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