After a historic sit-in on the House floor, the House has left for the July 4 recess a day ahead of schedule. The Senate also will be out of session next week. Both houses are set to return on July 5, but only for a couple of weeks, as Congress then will recess for the party conventions and the traditional August recess.

The sit-in prevented House votes on pending appropriations bills and the Senate also is having difficulty passing spending bills due to controversial amendments on gun control. This week’s debacle makes it even less likely that Congress will pass individual spending bills and all but assures a continuing resolution in September. What then will have to be determined will be the continuing resolution’s duration, whether to the end of this calendar year or into the new year, the new Congress and the new Administration.

Rural Healthcare Connectivity Act: Before leaving town, Congress sent the Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act to President Obama, who has now signed it into law. Included in this environmental measure were the provisions of the Rural Healthcare Connectivity Act, which we strongly supported. Nursing homes in rural areas now will have the same access that rural hospitals have to the FCC’s Universal Fund for affordable broadband access. We appreciate everyone’s advocacy on this issue.

LeadingAge comments on the proposed Medicare payment rule for SNFs: Evvie Munley pushed the Send button to get our comments to CMS on the proposed rule, which includes implementation of value-based purchasing and quality measures required by the IMPACT Act. Our comments can be found here.

The proposed rule also contained provisions for hospices, and Peter Notarstefano submitted the following comments on our behalf.