President Trump announced last week that his Administration reached a deal with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) to increase the automatic budget caps set to go into effect for Federal fiscal years (FY) 2020 and 2021, and increase the debt ceiling. The House of Representatives approved the deal by a vote of 284-149 and the Senate plans to take up the package this week. Additional information on the agreement can be found here.
Reaching a budget caps and debt ceiling deal was Congress’ main priority before the August recess—but the FY 2020 appropriations bills to fund the government still must pass before the new fiscal year begins on October 1, 2019. Under this deal, the budget caps will increase by $50 billion and $54 billion over the next two years, respectively—this amounts to a $320 billion increase in Federal spending over the levels that the budget caps originally mandated. Treasury Department officials estimated that the debt ceiling needed to be lifted as early as mid-September to prevent the Federal government from defaulting on loans. The spending is partially offset with a two-year extension of mandatory Medicare sequestration.
GNYHA is very pleased that the deal includes an additional $2.5 billion for the US Census, which is set to take place later this year. The Census results will determine the number of Congressional seats per state and the state share of Federal funding for 2023-2032. It is therefore essential that the Census is accurate. GNYHA will work our allies at the State level to assist efforts to ensure an accurate count in New York.
GNYHA will remain extremely engaged in the budget process to ensure that no hospital cuts are enacted, and to advocate strongly for the inclusion of our legislative priorities.