On May 4, the House passed, by a vote of 217-213, the "American Health Care Act of 2017" ( H.R. 1628), with all 193 House Democrats and 20 House Republicans voting against the bill. The legislation repeals the core elements of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), including its subsidies to help people get insurance coverage, expansion of Medicaid, taxes and mandates for people to get coverage. In its place, the bill provides a new tax credit aimed at helping people buy insurance, though it would provide less help than the ACA to low-income people. The measure has deep cuts to Medicaid, the government healthcare program for low income people, including putting a new cap on payments and ending the ACA's expansion of the program after 2020. A  key move which brought most of the House Freedom Caucus on board with the legislation was an amendment that allows states to apply for waivers to one of the ACA's key protections for people with pre-existing conditions, known as community rating. Additionally, a last-minute addition of $8 billion more in funding for people with pre-existing conditions was key to winning over several wavering moderates, though many experts doubt whether that will be close to enough funding. Senate Republican leadership indicated that they will write their own version of a healthcare bill, rather than work from the American Health Care Act. The House also passed on May 4, by a vote of 429-0, a bill (H.R. 2192) that would ensure that members of Congress and their staff would be covered under the American Health Care Act. Read more...

On May 2, the Senate voted 61-37 to confirm mergers and acquisitions attorney Jay Clayton to serve as the 32nd Chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the independent federal agency tasked with enforcing federal securities  laws, proposing securities rules, and regulating the securities industry and the nation's stock and options exchanges . 10 Senate Democrats joined 51 Senate Republicans in voting for Clayton's nomination. On May 4, Clayton was sworn into office by Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy. Read more...

On May 2, the Senate passed, by Unanimous Consent, the Space Weather Research and Forecasting Act ( S. 141), which would help improve the ability to predict and mitigate the impacts of extreme space weather events, including solar flares and coronal mass ejections, which are naturally occurring changes in emissions from the sun that can cause disruptions to the electrical power grid and communication networks, and lead to trillions of dollars in economic damage. The bill strengthens space weather research by directing federal agencies to develop new tools and technologies to improve forecasting and measurement of space weather disturbances and their potential impacts to Earth. The legislation outlines clear roles and responsibilities for the federal agencies that study and predict space weather events, including NASA, NOAA, the NSF, DoD, and the FAA. The bill also directs NOAA to develop plans for a backup to the aging Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) satellite, the only currently operating satellite providing imagery of space weather that could impact Earth.  Read more...

On May 2, the House passed, by a vote of 229-197, the Working Families Flexibility Act of 2017 ( H.R. 1180), which would allow private-sector employees to exchange overtime pay for "compensatory time" off, electing to accrue extra hours off rather than receive extra pay. Under the proposed changes, eligible employees-if their employer decides to offer the option-would be able to voluntarily choose to receive comp time they can bank and use at a future date in lieu of immediate overtime pay in their paychecks. If they change their minds and want the pay after all, employees would have the option of "cashing out," with the employer required to pay the overtime within 30 days. The White House issued a Statement of Administration Policy for H.R. 1180, stating that if the bill "were presented to the President in its current form, his advisors would recommend that he sign the bill into law."  Read more...