Summary: H.R.1370 — 115th Congress (2017-2018)All Information (Except Text)

Bill summaries are authored by CRS.

Shown Here:
Public Law No: 115-96 (12/22/2017)

DIVISION A--FURTHER ADDITIONAL CONTINUING APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2018

Further Additional Continuing Appropriations Act, 2018

(Sec. 1001) Amends the Continuing Appropriations Act, 2018 to provide continuing FY2018 appropriations to federal agencies through January 19, 2018 (December 22, 2017, under current law).

(This provision prevents a government shutdown that would otherwise occur when the existing continuing resolution expires because the FY2018 appropriations bills have not been enacted.)

Adds provisions to the Continuing Appropriations Act, 2018 that:

  • permit funds provided to the Coast Guard to be used to carry out Retired Pay Reform, including continuation pay;
  • provide additional funding to the Indian Health Service for the costs of staffing and operating newly constructed facilities;
  • permit funds provided to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to be apportioned up to the rate for operations necessary to maintain programs and activities related to: (1) the care of unaccompanied alien children, and (2) efforts to combat the trafficking of children;
  • provide additional funding for HHS to prepare for or respond to an influenza pandemic; and
  • exempt security spending from sequestration (automatic spending cuts) for FY2018 and delay the sequestration for nonsecurity spending.

(Sec. 1002) Extends certain authorities provided by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (FISA) through the duration of the continuing resolution. Specifies that this section is repealed if legislation amending the dates included in section 403(b) of the FISA Amendments Act of 2008 is enacted.

DIVISION B--MISSILE DEFENSE

Department of Defense Missile Defeat and Defense Enhancements Appropriations Act, 2018

Provides FY2018 emergency appropriations to the Department of Defense (DOD) for missile defense programs. (Emergency spending is exempt from discretionary spending limits and other budget enforcement rules.)

TITLE I--MISSILE DEFEAT AND DEFENSE ENHANCEMENTS

Provides Operation and Maintenance funds to DOD for necessary costs to repair damage to the USS John S. McCain and the USS Fitzgerald.

Provides Operation and Maintenance; Procurement; and Research, Development, Test and Evaluation funds to DOD for necessary costs to detect, defeat, and defend against the use of ballistic missiles.

TITLE II--MISSILE CONSTRUCTION ENHANCEMENTS

Provides appropriations for Defense-Wide Military Construction for construction of a missile field in Alaska.

TITLE III--GENERAL PROVISIONS

(Sec. 2001) Specifies that the funds provided by this division are in addition to funds appropriated or otherwise made available to DOD for FY2018.

(Sec. 2002) Requires funds provided by title I of this division to be allocated in accordance with the detailed congressional budget justifications submitted by DOD with the FY2018 budget amendments requested by the President on November 6, 2017. Specifies that any changes to the allocation of funds are subject to reprogramming requirements.

(Sec. 2003) Specifies that funds designated in this division as emergency requirements are available only if the President subsequently designates all of the amounts as emergency requirements and transmits the designations to Congress.

DIVISION C--HEALTH PROVISIONS

TITLE I--PUBLIC HEALTH EXTENDERS

CHIP and Public Health Funding Extension Act

(Sec. 3101) Amends the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act to extend and make appropriations through the second quarter of FY2018 for community health centers and the National Health Service Corps.

Amends the Public Health Service Act to make appropriations through the second quarter of FY2018 for a program that pays teaching health centers to establish or expand graduate medical residency training programs.

(Sec. 3102) Makes appropriations through the second quarter of FY2018 for type I diabetes programs and diabetes programs for Native Americans.

(Sec. 3103) Reduces FY2019-FY2022 for the Prevention and Public Health Fund.

TITLE II--CHILDREN'S HEALTH INSURANCE PROGRAM (CHIP)

(Sec. 3201) Amends title XXI (Children's Health Insurance Program [CHIP]) of the Social Security Act to extend funding for CHIP through the first half of FY2018.

Establishes a special rule, with respect to the first half of FY2018, for the redistribution of unused CHIP allotments to state child health plans experiencing emergency shortfalls. Requires the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), on a monthly basis, to redistribute unused allotments to each state in an amount that will eliminate the state's emergency shortfall before the CMS may distribute the allotments to any state that is experiencing a nonemergency shortfall. Requires the CMS to redistribute such allotments in the order in which states realize monthly emergency shortfalls, but only to the extent that amounts are available for redistribution.

DIVISION D--OTHER MATTERS

(Sec. 4001) Provides $2.1 billion in mandatory funding for the Veterans Choice Program, which allows veterans to receive health care from providers outside of the Department of Veterans Affairs facilities.

DIVISION E--BUDGETARY EFFECTS

(Sec. 5001) Exempts the budgetary effects of division C and each succeeding division of this bill from Pay-As-You-Go (PAYGO) rules and certain budget scorekeeping guidelines.

(Sec. 5002) Exempts the budgetary effects of specified reconciliation legislation from PAYGO rules. (This provision applies to the tax legislation that was signed into law on December 22, 2017, and was considered pursuant to the reconciliation instructions included in the FY2018 congressional budget resolution.)