Expiring Provisions and Key Dates to Watch in 2020 and Beyond

Common knowledge may lead us to believe any hope of advancing policy in an election year is folly. Combine that trend with a divided Congress, a partisan atmosphere, and the ongoing impeachment trial, and it’s easy to suggest 2020 will be a year for politics rather than policy. However, with a list of looming deadlines and the need to demonstrate the ability to not only investigate but also legislate, Congress is likely to have an active year.

In particular, the next two years will include several predictable policy deadlines that will compel congressional action. To that end, the following dates have been divided into four sections: expiring provisions, a handful of other important dates, long-term expirations, and key political dates.

Expiring Provisions

March 15: Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) reauthorization

May 22: Healthcare Extenders:

Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee Jurisdiction

  • Community and Public Health Programs Extension Act

  • National Health Service Corps (NHSC)

  • Teaching Health Center Graduate Medical Education (THCGME) Program

  • Special Diabetes Program (SDP)

Finance Committee Jurisdiction

  • Medicaid Disproportionate Share Hospital (DSH) cuts

  • Medicaid Money Follows the Person (MFP) demonstration program

  • Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinics (CCBHCs) demonstration program

  • Health Profession Opportunity Grant (HPOG)

  • Miscellaneous Medicare add-on payments and program extensions, including the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS); National Quality Forum (NQF); and Geographic Practice Cost Indexes

*Could serve as a vehicle for surprise medical billing, drug pricing, and opioids legislation

Reauthorization of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF)

September 30: Fiscal Year 2020 (FY20) appropriations

               Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act reauthorization

               National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) reauthorization

October 1: Fiscal Year 2021 (FY21) begins

December 31: National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA)

Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) provisions, including: alcohol taxes, paid family leave

credit, the medical expense deduction, and tax extenders

Already Expired: Violence Against Women Act (VAWA)

     Higher Education Act (HEA) reauthorization

     New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC)

Other Important Dates

February 4: State of the Union

February 10: White House releases FY21 budget request

February-March: Personal office NDAA request form deadlines

February-March: Personal office appropriations request form deadlines

Longer-Term Expiration Dates

July 2021: Debt ceiling suspension

2022: Highway Trust Fund exhaustion

           Amortization of research and experimentation costs

           Interest deduction rules

2023: Full expensing tax phase-out begins (continues until 2027)

2025: Multiemployer Pension Insurance Fund exhaustion

2026: TCJA individual income tax provisions

          Export-Import Bank authorization

         Medicare Hospital Insurance (Part A) Trust Fund exhaustion

2034: Social Security Old-Age and Survivors Insurance (OASI) Trust Fund exhaustion

2035: Combined OASI and SSDI and exhaustion

2052: Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) Trust Fund exhaustion

Key Political Dates

February 3: Iowa caucus

February 7: Eighth Democratic primary debate (Manchester, NH)

February 11: New Hampshire primary

February 19: Ninth Democratic primary debate (Las Vegas, NV)

February 22: Nevada caucus

February 25: Tenth Democratic primary debate (Charleston, SC)

February 29: South Carolina primary

March 3: Super Tuesday primaries (AL, AR, CA, CO, ME, MA, MN, NC, OK, TN, TX, UT, VT, VA)

March 10: Primaries (ID, MI, MS, MO, ND, WA)

March 17: Primaries (AZ, FL, IL, OH)

March 24: Georgia primary

April 4: Primaries (AK, HI, LA, WY)

April 7: Wisconsin primary

April 28: Primaries (CT, DE, MD, NY, PA, RI)

May 2: Kansas primary

May 5: Indiana primary

May 12: Primaries (NE, WV)

May 19: Primaries (KY, OR)

June 2: Primaries (DC, MT, NJ, NM, SD)

July 13-16: Democratic convention (Milwaukee, WI)

August 24-27: Republican convention (Charlotte, NC)

September 29: First presidential debate (South Bend, IN)

October 7: Vice presidential debate (Salt Lake City, UT)

October 15: Second presidential debate (Ann Arbor, MI)

October 22: Third presidential debate (Nashville, TN)

November 3: Election Day

January 20, 2021: Presidential Inauguration