Lame Duck Session Slated for November
This is not fair. You know the election results. We are writing this in late October and we don’t. There is, therefore, little to say here about which you don’t already know more.
What we can say for a certainty is this:
- The lame duck Congress will return to Washington the week of Nov. 15 to have a go at passing nine of the 13 spending bills for FY 2005 that have not yet been passed, including the bill funding all federal health and public health programs. An attempt will be made to pass a large omnibus bill that includes all nine measures. No one knows whether it will succeed. If it fails, much of the government will be funded until sometime in 2005 by a continuing resolution, most likely at FY 2004 funding levels. This excludes the Departments of Defense and Homeland Security, whose funding for the new fiscal year has already been established.
- Regardless of the election outcome, the new Congress will be engaged November–January in reshuffling valued committee posts and in devising legislative agendas for 2005.
- It’s going to be very interesting.
Public Health and the Corporate Tax Bill
Congress quietly inserted an extra liability protection for flu vaccine manufacturers into a large corporate tax bill that the President signed without fanfare on October 22, 2004. Children or adults claiming to be injured by influenza vaccine will be able to make a claim to the existing federal Vaccine Injury Compensation program, which heretofore has covered only childhood vaccine injuries. The extra costs to the compensation program will be funded by a 75 cent tax on each dose of flu vaccine payable by the manufacturers.
That same corporate tax bill includes a $10 billion federal buy-out program for tobacco farmers, but not accompanying provisions sought by a bipartisan Senate majority to authorize FDA regulation of tobacco. The leadership of the House of Representatives never permitted a House floor vote on FDA regulation and exercised sheer political muscle to defeat the Senate provision in the House-Senate conference committee that produced the final bill signed by the President.
Flu Vaccine Shortage Spurs Legislative Proposals
The flu vaccine shortage spurred immediate Congressional attention to manufacturer liability, as described above. In addition, almost as soon as the flu vaccine shortage made headlines, it became a partisan political issue, as well. Several bills to address vaccine manufacturing and distribution problems have been introduced, and at least one Senator, Evan Bayh (D-IN), has urged Congress to act during the November lame duck session. The prospects for such quick action appear dim, but flu vaccine supply undoubtedly will receive considerable attention in the new Congress.
