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President Joe Biden and congressional leaders announced Tuesday that they have reached an agreement on this fiscal year’s final set of spending bills. Now, the question is how fast lawmakers can get the bills passed to avoid a partial government shutdown. While Biden said he’ll sign the bill package as soon as he receives it, time is running short. Legislative staff needs time to finish the bill text, an arduous task. The House has a rule that lawmakers get 72 hours to review a bill before voting. And the Senate has never been known for its ability to sprint. Meanwhile, funding for several key agencies expires at midnight Friday. (Freking, 3/19)

A healthcare package that would have advanced pharmacy benefit manager legislation and other healthcare priorities including enhanced community health center funding will not move alongside the next round of federal appropriations. Committee leaders who hoped to build a legislative package around bipartisan PBM measures and other popular items were unable to come to agreement, and Senate and House leadership declined to add healthcare legislation to the fiscal 2024 government funding bill they are expected to release Tuesday or Wednesday. (McAuliff, 3/19)

A successful global AIDS program that was in limbo for months got a temporary reprieve this week when congressional negotiators agreed to a one-year renewal in the next government funding package. (Knight and Sullivan, 3/20)

More than one in four US-designated essential medicines are considered “very high risk” by the military because they are dependent on key ingredients from China or unknown sources, according to a report posted by a bipartisan group of lawmakers. In a letter to Pentagon leadership sent Monday, the group led by Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Republican Senator Marco Rubio of Florida warned of the nation’s dependency on foreign countries for crucial medicines. (Griffin and Edney, 3/19)