1. As we head into a new Administration and the new Congress, what do you see as the opportunities and challenges for the Affordable Care Act?
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) is much greater than a single legislative action. It is an umbrella for a fundamental remaking of our health care system. Because of this, implementing the many changes included in the ACA had to take place over a number of years, and many of the most difficult pieces are being implemented now. As such, we are only now grappling with these challenges. Additionally, due to Republican opposition, some of the fundamental building blocks of the new system, such as the health insurance exchange marketplaces, remain unsettled. Looking forward to a new Administration, I expect we will probably see either greater movement toward implementing the ACA, or significant efforts to repeal and make changes to sections of the law.

That said, there are a number of non-ACA related health care issues, some of which have bipartisan support that I expect to remain on Congress's agenda, including payment reform, Medicaid expansion, efforts to improve health care quality, expansion of telemedicine, initiatives aimed at improving transparency, and the acquisition and management of big data.

2. With an increasingly short congressional session, what should we expect to see legislatively for the rest of this year?
Given time limitations, appropriations will clearly be the primary topic of deliberation in Congress in the coming months. In particular, it will be interesting to see whether Congress is able to pass individual appropriations measures, or will need to package them into either an omnibus bill or pass some sort of a Continuing Resolution that maintains current spending levels until after the election.

In addition to fiscal year appropriations, Congress must fund efforts to counter the spread of the Zika virus. The current situation is problematic and must be addressed sooner rather than later. Already present in Puerto Rico, Florida and in other parts of the country, the threat of Zika will grow as the summer continues.

Finally, there is a chance that Congress may revisit the Cuba travel ban. Baker Donelson and the Daschle Group, through the Howard Baker Forum's Cuba Consortium, have been at the center of these deliberations and will continue to remain engaged in them moving forward.

3. What do you think will be the congressional priorities of the 115th Congress? How will that change based on whether President Clinton or Trump is in office?
With such striking policy differences between a Trump and Clinton Administration, it is difficult to predict the legislation that will move in the 115th Congress. But there remains bipartisan interest in addressing a number of issues, only some of which have seen action in the 114th Congress. Chief among them is moving forward with tax reform. There has been interest from both sides of the aisle in recent years to reform our tax code. However, so far, Democrats and Republicans have only been able to agree upon the reauthorization of certain tax extenders each year – a number of which are now permanent. Additional expiring tax extenders may provide the impetus for a broader tax reform agreement next year.

I also see a growing interest in addressing the more than $3 trillion infrastructure repair backlog. The failure to address our country's crumbling infrastructure is a problem that has been growing for decades and affects all Americans. One only need to look at Memorial Bridge in Washington, D.C. – a major commuter thoroughfare – that will be forced to close in the next five years unless we are able to find the money to fund some $250 million in repairs.

Another issue where we may see movement in 2017 is on trade. Regardless of what happens this year on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), the issues raised by TPP will continue to be front and center. In fact, Congress may be forced to revisit many of these same issues and challenges upon completion of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership negotiations with the European Union.