Possible New Funding to Train Primary Care Physicians

Posted on February 28, 2014

On Tuesday, President Obama will release his FY2015 budget request to Congress. We learned yesterday – while we were on Capitol Hill advocated for more Graduate Medical Education funding to train primary care physicians – that the President’s budget proposal will include:

• $5.23 billion over 10 years to train 13,000 primary care residents in high-need communities, and in team-based care, such as an accountable care organization.

• Higher payments to Medicaid providers, including physician assistants and nurse practitioners, by one year at a cost of about $5.44 billion.

• $3.95 billion over the next six years in the National Health Services Corps to support growing the program from 8,900 primary care providers in 2013 to at least 15,000 annually starting in the 2015 fiscal year.

The proposal will also address a shortage of mental health providers by offering new residency opportunities for psychiatrists, psychiatric nurse practitioners, and other mental health providers as part of the team-based approach.

We look forward to seeing more details next week, but this is the first encouraging news in a long while related to training more primary care physicians.

FY2015 Appropriations Season Underway

Posted on February 26, 2014

House and Senate appropriators will begin their FY2015 work this week with the goal of moving all 12 annual spending bills through the legislative process before the end of the fiscal year on September 30th.

House and Senate appropriators are holding a trio of hearings this week ahead of next Tuesday’s White House budget release on two traditionally divisive domestic spending measures: Labor-HHS-Education and Financial Services. Two of the biggest budget questions have already been settled, with top-line discretionary spending locked in at $1.014 trillion and defense funding capped at $521.4 billion. The central question remaining is how members choose to divide the $492.5 billion reserved for domestic discretionary programs in the December budget agreement (PL 113-67) among priorities as varied as education, scientific research, health care, and financial regulation.

In other news, House Ways and Means Chairman Camp (R-MI) will unveil his tax overhaul plan on Wednesday that’s expected to lower top individual and corporate income tax rates while imposing a surtax on wealthy individuals and the biggest banks and insurers. Although Camp’s plan is aimed at being revenue neutral, it would redraw large parts of the tax code with far-reaching, high-stakes tax policy changes that will trigger a large battle between political and corporate interests. The details are part of an ambitious plan to rewrite the tax code from top to bottom that the Michigan Republican plans to offer to a Congress that appears uninterested in tackling anything that includes tough political choices.

But it is unclear as to whether Chairman Camp has support from GOP leadership to advance this sort of tax overhaul. Leaders in both chambers have all but dismissed the possibility of a tax overhaul this year since many are reluctant to take up a politically tricky tax overhaul in an election year.

This Week in Congress

Posted on February 24, 2014

Congress returns today from a weeklong recess. Here are a few hearings that may be of interest later in the week.

THURSDAY, February 27^th

Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee
North Pacific Perspectives on Magnuson-Stevens Act Reauthorization
Subcommittee on Oceans, Atmosphere, Fisheries and Coast Guard
10:30 AM, 253 Russell Building

Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee
Promoting College Access and Success For Students With Disabilities
Full Committee Hearing
10:00 AM, 216 Hart Building

House Appropriations
Oversight Hearing on Federal Investments in Neuroscience Research
Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies
10:00 AM, H-309 Capitol Bldg.

House Education and the Workforce
Exploring Efforts to Strengthen the Teaching Profession
Joint Hearing of Subcommittees on Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education; and on Higher Education and Workforce Training
10:00 AM, 2175 Rayburn Building

FRIDAY, February 28^th

House Natural Resources Committee
Strengthening Fishing Communities and Increasing Flexibility in Fisheries Management Act
Full Committee Hearing
9:30 AM, 1324 Longworth Building

Preview of President’s Budget Request for FY2015

Posted on February 24, 2014

President Obama will release his FY2015 budget request next Tuesday. He is expected to seek a small increase in spending as called for by the December budget deal but he will avoid any “grand bargain” proposals for steep deficit cuts. Obama’s request will stick to the $1.014 billion discretionary spending caps for FY2015 set by the budget agreement (PL 113-67), which is about $2 billion more than FY2014 and would not require any across-the-board sequester cuts.

The good news for higher education and research is that the White House will also propose a $56 billion “Opportunity, Growth and Security Initiative” aimed at funding research, manufacturing, education, and other priorities. The plan, which the administration said would be paid for by closing tax loopholes and changing spending programs, aims to effectively replace the remaining FY2015 sequestration cuts for nondefense discretionary programs – the programs we care about the most. The initiative would split funding evenly between defense and domestic-focused efforts, and it would create 45 new manufacturing institutes, an efficiency program focused on modernizing the electric grid, and fresh ways to boost access to pre-kindergarten programs.

Obama will release his budget in two parts with the main budget volume, key proposals, summary tables, agency-level information due March 4th, and the historical tables and analytical perspectives volume will come the following week. Shortly after that, we will finalize the UW Federal Agenda for FY2015, which will likely focus on investing in research, access to federal student aid, reauthorization of science and higher education programs, and immigration and tax reforms.

Senate Passes House Bill to Raise Debt Ceiling

Posted on February 12, 2014February 12, 2014

With an impending snow storm as a powerful motivator, the Senate passed the House’s bill to suspend the debt ceiling until March 15, 2015 by a vote of 55-42.

Earlier this week, Senator Ted Cruz of Texas vowed to filibuster the measure since the House Republicans “caved to President Obama” and were unable extract to any spending cuts or other concessions to pass the bill. Such a filibuster could have caused a repeat of last Fall’s government shutdown.

However, much of the Senate’s inclination to stand tough went by the wayside as 5 plus inches of snow have been forecasted for the DC region. Both chambers of Congress have been eager to get out of town this afternoon given the storm hitting the eastern seaboard and the amount of snow that’s expected to fall in the Washington area.

The Senate voted 67-31 to end a debate on the legislation or end any filibuster threatened by Senator Cruz. The vote took nearly an hour, but cleared the way to a vote on final passage with a simple majority threshold. A dozen Republicans voted with Democrats to end the filibuster after the Senate Republican Leadership McConnell and Cornyn led the way. Republicans joining Democrats included, John Barrasso of Wyoming, Susan Collins of Maine, Bob Corker of Tennessee, Jeff Flake of Arizona, Orrin Hatch of Utah, Mike Johanns of Nebraska, Mark Kirk of Illinois, John McCain of Arizona, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and John Thune of South Dakota.

Both Washington Senators Murray and Cantwell voted to end the debate and voted for the suspension of the debt ceiling.