This Week in Congress

House and Senate

Both chambers were in session this week.  Today, after passage of the continuing resolution (CR), the House will recess until after the November election.  The Senate, on September 29, 2022, passed the CR and stands in recess until November 13.

Appropriations

On September 29, the Senate, by a vote of 72 to 25, passed the CR. The CR will keep the government funded at the FY’22 rate until December 16, giving negotiators time to work out their differences on the FY’23 funding bills.  On September 30, the House will vote and pass the CR and send the bill to President Biden for signature, beating the midnight deadline to avoid a government shutdown. The CR also contains additional funding for Ukraine; natural disasters; a five-year reauthorization of the FDA’s user fee programs; Afghan refugee resettlement, and low-income home energy assistance. Not included in the package is President Biden’s requests for $22.4 billion for the COVID-19 pandemic, $4.5 billion for the monkeypox outbreak, and Senator Manchin’s oil and gas permitting legislation.The text of the CR can be found here

Electoral College

This week the Senate began preparing for floor debate on a legislation to clarify that the Vice President’s role when electoral votes are counted as “ministerial.” Both versions of the bill include that provision.  But the House and Senate versions of the bill differ in other key areas, such as the threshold needed to consider an objection to a state’s Electoral College votes. Under the Electoral Count Act of 1887, only a single lawmaker in each chamber is needed to object. The House bill would raise the threshold to one-third of each chamber, while the Senate’s bill included one-fifth. Chairwoman Klobuchar and ranking member Blunt said they plan to offer a bipartisan manager’s amendment to “make key improvements to the bill.”  The House passed its version of the bill last week.  The Senate bill led by Senators Manchin and Collins has ten GOP co-sponsors, the number needed to overcome a Senate filibuster.  The Senate is not expected to take up the legislation until after the November elections.

Other Legislation and Happenings Around the Nation

Monkeypox

Monkeypox cases have depleted resources at sexual health clinics

The lack of spending for monkeypox in the temporary government spending bill moving through Congress means that states will have to take a patchwork approach to paying for the ongoing public health crisis in the short term, the Biden administration said. While the White House had asked for $4.5 billion to combat monkeypox as part of the CR, Republicans opposed new public health spending. Democrats ultimately opted to drop the monkeypox money in order to pass the bill before the September 30 deadline.

David Harvey, Executive Director of NCSD, stated: “The coalition plans to lobby Congress to include funding for sexually transmitted infection clinics in the year-end omnibus bill. Harvey also said that the coalition is preparing to send the White House a proposal to end STIs in the US with a program that looks similar to the Trump administration’s initiative to end HIV.” The article can be found here:

Expanded Eligibility for Monkeypox Vaccines

This week, the White House and the CDC announced expanded eligibility for monkeypox vaccinations so that more people may receive the vaccine before they are exposed to the disease. Vaccination remains an important tool in preventing the spread of monkeypox, and this public health measure is known as pre-exposure prophylaxis. The announcement can be found here

CDC warns of severe illnesses from monkeypox

This week the CDC issued a new warning to health care providers about severe illnesses in people with monkeypox. The alert was issued as Ohio reported that an individual with monkeypox had died – the third known death of a patient with monkeypox in the US.  The CDC said that some who were infected with monkeypox have had “severe manifestations” of the illness, extended hospitalizations, or “substantial” health problems. The CDC health alert can be found here

SAMHSA and Monkeypox Activities

SAMHSA released a letter allowing its grantees to use grant resources, including funds or staff, for monkeypox-related activities conducted in conjunction with SAMHSA-supported work. This letter signals the importance of mental health and mental health providers in ending the monkeypox outbreak. SAMHSA also launched a monkeypox webpage that outlines mental health issues associated with monkeypox, stress and anxiety. The letter can be found here The webpage can be found here

340B

On September 28, 2022, a federal district court directed Medicare to immediately begin paying hospitals in full for 340B drugs after the U.S. Supreme Court in July overturned a nearly 30% pay cut for Part B drugs obtained through the 340B discount program. The Supreme Court left it to the lower court to determine how CMS would repay hospitals, and when the agency would transition away from the pay cuts. Hospitals and CMS were at odds over how to handle repayment. Hospitals urged the D.C. district court to make Medicare pay in full for 340B drugs starting immediately and to quickly repay hospitals, with interest, for cuts between 2018 and 2022, without recouping funds from other hospitals. HHS said the court should give CMS time to figure out whether it should even pay hospitals back. The D.C. district court did not buy HHS’s argument and said it cannot keep underpaying claims while it determines whether to pay hospitals back. “First, the Court must determine whether to vacate the 340B reimbursement rate for the remainder of this year,” the ruling states. “Second, if yes, the Court must decide whether it is necessary to grant relief in the form of an injunction. The answer to the first question is yes; the answer to the second is no. ”

COVID-19

Health officials in the United Kingdom and the European region are seeing early signs of rising COVID activity, patterns that US experts closely watch as an indication of how the next months might unfold. Disease modeling experts have warned of a rise in infections in Northern Hemisphere countries as cooler weather brings more people indoors, as schools resume, and as vaccine protection wanes.

Moderna announced that it has requested emergency use authorization for its omicron COVID-19 booster shots for children aged 6-17 years old.

Abortion

Indiana: An Indiana judge found that a law signed by former Gov. Pence in 2016, required health providers to bury or cremate fetal tissue. The Judge ruled that the law infringes on religious and free speech rights and violates the U.S. Constitution.

Ohio: An Ohio judge extended a temporary block on a state law banning virtually all abortions, and further paused a law that would have taken effect after federal abortion protections were overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court in June. The judge’s ruling means pregnancy terminations through 20 weeks’ gestation may continue in Ohio through Oct. 12.

South Carolina: Abortion laws in South Carolina almost certainly won’t get more restrictive, after Republicans in the General Assembly could not agree on a total ban on the procedure during a special legislative session. The state currently requires ultrasounds, parental consent and 24-hour waiting periods before abortions.

Pennsylvania: Doug Mastriano, a Pennsylvania state senator who is the GOP nominee for governor, said in 2019 that women who violated his proposed abortion ban should be charged with murder.