As the calendar turns to November, pressure continues to grow in Congress to pass a CHIP package. The relevant House and Senate committees each passed different versions of CHIP, and finding payfors continue to be the main impediment to a final bill inclusive of all the MACRA health care extenders.

Let’s turn the clock back to 2015. The House learned that when they coalesce on a bipartisan bill, they can roll the Senate. Right now, the Senate is waiting to see what the House does. The Finance Committee marked up CHIP without paying for it and released a draft of other minibus provisions with no payfors last week. While this allows the Senate to take the field on policy, without stepping up to pay for the bill, they are effectively ceding final decisions to the House now or waiting until December’s megadeal. If the House finds a way to ‘yes’ on payfors this week, the Senate will need to take up and pass the House bill. The pressure to fund CHIP will be too great for them to say ‘see you in December.’