THE DAILY WHIP: THURSDAY, MARCH 26, 2015
Mariel Saez or Latoya Veal 202-225-3130
| House Meets At: | First Vote Predicted: | Last Vote Predicted: |
|---|---|---|
| 9:00 a.m.: Legislative Business Five “One Minutes” | 10:00 – 10:30 a.m. | 11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. |
H.Res. 173 – Rule Providing for Consideration of H.R. 2 – Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (Rep. Burgess – Energy & Commerce/Ways & Means) (One Hour of Debate). The Rules committee has recommended a closed Rule that provides for one hour of general debate, with 30 minutes equally divided and controlled by the Chair and Ranking Member of the Committee on the Energy & Commerce and 30 minutes equally divided and controlled by the Chair and Ranking Member of the Committee on Ways & Means. The Rule allows one motion to recommit, with or without instructions, and waives all points of order against the legislation.
H.R. 2 –Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (Rep. Burgess – Energy & Commerce/Ways & Means) (One Hour of Debate). This bill represents an historic bipartisan agreement on a permanent fix to the Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) of Medicare.
Under this bipartisan SGR agreement, the 21% cut in reimbursements for Medicare physicians scheduled for April 1 would be averted. It would be replaced with a 0.5% update through 2019, and Medicare would transition to a new reimbursement system that would incentivize quality and efficiency in the delivery of health care services.
The legislation fully funds the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) through FY 2017 to ensure continued access to health care coverage for 8 million children and pregnant women. It also maintains crucial enhancements to the program enacted through the Affordable Care Act, including the Child Enrollment Contingency Fund, maintenance of effort (MOE) protections, the 23 percent “bump” in state funding and streamlined eligibility determinations.
The agreement would permanently extend the Qualifying Individual (QI) program, which helps low-income seniors pay their Medicare premiums and the Transitional Medical Assistance (TMA) program, which helps families on Medicaid maintain their coverage for one year as they transition from welfare to work.
The agreement also provides for $7.2 billion in new funding for community health centers over the next two years. Lastly, the White House has issued a SAP in support of the bill’s passage. Members are urged to VOTE YES.
Bill Text for H.R. 2:
PDF Version
Background for H.R. 2:
CRS Report: The Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) and Medicare Physician Payments: Frequently Asked Questions
| The Daily Quote |
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“The House's budget makes cuts to domestic spending on everything from food stamps to welfare. The blueprint also repeals the Affordable Care Act and makes changes to the tax code. Republicans in the House chose to pass a budget that increased military spending even though that spending would not be offset, a major concession for some fiscal conservatives… Whether House leaders can translate their success to future legislative showdowns, however, is still very much up in the air. Those in the leadership team believe a budget resolution will mark a shift for a Republican conference that has slid from one political crisis to another over the last three months… Since the beginning of the year, there has been a speaker's election that—at the very least—signified anger towards Boehner from his right flank. There was a dramatic scrapping of an abortion bill just a day before the Right to Life March in D.C., after women in the conference united against controversial language within it. And leaders barely avoided a shutdown of the Homeland Security Department last month…” - National Journal, 3/25/2015 |