AHL’s TOP STORY: House Approves Senate-Amended Continuing Resolution Extension To Keep Government Funded Through FY 2013

The House today voted 318-109 to approve a Senate-amended continuing resolution extension bill (HR 933) that would fund the federal government through Sept. 30 and would avert a government shutdown on March 27, when the current CR expires, Politico reports (Rogers, Politico, 3/21). The measure now goes to President Obama for his signature (Helderman, Washington Post, 3/21).

On Wednesday, the Senate voted 73-26 to approve its version of the CR bill, which was attached as an amendment to the House version that was passed Thursday, the New York Times reports (Peters/Weisman, New York Times, 3/20).

Details of CR Bill

The Senate spending bill builds on the House-approved continuing resolution extension bill (HR 933), which would maintain the $85 billion in spending cuts under sequestration that took effect on March 1 and include a 2% reduction to Medicare reimbursement rates. The Senate version also leaves the sequestration cuts intact, albeit with specific appropriations to non-health funding (Cox, “Floor Action Blog,” The Hill, 3/20).

Like the House-approved version, the Senate proposal does not include a White House request for an additional $1 billion to implement the Affordable Care Act’s health insurance exchanges and other provisions. It also would cut $10 million in funding for the ACA’s Independent Payment Advisory Board.

In addition, the Senate bill would increase NIH funding by $71 million and would provide FDA an additional $12.8 million to implement the 2011 Food Safety Modernization Act. The FDA language also would allow the agency to spend $40 million in fees it is collecting from medical device and diagnostic companies (Daly, Modern Healthcare, 3/20).

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