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2/14/2025
This week, both chambers of Congress began to work on creating a Fiscal Year (FY) 2025 spending package that would be done through reconciliation. Without getting too deep into the weeds, reconciliation allows Congress to bypass the filibuster and pass a budget bill with a simple majority in the Senate instead of the 60-vote threshold normally needed. Created under the Congressional Budget Act of 1974, the reconciliation process allows for alignment of federal revenue and spending with overall budget goals. With this process, the Republican party is attempting to align the congressionally passed federal budget with President Trump’s legislative priorities. These include reducing federal spending, raising the nation’s borrowing limit, extending the nation’s credit, and increasing funding for border security and the military.
Strategies in each chamber for achieving this goal are different. In the House, leadership is advancing a single bill encompassing increases in spending for defense, immigration enforcement, oil and gas drilling on federal lands, and tax cuts. In the Senate, Republican leaders are pursuing a two-bill strategy – first advancing an immigration, defense, and energy package, to be followed by a bill covering tax measures.
On February 7th, the Senate Budget Committee released its budget resolution and supporting tables which can be found here. On February 12th, the Committee advanced the resolution to the floor for a full Senate vote expected next week.
On February 13th, the House Budget Committee voted to advance its budget resolution that would raise the debt ceiling and task some designated committees with increasing defense and immigration spending levels and other committees with reducing spending levels for other programs, likely including some entitlement programs, such as Medicaid.
In both chambers, the budget resolutions are meant to guide authorizing committees tasked with oversight of specific parts of the federal budget. With slim majorities in both chambers and the Democrats unlikely to break ranks to vote on a budget package that significantly reduces Medicaid funding (which some see as a key strategy to cut the federal budget), the Republicans can ill afford to lose any votes and negotiations within its party.
In the meantime, the Treasury Department has been deploying “extraordinary measures” to avoid default on the nation’s debt since January 21st and the federal government is operating under a continuing resolution (CR) that expires on March 14, 2025.
The CR that is currently in place extends the FY 2024 appropriations levels into 2025 in order to keep the government funded. Those appropriations levels are based on the federal budget that was signed into law by President Biden, H.R.4366, Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2024 in March 2024. To prevent a government shutdown, Congress is negotiating spending caps on discretionary defense and non-defense funding. If they can reach agreement on the caps, they would need to pass FY 2025 appropriations bills. These negotiations are proceeding in parallel to the reconciliation negotiation.
This week, AGS submitted comments in response to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) Request for Information (RFI) on the development of measures of diagnostic excellence. As a part of efforts to identify potential opportunities to improve the diagnostic process at a health system or geographic level, AHRQ is considering measures that rely on administrative claims data and electronic health record data to address gaps with a population health lens. In our letter, AGS offered feedback to ensure the proposed measures reflect what is most relevant and appropriate for older adults and best addresses their unique healthcare needs.
Thomas J. Engels has been named the new Administrator of the Health Resources & Services Administration (HRSA), an agency of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) that oversees programs related to health care and health infrastructure, including the Geriatrics Workforce Enhancement Program (GWEP) and the Geriatrics Academic Career Award (GACA) program as well as the Teaching Health Center Graduate Medical Education (THCGME) Program. Engels previously served as Administrator of HRSA from 2019 to 2021 during the first Trump Administration as well as the White House COVID-19 Task Force.
As you might have noticed – americangeriatrics.org got a refresh! The refreshed look and functionality is designed with accessibility in mind, ensuring that that is it easy to navigate and accessible to those with disabilities.
Over the last year, we have been working with our outside vendors to conduct an accessibility review of www.americangeriatrics.org and GeriatricsCareOnline.org. We are pleased to release the refreshed Americangeriatrics.org website this week, and hope to release the refresh of GeriatricsCareOnline.org, soon too.
Explore the refreshed site today at www.americangeriatrics.org. And stay tuned for additional updates coming to enhance your overall experience on americangeriatrics.org and MyAGSOnline!
Get an exclusive first look at another anticipated session at #AGS25!
- 2025 Update on Vaccination Strategies for Older Adults: Understanding the CDC Guidance and Strategies from the AGS Older Adults Vaccine Initiative (5/10; 11:45 AM – 12:45 PM CT)
This session is intended to provide the latest information for healthcare professionals on vaccinations for older adults and to share how the AGS’ Older Adults Vaccine Initiative is making strides to increase vaccinations. Come learn about the latest vaccine recommendations and guidelines, as well as strategies you can use to improve vaccination rates among older adults.
Remember, now is the time to register and save!
Register on or before February 28th and get the early bird discount. Learn More and Register Today!
The AGS Older Adults Vaccine Initiative is supported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as part of a financial assistance award to the Council of Medical Specialty Societies (CMSS), with 100 percent funded by CDC/HHS. In this initiative, AGS leverages existing resources and ongoing investments in content and technology. Click here for the press release.
The AGS Opportunities for Investigators resource serves as a central location for geriatrics and aging-related opportunities such as grant funding, presentation or publication submissions, travel stipends for scholarly meetings, networking events, comment periods, and in-person or virtual meetings and webinars. Some upcoming opportunities we'd like to highlight include:
- Nursing Home Explanatory Clinical Trials Supporting Transformation by Enhancing Partnerships (NEXT STEPs) pilot applications are now open. The goal of the NEXT STEPs pilot awards aim to support high-quality research by advising on research design, disseminating best practices, and sharing findings to improve nursing home care. Apply by April 8th, 2025.
The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) is accepting research grant applications through February 21, 2025 for research that provides evidence about how to improve the delivery of primary care, projects that create and test tools and training that support primary care improvement, and studies that advance the development of primary care research methods.
The MyAGSOnline Events Calendar is a valuable resource to discover and register for upcoming events, webinars, and other opportunities. We'd like to highlight the following upcoming event:
- The Hospital at Home Users Group, in partnership with the American Academy of Home Care Medicine, is pleased to present their latest webinar, Essentials of Hospital at Home Pharmacy, for hospital and system leaders interested in learning about the opportunities and challenges associated with providing acute care in the home on February 27th at 4PM ET/1PM PT.
- The Society for Critical Care Medicine is hosting a free Acute Care Geriatric Sensitivity Training on February 22nd in Orlando, FL for all healthcare professionals, including medical students, residents, fellows, and allied health professionals to learn the skills needed to care for an aging patient population.
Have an opportunity or event you'd like to see listed? Email the details to Jennifer Fisher at jfisher@americangeriatrics.org