This Week in Congress

Debt Limit

House Republicans aren’t planning any more detailed debt-limit proposals, according to Budget Committee Chair Arrington who said the bullet points in Speaker McCarthy’s, March 28 letter to President Biden represent the conference’s position. Speaker McCarthy’s letter asked President Biden to set a date for their next negotiations on the debt limit by the end of this week. The President replied to McCarthy calling on House Republicans to release their budget plan this week. The release would set up an “in-depth conversation” when lawmakers return, Biden wrote, but “separate from prompt action on the Congress’ basic obligation to pay the Nation’s bills and avoid economic catastrophe.”

The McCarthy letter can be found here

The President’s letter can be found here

Other Legislative Happenings from Around the Nation

COVID-19

Boosters

Calling the benefit of Covid vaccine boosters “quite marginal” for people at medium or low risk of serious illness from the coronavirus, an expert panel to the WHO advised countries to focus on national conditions and health spending priorities when deciding who should get the shots. “The rationale there is that the benefit of these additional boosters is actually quite marginal, based on what we know of the immune status of these people,” committee chair Hanna Nohynek said. The Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization isn’t telling countries not to offer boosters to people at low or medium risk. But with hybrid immunity, that combination of infection and vaccination growing, boosters’ added protection is small. In fact, the group said, countries might do better to launch catch-up campaigns for other vaccine-preventable diseases.

National Emergency Order

The Senate voted to terminate a COVID-19 pandemic national emergency order implemented by former President Trump in 2020 that was due to be terminated in May. The 68-23 vote on the bill came after the House voted of 229-197.

Mpox Vaccine

In its latest snapshot on the nation’s mpox vaccine campaign, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said though more than 1 million doses have been given, only 23% of the at-risk population is fully covered with two doses. In other developments, the World Health Organization (WHO) said today in its latest global update that cases continue to decline, except for in the Western Pacific region.

The article can be found here

Over-The-Counter Birth Control Pills

US regulators will hold a joint meeting in May to review whether Perrigo Co.’s birth-control product Opill can be sold without a prescription. The FDA’s Nonprescription Drugs Advisory Committee and the Obstetrics, Reproductive, and Urologic Drugs Advisory Committee will meet virtually on May 9 and May 10 to review the company’s application. If approved, Opill would become the first daily, over-the-counter oral contraceptive in the US, removing a substantial barrier to access many Americans have faced. Reproductive-rights advocates have long argued that oral contraception should be available without a prescription, as it is in more than 100 other countries. Also called norgestrel, Opill is currently available via prescription. Other birth control options such as Plan B can be obtained over the counter. They are known as emergency contraceptives and not for daily use. The meeting of outside advisers to the FDA was initially scheduled for mid-November but was postponed to allow extra time for the agency to evaluate additional information about the product.

FDA Approves Narcan for Over-the-Counter Sales

The nasal spray reverses opioid overdoses and public health officials hope that making it more widely available could save lives and reduce the nation’s high rates of drug fatalities. Narcan, a prescription nasal spray that reverses opioid overdoses, can now be sold over the counter. The FDA approval was sought by public health officials and treatment experts who hope wider availability of the medicine will reduce the nation’s alarmingly high drug fatality rates. By late summer, over-the-counter Narcan, could be for sale in big-box chains, vending machines, supermarkets, convenience stores, gas stations and even online retailers. FDA Commissioner Dr. Robert M. Califf, said in a statement that the over-the-counter authorization was meant to address a “dire public health need.”

NCSD Responds to Affordable Care Act Ruling

A Texas judge issued a nationwide ruling overturning the Affordable Care Act’s coverage of preventive services, including routine screening for sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) for HIV prevention.  The ruling called into question the legality of the expert panel HHS relies on to determine which preventive services must be covered by insurance plans. Coverage of PrEP and prevention services for STIs have been integral to the nation’s efforts to end the epidemics of STIs and HIV.

The article can be found here

The National Coalition of STD Directors (NCSD) responded to the ruling with the following statement: “Today’s ruling threatens one of the most powerful tools this nation has to fight the epidemic of STIs – guaranteed insurance coverage for basic preventive medical care. We cannot reduce the devastating impact of completely preventable infections like congenital syphilis if people cannot count on their insurance to help them pay for essential routine health services. As our public health systems have buckled under the strain of rising infection rates and falling funding, we have grown increasingly reliant on the routine, privately funded health services that most people use to access services like standard syphilis testing during routine prenatal care or HIV tests in yearly check-ups. This ruling rips out the backbone of the U.S. health care system and risks the future health of every single American. STIs impact people of all walks of life and can have devastating consequences when left undetected and untreated. The overreach of one judge should not threaten the health and safety of hundreds of millions of lives. We are calling on the Biden administration to use its full weight to safeguard preventive services coverage for all Americans.”

Medicaid Benefits

This week, states will begin to sever an anticipated 15 million low-income Americans from Medicaid rolls that ballooned to record heights because of a pandemic-era promise that people with the health insurance could keep it — a federal promise that is going away. The end to the temporary guarantee that preserved the safety-net health coverage for the past three years saddles every state with an immense undertaking: sorting out which Medicaid beneficiaries are actually eligible. States are working on how to sort out the coverage issue but it is daunting work and some states are more prepared than others.

Abortion

Abortion Rights for Service Members

Three-quarters of the Senate’s Democrats sent a letter to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin urging him to continue to protect access to abortion care for service members and their families, and warning that restricting reproductive care harms national security. The Democrats, led by Sen. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, a senior member of the Armed Services Committee, argue that restricting abortion care for service members and their dependents harms the health and readiness of the military and hurts both recruiting and retention. The letter was signed by 36 Democrats and by Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Angus King of Maine, independents who caucus with the Democrats.

The letter can be found here

Florida

Florida regulators over the last year punished more than a dozen abortion providers for violating a nearly decade-old law that requires pregnant patients wait 24 hours before getting the procedure. Florida legislators approved the law in 2015, but it remained in limbo after the American Civil Liberties Union challenged it. After a judge upheld the law in April, Florida’s abortion regulator, the Agency for Health Care Administration, almost immediately began issuing fines. Attorney General Ashley Moody’s office urged the Florida Supreme Court to reject more than three decades of legal precedents that have protected abortion rights in the state.

Idaho

Idaho lawmakers are considering making it illegal for an adult to help a minor procure an abortion without parental consent. The measure would create a new crime of “abortion trafficking,” barring adults from obtaining abortion pills for a minor and “recruiting, harboring, or transporting the pregnant minor.” To sidestep violating a constitutional right to travel between states, the state law would make illegal only the portion of a trip to an out-of-state abortion provider that takes place in Idaho. People convicted of breaking the law would face two to five years in prison.

Kansas

Kansas’ highest court signaled that it still considers access to abortion a “fundamental” right under the state constitution, as an attorney for the state argued that a decisive statewide vote last year affirming abortion rights “doesn’t matter.” The state Supreme Court is considering exactly how far the Republican-controlled legislature can go in restricting abortion under a 2019 decision protecting abortion rights. The justices heard arguments from attorneys for Kansas and abortion providers in two lawsuits but isn’t likely to rule for months.

North Dakota

North Dakota schools would be required to show students high-quality video of how a human fetus develops in each week of pregnancy under a bill Senate lawmakers approved during a vote Wednesday. The 37-9 vote comes on the heels of the North Dakota Supreme Court’s ruling this month that a state abortion ban will remain blocked while a lawsuit over its constitutionality proceeds.

Transgender Care

Maryland

Maryland lawmakers gave final approval to expanding procedures relating to gender-affirming care that are covered by the state’s Medicaid program. The 93-39 vote by the House of Delegates sends the measure to Gov. Wes Moore, a Democrat who has said he will sign the bill. The state’s Medicaid program currently limits gender-affirming care to a handful of procedures, such as mental health services for gender dysphoria, continuous hormone replacement therapy, and gender reassignment surgery.

North Dakota

North Dakota’s Republican governor vetoed a bill that would generally prohibit public school teachers and staff from referring to transgender students by pronouns other than those reflecting the sex assigned to them at birth. The state Senate voted 37-9 to override the veto Thursday afternoon, just hours after Gov. Doug Burgum’s office announced his decision. The House, which will convene Friday, must still vote on the override.

Texas

A bipartisan amendment to a bill that would ban gender-affirming care for transgender minors would create an exception for those who have been on the medications for 90 days prior to the bill’s effective date.