The Biden Administration released its budget request to Congress earlier today, seeking $5.8 trillion in spending in the 2023 fiscal year. While it does not specifically include the Build Back Better (BBB) plan as it had in last year’s budget, it does include a “deficit-neutral reserve fund” intended to act as a placeholder for these priorities.

President Biden addressed a joint session of Congress tonight, declaring that “the State of the Union is strong” and “stronger today than we were a year ago” as the pandemic enters its third year. The president outlined a four-part plan to continue to combat the virus and move forward safely back to more normal routines, to include: (1) vaccines and treatments; (2) preparing for new variants; (3) ending the shutdown of schools and businesses; and (4) continuing to vaccinate the world.

Representatives Lori Trahan (D-MA) and Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA) have begun circulating a letter to other lawmakers urging support of the SENIOR Act. Introduced last month, H.R. 6530 helps to support senior caregivers through two critical investments: (1) creating a $10 billion caregiver sustainability fund similar to the Provider Relief Fund (PRF), and (2) establishing $1.25 billion in federal grants for workforce development that would provide four-year grants of up to $1 million per entity.

Bipartisan legislation has been introduced in the Senate this week to restore the Employee Retention Tax Credit (ERTC), which was retroactively ended last November. Argentum strongly supports this legislation to help address the nation’s caregiving workforce challenges, along with H.R. 6530, the SENIOR Act, which would provide new grants to bolster the nation’s caregiving workforce.

Argentum is pleased to share that Representatives Lori Trahan (D-MA) and Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA) have introduced the SENIOR Act (Safeguarding Elderly Needs for Infrastructure and Occupational Resources). The legislation came at Argentum’s request and addresses the imminent need for investing in human infrastructure to support America’s rapidly aging population.

Earlier today, Senators Patty Murray (D-WA) and Richard Burr (R-NC), the respective chair and ranking member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, released a discussion draft of new legislation to address the federal response of the COVID-19 pandemic and future pandemics.

OSHA announced today that it plans to withdraw its Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS), effective upon its publication in the Federal Register tomorrow. The Supreme Court ruled earlier this month to block enforcement of the OSHA ETS and signaled that if it were to come before the Court again it was likely to be overturned.

Argentum sent a letter to President Biden yesterday, reiterating the urgent needs of senior living facilities as additional COVID-19 response measures are considered in the wake of the Omicron variant.

The federal public health emergency (PHE) was renewed today by HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra, extending the PHE for an additional 90-days. Without today's action, the PHE would have expired on January 16. This is the fourth extension of the PHE since it was first ordered by then-HHS Secretary Alex Azar in January 2020.

The Supreme Court issued rulings today in both the OSHA Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) and the CMS Interim Final Rule (IFR) vaccine mandates.