Next week, Congress will return from its Memorial Day recess to kick off a busy June that could include action on mental health legislation in the House Committee on Energy and Commerce and on the Senate floor, and conference negotiations on opioid legislation.
The Senate also might finalize its medical innovation package, a version of the House-passed 21st Century Cures legislation. The package has been stalled due to ongoing disagreements about total funding for the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The House measure included $8.75 billion, while Senate Democrats are rumored to want up to $15 billion for NIH.
Legislators also continue to clash over a legislative response to the president’s $1.9 billion Zika funding request. Last week, the Senate passed a measure including $1.1 billion — considerably more than the $622 million of funding passed in the House. However, the Senate measure still falls short of the initial request.