House and Senate negotiators are looking to finalize their work on Fiscal Year (FY) 2018 funding prior to the March 23 continuing resolution (CR) deadline. What this means is that Congress has not funded FY18 and if they can’t come to a decision, they will continue kicking the can down the road. As of March 13, Congressional leaders were expecting to finalize the details of an omnibus bill by Wednesday, March 14. The procedural timing is nearly impossible, with the House aiming to vote on it by March 16 and be completed in the Senate prior to the shutdown deadline of March 23. The possibility remains that Congressional leaders will not agree on an omnibus spending package (forcing them to pass another CR). Adding to this, there is another possibility that the Labor, Health, and Human Services (LHHS) bill, which funds the NIH and CDC, may be passed as an individual CR at last year’s funding level.
While FY18 is unresolved, the FY 2019 process is starting. In mid-February, the new HHS Secretary Alex Azar appeared on Capitol Hill three times in a one-week period to defend the Administration’s budget. During the Energy and Commerce hearing, Rep. Cathy Castor (D-FL) discussed the Administration’s proposed cuts to the Prevention and Public Health Fund that would decrease the CDC budget by $1 billion. During the Senate Finance Committee, Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-GA) raised “deep concerns” about the Administration’s proposed cuts to CDC.
On March 13, President Trump announced through a tweet that CIA Director Mike Pompeo will replace Rex Tillerson as Secretary of State. Director Pompeo is a graduate of West Point, where he finished first in his class and subsequently served in the military from 1986 to 1991. Pompeo earned a Juris Doctor from Harvard Law School, briefly served as an attorney and owned businesses in the aerospace, private security and petroleum industries. He served as a Congressman from Kansas from 2011-2017 and served on the Energy & Commerce Committee during his tenure.