The House and Senate Return for the Final Week of the 118th Congress

With government funding under the latest Continuing Resolution (CR) expiring at midnight on Friday, Congress must act to avert a government shutdown.

House and Senate negotiators have not yet reached a final agreement on the CR, but legislative text is expected to be posted today once final negotiations are completed on outstanding issues, which include funding for the Francis Scott Key Bridge replacement project and emergency economic assistance for farmers. Until a final agreement is reached, anything can change.

We can provide a detailed summary once the text is posted but, as of now, the deal is expected to include:

  • CR that runs through March 14, 2025.
  • Disaster supplemental.
  • One-year extension of Farm Bill programs.
  • Extension of the National Flood Insurance Program.
  • Health extenders (see below) and a robust set of policy measures, including pharmacy benefit manager reforms.
  • Transfer of the RFK Stadium lease to the D.C. government.
  • Sunset for AM radio.
  • Restrictions on Outbound Investment

Process: The House Majority Leader’s weekly schedule notes legislation related to FY2025 government spending is “expected” and legislation related to a supplemental pay-for “may be considered.”

As it stands, Speaker Johnson intends to bring the CR to the floor under a rule, which requires only a simple majority for final passage. To do so, Republicans will need to pass a rule setting floor debate, which requires virtually unanimous support within the party because rules customarily pass on party-line votes. To get that support, the Speaker has been working on an agreement for a second rule bill that would provide offsets for the disaster supplemental. However, even if the House were to pass that second bill, it is not attached to the CR and the Senate would not take any further action before the end of the 118th Congress.

Assuming legislative text for the CR is released today, as expected, the House is on track to vote on final passage sometime Thursday under its 72-hour rule. The Senate would then have Thursday and Friday to process the CR.

Other floor activity: The Rules Committee is meeting today, at 4PM, to prepare floor consideration of the Midnight Rules Relief Act (H.R.115), which would amend the Congressional Review Act to authorize joint resolutions disapproving multiple regulations issued in the covered period, and the House will finish out the year by voting on dozens of suspension bills (which can be found HERE) from the Administration, Energy and Commerce, Judiciary, Veterans’ Affairs, Homeland Security, Oversight and Accountability, Education and Workforce, Natural Resources, and Transportation and Infrastructure Committees. Suspension bills on this week’s calendar include:

  • Promoting United States Wireless Leadership Act (H.R.1377/H.Rept.118-860), which would require the Commerce Department to support trusted industry and stakeholder engagement in communications standards-setting bodies. 
  • Expediting Federal Broadband Deployment Reviews Act (H.R.3293/H.Rept.118-744), which would establish an interagency strike force to support federal land management agencies’ review of requests for communications use authorizations.
  • Women and Lung Cancer Research and Preventive Services Act (H.R.4534/H.Rept.118-622), which would require the Department of Health and Human Services to conduct an interagency review of lung cancer research, prevention, and awareness with a focus on women and underserved populations.
  • Senator Elizabeth Dole 21st Century Veterans Healthcare and Benefits Improvement Act (S.141), which contains minor technical changes to the wide-ranging legislative package that previously passed the House last month.  
  • Federal Judiciary Stabilization Act (S.3998), which would provide for the permanent appointment of 10 currently temporary district judgeships.
  • Research Security and Accountability in DHS Act (H.R.9748), which would require the Department of Homeland Security’s Science and Technology Directorate to develop a policy for safeguarding research and development from unauthorized access or disclosures of sensitive information in related acquisitions.
  • DHS Intelligence and Analysis Oversight and Transparency Act (H.R.8664), which would require the Undersecretary of Homeland Security for Intelligence and Analysis to conduct annual audits of the Office’s information systems and bulk data and report its findings to Congress. 

The Senate , it will move to to invoke cloture on the motion to concur in House passage of the Conference Report of the FY2025 National Defense Authorization Act, which sets up final passage later this week. The Senate will, in addition to processing the CR, also hold a roll call vote in the coming days on the motion to concur in House passage of the Thomas R. Carper Water Resources Development Act (S.4367) at a time to be determined by Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, in consultation with Republican Leader Mitch McConnell. Additionally, Schumer stated last week that, following passage in the House last month on a 327-75 vote, he would call for a vote on the Social Security Fairness Act (H.R.82), which would repeal a pair of controversial tax provisions that reduce some public servants’ retirement benefits. The measure has 63 sponsors in the Senate, more than the 60 votes needed to invoke cloture.

Healthcare package: Negotiations on an extensive health package have taken over a year, resulting in a deal that includes:

Extensions of expiring policies  

  • Medicare Telehealth Flexibilities: 2 years
  • Medicare Add-on Payment for Low-Volume Hospitals and Medicare Dependent Hospitals: 1 year
  • Medicare Add-on Payment for Rural Ambulance Services 
  • Medicare Physician Fee Schedule Payment Boost: 2.5% for 1 year
  • Funding for State Health Insurance Programs (SHIPs) to Assist Beneficiaries with Enrollment Choices: 2 years
  • Allowance for Pre-Deductible Coverage of Telehealth Services in HSA Qualified High-Deductible Health Plans: 2 years
  • Medicaid Disproportionate Share Hospital (DSH) Relief: 1 year
  • Mandatory Funding for Community Health Centers, National Health Service Corps, and Teaching Health Center GME Programs: 2 years
  • Community Health Centers: $4.5 billion for FY2025 and $4.6 billion for FY2026 
  • Funding for the Special Diabetes Program: 2 years
  • Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness Act (PAHPA): 2 years
  • SUPPORT Act Programs for Opioid Response: 5 years

Budgetary offset policies  

  • Reducing Funding in the Medicare Improvement Fund (MIF) 
  • Private Insurance Pharmacy Benefit Manager (PBM) Requirements  
  • Medicare Part D Transparency Requirement for PBMs and Medicare Part D “Delinking” Policy to Require that Part D Plan Sponsors “Delink” PBM Compensation for the Price of Drug 
  • Prohibition on PBM “Spread Pricing” in Medicaid 
  • FDA “Q1/Q2” Policy 
  • Requiring the Use of a National Provider Identifier (NPI) by Off-Campus Hospital Outpatient Clinics 
  • Extension of Medicare Sequestration at the End of the Budget Window 
  • Additional months at the end of the budget window

House Committee Organizing: The House Democratic Steering and Policy Committee plans to meet this afternoon to make recommendations for contested Committee Ranking Member slots, with the full Democratic Caucus expected to vote tomorrow morning to either ratify or reject the recommendations. The key contested races are:

  • Agriculture: Current Ranking Member David Scott (GA) is facing two serious challengers, Reps. Jim Costa (CA) and Angie Craig (MN). The current expectation is a close race within in the Caucus between Costa and Craig.
  • Natural Resources: Current Ranking Member Raúl Grijalva (AZ) opted not to run again for the position after facing a challenge from Rep. Jared Huffman (CA), who is now facing a challenge of his own from Rep. Melanie Stansbury (NM), though he is expected to prevail.
  • Oversight and Accountability: Current Ranking Member Jamie Raskin (MD) is moving over to serve as the Ranking Member of the Judiciary Committee after current Ranking Member Jerry Nadler (NY) stepped down in the face of Raskin’s challenge. Rep. Gerry Connolly (VA) faces off against Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY) in a spirited race to be a voice of House Democrats against the Trump Administration.
  • We expect the Steering and Policy Committee to populate the Committee rosters in January, with every freshman Member expected to have at least one Committee assignment by the end of the month. 

 

Biden Administration

  • Today, the President will join Acting Labor Secretary Julie Su for an event at the Department of Labor to highlight the Administration’s efforts to strengthen America’s workforce.
  • This evening, the President and the First Lady will host a Hanukkah Holiday Reception at the White House.
  • Tomorrow, the President and the First Lady will depart the White House for Wilmington, Delaware.
  • On Thursday, the President and the First Lady will return to the White House.
  • On Friday, President Biden and the First Lady will make a holiday visit to patients and families at Children’s National Hospital in Washington, DC.