Dive Brief:
- Republican Senate leaders are no longer attempting to leverage their control to defund Obamacare, the Associated Press reports.
- Lawmakers are taking a more collaborative approach this year in the massive appropriations bill that will fund the departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education.
- The change reflects an acceptance that harming spending bills with veto material has proven ineffective and slowed the legislative process.
Dive Insight:
Rather than focusing on the ACA, the measure by Roy Blunt, R-Mo., and Patty Murray, D-Wash most notably aims to increase funding for medical research and to treat opioid addicts.
The legislation is being heralded as the first bipartisan appropriations healthcare bill to advance in seven years, the Washington Examiner noted.
It easily passed a Senate Appropriations panel Tuesday and moves to the full Senate Approprations Committee Thursday.
If it passes the measure would increase funding for the National Institutes of Health by $2 billion, bringing its total funding to $34 billion. The move comes after years of pressure from the NIH and follows the additional $2 billion already added to the NIH budget in December's omnibus spending bill.
The appropriations bill would also nearly double the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's funding for opioid abuse.