BIDEN’S BUDGET

Today, Monday, March 11, President Biden released his budget for fiscal year (FY) 2025. While the budget request represents the administration’s funding goals for the coming year, it also sheds light on the administration’s policy goals. The budget builds on themes presented in last week’s State of the Union speech. In healthcare, these themes include expanding drug price negotiations, making sure healthcare is affordable, and protecting and improving Medicare. With tight margins in the House and Senate, don’t expect these policies to rush through the legislative process. Instead, stakeholders should look to the potential components of regulatory or executive steps that the Administration could implement without the need for congressional action. Following the release of the budget, Secretary Becerra will testify at the committees of jurisdiction, starting with the Senate Finance Committee this Thursday and moving to others over the next few weeks. While these hearings are scheduled to review the president’s healthcare budget proposals, committee members can ask questions about anything they choose, so they often cover a broader array of issues.

The next two weeks will focus primarily on negotiating the remaining six funding bills, including US Department of Health and Human Services, for which funding expires March 22. These last six bills are far more contentious than those signed into law on Saturday. Assuming the final appropriations funding levels are accomplished by March 22, we then shift our attention to lame duck for action on this year’s remaining healthcare priorities. Any policies that did not make the cut in these funding bills could be in play in lame duck.

TODAY’S PODCAST

Debbie Curtis joins Priya Rathakrishnan to discuss her thoughts on President Biden’s proposed budget for FY 2025 and its impact on congressional activity.