Skip to content

See the 2023 Shauna M. Sorrells Grant Program winner!

April 11, 2023

Federal Legislative Update

Last Updated: April 11, 2023

overview

March included final deadlines for FY2024 appropriations with all House Members required to prioritize their top 15 Community Project Requests and 75 programmatic requests by the end of the month. Other legislative highlights include the end of the public health emergency, long COVID program, new Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness Act (PAHPA) bill, potential new process for FDA approvals, and curbing the drug pricing with patient perspectives.

Meanwhile Senators Maggie Hassan (D-NH) and Todd Young (R-IN) together introduced legislation to end the R&E tax, making it much more likely something will be done in 2022. The letter with 550 signatures to Congress (thank you to those who co-signed it!) asking for this action made a significant impact. We encourage small business research companies to keep advocating to get legislation passed!

BUDGET & APPROPRIATIONS

FY2024 Process
While Congress is in recess during the start of April, staff are compiling and prioritizing measures to include in the 12 appropriations bills. The new Republican leadership in the House aims to complete markups by June and to send each bill to the House floor by the August recess. This year, there are no Community Project Funding requests permitted in the popular health and education appropriations measure. This forced many nonprofits to re-think strategies and even withhold applications this year. Knowing the right accounts to use in which bills is key to success with these projects. Stay tuned for G2G's annual summer workshops on how to navigate this process.

For details on the House Appropriations process click here. For details on the Senate Appropriations process click here.

See insights on advocacy here!

HEALTH

KEY ISSUES

Many states are gearing up for the May 11 end of the Public Health Emergency designation that provided automatic health insurance, services, and access for millions of Americans and in President Biden's FY2024 budget request, he proposed $130 million for long Covid programs to help rural communities, low-income Americans with HIV, and others who will be impacted the most on May 11. An estimated 10-35 million working-age adults are suffering from this condition.

Also, the Senate HELP Committee just reached their deadline for public comments on what to include in the Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness Act (PAHPA) as they begin to draft the reauthorization bill Congress aims to pass this year. Meanwhile, in the courts, the recent Texas ruling against abortion pill Mifepristone may impact the FDA-approval process for pharmaceutical drugs, establishing new precedent for judges to overrule this federal agency. However this was contradicted minutes later by Washington ruling that affirmed the FDA's approval of mifepristone and blocked the US from restricting access. The competing orders just minutes apart signal this will likely be decided by the Supreme Court.

Finally, within federal departments, the Health and Human Services Department's Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) will now consider the patient experience as one of several factors as it prepares to negotiate drug prices and evaluate a drug’s clinical benefit compared with therapeutic alternatives. The agency also said it will consider patient-reported outcomes as part of its analysis.

Advocacy works!

YOU COSIGNED LETTERS AND MADE A DIFFERENCE!

550 Co-signatures to end R&E tax

The 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) requires companies that conduct scientific research to capitalize these expenditures, which means they can only deduct 10% of their “R&E” (Research & Experimentation) expenses for the 2022 tax year. This forces many SBIR recipients to suddenly be responsible for paying taxes on a grant they received from the government and never budgeted for! New legislation introduced by Senators Hassan and Young can change this, but still needs to pass Congress so keep being an advocate and call and email your Reps. and Senators!

    You can still co-sign and/or see details here.

75 Co-signatures to end menopause co-pays

Currently, CMS and all patients must face co-pays for menopause visits, a critical stage all women face who reach their 40s and 50s that can last 5-10 years and impact productivity and the economy as well as personal well-being and families.

    You can still co-sign and/or see details here.

If you are interested in other Women's Health issues you can sign up for our newsletter here! (https://www.g2gconsulting.com/womens-health/)