Plus, shutdown deadline coming up fast
â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â [The Fisc]( Â Â By Yuval Rosenberg and Michael Rainey Welcome to what should be a busy news week. President Joe Biden, back from London and the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II, will be attending the United Nation General Assembly in New York, likely prompting more complaining about city traffic than weâve heard in two years. Also, the Federal Reserveâs policymaking committee will hold a two-day meeting thatâs expected to culminate Wednesday afternoon with the announcement of another big interest rate hike, likely a third straight increase of [75 basis points]( â though a full percentage point isnât out of the question. On Capitol Hill, lawmakers must still fund the government past September 30, though the path forward there is clouded by lingering uncertainty over an energy permitting reform measure that could be attached to the stopgap funding bill. With 50 days to go until Election Day, lawmakers in both parties want to avoid government shutdown. Weâll likely learn this week how they plan to do it. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (Reuters) Government Funding Deadline Coming Up Fast
The deadline for passing a continuing resolution that would prevent the government from shutting down at the end of the month is approaching fast. Including today, the House is in session for just seven days before October 1, increasing the pressure to move quickly on the bill, which would maintain government funding at current levels. As we told you last week, Democrats want the funding bill to last until December 16 or thereabouts, a timeline that could be problematic for some Republicans. They reportedly also want to include several other measures in the legislative package, including electoral vote reforms, reauthorization for an FDA user fee program, changes to the way energy projects receive permits and more money for Covid preparedness, monkeypox and Ukraine aid. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) confirmed over the weekend that he wants more money for Ukraine, a stance that seems likely to win bipartisan support â while bringing the total for U.S. aid to the eastern European country to more than $60 billion. âUkraine has made significant advances against Russia in the war, the vicious war that Putin has waged against the Ukrainian people,â Schumer said, referring to Russian president Vladimir Putin. âI will be pushing for at least $12 billion in aid for Ukraine in the budget so they can continue to win the war effort.â Other parts of the package are proving to be less popular, not least the rule changes for energy project permitting. That measure is being considered because of an agreement between Democratic leadership and Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) to include it in the continuing resolution, as part of the effort to win the senatorâs support for the Inflation Reduction Act. Manchin has long sought permitting reform in the energy sector, which is connected to his support for a gas pipeline project that would travel through his home state, as well as his support for the fossil fuel industry generally. But lawmakers say the details of the agreement have been kept under wraps, making it hard for the measure to win support. âWe donât know what it is,â Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) [told The Hill](. âThey havenât released the text, they donât give us the detailed explanation. So, I donât know how you could ask people to vote for something they donât know what it is.â Manchin said last week that he expects the text of the measure to be released at the same time as the continuing resolution, leaving little time for lawmakers to review the details. Capito, who has offered an alternative proposal for permitting reform, said the delay could be a bad sign. âThereâs a reason theyâre keeping it secret: Itâs either still being negotiated or itâs so weak it has no meaning or itâs too strong for other people,â she told The Hill. Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama, the senior Republican on the Senate Appropriations Committee, said he wasnât sure whether the permitting reforms would make it into the final package. âRepublicans and a lot of Democrats [are] against it,â he said. âSo, I donât know where it goes yet.â The bottom line: Lawmakers still have time to come to an agreement that would prevent the government from shutting down â and no one wants to see the lights go out so close to the midterm elections. So whatever form it takes, expect to see action on the continuing resolution in the next few days, with Schumer deciding whether to include the permitting measure or drop it in the face of opposition from both Republicans and liberal Democrats. âIf permitting reform is dropped, thereâs an outside chance that the [continuing resolution] could be approved this week,â says Punchbowlâs John Bresnahan. âItâs pretty unlikely, but thereâs a chance. Lawmakers in both chambers want to go home for the election.â Biden Complicates the Covid Funding Question
President Biden says that the Covid-19 pandemic is âoverâ â a declaration that is prompting some [pushback]( from public health experts and could further complicate his administrationâs months-long effort to secure billions of dollars in additional pandemic funding. What Biden said: In an interview that was recorded last week and aired Sunday night, Biden strolled through the Detroit Auto Show with Scott Pelley of CBSâs â60 Minutes,â who asked whether the pandemic is over. âThe pandemic is over,â Biden replied. âWe still have a problem with Covid. We're still doing a lot of work on it. It's -- but the pandemic is over.â What his administration says: Those comments reportedly surprised some administration officials and come less than two weeks after the White Houseâs own Covid-19 response coordinator told reporters that âthe pandemic isnât overâ as he laid out plans for a fall campaign to have Americans get updated vaccines and discussed annual shots going forward. âWe will remain vigilant, and of course, we continue to look for and prepare for unforeseen twists and turns,â Dr. Ashish Jha said at a press briefing on September 6. âBut this week marks an important shift in our fight against the virus. It marks our ability to make COVID vaccines a more routine part of our lives as we continue to drive down serious illness and deaths and protect Americans heading into the fall and winter.â A Biden administration said that the presidentâs comments do not represent a change in policy and that there are no plans to lift the public health emergency in place since January 2020, CNNâs Betsy Klein [reports](. HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra told [Yahoo Finance]( that Biden is correct and was reflecting what many Americans feel, adding that vaccines are still needed. What the numbers say: The seven-day average of new cases has fallen by nearly 30% over the past two weeks, dropping to the lowest level since early May, according to data from [The New York Times]( â yet there are still nearly 62,000 new cases being reported daily, and that official number massively undercounts the true number of new infections because it does not include people who are testing at home. More than 450 people are still dying from Covid-19 each day, or about 3,000 people a week. What public health experts say: Biden apparently impromptu comments raised some alarms among public health experts. âWish this was true,â tweeted Dr. Eric Topol of the Scripps Research Translational Institute. âWhat's over is @POTUSâs and our government's will to get ahead of it, with magical thinking on the new bivalent boosters.â And Dr. Kavita Patel wrote: âThere is a fine line between injecting a sense of optimism/hope and telling people the truth that with 400-500 deaths/day plus a very unpredictable winter ahead itâs far from over.â Why it matters: Besides the public health implications of Bidenâs comments, which could be significant, the White House this month also requested another $22.4 billion in funding for Covid-19 testing, research and preparation â money it said is âvital to our ability to protect and build on the progress weâve made.â Republicans have opposed any additional Covid-19 funding, arguing that the administration should find the money it needs from previously authorized spending. âRepublicans on Sunday night raised questions about why the administration would renew its [ongoing public health emergency]( if the pandemic is over,â The Washington Postâs Dan Diamond [reports]( noting that as many as 15.8 million Americans could lose Medicaid coverage once the emergency ends, according to estimates from the Urban Institute. While new Covid-19 funding reportedly is unlikely to make it into the stopgap spending bill Congress needs to take up before the end of the month, the presidentâs comments could also make it harder to secure additional money down the line. âThe administration is currently taking some steps to move pieces of the pandemic response toward the commercial market, efforts that are likely to be accelerated in the absence of federal funding,â CNN notes. The bottom line: Go get your Covid boosters. Quote of the Day: The Pitfalls of Private Health Insurance
"Private insurance is a defective product. You pay for it and then when you get sick, there's co-payments, there's deductibles, there's out-of-network fees, there's things that aren't covered at all." â Dr. Steffie Woolhandler, a public health professor at Hunter College, as quoted by [Axios]( about a new study she co-authored that found that medical debt is common, even among the insured. âOne in 11 American men, 1 in 8 women, and nearly 1 in 5 households carry medical debt,â says the report, published at [JAMA Network Open](. âUS residents with middle-class or low incomes bear the brunt of this debt burden; only the highest-income and most educated segments of society are relatively spared.â The studyâs authors write that their findings âsuggest that incurring medical debt leaves many unable to pay for utilities, and worsens housing and food security.â They add that unaffordable medical bills may be a heath risk in their own right, contributing to âa downward spiral of ill-health and financial precarity.â Woolhandler also noted that medical debt is inherently political. âThe idea that we have medical debt, those are all policy decisions,â she told Axios. --------------------------------------------------------------- Send your feedback to yrosenberg@thefiscaltimes.com. And please encourage your friends to [sign up here]( for their own copy of this newsletter.
--------------------------------------------------------------- News - [Biden Says âPandemic Is Over,' Complicating White House Efforts for Funds]( â Washington Post
- [Health Experts Dismayed by President Bidenâs View That the Pandemic Is Over: âHell No â Not Even Closeâ]( â MarketWatch
- [Tensions Rise Amid Frustration Over Mystery Manchin Deal]( â The Hill
- [How Much âPainâ? Fed to Signal More Rate Hikes Ahead]( â Associated Press
- [Goldman Sachs Doesn't See the Fed Cutting Rates Until 2024]( â Wall Street Journal
- [Democrats Brace for Life With a House GOP Majority]( â The Hill
- [Study: Medical Debt Threatens Peopleâs Health, Housing]( â Axios
- [Employersâ Coming Health Care Crunch]( â Axios
- [Work-Life Policies Are Increasingly High-Stakes Economics]( â Axios
- [Cities Faced With Migrant Influx Costs Could Win Federal Aid]( â Bloomberg
- [Law Enforcement Funding Package Splits Democrats Ahead of Midterm Elections]( â New York Times
- [Republicans in Key Battleground Races Refuse to Say They Will Accept Results]( â Washington Post Views and Analysis - [No, President Biden, the Pandemic Is Not Over]( â Washington Post Editorial Board
- [Biden Is Right. The Pandemic Is Over]( â Leana S. Wen, Washington Post
- [Biden Is Right to Declare the âPandemic Is Overâ]( â Ross Barkan, New York
- [Biden Is Wrong, the COVID-19 Pandemic Isn't Over]( â Gavin Yamey, Time
- [After âa Massive Global Failureâ on Covid, What Happens the Next Time?]( â Washington Post Editorial Board
- [Inflation Remains Votersâ Top Concern. Can Republicans Keep Their Focus?]( â Jonathan Weisman, New York Times
- [The Global Race to Hike Rates Tilts Economies Toward Recession]( â Rich Miller, Bloomberg
- [The $24 Trillion Treasury Market Needs More Than Just Clearing]( â Paul J. Davies, Bloomberg
- [What Joe Biden Knows That No One Expected Him To]( â Ezra Klein, New York Times
- [The Federal Building Electrification Cavalry Is Here: Itâs Time for American Cities and States to Act]( â Ben Furnas and Luis Aguirre-Torres, The Hill
- [Whatâs Needed to Make It in America? Public-Private Partnerships That Cultivate a Highly Skilled Workforce]( â House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) and Randy Altschuler, The Hill
- [Why Are Prisoners Paid a Pittance to Make Glasses I Prescribe for Poor Kids?]( â Julius Oatts, Washington Post Copyright © 2022 The Fiscal Times, All rights reserved.
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