Lawmakers inched toward a government funding deal yesterday, aiming to reach agreement by the Feb. 18 shutdown deadline, though they’ve struggled with contentious policy debates that include federal funding for abortion. The top House and Senate appropriators from each party talked for an hour yesterday, leaving without a deal. Republicans continue to demand that Democrats […]

Key lawmakers expect a White House request for a spending measure to support the response to the Omicron variant of the coronavirus, though President Joe Biden has yet to send a proposal. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) told reporters yesterday he expects Biden to soon request “substantial sums” through a supplemental appropriations bill to […]

Democratic and Republican lawmakers have held early discussions about another round of coronavirus stimulus spending as they seek to blunt the fast-spreading omicron variant and its threats to public health and economic recovery. The efforts have focused primarily on authorizing billions of dollars to help an array of businesses — including restaurants, performance venues, gyms […]

The Senate will consider the Build Back Better Act “very early in the new year so that every Member of this body has the opportunity to make their position known on the Senate floor,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer writes in letter. “We are going to vote on a revised version of the House-passed Build […]

After half a year of negotiating, Sen. Joe Manchin pulled the plug on the president’s signature Build Back Better bill, casting uncertainty over the bill’s health reforms, including Medicare drug price negotiation, Medicare hearing benefits, closure of the Medicaid coverage gap and extension of the enhanced Affordable Care Act tax credits. On Sunday, the West […]

Democrats are hitting a make-or-break week in their ambitious effort to pass President Biden‘s climate and social spending bill by Christmas.  Democrats have just 10 days to meet their self-imposed deadline and face growing headaches that could prevent them from meeting their goal. New concerns about record inflation, procedural steps that have to be completed before […]

Children’s health advocates are cheering the Congressional Budget Office’s estimate that requiring one-year continuous enrollment for kids in Medicaid or CHIP under the Build Back Better plan will save nearly $3.7 billion over 10 years while making CHIP permanent will save about $1 billion. Meanwhile, it will cost $2.21 billion to extend coverage for postpartum […]

A cloture vote Wednesday to expedite debate on the annual National Defense Authorization Act will kick into gear senators’ push to tack their priorities onto must-pass spending bills before the end of the year. NDAA and a likely forthcoming omnibus carrying 12 annual appropriations bills are primary targets for vehicles to complete other items, with […]

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer say they’re aiming to pass the $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill and a larger package stuffed full of Democrats’ child care, health care and climate change priorities by Oct. 31, when a short-term extension of highway funding is set to run out. Coincidentally, Oct. 31 is the day before the much-anticipated United […]

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said at her Tuesday (Oct. 12) press conference that Congress will mostly be funding policy priorities for a shorter period of time in a smaller reconciliation package, coming just one day after she sent a Dear Colleague letter saying members requested Congress include fewer, but better-funded, policies in the package. […]