Next Week on the Hill: Lawmakers Look to Break Disaster Relief Impasse

House lawmakers are poised to take up another disaster relief bill (text; summary) in hopes of breaking a months-long impasse over the emergency funds. The latest $17.2 billion offer from House Appropriations Chairwoman Nita Lowey (D-NY) includes additional funding for Army Corps of Engineers projects, Community Block Development Grants, and the Department of Agriculture's Emergency Conservation program. The bill would also provide an extension of the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), pushing the expiration date from the end of this month to Sept. 30 in hopes of providing lawmakers with more time to hammer out a long-term reauthorization measure.

Billions of disaster relief dollars have been held up in Congress since December with funding for Puerto Rico remaining the biggest sticking point. Senate Republicans‘ latest disaster relief offer includes $300 million in new community development funding for Puerto Rico, with language ensuring that the island safeguards those funds against waste, fraud, and abuse. While President Donald Trump has reportedly signed off on the provision, it remains to be seen whether Democrats will go along with a measure that does not meet their priorities for assisting Puerto Rico.

Elsewhere on the House floor next week, lawmakers are set to take up a measure that seeks to undermine the Trump administration’s efforts to reform the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The Protecting Americans with Preexisting Conditions Act (H.R. 986) prohibits the Departments of Health and Human Services (HHS) and Treasury from taking any action to implement, enforce, or otherwise give effect to the Section 1332 guidance that was issued last October. The vote comes as the Trump administration ramps up it’s legal fight against the ACA, arguing in court earlier this week that the individual mandate is unconstitutional after the penalty for skipping coverage was eliminated in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) of 2017.