Washington, D.C. & Capitol Hill are probably the purist and most honest places to be since Congress has taken its summer vacation/ “recess.” All of those on Capitol Hill, including the president, have followed in Elvis’s footsteps and have “left the building.” Anxious to join the hordes of lawmakers, lobbyists and others who turn Washington into a political ghost town every August and early September, the president changed his vacation plans & left town 1 day earlier than planned. (Hopefully, this vacation will not be as costly as his European jaunts, since he is staying in the mainline states this time). This vacation/”Constituent work period” will keep Washington clean from July 31 – Sept. 7.
Congress will quickly have their hands full when returning from the August recess, and with just nine legislative days scheduled in September, both chambers will need to move quickly in order to address a full slate of looming deadlines and pressing concerns. Among the most critical of these issues will be funding the government beyond its current September 30 expiration, with a continuing resolution (CR) appearing to be an inevitable short-term solution. Other legislative priorities this fall will include raising the debt ceiling, negotiating a long-term highway bill, reopening the Export-Import bank, reforming tax provisions (extenders and international taxation), and Republican efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA) using the reconciliation process.
Prior to the adjournment, a group of 18 House conservatives told GOP leaders that they will not support any measure to fund the government if it continues to fund Planned Parenthood. When you consider that another 150 House Republicans sponsored legislation from Rep. Dianne Black (R-TN) blocking Planned Parenthood funding until the current investigations are completed, the hot-button issue could create problems for leaders seeking to avoid a government shutdown in October.
Republicans are preparing to unveil their plans for using budget reconciliation soon after returning from the five-week summer break, and have already indicated their intentions on using the budgetary process to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Earlier this month, House Ways and Means Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI) definitively said that Republicans “want to use reconciliation to go after ObamaCare,” but qualified the statement by saying a full repeal may be beyond the capacity of reconciliation. And Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy indicated last week that GOP leaders plan to reveal their plans in “a short amount of time when we get back.”
A July 24 deadline when committees were to report legislation for a reconciliation bill was in the budget resolution passed by the House and Senate. However, the reconciliation deadline is seen as more of an aspiration by the Senate parliamentarian’s office and has been missed before, both in 2009 and 2005. Reconciliation bills receive filibuster protection in the Senate, giving the majority a chance to pass legislation that otherwise would be blocked by a united minority party.
In the spring, Republican leaders said reconciliation would only be used to pass legislation to repeal the ACA, but since the Supreme Court’s decision in the Obama administration’s favor, there has been talk of other potential uses for the budgetary procedure. Some Republicans have argued that reconciliation would be put to better use to pass a measure the President is more likely to sign. This includes more minor changes to the health care law, such as a repeal of the medical device tax, which is unpopular among many Democrats as well as Republicans. Many Democrats are open to making changes to the law, but given the rare opportunity reconciliation presents, anything short of a full repeal may be seen as disappointing to the Republican base.
Chemicals – Legislation to reform the nation’s primary chemical statute is expected to be considered in the Senate after recess. The Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act would overhaul the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) for the first time since it became law in 1976.
Healthcare – Committee action is expected on a number of major healthcare bills over the coming months, setting up potential floor consideration later this fall and into 2016. The Ways and Means Committee plans work on four recently-introduced bills to alter Medicare reimbursement for hospitals and various specialty providers. The Senate Finance Committee plans to unveil a draft chronic care bill upon returning from the recess, expected to draw from the 500+ recommendations they received in June. And the Senate HELP Committee is inching closer finalizing their Innovation for Healthier Americans initiative—a bill expanding on the House-passed 21st Century Cures Act—which Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-TN) hopes to complete by December.