Summary
Congress returns this week after a two-week spring recess. House leadership will be starting the week in New York City with Speaker McCarthy giving a speech at the New York Stock Exchange this morning where he will likely begin to outline the House Republican’s loosely forming debt ceiling package. The House Judiciary Committee will also be in New York City as Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan is holding a hearing titled “Victims of Violent Crime in Manhattan.”
The House is scheduled to be in session until Thursday afternoon, and will vote on an array of bills including H.R. 734, the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act of 2023 which will generally prohibit school athletic programs from allowing individuals whose biological sex at birth was male to participate in programs that are for women or girls.
The Senate also comes back into session this afternoon. Republican Leader Mitch McConnell will be back for the first time since he suffered a fall in early March. A priority for Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer will be to offer an updated organizing resolution that names a new Democratic senator to the Judiciary Committee to temporarily replace California Senator Dianne Feinstein, who is recovering from shingles. Such a change will require all 100 senators to fast-track it, or 60 votes to pass it. There is no guarantee that Republicans will support such a move to help Democrats confirm additional judges.
The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee’s plans to mark-up drug pricing legislation focused on pharmacy benefit managers and generic drugs have been pushed from the originally scheduled April 19 date as the Committee gathers more information. A new date has not been set. The package is likely to feature provisions that increase transparency of PBM practices and support the development of biosimilar and generic drugs.
Hearings
There will be several hearings throughout the week on both sides of the Capitol, including several on Wednesday:
- On Wednesday the House Committee on Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health will hold a hearing to examine current federal programs to support health care workforce and improve primary care.
- Also on Wednesday, the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Subcommittee on Food and Nutrition, Specialty Crops, Organics, and Research will hold a hearing to examine Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits and other nutrition assistance in the Farm Bill. Meanwhile, the Senate Committee on Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies will hold a hearing to examine the President’s proposed budget request for fiscal year 2024 for the FDA. FDA Commissioner Dr. Robert Califf will be testifying.
- Finally, the House Labor-HHS Appropriations Subcommittee will hold a hearing, also on Wednesday, on the FY 2024 budget requests for the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response.
Black Maternal Health Week
HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra is hosting a roundtable (announcement; registration) this morning to celebrate Black Maternal Health Week (April 11-17). Currently, pregnancy-related mortality rates among Black women are more than three times higher than the rate for white women. Black women also suffer higher shares of preterm births, low birthweight births, and infant mortality than their white peers. Today’s round table features experts representing various fields to discuss best practices and best innovative models used to improve Black maternal and infant health outcomes. Secretary Becerra is highlighting actions HHS has taken to reduce disparities, including extending postpartum coverage under Medicaid from 60 days to 12 months in 31 states plus the District of Columbia. Over the last week, the White House issued a Proclamation on Black Maternal Health Week highlighting the vast disparities in maternal health and underscoring that tackling the crisis “begins with understanding how institutional racism drives these high maternal mortality rates.” The House and Senate issued a resolution signed by more than 100 members of Congress. Federal agencies have highlighted their work in this important area including the National Institutes of Health (NIH’s) Office of Research on Women’s Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).