforce Access Improvement Act of 2013 (HR 487). Their bill promotes the training of primary care physicians in rural areas and tests innovative and cost-neutral ways to distribute graduate medical education (GME) payments for the purpose of increasing the number and quality of primary care physicians in the United States. This could prove helpful to the UW WWAMI program, which focuses on producing primary care physicians for a five-state region (Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana, and Idaho). Learn more here.

“No Budget, No Pay” Bill Proceeds in the Senate

Posted on January 31, 2013

Today the Senate is expected to proceed on HR 325, the House-passed “No Budget, No Pay Act of 2013” that would raise the debt ceiling through May while also making the payout of congressional salary contingent upon approval of a budget resolution in each chamber. The measure that passed the House earlier this month would suspend enforcement of the federal borrowing limit until May 18^th and then raise the debt limit the following day to the debt accumulated to that point. The bill the House approved did not include cuts in exchange for the extension as House GOP members had previously demanded. The Senate is expected to approve the measure, although it may be amended and sent back to the House for approval.

House Temporary Debt Deal May Force Larger Deal on Spending Cuts

Posted on January 23, 2013January 23, 2013

Update: The House this afternoon passed their bill that would suspend the debt ceiling until the middle of May. The vote was 285-144. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) said Wednesday that the Senate will pass the House’s bill; the White House has indicated it will not block the measure.

The House will consider legislation today would provide for a short-term suspension of the nation’s borrowing limit, which likely removes the threat of a government default for at least four months. House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) has promised his members that he will work with House Budget Chair Paul Ryan (R-WI) to advance a budget that will balance the federal budget in 10 years and said the automatic spending cuts due to hit March 2^nd (sequestration) will remain in place unless other reductions are made. Democrats appear to be mildly supporting the House GOP’s efforts. The White House issued a Statement of Administration Policy on Tuesday saying President Obama “would not oppose a short-term solution to the debt limit.” The House is expected to pass the bill today.

The Senate has acknowledged that the four-month suspension could buy Congress time to work out a broader bipartisan budget deal. But, as always, the devil will be in the details. It does seem all but certain that large budget cuts are coming for FY2013 – even though this fiscal year is nearly half over.

The big questions remain: will cuts come through sequestration or a more targeted approach directed by Congress, will cuts be evenly applied to defense and non-defense discretionary programs, and will cuts to discretionary spending be tempered by savings found through entitlement reform?