Finding the way through
The little things matter most
And what’s done in sync
The Rundown
- No solution in sight as government shutdown edges closer
- The latest from our desks
- Join the Duke Health Advocacy Network!
Federal Updates
You can't win a shutdown
Congress has until one minute after midnight on Sunday, October 1st to reach an agreement on federal funding for FY 2024 to avoid the nation’s first government shutdown in over four years. At publication time this morning, it does not seem as if they will get there in time. The Senate is on track to pass a bipartisan continuing resolution (CR) to maintain current funding levels and add supplemental funding for other priorities through November 17. It is a compromise that is unlikely to receive a vote in the House before Sunday, mostly because of politics, but the truth is that we never should have gotten this far. A deal was reached back in May to avoid this very scenario, setting a roadmap for House and Senate leaders to reach a broad spending deal. They didn’t take it – and so here we are.
In addition to federal funding, several federal programs are set to expire on October 1st without formal reauthorization. This includes mandatory funding for the Community Health Center Fund, which provides resources for Federally Qualified Community Health Centers. The Teaching Health Center Graduate Medical Education (THCGME) program and mandatory funding for the National Health Service Corps (NHSC) will expire without a congressional extension. Programs authorized under the SUPPORT Act, which focuses on substance abuse intervention and support, are also set to expire. The Senate CR bill would temporarily provide funding for many of these programs, including Community Health Centers, NHSC, and THCGME.
What happens now? House Republicans have passed their own short-term spending bill that will equally be a non-starter in the Senate. There is little time or room left to negotiate before the clock runs out. The Biden Administration is instructing agencies to prepare for a shutdown. Work will continue beyond the deadline to break the impasse if necessary. But, at some point, a solution will require actionable leadership and compromise. Who leads first doesn’t matter as much as who is willing to lead together.
You will hear and see a lot of people discussing potential “winners” and “losers” of this current political struggle. Don’t take the bait. You can’t win a shutdown. No one comes away unscathed, not the least of which are hundreds of thousands of federal employees who may soon be furloughed or the millions of Americans who depend on a well-functioning federal government for important health and well-being benefits.
As we prepare for a potential shutdown, Duke Health Government Relations is keeping health system leadership informed as it relates to our patients, hospital operations, and medical and nursing education. Each federal agency develops its own shutdown plan (see HHS’s plan here), following guidance released in previous shutdowns and coordinated by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). Essential services – many of which are related to public safety – continue to operate. Other examples include:
-
Social Security and Medicare checks are sent out, but benefit verification as well as card issuance would cease.
-
NIH would be prevented from admitting new patients for clinical trials or processing grant applications.
-
Certain COVID activities, like vaccine development and authorization and clinical trials, would continue using emergency funding appropriations from 2020 and 2021.
-
Monitoring for disease outbreaks would continue.
-
All Veterans Health Administration facilities that provide care are expected to remain open and fully functional during a government shutdown.
And the advocacy won’t stop just because the clock winds down. We’re ready for overtime.
From our desk(s): Duke Health GR this week
We joined Duke AI Health leaders in Washington, DC for a healthcare and artificial intelligence (AI) event co-hosted with the Connected Health Initiative (CHI) and coordinated meetings with Rep. Greg Murphy, MD (R-NC-03) and the office of Senator Thom Tillis (R-NC) to discuss the work and mission of Duke AI Health.
Our team conducted Senate outreach on the Safety from Violence for Healthcare Employees Act (SAVE Act), which was introduced by Senators Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Marco Rubio (R-FL), to make it a federal crime to assault a healthcare worker at a hospital. This legislation, which is a priority for Duke Health, has also been introduced in the House.
Members of our team also joined federal policy strategy and coalition calls on key priority issues, including telehealth, data privacy, reimbursement policies, mental and behavioral health, and financing academic medicine.
Join the Duke Health Advocacy Network!
Looking for more opportunities to connect with fellow advocates and professionals interested in public policy across the health system? Join the Duke Health Advocacy Teams Channel!
Managed and moderated by Duke Health Government Relations and Duke State Relations, the purpose of the platform is for you to connect with your colleagues throughout the health system who are engaged and/or interested in public policy advocacy. We hope the channel will be used as a space for sharing ideas, collaboration, and engaging with the government relations teams on the issues most important to your work.
We encourage you to explore the channel, as we will post relevant news items, policy updates, questions, advocacy resources, and opportunities for engagement. As importantly, this is your space to do the same and to help grow the community.
Click to Join
(Note: This is only open to Duke Health employees. By joining this teams channel, you acknowledge that the platform and your participation are intended for information sharing and connections/relationship building and is not an inducement by Duke Health Government Relations and Duke State Relations, or the channel’s participants, to act as an unauthorized advocacy and/or lobbying representative of Duke Health or Duke University).