Mayra Chavez began this week at CHEAC’s new Administrative Assistant. Mayra is a current UC Davis student where she is studying human development and education. We are pleased to have Mayra join our team. Her email address is admin@cheac.org.
After a series of fast-paced negotiations this week, U.S. Senate Republicans are poised to pass their sprawling $1.4 trillion tax reform measure with a vote expected yet this evening.
On Tuesday, the Senate Budget Committee advanced the tax measure on a 12-11 partisan vote, clearing the way for a full Senate vote on the floor. What followed the committee vote was a flurry of last-minute deal-making and closed door meetings, as Senate GOP leaders attempted to lure undecided Republican Senators such as Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Bob Corker (R-Tennessee).
Several Republican Senators remained on the fence as of yesterday, particularly after the Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) released its analysis on the latest tax reform proposal on Thursday. The JCT estimated that reform measure will add $1.4 trillion to the federal deficit and that the economic stimulus created by the bill would only provide $400 billion to offset the deficit created by the bill.
As a result of ongoing and last-minute negotiations, at the time of this update, no final legislative text or details of the tax reform bill were available. However, reports indicate Senate Republicans still plan to permanently cut the corporate tax rate to 20 percent and temporarily reduce tax rates for individuals.
The Senate measure is also expected to repeal the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) individual insurance coverage mandate tax penalty. As we previously reported, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates that, by eliminating the individual mandate, the number of uninsured Americans will increase by 13 million over the next decade. Average health insurance premiums are expected to increase by 10 percent, as well with the elimination of the individual mandate.
Recall, the U.S. House of Representatives passed their own version of tax reform—the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act—which would reduce the corporate tax rate, reduce the number of individual tax brackets, and eliminate deductions and credits available to individuals.
The tax reform proposals continue to threaten existing vital programs, including the Prevention and Public Health Fund (PPHF). With the enactment of either of the proposed measures (House or Senate), the federal deficit is expected to increase in upwards of $1.5 trillion over the next decade. If Congress does not enact offsetting budgetary savings, the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2010 (SPAYGO) will be triggered, resulting in massive, automatic program funding cuts every year for the next ten years. Potential SPAYGO impacts include:
The tax measure is poised to have expansive and substantial impacts on a wide range of areas, including public health, safety net programs, and higher education. Reports have also suggested that California will be one of the states that will be most significantly impacted by the tax reform measure.
With a vote on the Senate measure likely to be held later this evening, it unclear what the final vote will be and, if passed, how Congress will reconcile the House and Senate versions. The House and Senate may enter into conference to reconcile their two measures or the House may simply take up the Senate measure for a vote.
To complicate matters, funding for the federal government is set to expire next Friday, December 8. Congress must pass a continuing resolution (CR) to fund the federal government and avoid a shut down.
With only a handful of days remaining in this year’s Congressional session, several outstanding priorities, including the continuing resolution, CHIP reauthorization, and community health center funding, remain.
This week, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) published a special issue of the Journal of Public Health Management and Practice titled “Catalyzing State Public Health Agency Actions to Prevent Injuries and Violence.”
The special issue features eight articles that highlight programs within CDC’s National Center for Injury Prevention and Control. The articles illustrate the relationship between science and practice as mutually reinforcing components of a systems approach to violence and injury prevention. Topics covered through the journal articles include program evaluation, opioid epidemic response, risk and protective factors of violence, and state-based prevention plans.
The special journal issue may be accessed here.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced this week the formation of a new Nicotine Steering Committee that will be tasked with reevaluating and modernizing FDA’s policy and regulatory approach to nicotine and nicotine products to address tobacco addiction. This new committee formation follows the announcement from the FDA this summer for a new regulatory plan to lower the burden of tobacco-related disease and death through a more comprehensive approach to nicotine and tobacco.
The new Nicotine Steering Committee will first hold a public hearing for FDA to gather input on the public health, scientific, regulatory, and legal considerations related to nicotine replacement therapies (NRT) and their use in tobacco cessation. More information on the FDA’s regulatory approach related to tobacco is available here.
This month’s U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Vital Signs features HIV infection, testing, and diagnosis. The report indicates improvement in the overall frequency of HIV testing, and that about 85 percent of people with HIV in the country know they have the virus. 15 percent of people with HIV, however, do not know they have the virus and are responsible for about 40 percent of new HIV infections.
The Vital Signs report details action items for public health practitioners, local health departments, health care providers, and governments, among others. For more information and to view the report, visit here.
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) this week released a 20-part series of short videos titled Prevention Conversations. The videos highlight current issues related to the ongoing opioid epidemic and prevention of opioid misuse and overdose. The videos are available here.
The National Association of State and Territorial AIDS Directors (NASTAD) and the AIDS Institute recently released a fact sheet titled Preventing Infectious Diseases Amid the Opioid Epidemic. The fact sheet explores the close relationship between and challenges associated with the opioid, hepatitis, and HIV epidemics. The fact sheet is available here.