Continuing Appropriations Act, 2014

The bill H.R. 2775 is a bill that was introduced into the United States House of Representatives during the 113th United States Congress. The original version of H.R. 2775 was called the No Subsidies Without Verification Act and would have declared that no premium tax credits or reductions in cost-sharing for the purchase of qualified health benefit plans under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) shall be allowed before the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) certifies to Congress that there is a program in place, consistent with PPACA requirements, that verifies the household income and coverage requirements of individuals applying for such credits and cost-sharing reduction.

The Senate amended the bill on October 16, 2013, adding a continuing resolution that funds the government until January 15, 2014, and a provision suspending the debt ceiling until February 7, 2014, thus ending both the United States federal government shutdown of 2013 and the United States debt-ceiling crisis of 2013, while retaining the PPACA verification provision. The Senate passed the bill that evening on a vote of 81–18, and by the House on a vote of 285–144, and President Obama signed the bill shortly after midnight.

Final version

• The act will fund the federal government until January 15, 2014. The funding level is the same as the previous year, FY2013, instead of being raised or lowered.
• The act will suspend the debt ceiling until February 7, 2014.
• The act will set up a process that will verify the incomes of people who apply for health insurance subsidies. No other changes to Obamacare were made.
• The 800,000 furloughed government workers will receive back pay.
• The two parties and two chambers of Congress agreed to the creation of a joint budget conference to work on possible compromises and report back to Congress by December 13, 2013.
• The United States Army Corps of Engineers was granted an authorization increase of $1.2 billion in funding to improve a series of locks and dams on the Illinois-Kentucky border.
• $450 million was allocated to help repair the damage in Colorado from the 2013 Colorado floods.
• The United States Department of the Interior is allocated $36 million and the United States Forest Service is allocated $600 million to cover fighting forest fires and their damage.
• The act allows Congress to enact a “disapproval” resolution that would end the suspension of the debt ceiling. The same provision had been included as part of the previous debt ceiling increases in the Budget Control Act of 2011.

Author: AFGE Local 704

Representing over 900 bargaining unit employees working at the U.S. EPA Region 5 Offices in Chicago, Ann Arbor, MI and Westlake, OH. View all posts by AFGE Local 704