Appropriations

Fiscal Year 2023

This week, House and Senate appropriators announced an agreement on a framework for a government funding deal expected to total roughly $1.5 trillion. The details of the agreement have not been released, but it is expected that both defense and domestic spending will receive increases. The Hyde amendment, which for decades has barred federal funding for abortions, except in cases of rape, incest, or to save the life of the woman, was deleted in the House LHHS appropriations bill.  That provision and other policy riders will have to be worked out before the omnibus appropriations bill can become law.

Continuing Resolution

The Senate is expected to vote on the CR next week, extending the funding deadline, when the current CR expires on February 18, until March 11. The bill funds programs and policies at the FY’21 level until the FY’22 omnibus appropriations bills are signed into law. Senate leaders are still working on objections to bringing up the CR by some members.  One objection is from Senator Blackburn  (R–TN) who is alleging that the Department of Health and Human Services has been funding “crack pipes” through the distribution of “safe smoking kits” as part of a $30 million “harm reduction grants” program.  HHS Secretary Becerra and Rahul Gupta, Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy disputed the claim stating that “no federal funding will be used directly or through subsequent reimbursement of grantees to put pipes in safe smoking kits.”

A section-by-section summary can be found here

The bill text can be found here

Pandemic Supplemental

Some House Democrats want to include higher wages for workers in a pandemic-related restaurant supplemental, a proposal that could threaten a bipartisan agreement on the issue. Lawmakers called for tying any additional aid to raising the federal subminimum wage of $2.13 an hour that applies to workers who rely mostly on tips. But the wage hike could be a problem in garnering bipartisan support for another round of pandemic aid.

FY’23 Budget

The FY’23 budget is expected to be submitted shortly after President Biden’s State of the Union address, which is scheduled for March 1.

Other Legislation and Happenings Around the Nation

On February 10, 2022, the CDC released a report on contact tracing for COVID-19 and the importance of a robust and well-trained public health workforce. The report “Scaling Up Staffing Roles in Case Investigation and Contact Tracing” can be found here.

COVID-19:

The US is heading out of the “full blown” pandemic phase of Covid-19.  Dr. Anthony Fauci predicts that a combination of vaccinations, treatments and prior infection would soon make the virus more manageable. He further stated that he hoped there would be an end to all pandemic-related restrictions in the coming months including mandatory wearing of masks.

As many states begin lifting mask mandates, the CDC stated that people should be wearing masks regardless of their vaccination status, and suggests wearing masks in places where the new case rate is higher than 50 cases per 100,000 or the testing positivity rate exceeds 8 percent.

Scientific advisers to the FDA will decide next week whether to endorse giving two doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine to children 6 months to 4 years of age, before clinical trials have shown whether a full course of three doses is effective. Such an authorization would be a first for the agency. Interim results suggested that two doses of the vaccine did not produce a strong immune response in children aged 2 through 4. Results from trials of the third dose are expected in a few weeks.

The CDC has told coronavirus vaccine providers to be ready to receive shots for children younger than 5 by Feb. 21 — just a week after the FDA is expected to make its recommendation on emergency-use authorization. If the vaccine receives the green light, an initial 10 million doses are expected to be ready for shipment, with the first half of the batch available on Feb. 21 and the second on Feb. 25, according to an updated pediatric vaccination planning guide released this week.

U.S. health officials are considering new changes to vaccine guidance that would lengthen the amount of time between doses in order to lower the risk of heart inflammation for immunocompromised people. The CDC told a panel of outside advisers that proposed changes would apply to the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines. Immunocompromised people, who generally don’t respond as well to vaccines, are the only population advised to get four vaccine jabs.