Last week, Senate Republicans scrapped plans to vote on the ACA repeal and replace bill authored by Senators Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Bill Cassidy (R-LA). Senate Republicans had planned to use the budget reconciliation process, which requires 50 votes plus the tie-breaking vote of Vice President Pence, to consider the Graham-Cassidy bill. However, with the announced opposition of Senators Rand Paul (R-KY), John McCain (R-AZ), and Susan Collins (R-ME), Republicans did not have sufficient votes to pass the bill. Although the reconciliation instructions expired on September 30, Senators Graham and Cassidy pledged to continue their work to repeal and replace the ACA.
In his statement announcing opposition to the Graham-Cassidy bill, Senator McCain expressed his hope that Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-TN) and Patty Murray (D-WA) would “resume their work should this last attempt at a partisan solution fail.” After the Senate dropped plans to vote upon the Graham-Cassidy bill, Alexander and Murray did resume their discussions around a market stabilization approach. However, President Trump and House Speaker Paul Ryan had earlier signaled they would not support this bipartisan effort, as the House would not be able to support legislation that continued ACA subsidies without repealing and replacing the law.
This week, House and Senate committees are expected to work on legislation to fund the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). On September 30, Federal funding for CHIP expired. The Senate Finance Committee is scheduled to mark up a bipartisan, five-year $8 billion CHIP reauthorization bill, S. 1827 on October 4. A description of the “chairman’s mark” of the bill can be found here. The text of a House Energy and Commerce Committee $6 billion CHIP funding bill, which is also expected to reauthorize funding for community health centers, should be released today, with a committee markup anticipated for October 4.
By the end of last week, amidst criticism over his taxpayer-funded use of privately chartered jets, HHS Secretary Tom Price resigned. On September 29, President Trump named Don Wright, a longtime HHS staffer who currently serves as Acting Assistant Secretary for Health, to be Acting HHS Secretary. It is unclear who President Trump will nominate to replace Dr. Price, although early speculation includes CMS Administrator Seema Verma, FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, and former Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal.
