Palmer Schoening, Chairman of the Family Business Coalition and President of Schoening Strategies, is providing tED magazine another update on key issues at impact NAED members in Washington D.C.
Here is the update for Friday, June 9:
Financial Choice Act Passed the House:
At 4:38 p.m. EST yesterday, on a straight party-line 233-186 vote, the House passed H.R.10 to undo much of Dodd-Frank including the conflict minerals reporting requirements for businesses, sections 1502. We’ll be pushing to make sure 1502 is included in whatever Dodd-Frank reform legislation emerges in the Senate (where there could be significant changes in the bill during debate). More in yesterday’s Washington Post Wonkblog.
House Appropriators Moving Ahead:
CQ Roll Call reports: Rep. Charlie Dent (R-PA), chairman of the Appropriations subcommittee in charge of the Military Construction-VA spending bill, said full committee Chairman Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-NJ) will provide a topline funding level for Dent’s bill in time for the subcommittee markup Monday. That doesn’t necessarily mean there will be an overall topline for fiscal 2018 spending by Monday.
Debt Limit Increase May Join Omnibus Appropriations, but Not Necessarily by the August Recess:
At yesterday’s regular weekly briefing, House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) said:
“So, we’re — we’re not taking any options off the table. We’re having the kind of conversation with our members about what is the best way to proceed and how can we address these fiscal deadlines. We have budget caps, need to — to fix defense, debt limit, all of those things.
“Can we assemble a — a package before August? Sure. Do we have to before August? No, we don’t have to assemble it before August. But — but that’s the kind of thing we’re — we’re having a good conversation with our members on.”
“A Key Republican Demands Subsidies to Calm Insurance Markets”:
Yesterday’s New York Times article led with:
A powerful House Republican said Thursday that Congress should immediately provide money for subsidy payments to health insurance companies, which have been demanding big rate increases or fleeing from Affordable Care Act markets because of President Trump’s threat to cut off the funds.
The Republican, Kevin Brady of Texas, who is the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, went out of his way to make clear that he now believes that Congress should continue the subsidies, which compensate insurers for reducing deductibles and other out-of-pocket costs for seven million low-income people.
The Trump administration has sent mixed signals on the issue, as the president seeks leverage to win legislation to repeal the Affordable Care Act. That has destabilized insurance markets and jeopardized a health law that President Trump says is collapsing.
Yesterday, as reported by The Washington Times, HHS Secretary Tom Price told the Senate Finance Committee,
Tagged with government, tED“Nobody is interested in sabotaging the system,” implying the payments would be made, but there’s no announcement yet.