Budget

With the federal government facing a shutdown in just two days unless Congress passes a spending bill, Democrats on Wednesday appeared to be coalescing behind House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's (D-CA) push for inclusion of the Affordable Care Act’s cost-sharing reduction payments and a provision to clarify they are mandatory in the omnibus spending bill while House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) held the line Wednesday (April 26) that Republicans would not appropriate the payments.

The White House Office of Management and Budget met with federal agencies Friday to prepare for a possible government shutdown should Congress doesn't pass a new spending bill when the Continuing Resolution runs out April 28, but HHS' prior contingency plan shows that many of CMS' functions would continue using mandatory funding.

The administration's plans to reshape HHS, part of President Donald Trump's executive order to slim down federal agencies, will be unveiled when Congress starts work on the fiscal 2019 budget, said John Czwartacki, spokesperson at the White House Office of Management and Budget.

Congress likely won’t consider President Donald Trump’s proposed HHS budget cuts for the remainder of fiscal 2017, Rep. Tom Cole (R-OK) said after the Wednesday (March 29) House Appropriations health subcommittee hearing on HHS spending.

The Trump administration is proposing a $40 million cut in FDA appropriations for the remainder of fiscal 2017, driven primarily by reductions in staffing, according to a document obtained by Inside Washington Publishers, which was recently sent to congressional appropriators.

President Donald Trump's “skinny budget” for fiscal 2018 pumps more money into efforts to stem Medicare and Medicaid waste, fraud and abuse, but also signals possible changes to Medicare, Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program by saying agency resources should be focused on the “highest priority activities” necessary to keep the programs running efficiently.

President Donald Trump’s proposed budget blueprint calls for industry to double up on user fees to fully pay for FDA premarket approvals in exchange for administrative reforms aimed at speeding products to market.

Non-defense federal agencies will be cut a total of $54 billion as part of President Donald Trump's proposed discretionary budget to offset new military spending the White House said Monday (Feb. 27), a cut if applied equally across agencies could render FDA incapable of fulfilling its responsibilities, a longtime FDA observer told Inside Health Policy.

The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget says President Donald Trump should propose Medicare and Social Security reforms in his “skinny budget” that is expected soon.