This Week in Congress

U.S. Senate

The Senate is in recess until September 6, 2022.

U.S. House of Representatives

The House returns on August 12 to vote on the Senate passed reconciliation bill.  After the vote, the House will recess until September 13, 2022.

Reconciliation

On Sunday afternoon, August 8, after a marathon weekend session, the Senate passed the Inflation Reduction Act. The vote was 51-50, with Vice President Harris casting the tie-breaking vote. The House will vote on the bill, on August 12, and then the legislation will head to the White House for President Bidens signature.  The $3.5 trillion package includes a new minimum tax on large corporations, provisions to lower prescription drug prices, and $300 billion to address climate change and promote clean energy.

The bill text can be found here.

A summary can be found here.

Veterans Health

This week, by a vote of 86-11, the Senate passed and sent to the President legislation (S 3373 – Sergeant First Class Heath Robinson Honoring Our Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics [PACT] Act of 2022.)  The legislation was named in honor of an Army National Guard veteran. After deploying to Kosovo and Iraq as a combat medic with the Ohio National Guard, Robinson was diagnosed with a rare autoimmune disorder and stage 4 lung cancer.  He died in May 2020. The bill would make servicemembers who contracted certain diseases after being deployed to Iraq, Afghanistan, and other combat zones automatically eligible for VA benefits.

A summary of the legislation can be found here.

CHIPS Bill

This week President Biden signed into law bipartisan legislation (Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors [CHIPS] and Science Act.) The bill provides billions of dollars in incentives to the domestic semiconductor industry and fund scientific research that proponents say will help boost U.S. competitiveness and solve supply chain challenges. The bill includes more than $50 billion in incentives for manufacturers of semiconductors, or chips, to build domestic semiconductor plants. It also includes more than $80 billion for the National Science Foundation to support innovation and research.

The bill text and summary may be accessed here.

Other Legislation and Happenings Around the Nation

Monkeypox

Statistics: Worldwide cases – 31,799.  US Cases – 10,768

Vaccines: This week, the FDA announced emergency use authorization for Bavarian Nordic’s Jynneos monkeypox vaccine that will increase available doses five-fold. The vaccine will be administered intradermally in adults (meaning between layers of the skin rather than below the skin) in an effort to stretch out low vaccine supplies. This dose-sparing tactic will allow far more people to sign up for doses before summer’s end.  If successful, it could help contain the outbreak in the U.S., which currently accounts for nearly a third of the world’s documented monkeypox cases.

CDC Guidelines:  On August 5, 2022, the CDC updated its monkeypox guidance and recommended that people limit their sexual partners while waiting to get vaccinated against the virus. While monkeypox is not considered a sexually transmitted disease, it is often transmitted through “close, sustained physical contact, which can include sexual contact,” the CDC said. The new guidelines can be found here.

Letter of Support:

Senators Markey (D-Mass.), Merkley (D-Ore.) and twelve other Senators: This week, the Senators sent a letter to Senate Majority Leader Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Minority Leader McConnell (R-Ky.) urging them to include critical funding to address the monkeypox (MPV)/orthopoxvirus Public Health Emergency in any forthcoming legislative package.

In reaction to the letter, David Harvey, NCSD Executive Director stated, “The nation’s sexual health clinics have been managing frontline testing, treatment, and vaccination for monkeypox without adequate resources, staffing, or supplies, blunting the impact of federal efforts to address the outbreak. The success of the national response hinges on whether these clinics get the resources they need to help patients access expanded testing, treatment, and vaccines.”

The letter can be found here.

COVID-19

Public Health Emergency Extension

The Biden administration is expected to renew the public health emergency declaration for COVID-19. The renewal would continue federal measures expanding access to health coverage, vaccines, and treatments. In the proposed extension, the emergency would continue through the November elections and perhaps into the new year — though those with knowledge of the matter warned that the decision could change before the Aug. 15 deadline for a renewal.

CDC Streamlines COVID-19 Guidance

This week, the CDC published new COVID-19 guidance to help people better understand their risk, protect themselves and others, determine what actions to take if exposed to COVID-19, and what actions to take if they are sick or test positive for the virus. The CDC guidance can be found here.

Vaccines: Although over 61 million people over the age of 50 are eligible to receive their second COVID-19 booster shot, just a third have actually done so, according to data from the CDC. Similarly, less than half of Americans, over the age of 5, who are eligible to receive their first booster have received the supplemental shot.

Abortion

Medicaid 1115 Waivers:  The White House is considering using Medicaid 1115 waivers to establish federal support for people living in abortion-hostile states who seek access to abortion and other reproductive care elsewhere.  CMS officials stated this waiver could expand access to care for Medicaid enrollees whose pregnancies are the result of rape or incest, or whose lives are at risk.

Wyoming:  Abortion will remain legal in Wyoming while a lawsuit that contests a ban on the procedure in nearly all cases moves ahead, a judge ruled. The lawsuit will likely succeed because the ban appears to violate the state constitution and is vague, A Teton County District Judge wrote in granting the preliminary injunction.

Texas: The Texas Supreme Court will reconsiders a rule allowing minors to get an abortion without parental consent.  A spokeswoman for the high court explained that the justices believe the new law, and a landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision which overturns Roe v. Wade, have “raised questions about whether the parental-notification rules are still consistent with Texas law.”

Indiana: Indiana became the first state in the nation to approve abortion restrictions since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, as the Republican governor signed a near-total ban on the procedure. The ban, which takes effect Sept. 15, includes some exceptions. Abortions would be permitted in cases of rape and incest, before 10-weeks post-fertilization; to protect the life and physical health of the mother; and if a fetus is diagnosed with a lethal anomaly. Victims of rape and incest would not be required to sign a notarized affidavit attesting to an attack, as had once been proposed. Under the bill, abortions can be performed only in hospitals or outpatient centers owned by hospitals, meaning all abortion clinics would lose their licenses. A doctor who performs an illegal abortion or fails to file required reports must also lose their medical license.