Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
NIH, Opioid Funding Get Big Boost In Spending Bill Senate OK'd In Hopes Of Averting Shutdown
The Associated Press: Senate Backs Bill To Avert Shutdown, Boost Military Spending
The Senate on Tuesday approved a wide-ranging, $854 billion bill that funds the military and a host of civilian agencies for the next year and provides a short-term fix to keep the government open through early December. The measure includes $675 billion for the Defense Department and boosts military pay by 2.6 percent, the largest pay raise in nine years. The bill also approves spending for Health and Human Services, Education, Labor and other agencies, including a 5 percent boost for the National Institutes of Health. (Daly, 9/18)
The Washington Post: Senate Passes Defense And Health Spending Bill, Tries To Delay Border-Wall Fight To After Midterms
Funding for the Labor, Education and Health and Human Services departments would total $178 billion, a $1 billion increase from 2018 and almost $11 billion more than Trump requested in his budget proposal for 2019. The Trump administration has objected to the increases in domestic budgets Congress is approving, but that is the price Democrats exacted for agreeing to big military spending increases sought by Republicans and Trump. Although Congress again finds itself nearing the end of the fiscal year without completing action on the 12 must-pass spending bills that fund all government agencies, the situation still represents a major improvement over recent years of budget dysfunction. (Werner, 9/18)
Politico Pro: Role-Reversal: Democrats Agree To Children's Health Cutbacks They Once Decried
Congress is steaming ahead with a spending package that would claw back billions of dollars from the Children’s Health Insurance Program, just months after Democrats ripped the Trump administration for attempting the same tactic. (Ferris, 9/18)
The Wall Street Journal: Senate Passes Broad Spending Bill
To combat the opioid epidemic, the bill appropriates $3.8 billion, an increase of $2.7 billion over 2017. Of that, $1.5 billion will go to states for grants. The Senate on Monday passed broad, bipartisan legislation aimed at combating the opioid epidemic through new research, treatment and help for families affected by addiction. (Andrews, 9/18)
Reuters: U.S. Senate Passes Spending Measure, Step Toward Preventing Shutdown
To become law, the package would have to pass the House of Representatives, which is out of Washington until Sept. 25, and then be signed by President Donald Trump. (Zengerle, 9/18)
In a separate effort, Congress is working on a package to combat the opioid crisis —
The Hill: Bipartisan Group Wants To Lift Medicaid Restriction On Substance Abuse Treatment
A bipartisan group of senators want Congress' final opioids package to lift a decades-old restriction on Medicaid funding for substance abuse treatment. Sens. Rob Portman (R-Ohio), Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) introduced a proposal Tuesday to allow states to use Medicaid money to pay for coverage at addiction treatment facilities for people with diagnosed substance use disorders for up to 90 consecutive days — something prohibited under federal Medicaid law. (Hellman, 9/18)
