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Category: On the Hill

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 Starts Pushing CR

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The House Freedom Caucus is pushing for a vote next week on a six-month stopgap funding measure that would last until March 2017 and effectively end the appropriations process for the year. The plan would postpone decisions on FY 2017 spending until a new president and Congress are elected.

At present, House Republican Leadership is considering the proposal, but is highly unlikely such a measure would be considered for a vote next week. Both the House and Senate are scheduled to leave July 15 for the national political conventions and a summer recess that is set to last until after Labor Day. When the chambers return, there is a high chance House Leadership would consider such a measure for a vote. 

Senate Keeps Moving

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Only the Senate is in session this week, as the House recessed early for the Fourth of July work period last week. The Senate plans to keep working on the FY 2017 CJS bill this week and should also turn to their FY 2017 Military-Construction-Veterans (Mil-Con appropriations bills. Also on tap this week, possibly the Supplemental Appropriations for Zika funding.

The final version of the Mil-Con spending bill, which the Senate plans to take up this week, is traditionally the first and least controversial of the 12 annual measures needed to fund the government. No one wants to vote against military veterans, after all, and the package usually steers clear of the contentious ideological provisions that can doom other bills.

Unfortunately, this no normal year. the bill appears headed for the trash heap. Supporters appear to lack the 60 votes required under Senate rules to advance it, mostly because it’s attached to a bitterly contested funding package to combat the Zika virus. Even if it clears the Senate, the White House has promised a veto.

The House and Senate’s scheduled mid-July departure for the party political conventions and an extended summer recess leaves maybe a dozen days for legislative business.

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.

SCOTUS: Fisher v. Texas

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Today, the Supreme Court today upheld the University of Texas at Austin’s (UT) consideration of race and ethnicity in college admissions. The ruling came in a case, Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin, about the admissions practices at the UT, but will likely affect admissions and financial aid policies in most institutes of higher education.

In a 4-3 decision, the court ruled that that the primary reason that the plaintiff in the case was denied admission to the university was not its consideration of race in admissions, but of Texas’ “10 percent plan.” The plan, as enacted by the Texas legislature, allows students within the top 10 percent of their high school graduating class to be admitted to the public college or university of their choice.

The university does have “a continuing obligation to satisfy the strict scrutiny burden: by periodically reassessing the admission program’s constitutionality, and efficacy, in light of the school’s experience and the data it has gathered since adopting its admissions plan, and by tailoring its approach to ensure that race plays no greater role than is necessary to meet its compelling interests.”