This Week in Congress

House and Senate

The House and Senate were in session this week and continued to make Committee assignments. Senate Republicans have yet to figure out their committee rosters, which is preventing the chamber from passing an organizing resolution. Until that happens, most committees can’t advance legislation or move nominees to the floor. Senate and House Democratics did complete their committee memberships for the 118th Congress.

A full list of relevant committee memberships of interest to NCSD follows:

Senate Appropriations Democrats

• Senator Murray – Chair
• Senator Feinstein
• Senator Durbin
• Senator Reed
• Senator Tester
• Senator Shaheen
• Senator Merkley
• Senator Coons
• Senator Schatz
• Senator Baldwin
• Senator Murphy
• Senator Manchin
• Senator Van Hollen
• Senator Heinrich
• Senator Peters

Senate Health, Education, Labor & Pensions Democrats

• Senator Sanders – Chair
• Senator Murray
• Senator Casey
• Senator Baldwin
• Senator Murphy
• Senator Kaine
• Senator Hassan
• Senator Smith
• Senator Luján
• Senator Hickenlooper
• Senator Markey

House Appropriations Democrats

• Ranking Member Rosa DeLauro
• Rep. Marcy Kaptur
• Rep. Steny Hoyer
• Rep. Sanford Bishop
• Rep. Barbara Lee
• Rep. Betty McCollum
• Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger
• Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz
• Rep. Henry Cuellar
• Rep. Chellie Pingree
• Rep. Mike Quigley
• Rep. Derek Kilmer
• Rep. Matt Cartwright
• Rep. Grace Meng
• Rep. Mark Pocan
• Rep. Pete Aguilar
• Rep. Lois Frankel
• Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman

House Energy and Commerce Democrats

• Ranking Member Frank Pallone
• Rep. Anna Eshoo
• Rep. Diana DeGette
• Rep. Jan Schakowsky
• Rep. Doris Matsui
• Rep. Kathy Castor
• Rep. John Sarbanes
• Rep. Paul Tonko
• Rep. Yvette Clarke
• Rep. Tony Cárdenas
• Rep. Raul Ruiz
• Rep. Scott Peters
• Rep. Debbie Dingell
• Rep. Marc Veasey
• Rep. Annie Kuster
• Rep. Robin Kelly
• Rep. Nanette Barragán
• Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester
• Rep. Darren Soto
• Rep. Angie Craig
• Rep. Kim Schrier
• Rep. Lori Trahan
• Rep. Lizzie Fletcher

Debt Ceiling

House Republicans say they’ll only vote for a longer-term debt limit fix by tying it to spending cuts.  But they are discussing a way to buy time by passing one or more short-term suspensions of the statutory debt ceiling this summer. They could potentially line up the debt deadline with the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30. Any such short-term measure would likely be “clean” of any strings attached or specific spending cuts.

Office of Management and Budget FY’24 Guidance

This week OMB issued budget guidance to federal agencies, after a delay caused by the late passage of the FY’23 appropriations package. It normally takes about 6 weeks between receipt of OMB budget numbers and the formal release, so the FY’24 budget is not expected to be submitted to Congress until sometime in March.

Other Legislative Happenings from Around the Nation

CDC Chief Shakes Up Agency

CDC Director Walensky continues to hire new leadership and establish new offices in the wake of criticism of its pandemic response. Walensky is establishing an Office of Public Health Data, Surveillance and Technology aimed at closing gaps in monitoring for potential threats; she is also forming an Office of Health Equity. More of the agency’s units will report directly to the director’s office, increasing Walensky’s view of the nation’s health status. Walensky also consolidated work done by two different centers into a new National Center for State, Tribal, Local and Territorial Public Health Infrastructure and Workforce. Other changes included:

• The Office of Science and Office of Laboratory Science and Safety will report directly to the director’s team, a move aimed at emphasizing the importance of scientific work and increasing visibility of new insights at the top. Most CDC organizations will now report directly to the director and her inner circle—a shift away from a Trump-era structural change.
• The Center for Preparedness and Response will be renamed the Office of Readiness and Response. The Center for Forecasting and Outbreak Analytics, launched under Walensky’s oversight in 2022, will report to the director of this office.
• Walensky created a Director for External Affairs position to strengthen relationships with government, nonprofits, academia, and businesses, though the position hasn’t yet been filled.
• The director will head a new leadership team along with newly hired Principal Deputy Director Nirav Shah, newly appointed Chief Medical Officer Debra Houry, Chief Operating Officer Robin Bailey Jr., Chief of Staff Sherri Berger, and a deputy director for global health and chief strategy officer who have yet to be announced.

Monkeypox

The draft guide, “Mpox: Development of Drugs and Biological Products,” comes as the mpox public health emergency winds down. The PHE is set to expire Jan. 31, and the Biden administration has said it will not renew the declaration. There is no FDA-approved treatment for mpox, but there are two drugs approved to treat smallpox that are also used for mpox: TPOXX (tecovirimat) and Tembexa (brincidofovir). TPOXX and Tembexa were both approved under FDA’s Animal Rule, which allows the agency to approve certain drugs without human clinical trials in circumstances when it is not feasible or ethical to conduct trials in humans. The latest draft guidance published by the FDA makes clear that mpox drugs and biological products must be tested in human clinical trials in order to garner approval, which differs from how the agency has handled testing for smallpox therapeutics, including those that are currently used for mpox. The draft guide does not apply to preventive vaccines, since those products raise different questions around subject selection, safety monitoring and effectiveness evaluation. FDA says vaccine developers should contact the agency’s vaccine office for more information.

Tennessee Cuts HIV Program With Planned Parenthood Ties

Top Tennessee health officials attempted to oust Planned Parenthood from a program designed to prevent and treat HIV before eventually deciding to forgo federal funding for the program, despite warnings that doing so will have a devastating impact on marginalized communities. The decision is the latest development in Tennessee where abortion is already banned. Republican leaders, however, have actively tried to cut off public ties with the organization for any other services, due to its long history of offering and defending abortion care.

Ban on Gay Men Donating Blood

The FDA plans to ease a ban on gay and bisexual men donating blood, relaxing restrictions that date back to the 1980s AIDS crisis. The policy prohibiting donations from men who had sex with men will be modified to focus on sexual behaviors, regardless of gender, that pose a higher risk of contracting and transmitting HIV. Gay and bisexual men in monogamous relationships will no longer be forced to abstain from sex to donate blood under federal guidelines. Potential donors, regardless of gender and sexual orientation, would be asked if they have had any new sexual partners in the past three months. They can give blood if they say no. Those who have had new sexual partners would be asked if they had engaged in anal intercourse in the past three months; those who have would be asked to wait three months to donate.

Abortion

Presidential Memorandum on Abortion Pills

In his latest act since Dobbs was handed down, this week President Biden signed a presidential memorandum directing the Secretary of Health and Human Services to consider new regulations protecting access to mifepristone, the drug used for medication abortions. The FDA moved earlier this month to allow drug stores to carry mifepristone, leading Walgreens, and CVS to begin selling the pill. Some view mifepristone as the next battlefront in the abortion fight; many states are likely to pass laws either legalizing or banning the medication in the months ahead. The memorandum can be found here

South Dakota

South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, along with the state’s Republican attorney general, said this week that the state will prosecute pharmacists who dispense abortion-inducing pills following the FDA rule change that broadens access to the pills. The Republican governor and South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley released a letter to South Dakota pharmacists saying they are “subject to felony prosecution” if they procure or dispense abortion-inducing drugs. The state bans all abortions except to save the life of the pregnant person.

North Carolina/West Virginia

A widely anticipated legal battle over whether federal policies supersede state laws began this week with a pair of lawsuits seeking to stop restrictions on abortion pills in two states. The challenges — targeting laws in North Carolina and West Virginia that block patients from receiving abortion pills by mail or from retail pharmacies or ban the use of the pills entirely — will likely have national implications, as more than a dozen states have imposed laws limiting how, when and where patients can obtain abortion pills.

Florida

The Florida Supreme Court rejected requests to halt a law that prevents abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy. Justices, in a 4-1 decision, turned down a motion by seven abortion clinics and a doctor for a stay of a ruling that kept the law in place.

New York

New York lawmakers codified abortion rights in the state’s constitution. The next decision will be with voters. The state Assembly and state Senate voted this week on a resolution that would protect abortion rights in the state constitution, giving it additional strength in the wake of the overturning of Roe v. Wade last June by the U.S. Supreme Court. It passed both chambers by an overwhelming majority.

Washington

Abortion rights proposals have been front and center in Olympia, Washington, this week as state lawmakers heard hours of public testimony on seven proposals that would reinforce abortion access. The emphasis on four legislative committees hearing testimony on abortion bills was intended to demonstrate majority Democrats’ support for abortion rights following the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, The Seattle Times reported.

Virginia

In a series of key votes, Virginia Senate Democrats defeated several bills that would have restricted abortion access in the state, including a proposed 15-week ban. The votes mean that such restrictions are unlikely to be enacted this year. Virginia has some of the South’s most permissive abortion laws.