ANCOR Urges Congressional Action on Appropriations Legislation as Congress Averts Government Shutdown

Last week the U.S. Senate voted to pass a continuing resolution (CR) to keep the government funded past the previous CR’s February 18 deadline. The U.S. House of Representatives had previously passed the CR legislation. With the President’s signature on the legislation, the government is now funded through March 11.

Congress will now turn its attention to completing work on the 12 spending bills that comprise the omnibus spending package to fund the government through Fiscal Year 2022. Last week, ANCOR joined two coalition letters to provide input on the appropriations process underway.

The first letter that ANCOR joined was sent on behalf of the Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities to House and Senate appropriators asking that Congress pass the 12 appropriations bills for the Fiscal Year 2022 rather than a year-long CR at FY 2021 levels. The letter notes that a year-long CR would negatively impact the lives of people with disabilities and their families because it would not adequately fund the programs and services on which individuals with disabilities rely.

In the second letter, ANCOR joined 55 other signers asking appropriators to add language to the omnibus spending bill to delay further implementation of CMS’ Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMMI) Repetitive Scheduled Non-Emergent Ambulance Transport (RSNAT) model, arguing that revisions are necessary to ensure the RSNAT model will not disproportionately adversely affect low-income, minority and rural beneficiaries of both Medicare and Medicaid.