Health bill crosses first hurdle…
The House passed the American Health Care Act, moving the action on health care to the Senate. Congress passed the Omnibus spending bill to fund the government through September, with a bipartisan compromise that had both sides claiming a win.
GOP Health Bill | Government Funding | ICYMI/DC | ICYMI/USA | Q&As
House Passes American Health Care Act
With an additional amendment providing funds for state high-risk pools and some classic DC arm-twisting, the House passed the American Health Care Act by a vote of 217-213 (see how your member voted).
What's in the bill?
- Ends the employer and individual mandates requiring everyone to have health insurance
- Changes income-based subsidies to age-based subsidies that phase out for people at higher incomes
- Ends caps on out-of-pocket expenses and co-pays
- Increases the amount of tax-free money that can be placed in health savings accounts
- Delays the "Cadillac tax" on high-cost health plans
- Capped Medicaid block grants to states
- Maintains key ACA provisions*:
*Allowing young people to stay on parents' plans until age 26
*Requirement to cover preexisting conditions
*No annual or lifetime limits
*Requirement to cover the 10 Essential Health Benefits
*The MacArthur Amendment, which passed as a part of the AHCA allows states to apply for waivers opt out of these guarantees, provided that they have a high-risk pool to cover the people who cannot find coverage in the private market. The Upton Amendment makes $8 billion available to help states fund these high-risk pools.
What happens now?
The bill still has a long way to go. Senators plan to write their own health bill.
The health bill is a reconciliation bill, (crafted in response to the recent budget to "reconcile" existing policies with the budget), which means it only needs a simple majority and is not subject to filibuster. A reconciliation bill is also subject to the "Bryd Rule," meaning it must reduce spending and cannot include "extraneous matters."
Once senator leaders come up with a bill that can pass Byrd Rule muster, it can come up for a vote before the full Senate. And if the Senate bill passes, the House and Senate will work reconcile differences and then the combined bill would have to pass both the House and Senate in the exact same form.
Omnibus Spending Bill Passes,
Avoiding Government Shutdown
The House and Senate reached an agreement to fund the government through September. The bill passed in both chambers with a remarkably bipartisan vote, passing the House by a vote of 309-118 and passing the Senate 79-18 As with any Omnibus, it was a hodge-podge of priorities.
IN the deal:
- 2 billion for NIH and the "cancer moonshot" begun under President Obama
- Long-term extension of miner's health benefits
- $15 billion in new defense spending to combat terrorism
- $1.5 billion for border security
- $2 billion in disaster funding for California, West Virginia, Louisiana and North Carolina
- $0 for cracking down on state pot laws
- $68 million in reimbursement for state & local governments' cost of protecting the first family
- sets up fund to combat Russian active measures, restricts travel of Russian diplomats within US
- withholds $2.5 billion in defense funds until president presents plan to defeat of ISIS
- includes $11.7 million for Maui Space Surveillance System
NOT IN the deal:
- Funding for a border wall
- Defunding Planned Parenthood
- Withdrawing funding for sanctuary cities
#ICYMI: (In Case you Missed It) / DC
- We’ve blown the bomb budget
- The president loves this map
- Senate’s “ultimate nuclear option” may have nothing to do with filibuster
- DATA Act reports starting to come in ahead of May 9 deadline. Trump admin sees “opportunity to transform government institutions” in new standardized government data
- Dean of the FL delegation, Rep. Ros-Lehtinen retiring
- This fed agency wants to be “the Happy Department"
- DC first to require daycare workers to have certificate or associates degree
- President Trump had "very friendly" call – and extended White House invitation – with controversial president of Phillippines
- He also spoke with leaders of Singapore and Thailand and invited them to the White House
- House transportation hearing with airline execs was "not pleasant"
- USDA changes guidelines to make "school meals great again" (real quote from USDA press release)
- President Trump would "certainly consider" gas tax
- No "hard and fast" number of monuments under review after new Antiquities Act exec order, here are some possibilities
- House-passed bill would allow companies to offer paid time off instead of cash for overtime
- Senators were not amused by presidential tweets calling for end to legislative filibuster and idea that country "needs a good shutdown"
- Fireworks expected in next week's Senate Judiciary committee hearing with Sally Yates
- New Buck bill would require report on how much actually raised each year in offsets
- End of the DeMint era at Heritage Foundation
- Lawmakers sent second letter urging Congressional approval for US involvement in Yemeni civil war
- FBI Director Comey "mildly nauseous" that he might have influenced election (did he?)
- Merriam-Webster is cool with that usage
- Comey referred to Wikileaks as "intelligence porn"
- Comey did speak with Sally Yates about her concerns with Lt. Gen Flynn
- First presidential foreign trip will include stops in Israel, Vatican City, and Saudi Arabia
- World leaders are calling President Trump about the Paris Climate accord; "big decision" expected in next two weeks
- House passed bill to increase sanctions on North Korea
#ICYMI: (In Case you Missed It) / Nation
- Kendall Jenner went from infamous Pepsi ad to promoting Fyre Festival in the Bahamas. About that… there were signs.
- Did Heineken get the message ad right?
- When Mark Zuckerberg just shows up for dinner
- California will conduct “fair housing testing” of certain AirBNB hosts to address racial discrimination
- Customer demand, not state regulation, pushing WV's largest utility to renewables.
- Government requests for Facebook user account data up 9% in second half of 2016 – Dig into the country reports
- This crazy story is not Homeland
- Why a hacker's attempt to ransom OITNB episodes failed miserably
- Rental income now highest ever % of GDP
- New US THAAD missile defense system now operational in South Korea
- Signing bonuses and raises reported in coal country. 50% of coal jobs are in just 25 counties.
- Could virtual reality fix the opioid crisis?
- No, really: Americans like nonpartisan news
- California lawmakers consider blacklisting contractors who participate in building border wall
- Dogs of the House vs. Dogs of the Senate
- Conspiracy theorists may just need a hug
- Facebook employee says new movie about fictional omnipresent social network is "spot on"
- Elon Musk talks LA tunnels, semi trucks that drive like sports cars, new gig factories coming, & a 747 to Mars
- The backfire effect explains (almost) everything about our politics
- World's largest-ever IPO coming in 2018 as Saudi Arabia lists 5% of national oil company
- Looking for the perfect Mother's Day gift? Of course there is an app for that.
- The right way to watch Star Wars
- Is social media data more like medical data than ad data?
- Yes – those robots taking our jobs can be hacked
- Facebook hiring 3,000 people worldwide to monitor posts for criminal activity
- American Airlines is shaving two inches from economy legroom
- Stephen Hawking puts earthlings on notice
- Apple just pledged $1 billion to promote US manufacturing
- The "world's most experienced person when it comes to unveiling plaques" is retiring
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