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The White House accused House Republicans of putting the nation at risk of a shutdown “that would undermine our economy and national security, create needless uncertainty for families and businesses, and have damaging consequences across the country.” The White House said FEMA’s Disaster Relief Fund would risk being depleted without a funding bill, complicating emergency response efforts. A government shut down would stall research on cancer, the White House said, and delay food inspections conducted by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). (Samuels, 9/20)

House Republicans were starting to move closer together Tuesday on a revised stopgap funding measure that would cut nondefense appropriations more deeply than an earlier version and possibly establish a new commission to tackle long-term budget challenges. But there were real questions about whether the necessary 217 votes among Republicans were possible on a compromise continuing resolution that would ultimately be rejected by the Democratic-controlled Senate anyway. The key divide was where to set the annualized funding rate for the month of October on the measure, which would avert a partial government shutdown after Sept. 30. (Krawzak and Weiss, 9/19)

The House GOP chaos is worse than it may appear. The bills Republicans are fighting over have no chance of becoming law — and if they passed the chamber they’d merely represent an opening bid to negotiate with the Democratic-led Senate and President Joe Biden, who oppose the spending cuts and conservative policies that House Republicans are pursuing. (Kapur, Wong, Vitali and Kaplan, 9/1)

President Joe Biden has steered well clear of the chaos engulfing the House, where Republicans are battling each other over a government funding bill. Within the White House, aides have settled on a hard-line strategy aimed at pressuring McCarthy to stick to a spending deal he struck with Biden back in May rather than attempt to patch together a new bipartisan bill. “We agreed to the budget deal and a deal is a deal — House GOP should abide by it,” said a White House official granted anonymity to discuss the private calculations. (Haberkorn and Cancryn, 9/20)

Pharmacy benefit managers emerged as public enemy No. 1 in a congressional hearing Tuesday, underscoring growing bipartisan sympathy for advancing any of the many measures that target drug industry middlemen. While lawmakers often praised the intent of PBMs to bring down drug costs, most argued that PBMs are either failing to achieve that goal, or doing more to boost their own bottom lines. (McAuliff, 9/19)

Health care representatives from across the United States are urging Congress to halt cuts to funding that helps hospitals care for uninsured or low-income patients who rely on Medicaid. More than 250 hospitals and health systems appealed to House and Senate leadership in a letter Thursday asking the lawmakers to avert or delay a forthcoming $8 billion cut to “America’s health care safety net.” (Murray, 9/18)