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CAN DEMOCRATS ACCEPT USING THE GOP TAX LAW FOR PAID LEAVE? That’s the big question ahead for a bipartisan paid parental leave bill that just landed.
The legislation leverages a portion of the 2017 Republican tax overhaul, which doubled the Child Tax Credit for parents to $2,000 a year. It would let new parents take out $5,000 in credits early to pay for supplies for babies, childcare, or replacing lost wages, and then adjust the yearly tax credit down to $1,500 a year for a decade after to compensate.
Even though Democrats despised the tax overhaul, a handful of them favor taking advantage of its expansion of the Child Tax Credit to advance the party’s long-sought goal of paid family leave.
“Regardless of your feelings of past policies or past votes, families are receiving this Child Tax Credit, and that’s a boon for families… Rather than acting in any kind of conflict, our bill provides assistance to families right now,” said Democratic Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona.
Note that a lead House GOP sponsor of the bill, Elise Stefanik of New York, also voted against the tax bill (many representatives from high-tax New York and New Jersey opposed the tax overhaul because of the limitation it imposed on the deduction for state and local taxes paid).
But Sinema and the other Democrat on the bill, Joe Manchin of West Virginia, are centrists. Endorsing part of the Trump tax cuts, however Democrat-friendly the specific provision might be, is tricky.
Joe Biden, for instance, has called for wholesale repeal of the tax cuts.
Democrats generally are favorably disposed to larger child tax credits or other tax credits that benefit lower- and middle-income families, but criticized the GOP tax law changes on the grounds that the credit didn’t do much to benefit many lower-income families.
So centrists face a challenge in winning colleagues over to the idea of a bill that would, albeit indirectly, acknowledge and make use of the GOP tax law changes.
Also, most Democrats want paid leave to extend not just to new parents, but to the even greater number of people who need to take time off work to deal with a personal illness or care for a loved one who falls ill.
The legislation marks the first time there has been a bipartisan bill on parental leave introduced in both chambers. Four senators and eight House members are co-sponsors, divided equally between Republicans and Democrats.
“This is the sweet spot between where Republicans and Democrats can agree,” said Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, a Republican and one of the lead sponsors of the new bill, called the Advancing Support for Working Families Act.
Good morning and welcome to the Washington Examiner’s Daily on Healthcare! This newsletter is written by senior healthcare reporter Kimberly Leonard (@LeonardKL) and healthcare reporter Cassidy Morrison (@CassMorrison94). You can reach us with tips, calendar items, or suggestions at [email protected]. If someone forwarded you this email and you’d like to receive it regularly, you can subscribe here.
QUICK UPDATE TO YESTERDAY’S NEWSLETTER: After we inquired in Wednesday’s newsletter why an Energy and Commerce panel wasn’t hearing an Obamacare expansion bill, a senior aide got back to us saying that it was now up to Ways and Means to take up the subsidy provisions. As we noted, Energy and Commerce did pass some portions of the bill out of committee months ago, but they didn’t have a hearing on the full bill as they’re doing for several public option bills and for the Medicare for All Act.
PSYCHIATRISTS WISH TO CONSULT ON IMPEACHMENT: A group of psychiatrists petitioned the House Judiciary Committee Thursday to include their statements in its official records during impeachment hearings, saying President Trump “poses unique dangers to the country and the world.” The psychiatrists, including Dr. Bandy Lee from Yale University, as well as Drs. John Zinner and Jerrold Post of George Washington University, said they are available to consult about the president’s mental state. Lee said she has collected more than 400 signatures for the letter.
“We are speaking out at this time because we are convinced that, as the time of possible impeachment approaches, Donald Trump has the real potential to become ever more dangerous, a threat to the safety of our nation,” the letter says.
The psychiatrists initially wanted to testify publicly, but Lee said they have since changed course. “We decided to do this instead of a highly publicized event, precisely because we see the situation as very dangerous: we are hence asking to consult rather than to testify, in order not to further provoke the president,” Lee said in an email. You can tune into the video highlights here.
NOW THAT REPUBLICANS DON’T CONTROL THE LEGISLATURE, VIRGINIA IS DONE WITH WORK REQUIREMENTS: Gov. Ralph Northam has announced Virginia is pausing its negotiations with the federal government over the program. Northam, a Democrat, never liked the idea, but went along with it when Republicans had control over the legislature because he wanted to pass Medicaid expansion.
Thomas Norment, Republican leader in the Virginia Senate, called the announcement “predictable and foreseeable” and accused the governor of breaking his promises to Republicans who agreed to approve the expansion.
OBAMACARE ENROLLMENT RATES LAG: It’s week five of open enrollment and the cumulative number of people who have actively renewed their health coverage on the Obamacare exchanges this year is lower than it was this time last year — 2,112,042 vs. 2,385,900 — and about 6% fewer people have signed up for coverage for the first time this year, down from 812,263 to 764,956. Joshua Peck, cofounder of Get American Covered and former chief marketing officer for Healthcare.gov under Barack Obama, said, like last week, the number of people signing on for coverage or going online to renew their coverage is down. There may be a silver lining, though. Historically, Peck said, the start of the sign-up surge that peaks on the Dec. 15 deadline starts right around now, the first of the week after Thanksgiving. Next week’s snapshot will give a much clearer picture of how enrollment is going.
HOUSE DEMOCRAT SAYS TRUMP ADMINISTRATION IS FAILING TO PROVIDE FLU SHOTS TO MIGRANTS: Democrat Raul Ruiz said the Trump administration is failing to administer flu shots immediately to migrants arrested at the border so that when they are given the vaccines, it’s too late for them to be effective. Ruiz said in an Energy and Commerce Committee hearing on flu preparedness Wednesday that most migrants detained at the border don’t receive a flu shot sometimes for weeks after their arrest, after they have been transferred from Customs and Border Patrol detention to Immigration and Customs Enforcement or the Office of Refugee Resettlement custody.
TOP MEXICAN OFFICIAL PLEDGES TO ROLL BACK DRUG PROTECTIONS IN TRADE AGREEMENT: Jesus Seade, Mexico’s deputy foreign minister, said Wednesday that protections for biologic drugs, like long-acting insulin Lantus and rheumatoid arthritis treatment Humira, will be drastically rolled back in the pending USMCA trade deal. Seade wrote in El Universal that protections agreed to for biologics, which disproportionately affect Mexico, “will be reduced drastically.” Reducing the protections would be a blow to the pharmaceutical industry, which had lobbied for them as Mexican, Canadian, and U.S. officials ironed out the trade deal that would replace the North American Free Trade Agreement.
ANOTHER DOWNSIDE TO VAPING? E-CIGARETTE ASSOCIATED WITH DEPRESSION: There’s a link between e-cigarette use and a history of depression, according to physicians and researchers writing in a journal article in JAMA. Former e-cigarette users had 1.6 times higher odds of reporting a history of diagnosed depression, and current e-cigarette users were over two times as likely to report a history of diagnosed depression. People who used e-cigarettes were overall much more likely to report a history of depression than those who had never used an e-cigarette.
The Rundown
Reuters Trump administration moves to remove 700,000 people from food stamps
Kaiser Health News Pharma’s take on the Pelosi drug-pricing bill: fair warning or fearmongering?
The Wall Street Journal Judge approves millions in bonuses for Purdue Pharma employees
North Carolina Health News With Medicaid transformation stuck mid-stream, DHHS seeks to reassure patients, providers
CNN Scientists say a once-a-month birth control pill works on pigs. They want to test it on people next
Calendar
THURSDAY | Dec. 5
Congress in session.
7:30 a.m.-5 p.m. National Press Club. 529 14th St. NW. American Medical Informatics Association Health Informatics Policy Forum. Program.
Noon. Cato Institute webcast on “Is It the Drug? Rethinking Conventional Views of Substance Use, Abuse, and Addiction.” Details.
MONDAY | Dec. 9
10 a.m. 1225 I St. NW. Bipartisan Policy Center event on “Advancing Comprehensive Primary Care in Medicaid.” Details.
TUESDAY | Dec. 10
9 a.m. 1225 I St. NW. Bipartisan Policy Center event on “Examining Pharmaceutical Patent Practices & Their Impact on Drug Prices.” Details.
10 a.m. 2123 Rayburn. Health Energy and Commerce’s Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee hearing on “Securing the U.S. Drug Supply Chain: Oversight of FDA’s Foreign Inspection Program.” Details.
10:30 a.m. 2322 Rayburn. Health Energy and Commerce’s Health Subcommittee to hold hearing on “Proposals to Achieve Universal Health Care Coverage.” Details.
WEDNESDAY | Dec. 11
10 a.m. 1225 I St. NW. Bipartisan Policy Center event on “Modernizing the Stark Law and Anti-Kickback Statute to Promote Value-Based Care.” Details.
