Illustration: Tiffany Herring/Axios
House Appropriations Chair Tom Cole expects the text for a yearlong continuing resolution to be released this weekend. But it would take a heavy lift to include a "doc fix" or other health riders.
Why it matters: Legislators are at least planning moves to avert a shutdown and keep the government funded through September, though it's far from certain whether enough GOP lawmakers are on board.
What they're saying: Cole said that without Democrats committing to support the CR yet, the plan is for a stopgap bill that funds the government through the end of this fiscal year to go to the House Rules Committee next week, just days before the March 14 funding deadline.
- "We're going to try to do a CR that is not offensive in any way," he said. "The idea would be to try and make it as easy as possible for members to vote for and make the choice, do you want to shut down the government or not?"
- Cole ruled out attaching health riders addressing PBMs or other pieces of the bipartisan health package that were dropped from the year-end funding package.
- "We ran into that problem in December when a lot of stuff was put on," he said. "We can't be the mule for every other committee that can't get its own work done and out the door."
Between the lines: But GOP Doctors Caucus Chair Greg Murphy expressed hope that his "doc fix" could hitch a ride on the next funding deal.
- The bipartisan bill would bump the Medicare payment rate for doctors to 6.62% on April 1 through the rest of the year, which would help make up for a nearly 3% cut that took effect in January.
- Asked if he had any assurances, Murphy responded: "Leadership that is supportive."
- But adjusting Medicare physician payments requires more spending, which could complicate the math and hold up the funding extension.
The other side: House Appropriations Ranking Member Rosa DeLauro slammed Republicans for not doing full-year bills when they had the chance.
- "We could have passed the bills last December," DeLauro said. "It was the speaker of the House [who] said no, because he had an election in January. We are in this muck and mire because of his political decisions."
