On November 16, House Republicans approved H.R. 1, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, on a party-line vote of 227 to 205, with 13 Republicans and all Democrats voting against passage. Senate Republicans are also moving toward passing...more
11/20/2017
/ Child Tax Credit ,
Corporate Taxes ,
Estate Tax ,
Income Taxes ,
International Tax Issues ,
Local Taxes ,
Pass-Through Entities ,
State Taxes ,
Tax Deductions ,
Tax Rates ,
Tax Reform
On November 1 and 2, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released the final 2018 Medicare Payment Regulations for the Physician Fee Schedule, Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment System and Ambulatory...more
On November 2, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released the final rule implementing policies for Year 2 (2018) of the Quality Payment Program established under the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization...more
On November 15, House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady (R-TX) and Ranking Member Richard Neal (D-MA) announced a bipartisan agreement on Medicare "extenders," Medicare programs and payment policies that have...more
Reauthorization of federal funding for the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) has stalled in Congress due to partisan disagreements over fiscal offsets. The delay in the extension of federal funding has put...more
With less than a month remaining before the December 8 deadline for adopting an appropriations deal and the December 15 deadline to lift the debt ceiling, it is increasingly likely that Congress will once again pass a...more
After dominating the agenda for most of 2017, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) seemed to take a backseat at first as Republicans shifted their focus to enacting tax legislation. The initial momentum behind the bipartisan...more
11/20/2017
/ Affordable Care Act ,
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ,
Congressional Budget Office ,
Cost-Sharing ,
Health Insurance ,
Health Savings Accounts ,
Healthcare Reform ,
Individual Mandate ,
Open Enrollment ,
Repeal ,
Trump Administration
Congress has until December 8 to reauthorize the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) and is examining a number of proposals for program reform. On November 14, the House approved the 21st Century Flood Reform Act on a...more
On October 17, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee Chair Lamar Alexander (R-TN) and Ranking Member Patty Murray (D-WA) announced they had agreed on a proposal for a narrow, short-term individual market...more
On October 12, the Trump Administration announced that it would immediately terminate payments for Cost-Sharing Reductions (CSRs), which subsidize health coverage for low-income enrollees in the Affordable Care Act's (ACA)...more
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Tom Price resigned on September 29, following the collapse of Republicans' efforts to repeal-and-replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and revelations that he spent more...more
Federal funding for the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) – which covers nearly nine million children nationwide at a total cost of approximately $14 billion per year – expired on September 30 as congressional action...more
On October 6, the Trump Administration issued two new interim final rules that significantly expand exemptions for employers to the ACA's requirements to provide free contraceptive coverage. The new regulations, effective...more
President Trump is expected to issue an executive order in the coming days that would direct federal agencies to expand access to association health plans (AHPs), which would be exempt from the ACA's coverage requirements and...more
President Trump came to an agreement with congressional Democrats to extend FY17 federal appropriations and suspend the debt limit until December 8. The deal, which took congressional Republicans by surprise, was paired with...more
On September 27, the White House and its allies on Capitol Hill released the outline of their long-promised tax reform proposal. Generally, the outline seeks to create three individual income tax rates (12, 25, and 35...more
Following defections from Senators Rand Paul (R-KY), John McCain (R-AZ), and Susan Collins (R-ME), Senate Republican leaders announced on September 26 that they did not have the votes for the Graham-Cassidy plan – the last...more
On September 28, Congress approved a six-month extension to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) authorization, heading off a partial shutdown of the FAA. Expect negotiations over House Transportation and Infrastructure...more
This week, the debate over the Affordable Care Act (ACA) gained new momentum in two separate, but connected channels. As the fiscal year (FY) budget reconciliation window enabling expedited passage of an ACA repeal draws to a...more
9/21/2017
/ Affordable Care Act ,
Block Grants ,
Budget Reconciliation ,
Governors ,
Legislative Agendas ,
Political Parties ,
Proposed Legislation ,
Repeal ,
Stabilization Issues ,
State and Local Government ,
Trump Administration ,
Waivers
September is traditionally one of the busiest months in Washington, and this year is no exception. While much of the attention is focused on the debt ceiling debate, appropriations and the federal response to Hurricane...more
Long a priority of House and Senate Republicans and the White House, expect tax reform to take center stage this fall. Originally, the White House was expected to drive the discussion over tax reform and promised to release a...more
With the October 1 start of fiscal year 2018 coming closer, the White House, Senate and House remain far apart on the 12 regular appropriations bills that collectively fund the federal government. At this time, all parties...more
According to Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, the U.S. will hit its debt limit at some point in late September. Congress has until then to raise the federal debt ceiling before the Department of the Treasury's so-called...more
At the end of the month, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) authorization is set to expire. If not reauthorized, authority to fund the FAA and the nation's airway system will cease. As has been previously reported, in...more
Strong bipartisan support exists to respond to devastation caused by Hurricane Harvey, though funding levels and the form of such relief takes are still uncertain. Initial estimates (which are expected to rise) now place the...more