This Week on the Hill
The House and Senate convene today for one more week of work before adjourning for a seven-week recess.
The House convenes today and will consider 23 bills under suspension of the rules plus one bill under a rule, including H.R. 4768 related to court challenges of administration regulations, and H.R. 3178 related to the collection of higher education data. On Tuesday the House is scheduled to consider one bill under suspension of the rules in addition to the fiscal year 2017 Interior-Environment appropriations bill. For the balance of the week, the House is scheduled to consider bills related to abortion, Iran, and food products containing genetically modified ingredients. Several committees scheduled hearings for the week: the Ways and Means Committee will hold a hearing Tuesday on health insurance premiums, and the Energy and Commerce Committee will hold a hearing Wednesday on CERCLA implementation.
The Senate convenes today and will resume debate on the fiscal year 2017 Defense appropriations bill (S. 3000). For the balance of the week, the Senate may consider the conference report to the opioids bill (S. 524) passed by the House on Friday, the bill extending federal aviation programs through September 30, 2017, and the vote to limit debate on the conference report to the Military Construction-Veterans Affairs-Zika spending bill (H.R. 2577). A previous vote to end debate failed when Democrats objected to the funding levels and policy provisions included in the conference report. Several committees scheduled hearings for the week: the Finance Committee will hold a hearing Wednesday on the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act; the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee will hold a hearing Thursday on implementation of the Every Student Succeeds Act; and the Foreign Relations Committee will hold a hearing Wednesday on the Zika virus.
Fiscal Year 2017 Budget Update
The House continues to work on appropriations bills, as the Senate Appropriations Committee has completed work on all 12 spending bills.
Last week the House Appropriations subcommittees approved the Labor-HHS-Education and State-Foreign Operations spending measures; both bills will have a markup by the full Appropriations committee this week. The $161.6 billion Labor-HHS-Education bill is $569 million below fiscal year 2016 enacted levels, although the bill increases funding for the National Institutes of Health and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, provides an additional $525 million to address opioid and heroin abuse, and creates a $300 million reserve fund to deal with infectious disease outbreaks. The $52.1 billion State-Foreign Operations spending measure is $591 million below fiscal year 2016 enacted levels and $687 million below the President’s request. The full House passed the Financial Services spending measure by a vote of 239-185 on Wednesday; the $21.7 billion measure is $1.5 billion, or 6.5 percent, below the fiscal year 2016 enacted level. Under the bill, the Internal Revenue Service and Federal Communications Commission would receive substantial cuts, and several policy riders target administration regulations and financial regulation overhauls; the bill drew a veto threat in June. This week the House is scheduled to consider the Interior-Environment spending bill on the floor on Tuesday. The $32.2 billion spending bill is $64 million below the fiscal year 2016 enacted level and $1 billion less than the President’s request. It also contains several policy riders aimed at blocking the administration’s environmental regulations.
Last week the Senate held a vote to advance the Defense spending bill (S. 3000), but was blocked by Democrats during the Thursday vote. Democrats voiced concerns over the appropriations process, believing it has violated the two-year budget agreement. The Senate plans to resume debate on a motion to proceed to the Defense spending bill when it convenes today.
Opioids Conference Report Passes the House as Administration Launches New Initiatives
On Friday the House voted 407-5 to approve a conference report to an opioid abuse bill (S. 524), and the bill is expected to pass the Senate this week. Democrats had been advocating for the inclusion of emergency funding for the bill, but instead the bill authorizes new grant programs that can be funded through the appropriations process. The bill creates grant programs that expand access to treatment, overdose-reversal drugs and recovery services. Last week the administration also announced several new initiatives to address the opioid crisis: a final rule that increases the number of patients a doctor can prescribe buprenorphine to from 100 to 275; a proposal to remove hospital survey pain management questions from the hospital payment scoring calculation; a requirement that Indian Health Service clinicians must check their state PDMP database prior to prescribing opioids for longer than seven days; a launch of several new research studies on opioid misuse and pain treatment; and the release of a request for information on current prescriber education and training programs at the Department of Health and Human Services.
FAA Extension Expected to Pass This Week
Last week leaders of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee and the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee announced a bipartisan, bicameral agreement to extend authorization of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) through September 30, 2017. The current extension of federal aviation programs expires on July 15 and action is needed before Congress adjourns for a seven-week recess on Friday. Highlights of the agreement include: extends authorization of the FAA’s programs and the taxes that fund those programs at current funding levels; adds policy provisions related to drone usage (both deployment during disasters and prohibiting drone users from interfering with emergency response activities) and airport security; and streamlines and improves the air traffic controller hiring process. The House is scheduled to consider the bill today and the Senate is expected to also take action this week. A summary of the agreement can be found here and bill text can be found here.
House Passes Mental Health Bill
The House passed the Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act (H.R. 2646) by a vote of 422-2 on Wednesday, capping off several years of work on the bill. The bill aims to improve oversight and effectiveness of federal mental health programs and authorizes a range of grants for treatment and substance abuse prevention. Although the bill authorizes several grant programs, funding of the programs is dependent on the appropriations process. The measure includes policy changes as well, including a provision to allow Medicaid to cover stays in mental health facilities if the stay is less than 15 days, and a provision directing the Department of Health and Human Services to issue a regulation clarifying privacy rules under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). The Senate is not expected to consider the bill prior to the extended August recess.
Department of Education Releases Proposed Rules for Assessments
Last week the Department of Education released two notices of proposed rulemaking related to assessments, as part of implementing the Every Student Succeeds Act. The law maintains provisions that require states to administer to all students annual statewide assessments in reading language/arts and mathematics in grades 3-8 and once in high school. The rules address Title I, Part A assessment regulations and Title I, Part B innovative assessment demonstration authority. States have 60 days to submit comments on the proposed rules. A fact sheet on the rules can be found here; the proposed rules for Part A and Part B have also been published in the Federal Register.
Senate Approves GMO Labeling Bill
On Thursday the Senate passed a bill (S. 764) establishing the nation’s first mandatory labeling requirements for food companies to label food products containing genetically modified ingredients (GMOs) by a vote of 63-30. The bill also blocks states from issuing mandatory labeling laws for products containing GMOs. The bill directs the U.S. Department of Agriculture to create within two years regulations for determining which foods qualify for labeling, while also giving food companies the ability to choose from three options for disclosure (an on-package label, a symbol developed by the department, or an electronic code scanned by consumers via their smart phones). The House is scheduled to consider the bill on Wednesday.
DOT Announces FASTLANE Grant Awards
The U.S. Department of Transportation (U.S. DOT) notified the authorizing committees last week of the grants the department intends to award under the new Nationally Significant Freight and Highway Projects program, also known as the FASTLANE program. The FASTLANE program was created by the FAST Act, signed into law on December 4, 2015; the program is intended to provide financial assistance to nationally and regionally significant freight and highway projects that align with program goals. The act also required U.S. DOT to notify the authorizing committees of jurisdiction of projects being awarded under the program; the list of projects must then remain with the committee for a 60-day review period before awards can be issued. The department notified the committees on July 5 of 18 projects selected to receive a total of $759 million in fiscal year 2016. A fact sheet on the FASTLANE program can be found here and the list of projects can be found here.
Administration Releases Five Final Rules Implementing WIOA
Recently the administration announced the advanced release of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) final rules, intended to implement the act signed into law by the President on July 22, 2014. The act was intended to strengthen and improve the nation’s public workforce system and help get Americans into high-quality jobs and careers, while helping employers hire and retain skilled workers. The final rules address the following provisions: Joint Rule for Unified and Combined State Plans, Performance Accountability, and the One-Stop System Joint Provisions; Department of Labor-Only Final Rule (Titles I and III of WIOA); Programs and Activities Authorized by the Adult Education and Family Literacy Act (Title II of WIOA); State Vocational Rehabilitation Services Program, State Supported Employment Services Program, Limitations on Use of Subminimum Wage, Final Rule; and WIOA Miscellaneous Program Changes Final Rule. Fact sheets, FAQs and other resources can be found here.
Administration Releases Final VOCA Rule
Last week the U.S. Department of Justice Office for Victims of Crime (OVC) published the final rule for its Victim of Crime Act (VOCA) Formula Victim Assistance Grant Program in the Federal Register. As authorized by the Victims of Crime Act of 1984, OVC provides an annual grant from the Crime Victims Fund to each state and eligible territory for the financial support of services to crime victims by eligible crime victim assistance programs. The final rule codifies and updates the existing VOCA Victim Assistance Program Guidelines to reflect changes in OVC policy, needs of the crime victim services field, and VOCA. The final rule reorganizes the program rules into six major divisions relating to general provisions, state administering agency program requirements, state administering agency use of funds for administration and training, sub-recipient program requirements, sub-recipient project requirements, and sub-recipient allowable/unallowable costs. The final rule is effective August 8, 2016.
Recently Released Reports
Finding Solutions to the Prescription Opioid and Heroin Crisis: A Road Map for States, National Governors Association
Trends and Consequences of Eliminating State Psychiatric Beds, 2016, Treatment Advocacy Center
Motor Vehicle Crash Deaths, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
State and Local Expenditures on Corrections and Education, U.S. Department of Education
The Effects of Medicaid Expansion under the ACA: Findings from a Literature Review, The Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured
Economic News
Economy Adds 287,000 Jobs in June
New data released last week by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics showed that total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 287,000 in June and the unemployment rate rose by 0.2 percentage point to 4.9 percent; this was the strongest month of hiring since last October. The data also shows that in June there were 7.8 million unemployed persons, an increase of 347,000. The number of long-term unemployed (jobless for 27 weeks or more) rose slightly to 2.0 million in June, accounting for 25.8 percent of the total unemployed. The labor force participation rate increased by 0.1 percentage point to 62.7 percent. In June, job gains occurred in leisure and hospitality (59,000), health care and social assistance (58,000), information (44,000), professional and business services (38,000) and retail trade (30,000). Mining jobs continued to decrease in June, down 6,000, while employment saw little change for construction, wholesale trade, manufacturing, and government. The average hourly earnings for all employees increased by 2 cents to $25.61 in June, following an increase of 6 cents in May. Over the year average hourly earnings have risen by 2.6 percent.