Congress is Back from Recess – What’s Next?

Congress is returning from a two week recess, with the Senate reconvening today, and the House reconvening tomorrow.  Axios reported that Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) told donors that advancement of a Build Back Better (BBB) reconciliation package is unlikely given other policy priorities at the forefront of the Congressional agenda. Although it could be revisited as soon as this Spring, there is not a current plan to revive BBB. 

Policymakers are expected to focus their efforts on advancing a $10 billion supplemental COVID-19 funding bill, resolving the differences between the House and Senate China competition bills, and considering an insulin drug pricing bill in the Senate.

Earlier this month, Rep. Fred Upton (R-MI) announced his retirement from Congress.  The Congressman is the lead Republican sponsor of the Cures 2.0 Act, and his departure could give momentum to the legislation or its key components. The homecare industry is lobbying to change the EVV provision in the Act that would prohibit the use of global positioning systems (GPS) and biometrics within electronic visit verification (EVV) systems.