This Week in Congress

House and Senate

Both chambers of Congress were in session this week and continued work on a way forward for the Continuing Resolution (CR) and FY’24 funding bills.

Appropriations

CR

House lawmakers failed to reach an agreement on a CR to keep the government funded when the current fiscal year expires on Saturday, September 30. Senate leaders are laying the groundwork to take up their own CR next week to avoid a government shutdown. But reaching an agreement before the end of next week appears unlikely and it is expected that a government shutdown is likely.

FY’24 Appropriations Bills

The Senate planned to take up a package of FY’24 appropriations bills — Military Construction-VA (S 2127), Agriculture (S 2131) and Transportation-HUD (S 2437) – but the package has been put on hold until an agreement on the CR can be worked out.

Federal Happenings

COVID-19

The Federal government is providing $600 million in funding to produce new at-home COVID-19 tests and is restarting a website allowing Americans to again order up to four free tests per household — aiming to prevent possible shortages during a rise in coronavirus cases that has typically come during colder months. The Department of Health and Human Services says orders can be placed at COVIDTests.gov starting Sept. 25, and that no-cost tests will be delivered for free by the United States Postal Service.

Other Happenings from Around the Nation

Abortion

Pro-Choice Groups

NARAL Pro-Choice America, an influential abortion-rights group, announced that it is changing its name to Reproductive Freedom for All. The rebrand was needed to better reflect how people think about abortion access little more than a year after the U.S. Supreme Court revoked the constitutional right to the procedure, according to the advocacy organization.

Ohio

A divided Ohio Supreme Court ruled that only one element of the disputed ballot language for describing a closely watched fall abortion rights question is misleading and must be rewritten. The decision lets stand most of the word choices targeted in a lawsuit by Ohioans United for Reproductive Rights, the pro-abortion rights ballot campaign, as well as the substitution of “unborn child” for “fetus,” which it chose not to dispute.

Iowa

Iowa Gov. Reynolds (R) defended legislation she signed that bans most abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, after former President Trump called Florida’s six-week ban on the procedure a “terrible thing.” “It’s never a ‘terrible thing’ to protect innocent life,” Reynolds said Tuesday in a post on X. “I’m proud of the fetal heartbeat bill the Iowa legislature passed and I signed in 2018 and again earlier this year.”

Georgia

Georgia Gov. Kemp (R) defended a six-week abortion ban after former President Trump criticized a similar ban Sunday. “There’s nothing ‘terrible’ about standing up for life.” Kemp posted on X Tuesday. “In addition to passing the heartbeat bill, Georgia has proudly protected and valued life through implementing adoption and foster care reforms and combatting human trafficking —and will continue to do so as long as I’m governor.”

Florida

Pointing to recent comments made by Gov. Ron DeSantis, Florida’s Senate Minority Leader Lauren Book filed a bill aimed at preventing women from being charged with crimes after obtaining abortions. A law signed by DeSantis in April would prohibit abortions after six weeks of pregnancy. The law says “any person who willfully performs or actively participates in a termination of pregnancy” in violation of the law would face felony charges.

Wisconsin

This week Planned Parenthood resumed offering abortion services in Wisconsin after halting them for more than a year since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. Providers across the state stopped offering abortions following the June 2022 decision, fearing enforcement of an 1849 state law that appears to ban the procedure but had previously been nullified by the 1973 Roe ruling. A judge ruled last month that the 144-year-old law doesn’t apply to medical abortions.

HPV

Planned Parenthood of Southern New England is seeing a “concerning decline” in vaccination rates for human papillomavirus, or HPV, with vaccinations down roughly 40 percent over the last few years, according to health experts from the organization. The reason? Primarily the pandemic, experts say, after people put off in-person doctors’ appointments, and as a result, certain preventative health measures, like getting the HPV vaccine.

COVID-19

Vaccine Timing

Respiratory virus season is around the corner. With vaccines available for COVID-19, flu and, for some people, RSV, when should you get them? Doctors generally suggest getting your flu and COVID shots before the end of October and say it’s OK to get both those shots at the same time. The most important thing, doctors say, is to get vaccinated. If you’re in a doctor’s office or a drugstore and can get your shots, it usually makes sense to do it.

No — Pfizer’s COVID-19 Vaccine Doesn’t Cause ‘VAIDS’

A September 12 Instagram post shows a post on X, that discusses a supposed side effect of the COVID-19 vaccine called “vaccine-induced AIDS.” It includes a photo of a child whose face is covered with sores. … The study proves no such thing. VAIDS is not a real condition, and there is no evidence linking COVID-19 vaccines to immunodeficiency, medical experts say. The study looked at the immune responses of vaccinated children, and its authors say their research was misrepresented.

Americans polarized over COVID Shots

Once again, we are a nation divided over COVID — largely along partisan lines. In contrast to the CDC, which recommended the updated shots for everyone 6 months and older last week, Florida’s governor and surgeon general are urging residents under 65 to skip the new COVID boosters. A new Politico poll found that 79% of Democrats intend to get boosters compared to 39% of Republicans. Overall, nearly half of Americans say they’re interested in getting a shot — though only 1 in 6 got a booster last year.

You have to go back to 2021 to see vaccine uptake hit higher numbers. More than 80% of Americans got at least one dose, but rates have fallen ever since. In response to the vaccine-skeptical stance taken by Ron DeSantis and Joseph Ladapo in Florida, CDC director Mandy Cohen said, “Any efforts to undercut vaccine uptake are unfounded and frankly dangerous.”

COVID-19 Hospital Admissions

The US COVID-19 hospital admission rate climbed almost 8% to more than 20,500 for the week ending Sept. 9, marking the ninth straight week of increase, according to the CDC. Florida, Washington D.C., Arkansas, Alabama, and Louisiana recorded the highest hospitalization rates among states and territories, while 27 counties are seeing high COVID-19 hospitalization levels and 361 have medium levels.

COVID Symptoms

Doctors say they’re finding it increasingly difficult to distinguish COVID from allergies or the common cold, even as hospitalizations tick up. The illness’ past hallmarks, such as a dry cough or the loss of sense of taste or smell, have become less common. Instead, doctors are observing milder disease, mostly concentrated in the upper respiratory tract.

California

In response to the increasing threat of respiratory illnesses, including COVID-19 and influenza, officials in multiple Bay Area counties in California have issued orders requiring health care workers in patient care settings to wear masks during the upcoming respiratory virus season. The measures were announced in Sonoma, Contra Costa and San Mateo counties remain in effect from Nov. 1 through April 30. The move comes amid concerns of a potential “tripledemic” of COVID-19, flu and RSV that could strain health care systems.

LBGTQ

Insurance Coverage For Gender Transition Treatments

A federal appeals court appeared torn on whether state health insurance plans must cover surgeries and other treatments as part of gender transition, in a pair of appeals by North Carolina and West Virginia. The full Virginia-based 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals did not clearly indicate at oral arguments how it would rule in either case, as judges peppered both sides with questions. Of the 14 judges now on the court, eight were appointed by Democratic presidents, and six by Republicans.

Transgender Sports Debate

Almost half of U.S. states have banned or restricted trans youths’ access to gender-affirming puberty blockers, hormones, and surgery — and many of the same states are also targeting trans youths’ participation in sports. Twenty-three states ban trans youths from participating in school sports consistent with their gender identity, with some laws focusing on students from kindergarten through 12th grade and others including, or exclusively applying to, students at the collegiate level. The bans may have consequences for the health of trans youth, according to a new perspective by a group of pediatric sports medicine physicians and health services researchers published in JAMA Pediatrics.

Kansas

Kansas will no longer change transgender people’s birth certificates to reflect their gender identities, the state health department said, citing a new law that prevents the state from legally recognizing those identities. The decision from the state Department of Health and Environment makes Kansas one of a handful of states that won’t change transgender people’s birth certificates. It already was among the few states that don’t change the gender marker on transgender people’s driver’s licenses.

Appeals Court Takes Up Transgender Health Coverage Case Likely Headed To Supreme Court

A federal appeals court is considering cases out of North Carolina and West Virginia that could have significant implications on whether individual states are required to cover health care for transgender people with government-sponsored insurance. The Richmond-based 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals heard oral arguments in cases Thursday involving the coverage of gender-affirming care by North Carolina’s state employee health plan and the coverage of gender-affirming surgery by West Virginia Medicaid.

Some Providers Are Dropping Gender-Affirming Care For Kids Even In Cases Where It’s Legal

As Republican-led states have rushed to ban gender-affirming for minors, some families with transgender children found a bit of solace: At least they lived in states that would allow those already receiving puberty blockers or hormone therapy to continue. But in some places, including Missouri and North Dakota, the care has abruptly been halted because medical providers are wary of harsh liability provisions in those same laws — one of multiple reasons that advocates say care has become harder to access even where it remains legal.