Congress
Inside Republicans’ new health bill
House Republican leaders plan to take a vote next week on conservative-friendly health policies they’ve pursued for years. It’s the latest GOP counter to Democrats’ push to extend expiring Obamacare subsidies.
Here is what’s in the bill, the text of which was released Friday.
CHOICE accounts
Oklahoma GOP Rep. Kevin Hern’s CHOICE legislation would allow employers to offer workers tax-advantaged funds to pay for individual health insurance, in lieu of offering a traditional group plan. It would also offer tax incentives for employers who adopt the arrangements.
Both Republicans and Democrats like the concept because it promotes individual choice in health coverage while also encouraging Obamacare sign-ups.
Funding cost-sharing reductions
When Obamacare was first implemented in 2014, the federal government paid insurers directly to offset cost-sharing reductions, or discounts on deductibles that insurers must offer to people making between 100 and 250 percent of the federal poverty level.
In response to a lawsuit filed by congressional Republicans, a federal judge in 2016 ruled the government’s payments were illegal because the funding wasn’t explicitly appropriated by Congress. The Obama administration appealed, but the first Trump administration dropped the case and stopped the payments.
Insurers are still required to offer the cost-sharing reductions, they just no longer get reimbursed by the federal government.
To make up for the loss of federal dollars, insurers substantially increased silver premiums, a process known as “silver loading.” That’s driven up the amount of federal premium subsidies the government pays insurers, because the subsidy amounts are tied to the second-lowest-cost silver plan in the marketplace.
Republicans now want to put an end to that practice and start funding the cost-sharing reductions again, which is expected to lower premiums for silver plans, thus lowering the amount Obamacare enrollees receive in premium subsidies, regardless of what type of plan they’re enrolled in.
Association health plans
Association health plans enable several small businesses to band together to get health insurance. The framework includes a bill from Education and Workforce Chair Tim Walberg (R-Mich.) that would permit self-employed people to buy an association health plan.
Democrats oppose the idea. In addition to not guaranteeing essential benefits, the plans can distort the insurance market by drawing away healthy, young people, according to a statement from Virginia Rep. Bobby Scott, the top Democrat on the Education and Workforce Committee.
Stop-loss policy
The Self-Insurance Protection Act from Rep. Bob Onder (R-Mo.) would expand access for employers to “stop-loss” policies that enable them to protect against catastrophic health costs from just a few employees.
The bill would ensure that such policies are not classified as traditional health insurance by the federal government. But it has generated pushback from Democrats because it can also restrict states from regulating them.
Pharmacy benefit managers
The bill aims to overhaul how pharmacy benefit managers operate. Those are companies that negotiate drug prices on behalf of insurers and large employers. Pharmaceutical companies and lawmakers have long blamed them for high drug prices.
A push to change the rules governing the PBMs fell apart last year after Trump adviser Elon Musk tanked year-end legislation, but there continues to be overwhelming bipartisan interest in advancing changes that shed light on the PBMs’ business practices.
Rep. Max Miller issued a subpoena to his former father-in-law and fellow Ohio Republican, Sen. Bernie Moreno, in the latest escalation of a long-running family legal drama.
Pamela MacAdams, an attorney for Miller, reported to the Cuyahoga County Domestic Relations Court Monday that three subpoenas were served in Miller’s divorce case, according to court records. A person with knowledge of the subpoenas granted anonymity to comment on them said that two were sent to Moreno and his wife, Bridget.
Their daughter, Emily Moreno, was married to Miller, and the two remain embroiled in a nasty legal battle.
Spokespeople for Miller, Emily Moreno and Bernie Moreno did not immediately return requests for comment. TMZ first reported on the subpoenas.
Miller is seeking reelection in a competitive district, and his campaign has been marred by accusations of domestic abuse against Emily Moreno and their daughter. Miller has repeatedly denied the allegations and chose to remain in the race despite other Republican lawmakers pressuring him to withdraw his campaign.
The House Ethics Committee, which began an inquiry into Miller after Miller asked to be investigated, is currently in a preelection blackout period. During that period, which will continue through the midterms, the Ethics Committee doesn’t take any action against sitting members who could return next Congress.
Congress
Trump declares $1B canceled in ‘pocket rescission’ in another affront to Congress’ funding power
President Donald Trump informed congressional leaders Friday that he has unilaterally canceled almost $1 billion without Congress’ consent — employing a budget maneuver many lawmakers consider illegal.
In a move that will almost certainly set up an ugly government funding battle after the midterms, Trump has again claimed the power to execute a so-called “pocket rescission” to nix money Congress has already enacted. The money his administration will claw back is for for immigration services, support to foreign countries, education programs, health research efforts and assistance for businesses owned by minorities.
By law, the president is allowed to send Congress a request to rescind federal funding, then withhold that money for 45 days while lawmakers consider whether to approve, reject or ignore it. Trump administration officials also argue they have the power to cancel funding without any congressional action by sending Congress a rescission request with less than 45 days left in the fiscal year. The argument is that the money automatically gets canceled on Sept. 30, when funding lapses at the end of the fiscal year.
Last year, Trump canceled $4.9 billion in foreign aid.
The Senate’s top Republican appropriator, Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, immediately blasted the move as illegal, saying in a statement Friday night that “any effort to rescind appropriated funds without congressional approval is a clear violation of the law.”
“This move shows that OMB intentionally withheld these funds for months to execute this unlawful cancellation of appropriations that were approved on a bipartisan basis and signed into law,” Collins added, pledging to work with other lawmakers “to address these illegal actions.”
Collins and other appropriators have already been on high alert in recent days, pressing multiple agencies about funding officials have yet to spend ahead of the expiration date.
Democrats are finally catching on to how to talk to young male voters in the lead-up to the midterms, but the party can still up its game, one battleground senator and potential 2028er said Friday.
Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) has been one of his party’s most outspoken critics on its handling of outreach to young men, who swung right and helped deliver the White House and both chambers of Congress to Republicans in 2024.
The party is now “definitely moving in the right direction,” Gallego said Friday.
“Like back in the day, I was like the only one,” putting out positions on men, Gallego said at a Washington event on young American men. “Now, like, it seems like everyone every week is coming out with a new position, new idea, which is great.”
Gallego has criticized Democrat’s failure to highlight mens’ struggles and their tendency to over-police mens’ ideas. But there are signs the political winds have shifted in his party’s favor.
A new Cygnal poll released with the event of men ages 18-30 who say they’re the most determined to vote revealed Democrats’ generic ballot lead over Republicans at 57%-40%, Blue Light News reported. The poll also said nearly 40 percent of respondents said they feel their lives are off track.
“We need to take the opportunity to invest in that portion of this country, to say that we care about them and actually try to change the trajectory of what’s happening with men in this country,” Gallego said at the symposium.
Still, the path for specific legislation targeting the needs of this demographic faces an incredibly tight calendar this Congress and is uncertain in the political landscape of next year.
A proposal from Gallego and Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.) to establish a men’s health office within the Department of Health and Human Services, for example, has not advanced. Nor has bipartisan legislation from Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), who also spoke at the event, targeting education outcomes, college investment transparency and dyslexic student support.
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