The House and Senate have begun a two-week spring break. 

Before recessing, the House passed overwhelmingly (392-37) a bill (H.R. 2) containing important health program extensions. The so-called doc fix bill measure creates new methods of paying doctors accepting Medicare patients, but it also contains health-related provisions important to counties and states. The measure includes a two-year extension of funding for the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP). It also contains a two-year extension of funding for the Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting Program. The legislation makes permanent the transitional medical assistance (TMA) program which allows low-income families to maintain their Medicaid coverage for up to one year as they transition from welfare to work. And, it extends for two years the express lane eligibility option which permits states to streamline and facilitate enrollment in health coverage using the eligibility findings in other federal programs such as SNAP, TANF and Head Start, among others. The measure now goes to the Senate where it is expected to pass. The Administration has signaled its support for the bill. 

 The House and Senate have also passed their respective FY 2016 budget resolutions (H.Con.Res.27; S.Con.Res.11). The final votes were largely along party lines, with the House approving its package 228-199, with 17 Republicans voting with all the Democrats in opposing the resolution. Across Capitol Hill, the Senate voted 52-46, with two Republicans joining all the Democrats in opposition. 

 The budget resolution provides broad outlines of spending and policy proposals for future legislation and is non-binding. As in previous years, the House budget proposes to convert both Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) into state block grants and calls for the repeal of the Affordable Care Act (ACA).  Those three proposals are estimated to save over $3 trillion in the next ten years -- none of them will be enacted into law. The Senate resolution also contains a similar proposal to block grant Medicaid, but would protect low-income older Americans and persons with disabilities. It also would repeal the ACA. 

 Both resolutions propose billions of dollars of savings in discretionary programs over the next ten years. The House assumes about $460 billion in unspecified cuts over ten years, while the Senate measure contains about $620 billion over that same period. It remains to be seen whether and how those cuts would be achieved. 

The resolutions also contain reconciliation instructions directing certain committees of jurisdiction to find additional savings in entitlement and mandatory spending programs not necessarily subject to the appropriations process. New revenues could also be proposed. Reconciliation is often used to make changes to entitlements, given that the Senate floor procedures effectively prohibit filibusters and require a simple majority for passage. President Obama would still have veto power over any measure reaching his desk. 

Both houses will now attempt to craft a concurrent budget resolution so that the overall blueprint setting the broad parameters is the same for spending bills the House and Senate will consider later in the year.