This Week in Congress

House and Senate

Lawmakers will return to Washington for legislative business in September. The Senate returns on the 5^th and the House will be back in session on the 12^th.

Appropriations

Continuing Resolution (CR)

The House and Senate will begin negotiating the funding levels and expiration date for the CR to keep the government funded when the fiscal year ends on September 30, 2023. Reaching an agreement on the Freedom Caucus demands to include funding to extend the border wall; gender and other policies in the military; and the “unprecedented weaponization” of the Department of Justice and FBI to conduct political “witch hunts,” will be difficult to address. House and Senate leaders have expressed support for a short-term CR which could extend funding until December 8, 2023, but there is much to be done before common ground can be reached by all parties.

FY’24 Senate

The Senate leadership is planning to start moving appropriations bills on the floor in September. The current plan is to combine the Military Construction, Agriculture and Transportation appropriations bills for floor consideration. The plan also includes the President’s supplemental request for Ukraine, FEMA disaster relief and refugee assistance for the border.

FY’24 House

The House plans to take up the Defense appropriations bill on the floor the week of September 12. The LHHS bill has not yet to be scheduled for a markup by the full appropriations committee.

Other Legislation and Happenings Around the Nation

Abortion

Colorado

Colorado is a leading provider nationwide of abortions through telehealth clinics — a status that is expected to increase in the future. However, the future of telehealth abortions is at risk after a recent federal appeals court ruling limiting access to the abortion pill mifepristone, which may pave the way for a Supreme Court showdown.

New Mexico

New Mexico’s Supreme Court will hear oral arguments regarding a request to strike down recent abortion-ban ordinances in several cities and counties. The high court announced it will hear arguments in December and agreed to consider legal briefings filed by an array of advocacy groups.

Pennsylvania

In Pennsylvania, a seat on the state Supreme Court is up for grabs this November, and a Democrat who has vowed to protect “women’s reproductive rights” is running against a Republican who’s promised to defend “all life under the law.”

South Carolina

South Carolina’s top court declined to reconsider a recent ruling upholding the state’s ban on abortion after a fetal heartbeat is detected, which opponents say will prevent women from terminating pregnancies after about six weeks. The South Carolina Supreme Court, on a 4-1 vote, rejected a request by Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers to reconsider its Aug. 23 ruling, which they said left unanswered what constitutes a “fetal heartbeat” under the Republican-backed law.

LBGTQ

Canada

Canada has updated its travel advisory for the United States to warn LGBTQ travelers that they are at risk of being affected by state and local laws, amid a recent surge in state-level legislation targeting the community.

California

California Attorney General Bonta filed a lawsuit against the Chino school district, ordering an end to a policy that requires notifying parents if their children change their gender identity, alleging it is discriminatory and violates civil rights and privacy laws. The “parental notification” policy, which has been proposed by a handful of conservative-leaning districts in California, puts transgender and gender-nonconforming students in “danger of imminent, irreparable harm” by potentially forcibly “outing” them at home before they’re ready, according to the lawsuit.

Indiana

Civil rights advocates are suing Indiana’s Department of Corrections over the state’s law prohibiting gender-affirming surgery for inmates. The American Civil Liberties Union filed the lawsuit against the department in federal court in Evansville on Monday. Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb also signed a bill in April prohibiting minors from accessing gender-affirming care such as transgender surgeries or medication. The ACLU has filed a federal lawsuit challenging that law as well.

Iowa

One of Iowa’s largest cities repealed its ban on “conversion therapy” — the discredited practice of trying to change a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity through counseling — after a Christian organization threatened legal action, part of a deepening national movement to challenge protections for LGBTQ+ kids. The city council in Waterloo voted this week to remove its restrictions after Liberty Counsel warned in a letter June 30 that it would “take further action” if the city did not repeal the ordinance by August 1. It was enacted in May.

Missouri

A St. Louis judge has denied an attempt to prevent a new law prohibiting gender-affirming care for transgender youth from going into effect. Earlier this summer, a number of plaintiffs sued to block the law barring transgender minors from accessing things care such as puberty blockers and hormone therapy. They contended that the law violated state guarantees of equal protection. But in a ruling, a St. Louis Circuit Judge denied a request for a preliminary injunction. That means the new law will go into effect this week while the case is heard.

Texas

A Texas law banning transgender youth from accessing puberty blockers and hormone therapy will go into effect this week after the state attorney general’s office filed to block a judge’s temporary injunction against Senate Bill 14. In her decision, a state district court judge wrote that SB 14 “interferes with Texas families’ private decisions and strips Texas parents … of the right to seek, direct, and provide medical care for their children.”

HIV Drugs

North Carolina

A new mid-year drug formulary released by Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina reveals that the state’s largest health insurer moved all its HIV treatments to a lower tier in its six-tier formulary, significantly reducing the out-of-pocket costs for many patients. A key HIV patient advocacy group expressed hope that other insurers around the country would follow suit. As part of this change, 19 generic HIV treatments that were on the fourth, fifth and sixth tiers of the formulary were moved down to the second tier, which HIV patient advocates say is appropriate for generic drugs. Blue Cross NC also removed “quantity limits” that were previously imposed on all HIV treatments.

COVID-19

Cases

The US has seen a slow but steady rise in COVID activity over the past seven weeks,  according to the latest data from the CDC. Meanwhile, the WHO is reporting rises across the globe. WHO reported cases were up 63% compared to the previous 4 weeks. Two weeks into its school year, the Lee County School District in Kentucky cancelled in-person classes for the remainder of the week after a fifth of the students were ill with COVID, flu, or strep throat. In California, a 3-week rise in patients testing positive for COVID prompted Kaiser Permanente to reinstate masking for staff, patients, and visitors at its Santa Rosa facilities.

Vaccines

The CDC’s vaccine advisory group will meet on September 12 to discuss recommendations for the updated COVID vaccines. Vaccination would begin after the CDC signs off on the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) recommendations. A CDC official said that updated COVID-19 vaccines manufactured by Moderna, Novavax and Pfizer should be publicly available by the middle of September, ahead of the fall respiratory illness season.

England Accelerates Covid-19 Vaccine Shots

Britain’s health ministry said annual vaccination programs for older and at-risk groups would start a few weeks earlier than planned in light of the new COVID-19 variant. The variant was first detected in Britain on Aug. 18 and vaccinations will start on September 11, 2023, with care home residents and people at highest risk to receive the shots first. The new strain is  currently categorized as a “variant of concern” in Britain, and the health ministry said there was no change to wider public health advice.