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News and updates

News and updates

Senate to Take Up HHS Nomination

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The full Senate is scheduled to take up today the nomination of Alex Azar to serve as Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).  Azar is not a new-comer to the HHS as he served as Deputy Secretary during the George W. Bush Administration.  He has recently been an executive at the pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly and Co.

HHS funds and oversees a host of health-related and biomedical agencies and research programs.  The National Institutes of Health is part of HHS.

Azar was nominated to replace former Secretary Tom Price, who resigned last year.

 

Senate Clears 17-Day CR

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After agreeing to bring up a short-term continuing resolution (CR) earlier in the day that would end the three-day government shutdown, the Senate officially approved it this afternoon.  The 17-day measure would keep the government funded through Thursday, February 8.  The House is expected to take up the CR later today.

Agreement Reached on CR, Government Expected to Re-open

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After a weekend and morning of negotiations among a bipartisan group of members, the Senate agreed today to move forward on a three-week continuing resolution (CR), which would fund the government through Thursday, February 8.

Although it does not include a fix to the DACA, which was the cause of the shutdown, a commitment today from Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) paved the way for an agreement on the CR.  In his remarks, McConnell made a commitment to bring a bipartisan bill that would address the DACA situation to the floor for a vote if the issue is not resolved before the expiration of the next CR, February 8.

The House is expected to take up the CR after it is cleared by the Senate.

Read more about the situation here, here, and here.

Monday Noon

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The Senate has scheduled a vote on a CR to reopen the government for Monday at noon. The CR will reportedly be the same as the previous CR, funding CHIP and eliminating the Cadillac tax, but it will not address DACA or Dreamers. To clarify, negotiations remain ongoing, and this is not a deal. Rather, it is the same bill passed by the House that failed to gain cloture in the Senate with a different date — February 9 vs. February 16.

Stay tuned.