Plus: Johnson gets pressured on Ukraine aid
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 Michael Rainey and Yuval Rosenberg Happy Tuesday! The White House meeting today between President Joe Biden and congressional leaders got âintense,â according to some participants. But it generated some optimism that a looming government shutdown can be avoided, even as it stoked new concerns about aid to Ukraine. Hereâs your evening update. The Oval Office meeting got 'intense.' (Reuters) White House Meeting Yields âProgressâ on Shutdown, Impasse on Ukraine
Just days away from a partial government shutdown, President Joe Biden met with congressional leaders at the White House Tuesday in an attempt to break a deadlock over federal funding and to discuss a stalled supplemental bill that would provide aid to U.S. allies including Ukraine and Israel. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said after the meeting that the attendees â House Speaker Mike Johnson, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and Vice President Kamala Harris, along with Biden and Schumer â agreed that no one wants to see a shutdown. âWe are making good progress,â Schumer told reporters. âThe speaker said unequivocally he wants to avoid a government shutdown.â Johnson expressed hope a shutdown would be avoided. âWeâre very optimistic,â he told reporters. âWe believe that we can get to agreement on these issues and prevent a government shutdown, and thatâs our first responsibility.â The Departments of Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, Veterans Affairs and Agriculture will shut down starting Saturday if lawmakers are unable to reach an agreement, and a second shutdown covering the rest of the government would begin one week later. Schumer said that to avoid a shutdown, lawmakers will have to pass yet another short-term funding bill known as a continuing resolution, or CR, as they work on spending bills distributing the agreed-upon $1.66 trillion discretionary budget for fiscal year 2024, which began in October. âWe made it clear that that means not letting any of the government appropriations bills lapse, which means you need some CRs to get that done, but weâre making good progress and weâre hopeful we can get this done really quickly,â Schumer said. Pressure on Ukraine aid: The meeting included a discussion of the $95 billion foreign aid package passed by the Senate that Johnson has refused to bring to the House floor for a vote. âThe meeting on Ukraine was one of the most intense I have ever encountered in my many meetings in the Oval Office,â Schumer said. âIt was intense because everyone in that room was telling Speaker Johnson how vitalâ it is for the U.S. to provide more aid. Schumer said the assembled leaders tried to impress upon Johnson that waiting any longer to provide additional military aid could result in Ukraine losing the war and the NATO alliance being fractured. âWe said to the speaker, get it done,â Schumer said. âI told him, this is one of the moments ... history is looking over your shoulder and if you don't do the right thing, whatever the immediate politics are, you will regret it.â Johnson, however, has insisted that lawmakers address the situation at the southern border before providing more aid to foreign allies, and his comments Tuesday did little to suggest that he has changed his mind on the matter. House Republicans are working on providing aid to Ukraine in a âtimely manner,â Johnson said. âBut again, the first priority of the country is our border and making sure itâs secure,â he added. âWe must take care of Americaâs needs first.â Schumer said the meeting attendees tried to convince Johnson that holding up aid to focus first on the border is a ânon-sequiturâ that will harm Ukraine. âThereâs a logic to solving the border, we want to solve it,â Schumer said. But, he said, the Ukraine aid canât wait any longer and thereâs âbroad bipartisan consensusâ for it, while a border agreement will take more time. Johnsonâs dilemmas: While the House speaker expressed optimism about avoiding a shutdown, it seems likely that, as Schumer noted, lawmakers will have to pass their fourth continuing resolution of the fiscal year in order to do so. That could be a tricky issue for Johnson, who has indicated that he doesnât want to pass any more of the short-term bills, which are unpopular among conservatives. Johnson also faces pressure from hardliners to his right who donât mind if the government shuts down, even if itâs politically damaging and runs the risk of hurting Republicans in the fall, threatening control of the speakerâs gavel. Some hardliners would prefer to skip the bipartisan funding bills altogether, opting instead for a full-year continuing resolution that would generate a 1% spending cut across the board under the terms of the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023. That would almost certainly meet resistance in the Senate, however, once again raising the threat of a shutdown. In another wrinkle, Republicans who are working on the 2024 spending bills are seeking to include policy riders that could conceivably deliver political victories on culture-war issues like abortion and trans rights but would also make it much more difficult to pass the legislation amid resistance from Democrats. The supplemental spending bill providing $60 billion in aid for Ukraine presents yet another quandary. Johnson could bring the bill to the floor for a vote, where it would likely pass with overwhelming support from Democrats. But that would inevitably inflame nationalist hardliners who have become increasingly skeptical of U.S. involvement in Ukraine â and who could trigger a vote to remove Johnson from the speakership. The bottom line: It appears that lawmakers will once again punt on government funding and push the threat of a potential shutdown to a later date. But that will only temporarily relieve pressure on congressional leaders, especially Johnson, who faces a series of politically perilous decisions on both the budget and foreign aid. UnitedHealth Faces New Justice Department Antitrust Probe: Reports
The Justice Department has reportedly launched an antitrust investigation into UnitedHealth, the nationâs largest health insurer and a top manager of pharmacy benefits and physician groups. Investigators have been digging into the relationship between the companyâs insurance unit, which covers roughly 50 million people, and its Optum health services unit, which employs about 90,000 doctors, The Wall Street Journal [reports](. âInvestigators have asked whether UnitedHealthcare favored Optum-owned groups in its contracting practices, potentially squeezing rival physicians out of certain types of attractive payment arrangements,â the Journalâs Anna Wilde Mathews and Dave Michaels write. âInvestigators have also explored whether Optumâs ownership of healthcare providers could present challenges to health insurers that are rivals to UnitedHealthcare.â Among the issues being investigated is the companyâs compliance with an Affordable Care Act limit on the share of patient premiums that health insurers can put toward administrative costs and profits. The law requires insurance companies to spend at least 80% or 85% of those premium dollars on care. But when the same company owns the insurer and the care providers, it can ultimately collect more than the cap allows. Government officials are reportedly also looking into UnitedHealthâs Medicare billing practices. This isnât the first time the company has come under intense scrutiny or faced an antitrust probe. âUnitedHealth has drawn criticism for years as it has expanded its reach across the health-care system,â Bloombergâs John Tozzi, Chris Strohm, and Leah Nylen [note](. âOptumâs clinics, home-care services, drug plans and pharmacies frequently provide services to UnitedHealthcare members, allowing the company to turn expenses in its insurance business into revenue for Optum. That arrangement has helped power UnitedHealthâs growth over rivals, a strategy that competitors have attempted to replicate. But the arrangement has also drawn criticism from antitrust regulators.â Spokespeople for UnitedHealth and the Justice Department declined to comment to the Journal and Bloomberg. --------------------------------------------------------------- Send your feedback and suggestions to yrosenberg@thefiscaltimes.com. And please encourage your friends to [sign up here]( for their own copy of this newsletter.
--------------------------------------------------------------- Fiscal News Roundup - [Biden, Leaders Optimistic About Avoiding Shutdown, Press Johnson on Ukraine]( â Roll Call
- [Johnson Commits to Avoiding Shutdown During White House Meeting]( â Politico
- [Leaders Gang Up on Speaker Johnson at âIntenseâ White House Meeting]( â The Hill
- [As Spending Talks Intensify, Johnsonâs Bind Grows Tighter]( â New York Times
- [Republican Demands and Divisions Drive Impasse Toward a Shutdown]( â New York Times
- [Congress Barrels Toward Shutdown: 4 Scenarios]( â The Hill
- [White House Warns Ukraine Situation Is âVery Direâ After Talks With Congressional Leaders]( â The Hill
- [Corporate Jet Users Brace for More IRS Audits]( â The Hill
- [Direct File Tax System Opens to New Users as IRS Service Levels Improve]( â The Hill
- [Funding at Risk for Program That Helps Millions Afford Internet]( â Roll Call
- [Biden Administration Announces $366 Million for Rural Renewable Energy Projects]( â The Hill
- [Stabenow Threatens to Block New Farm Bill This Year Over GOP Demands]( â Politico
- [US Army Is Slashing Thousands of Posts in Major Revamp to Prepare for Future Wars]( â Associated Press
- [NJ Governor Pitches Higher Tax on Businesses to Help Transit]( â Bloomberg Views and Analysis - [House Speaker Mike Johnson Faces a Defining Dilemma on Ukraine]( â Stephen Collinson, CNN
- [House Backbenchers to Ukraineâs Rescue]( â Wall Street Editorial Board
- [How This Government Shutdown Would Be Different]( â Katy Stech Ferek, Wall Street Journal
- [Even Josh Hawley Has Had Enough of Republicansâ Shutdown Nonsense]( â Ellie Quinlan Houghtaling, New Republic
- [Shutdown Politics Only Enables Bad Economics]( â Karl W. Smith, Bloomberg
- [The Economy Is Roaring. Immigration Is a Key Reason]( â Rachel Siegel, Lauren Kaori Gurley and Meryl Kornfield, Washington Post
- [Zelenskyâs Increasingly Blunt Comments About Trump]( â Aaron Blake, Washington Post
- [How to Protect Yourself From Americaâs No. 1 Killer]( â Leana S. Wen, Washington Post
- [Americansâ Savings Are Shrinking. Should We Be Worried?]( â Peter Coy, New York Times Copyright © 2024 The Fiscal Times, All rights reserved.
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