- Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said last night that a deal to avoid a government shutdown had been reached. Both the Senate and the House will likely vote on a continuing resolution today to keep the government funded at current levels through Dec. 3. The Senate’s resolution does not include the debt limit increase. It does include, however, money to resettle Afghan refugees and disaster aid for victims of Hurricane Ida. (Articles here, here, here, here, and here)
- The Biden administration is scrambling to protect the federal pandemic response if Congress fails to keep the government funded past midnight tonight. During a government shutdown, federal regulators would continue to review COVID-19 vaccines and treatments, the CDC would continue tracking COVID-19 data and the National Institutes of Health would furlough most staffers but maintain research and development related to COVID-19, according to officials and a White House contingency staffing plan. (Article here)
- The House Judiciary Committee approved three bills to stop practices drugmakers use to raise prices and fend off competition. One bill would ban the tactic of paying generic companies to delay bringing cheaper versions of their medicines to market; a second would halt product-hopping and pay-for-delay patent deals; the third would make it easier to bring to market biosimilars. (Article here)
September 30, 2021
D.C. News