Quick Note
I hope everyone had a great holiday break! I know I did!! This may just be my negative winter northeastern mind kicking in, but I might be the only person who really doesn’t enjoy “year in review” look back segments. Weather its friends posting their year in photos on Instagram, CNN covering all the horrific news events of the year that made everyone sad, or ESPN replaying every winning play in sports, I think they are all kind of pointless and a waste of time. Other than Spotify yearly wraps. I personally find it really fun and interesting because I get to see firsthand how my wife’s love for Taylor Swift is so deep, that it affects my top 5 artists of the year.
Besides that! It’s 2024, it’s time to move on to the present and the future. So rather than rehashing for the 30th time what happened in 2023, I’m going move forward and update everyone on what to expect in 2024.
*I would also like to say that all opinions raised in this piece are my own and do not represent HCA’s opinions and thoughts.*
Federal Outlook
Now We Have TWO BUDGET DEADLINES!!!
Congress loves budget season and the immense amount of press that comes with it so much, that they broke the yearly budget into two deadlines. For a small recap, (I know, the hypocrite I am) Congress previously failed to pass a full year spending package that would fully fund all 12 regular appropriations bills by the original continuing resolution (CR) November 17th deadline, newly elected House Speaker Mike Johnson crafted and passed a two-step CR, with four of 12 appropriations bills expiring January 19, and the remaining eight expiring February 2. While this buys Congress time to discuss appropriation levels, it also creates a series of funding deadlines that, if not met, will shut down parts of the government.
Now the first deadline, January 19th, is quickly approaching for Congress to pass four of 12 appropriations bills, which include budgets for the FDA, Energy and Water Development, Military Construction and Veterans Affairs, and Transportation, Housing and Urban Development. “The Hill” reported that there are four different avenues that Congress could take when it comes to dealing with the budget.
Option one: Congress passes all their funding bills by each deadline. Now this Option is looking less and less likely as days pass. “It’s going to be very difficult to get all of the appropriations bills we have to get done in time if we don’t have the [top-line] number, and we don’t have the number right now,” Rep. Tom Cole who heads the House subcommittee that crafts the annual funding bills for the departments of Transportation (DOT) and Housing and Urban Development (HUD). “So, we’re going to have to make some tough decisions in early January.” To date, the House has passed seven GOP-crafted spending bills while the Senate has passed a so-called maxibus of three bills. But the bills passed look vastly different between chambers, which means there is still a long way to go for Senate and House leaders when it comes to an agreement on a final package.
Option Two: Congress passes another stopgap for the budgets due on January 19th. This is becoming the more likely option as discussions between lawmakers continue to stall. There have already been doubts raised by legislatures in the House and in the Senate before the Holiday break on Congresses ability to pass any budget pieces, with one saying that if a deal was not made before the break, the odds of any deal happening by the deadline were very slim. It is yet to be seen how a 3rd CR would be drafted and when the next deadline would be. It is important to note that Speaker Johnson has said he will not push through another short-term stopgap. “A CR is simply unacceptable for a year,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said before the Senate left for their end-of-year recess. “It’s devastating, particularly for defense, and we’ve got all of these wars going on. So, we need to reach an agreement on the top line and get about getting an outcome as soon as possible.”
Option Three: Parts of the government shut down as negotiations continue through the February 2nd deadline. I personally believe that this will not happen, as it would be a major blow to Speaker Johnson reputation if he fails to pass any sort of a budget or a CR by the 19th.
Option Four: Congress passes and omnibus spending package funding all budgets at once. This is something that hardline Republicans were trying to prevent when they pushed for the two-step CR. Former Speaker Kevin McCarthy, during his fight to keep his spot, promised conservatives he wouldn’t resort to a single massive spending package, and Speaker Johnson backed that vow, telling reporters in November that they “broke the omnibus fever — we call it the ‘omni fever.’”
But with limited options on the table, I would not put it out of the realm of possibility that the Biden Administration along with Senate Democrats propose a full year omnibus package to Republicans at the last minute that entices them to support rather than a government shutdown.
Regardless of which option comes to fruition, we can all agree that this will be an absolute shit show. It’s unbelievable to me that Congress continues to fail to recognize that literally no one wins when they fight over the budget, and it only pisses off the vast majority of the public. The public is forced to witness stupid cat fights between media hungry, empty-suit politicians that only care about themselves and only try to show that they care about leading when it’s best for them.
It’s the same dog and pony show every year, where one side demands X and the other demands Y, they both say they wont budge even though in the end they always do. I understand why Speaker Johnson broke up the appropriation budgets into different deadlines, but in the end won’t change how they negotiate overspending. We are already hearing discussions about a single omnibus budget being negotiated which basically makes the two deadlines useless. What holds up the budget process every year, isn’t mundane budget features such as payroll or resources. It always comes down to year specific budget proposals (i.e. border crisis, Ukraine aide, Israel aide, etc.) which cause the whole budget process to hault. These politicians walk around like there are no ramifications for delaying a budget or even failing to pass a budget resulting in a government shutdown. So many businesses, non-profits, charities, non-profits rely on government funding to survive and when they fail to advance the budget, they all get hurt. I think, every time there is a CR, members of Congress should not be paid for the extended amount of time, and if there is a government shutdown, they should owe money for every day it is not open.
Presidential Election
It’s the most horrible time of the year!!! With so much despair and with everyone crying, giving you great fear!!!! It’s the most horrible time of the year!!! (single with cadence of it’s the most wonderful time of the year by Andy Williams).
Yes, sadly it’s finally here. The race to be elected president is right around the corner, haunting us all like the Babadook in the shadows, with election day this November. I’m not going to spend much time on this because, as history has shown, no one can accurately predict what will happen. Right now, it is looking like we will have to live through the worst rematch in history between Donald Trump and Joe Biden. The only outside candidate that I believe has a shot to challenge either candidate is former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, who is the type of person that reminded her teachers when homework wasn’t collected. She has gotten the most support out of all the challengers to Donald Trump in the Republican primary.
As the year goes on Congress will become less and less active as the election day draws closer. So, I would plan for Congress to basically stop once August recess comes around.
State Outlook
Second Session Is Here
New year, same business. January 3rd marks the beginning of the second session of the 193rd general court of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The second session is when the legislature is usually the most active, with it being the last time to act on a piece of legislation that were introduced during the first session. This year, legislative leadership will have their handful with trying to pass legislation on hot button issues, such as gun control, climate, housing crisis and growing health care costs. The legislature will also need to pass a budget for FY25, which will come with its own headaches as Massachusetts looks to address the migrant shelter crisis.
HCA will be very active this year as we look to advance two key pieces of legislation that we filed, H.649 – An Act to Improve Massachusetts Home Care, and H.1195/S.755 – An Act Clarifying Rate Setting Processes for Home Health and Home Care Services. The licensure bill was recently voted favorably out of committee by the Joint Committee on Elder Affairs, referring the bill to the Committee on Health Care Financing. The Licensure bill will now move to the next step of the legislative process, which involves three occasions (known as “readings”) in each branch in which a bill is considered. The first “reading” will come from the from the Joint Committee on Health Care financing. Please use this ACTION ALERT to write to members on the Joint Committee on Health Care Financing urging them to give the bill a favorable report. HCA will provide updates on the licensure bill as they unfold.
We expect that H.1195/S.755 – An Act Clarifying Rate Setting Processes for Home Health and Home Care Services, will be given the same treatment soon as the deadline for the Joint Committee on Health Care Financing to report bills out of their committee is the fourth Wednesday of February.
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