Long-Term Solution For CHIP Funding On Docket As Congress Returns To Jam-Packed Schedule
Right before the Christmas break, Congress plowed $3 billion into the Children's Health Insurance Program, but that stopgap only keeps it funded for three more months.
The Washington Post:
Congress Will Return To A Full Slate Of Difficult Issues
Congress faces a jam-packed to-do list this month with deadlines looming on difficult issues — including how to fund the government and avoid a shutdown, stabilizing the nation’s health insurance program for poor children, and whether to shield young undocumented immigrants from deportation. Fresh off a party-line vote in favor of legislation overhauling the tax code, the negotiations will test whether Congress and the White House still have the potential to craft any form of bipartisan agreement. If so, several of the year’s most contested issues might be resolved with months to spare before the 2018 midterm campaign heats up. (Stein, 1/1)
Bloomberg:
Trump And Congress Spoil For Fights With Shutdown Again At Stake
Several health-care issues are also outstanding. Republican Senator Susan Collins of Maine voted for the GOP tax-cut bill in exchange for a promise from her party’s leaders to vote on two bills aimed at shoring up Obamacare. One would restore subsidies for co-payments and deductibles suspended by Trump, while the other would establish a reinsurance program to help insurers cover people with chronic and costly illnesses. (Sink, Wasson and Edgerton, 1/2)