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Category: Congressional To Do

Congress Looks to Correct COVID-19-related GI Bill Problems

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Both chambers of Congress are expected to take up legislation that would correct a problem in the GI Bill program caused by Covid-19.

As a result of how the current statutes and regulations are written and interpreted, the sudden transition of academic programs from traditional on-campus models to on-line programs without prior approval would lead to the loss of education and associated housing benefits for the recipient of the GI Bill.  The veterans community as well as the higher education community, including individual institutions like the University of Washington, have become aware of the problem and have weighed in, asking for a solution.

The letter to the Senate from the higher education associations is available here while the letter to the House is available here.  We will share a letter led by Student Veterans of America as it becomes available.

House Passes Supplemental, Senate to Pass Soon

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Last night, the House passed, 415-2, the Coronavirus Preparedness and Response Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2020 (H.R. 6074) to provide emergency supplemental funding in response to the novel coronavirus. The Senate is expected to pass today.

The package is $8.3 billion, which lawmakers released hours before the vote, and it has $7.8 billion in new funding for programs and agencies within the HHS, Small Business Administration, and State Department. Additionally, the legislation includes a $500 million provision related to telehealth.

The Senate is expected to consider the legislation today.

The President has said he will sign the measure.

The bill has:

  • $2.2 billion, available through September 2022, for the CDC, including:
    • $950 million in grants and cooperative agreements for state/local surveillance, epidemiology, laboratory capacity, infection control, mitigation, communications, and other preparedness and response ($475 million that would be available/allocated within 30 days of enactment).
    • At least $300 million for global disease detection and emergency response.
    • $300 million for the Infectious Diseases Rapid Response Reserve Fund.
    • The ability for CDC to use such funds to support grants for construction, alteration, or renovation of non-Federally owned facilities to improve state/local preparedness and response capability.
    • Additional funding for existing public health preparedness grants (that should be funded at not less than 90% of previous funding levels).
  • $836 million, available through September 2024, for the NIH, including:
    • $826 million for the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) to prevent, prepare for, and respond to coronavirus domestically or internationally.
    • $10 million transferred from NIAID to the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences for worker-based training to prevent and reduce exposure of hospital employees and other first responders.
  • $3.1 billion, available through September 2024,  for the Public Health and Social Services Emergency Fund to support, among other activities:
    • Development and purchase of necessary countermeasures and vaccines.
    • Purchase of vaccines, therapeutics, diagnostics, and necessary medical supplies, including for potential deposit in the Strategic National Stockpile (with an additional $300 million in contingency funding to purchase additional products if needed).
    • Grants for construction, alteration, or renovation of non-Federally owned facilities to improve state/local preparedness and response capability.
  • $61 million, available until expended, for the Food and Drug Administration to support:
    • Development of medical countermeasures and vaccines.
    • Advanced manufacturing for medical products.
    • Monitoring of medical supply chains.
  • Authority for the Secretary of Health and Human Services to waive, under the public health emergency declaration for the novel coronavirus, certain current telehealth requirements by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
  • ~$2.5 billion (distributed around) for State, CDC and USAID for international support and response to COVID-19.

 

House Passes FY2020 Appropriations Measures

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The House passed two spending packages of nearly $1.4 trillion to fund federal agencies through FY20. The current federal funding continuing resolution expires at midnight Friday.

The Senate is expected to clear the pair of bills for President Donald Trump’s signature later this week.

The bipartisan agreement provides $49 billion in extra funding across the government and includes sweeping policy provisions, including to raise the legal age of tobacco purchases to 21, reauthorize PCORI, extend the Ex-IM bank for seven years, and repeal of several health taxes in Obamacare.

2nd CR Teed Up

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The House is scheduled to take up a second continuing resolution (CR) later today that would keep the federal government funded past midnight Friday morning, when the current CR expires. It must be passed and signed into law by Thursday night to avoid a shutdown.

The new CR would extend current funding for all federal agencies through Dec. 20 or just before the scheduled Christmas recess. in addition, the measure would temporarily extend three Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act provisions through March 20, 2020, and take the provisions out of play for the resolution of FY2020. The measure would also extend numerous expiring health care programs that were temporarily renewed in the most recent stopgap law, such as funding for community health centers and teaching hospitals, as well other miscellaneous programs ranging from the higher education reauthorization law to the Export-Import Bank.

The measure is expected to pass both the House and Senate, but the White House has been a bit of an unknown. However, Administration officials have indicated that the President will likely sign the CR if it reached his desk.