H.J.Res 123, Continuing Appropriations Act, 2018

Floor Situation

On Thursday, December 7, 2017, the House will consider H.J.Res. 123, the Continuing Appropriations Act, 2018.

Summary

H.J.Res. 123 funds government operations at current funding levels until December 22, 2017 and waives a proration rule to give the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services flexibility to allocate currently-available redistribution dollars to any state that exhausts its federal Children Health Insurance Program funding.

Background

On Friday, September 8, 2017, the House passed the Senate amendment to H.R. 601 that extended government funding until December 8, 2017. The previous Legislative Digest can be found here.

On Friday, November 3, 2017, the House passed the Championing Healthy Kids Act of 2017, to reauthorize the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). CHIP is a means-tested program that provides health coverage to targeted low-income children and some pregnant women in families that have annual income above Medicaid eligibility levels but have no health insurance. CHIP is financed by the federal government and the states. The states are responsible for administering CHIP. Federal CHIP funding expired on September 30, 2017.

After the expiration of FY2017 funds, and until the provision of FY2018 funds, states may use redistributed funds and unspent allotments to continue to provide healthcare coverage, however all states are expected to exhaust federal funding unless FY2018 funding is provided. The previous Legislative Digest can be found here.

Cost

A Congressional Budget Office (CBO) cost estimate is currently not available.  

Staff Contact

For questions or further information please contact Jake Vreeburg with the House Republican Policy Committee by email or at 2-1374.