Similar to previous occasions, fiscal year 2023 was drawing to a close on September 30 as the prospects of producing legislation to avoid a federal government shutdown the next day appeared to be quite slim. Then, to the considerable surprise of many skeptics, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) yanked the proverbial rabbit out of a hat by bringing the bipartisan stopgap spending bill, H.R. 5860, to the floor. It passed 335-91, with 90 Republicans and one Democrat voting in opposition. The legislation made it possible to extend FY 2023 funding through November 17 in the new fiscal year beginning October 1. Next, on a vote of 88-9, the Senate accepted the House version of the bill even though it eliminated funding for Ukraine and a provision that would raise the amount of pay for Members of Congress. Late September 30, President Joseph Biden signed the measure into law.
Unfortunately for Representative McCarthy, those 90 Republicans in opposition included eight members of a conservative group known as the Freedom Caucus in his political party who swiftly took action to remove him from his position as Speaker. Almost immediately, he faced a motion to vacate the chair. Headed by Representative Matt Gaetz (R-FL), they opposed a bipartisan approach to government funding and sought to enact steep budgetary cuts. They blamed the Speaker for failing to achieve these more desirable outcomes. He was ousted on a 216-210 vote that included those eight members.
For the nonce, Representative Patrick McHenry (R-NC) will serve as speaker pro tempore until the Republican conference decides whom to select as a permanent replacement to fill the vacated position. Presently, it is unclear if he has enough support from that conference to begin negotiations with the Senate regarding 12 major appropriation bills awaiting enactment. Thus far, the House has passed four of those spending bills while the Senate Appropriations Committee has approved all 12 of them, but none has passed the full Senate.
Congress often is criticized for being too polarized. Yet, legislative progress continues to take place regarding other matters that are important. As an illustration, all too often in the health domain insufficient attention is paid to prominent health workforce concerns. The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee advanced a bipartisan primary care and health care workforce package (S. 2840) on September 21 by a vote of 14-7. Chairman Bernie Sanders (I-VT) joined forces with Senator Roger Marshall (R-KS) as co-authors of this bill. Senators Mike Braun (R-IN) and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) combined with Committee Democrats in support of the measure. The Bipartisan Primary Care and Health Workforce Act includes nearly a $2 billion annual increase in mandatory funding for community health centers. The total will be $5.8 billion annually over a three-year period. Mandatory funding for the National Health Service Corps would be tripled from $310 million to $950 million annually for three years. If enacted, another beneficiary would be the provision of $1.5 million in mandatory funding over the next five years for the Teaching Health Centers Graduate Medical Education program.