Reps. Diana DeGette (D-CO) and Fred Upton (R-MI) say swift passage of their Cures 2.0 bill that would authorize a new federal biomedical research agency is critical now that key Senate Democrats reportedly stripped from the reconciliation bill a provision providing $3 billion for President Joe Biden’s proposed Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health. The […]

The fight for provider relief continues as hospitals, nursing homes, practitioners, dentists and assisted living facilities, among others, vie for a piece of the phase 4 $25.5 billion distribution that HHS says will advance equity by rewarding medium and smaller providers with a special add-on relief payment. HHS clarified in a webinar with providers that […]

Democratic leaders struggling to satisfy both progressive and moderate factions’ demands are still trying to resolve divisions over scaling back the expansive health care policy wish list in their $3.5 trillion budget reconciliation package. A smattering of members in both chambers have concerns with key issues ranging from drug pricing to Medicare spending, while Democratic […]

Labor, aging, and disability advocates are fighting to get lawmakers to put at least $250 billion toward a plan to expand home and community-based care for the elderly and disabled and improve conditions for the poorly paid workers that tend to them. The plan, which the White House wants funded at $400 billion over eight […]

With the sound of one final gavel, House Democrats on Wednesday completed the mammoth task of translating President Biden’s economic vision into a $3.5 trillion tax-and-spending proposal — marking a major milestone in a fight that’s still far from finished. Assembling the House package proved to be an enormous undertaking, as Democrats raced over the […]

House Democrats have taken their first steps to advance a sweeping social spending and tax package that would implement President Joe Biden’s economic agenda. Thirteen committees approved legislation to be included in a reconciliation package that can be used to try and pass Democrats’ policies without Republican support. The fiscal 2022 budget resolution (S. Con. […]

Hours after House Democrats launched a major, health care-focused piece of their pitch to turn $3.5 trillion of social spending dreams into law, it ran smack into a political brick wall. The party’s growing problem is twofold: On one hand, the White House and Senate are keeping their distance from the House’s proposal to divvy […]

Democrats are staring down a nightmare September, a month jam-packed with deadlines and bruising fights over their top priorities. The numerous legislative challenges in a condensed timeline will test Democratic unity and provide plenty of opportunities for Republicans to lay political traps just a year out from the 2022 midterm elections, where they are feeling […]

House Democrats secured a temporary truce last month in their internal dispute over economic priorities, but the solution to their standoff all but guarantees another clash by the end of September. The disagreement between the party’s moderate and progressive wings is ostensibly over the sequencing of two big bills that make up the bulk of President […]

The 2022 budget resolution is an inflection point for our nation and the futures of millions of Americans and their families. The resolution and its reconciliation instructions provide Congress with a path forward to deliver President Biden’s and Congressional Democrats’ shared plan to Build Back Better. This budget serves as a clear declaration of Democrats’ […]