NPMA on the Hill

December is often a slow time on Capitol Hill, as legislators leave for the Holidays and most legislation stalls. It’s a little different this year – not only are impeachment hearings happening most session days, but the government is not funded, the trade deal is still outstanding, and the defense authorization act has not yet been passed. With government funding expiring on December 20th, the rumor in the House is that there may be two small minibus bills (a minibus is several appropriations bills packaged together, as compared to an omnibus which is all appropriation bills packaged together). There have also been rumors that Trump will refuse to sign any bill until Homeland Security is passed (clearly tying his signature to money for the wall).
Because there are so many issues still outstanding, Congress is still in session and will likely be so through the 20th. NPMA is taking advantage of the extra session weeks to attend fundraisers for Pest PAC and to visit Hill offices. This week alone NPMA staff attended fundraisers for Senator Perdue (R-GA), Rep Costa (D) and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. Staff met with Rep Kelly (R-MS) and his LD to discuss The ILLICIT Cash Act and pushed for federal pesticide preemption. NPMA has been actively lobbying the Hill, visiting with staff for Rep Kelly (R-MS), Rep Balderson (R-OH) and Rep Chabot (R-OH) on preemption as part of a larger push with House Small Business and House Ag committee members on this issue. We’ve also been busy working without partners. Several NPMA staff members participated in the Vector Based Disease Network (VBDN) coalition organizing meeting earlier this week.

While there is a lot of uncertainty on the Hill, NPMA continues to push our issues forward, making sure that staffers understand how essential we are to public health.