House advances Health Coverage Tax Credit

The House on February 4th approved the Competes Act of 2022, which addresses supply chain issues with China but also modifies and resuscitates the health coverage tax credit that expired last year. The vote was 222-210 and largely along party lines. 

The bill makes permanent the credit and increases the amount of the qualified health insurance premiums covered by the credit from 72.5% to 80%. The increase in the credit would take effect after December 31, 2021.

The bill would also allow state-legal cannabis businesses to access the banking system.

The legislation is expected to go into conference with the Senate-passed Innovation and Competitiveness Act (USICA), which does not contain the health coverage tax credit or the banking provision. It also does not include tax measures.

(There is a rumor that the House might pass USICA so it can be enacted before President Biden’s State of the Union Address. If true, the House-passed Competes Act is unlikely to win Senate passage and will likely hit a legislative wall, which means that the health care tax credit and banking provision will not become law unless they are added to another bill that becomes enacted.)

Assuming a Conference Occurs:

Lawmakers will hash-out the differences between their respective bills to create a single piece of legislation that both chambers must approve before it can be enacted into law by President Joe Biden. The fact that the health care tax credit and the banking provision are absent from the Senate bill could mean that these measures are not included in the final draft of the legislation.

House and Senate Democratic leaders hope to complete its conference before Memorial Day. House passage of the conferenced bill is likely. The Senate is a different story.

USICA won the support of 19 Republican Senators to easily clear the 60-vote threshold with a 68-32 tally. Passage for the conferenced bill will also require 60 votes. If that legislation includes provisions from the Competes Act that Senate Republicans deem controversial, it might not muster the 60 votes needed to pass.

Passage from the upper chamber (and therefore Congress) will largely depend upon what provisions from the Competes Act are included in the final draft of the bill, and if Senate Republicans will support them.

Prior coverage on this bill is here.