(Sept. 19, 2024) - The federal fiscal year 2024 ends on Sept. 30. House and Senate Republicans and Democrats are reviewing to see what kind of continuing budget resolution may gather a majority vote in both chambers to keep the government funded.
House Republican leadership wants to pass a six-month CR that also includes the text of the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act, a bill that requiring Americans to provide proof of citizenship in order to vote in federal elections. The CR was brought up for a vote yesterday. Democrats are uniformly opposed to both the time frame and the policy riders in this arrangement. Some conservative Republicans feel that a six-month CR represents a dereliction of leadership Both groups voted to kill the bill 202-220.
Senate Democratic leadership wants to pass a clean CR to fund the federal government at FY 2024 levels until Dec. 13. While this version is more likely to garner the necessary votes, it remains unclear when the Senate will introduce its version A question remains what outliers or necessary 2025 budgetary revisions like the Medicare sequestration holiday PAYGO provision will be present in the text It must pass both the House and Senate in time to beat the Sept. 30 deadline.
At this point, no changes to current Medicare and Medicaid policy are expected to result from either a six-month or 11-week CR. The bigger question will be how significant spending items like the PAYGO fix will be handled in the final FY 2025 budget bill passed in either December, January or February. The election's outcomes will guide how things proceed in the lame-duck session. Since control of the White House, House of Representatives and Senate hangs in the balance, it is difficult to speculate how these negotiations will unfold.
In the meantime, KHA continues to work on priorities such as pushing for changes to Medicare Advantage programs, an expansion of Rural Emergency Hospital eligibility and solutions to the 340B Drug Pricing Program crisis. The House Ways and Means Committee is currently working on a bill to expand REH eligibility. We are working with them to ensure it tracks closely with the Senate bill that both protects Critical Access Hospital’s necessary provider status and allows certain closed hospitals to reopen as REHs. The Senate 340B working group continues to discuss its bill, and we continue to provide input into this process. We expect a bill to be introduced soon. Regardless of election outcomes, these priorities are in play when considering the end-of-year budget bill.