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Further Continuing Appropriations Act, 2021, and Other Extensions Act

Public Law 116-215 · H.R. 8900 · 116th Congress · began in the House

Signed by Donald Trump (R) on Dec 11, 2020 · Economics and Public Finance

Sponsor: Rep. Nita Lowey (D-NY-17)

Cosponsors: None

Passage votesYeaNay

  • HouseRecorded vote: 343 yea, 67 nay343–67
  • SenateVoice vote
Data notes

The final version of the law, as each chamber passed it. A chamber that passed it by voice vote or unanimous consent has no count. “Method not stated” means the record does not say how the chamber voted. Where the record has a member-by-member vote, the “Who voted for it” section shows who voted yea.

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Summary

The Congressional Research Service’s plain-language summary of what the law does.

Further Continuing Appropriations Act, 2021, and Other Extensions Act

This bill provides continuing FY2021 appropriations to federal agencies through December 18, 2020, and extends several expiring health programs.

DIVISION A--FURTHER CONTINUING APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2021

Further Continuing Appropriations Act, 2021

This division provides continuing FY2021 appropriations to federal agencies through December 18, 2020.

It is known as a continuing resolution (CR) and prevents a government shutdown that would otherwise occur if the FY2021 appropriations bills have not been enacted when the existing CR expires on December 11, 2020.

DIVISION B--HEALTH EXTENDERS

TITLE I--MEDICARE AND MEDICAID EXTENDERS

(Sec. 1101) This section extends certain minimum adjustments to the work geographic index with respect to the payment of physician services under Medicare.

(Sec. 1102) This section extends funding for state health insurance programs, area agencies on aging, aging and disability resource centers, and technical assistance related to outreach and enrollment with respect to Medicare and other programs.

(Sec. 1103) This section extends funding for certain Medicare quality-measurement activities.

(Sec. 1104) This section extends the Medicaid demonstration program for certified community behavioral health clinics.

(Sec. 1105) This section extends the applicability of Medicaid eligibility criteria that protect against spousal impoverishment for recipients of home- and community-based services.

(Sec. 1106) This section delays certain reductions to Medicaid disproportionate-share hospital allotments.

(Sec. 1107) This section extends the Money Follows the Person Rebalancing Demonstration Program. (Under this program, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) may award grants to state Medicaid programs to assist states in increasing the use of home and community care for long-term care and decreasing the use of institutional care.)

TITLE II--PUBLIC HEALTH EXTENDERS AND FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION PROVISIONS

Subtitle A--Public Health Extenders

(Sec. 1201) This section extends funding for specified programs for community health centers; teaching health centers that operate graduate medical education programs; and the National Health Service Corps, which provides scholarships and student loan repayment programs for health care workers.

(Sec. 1202) This section extends funding for research grants to prevent and cure Type I diabetes and grants for services to prevent and treat diabetes among Native Americans.

(Sec. 1203) This section extends funding for certain grants for states to educate adolescents on the prevention of pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections.

Subtitle B--Food and Drug Administration Provisions

(Sec. 1211) This section extends the authority of the Food and Drug Administration to designate a rare pediatric disease drug application as eligible for a priority review voucher.

TITLE III--OFFSETS

(Sec. 1301) This section requires the CMS to share Medicare Advantage (MA) and Medicare prescription drug benefit enrollment information with liability insurers in response to Medicare secondary payer inquiries. Specifically, the CMS must share whether the claimant who is the subject of the inquiry was entitled to Medicare benefits during the preceding three-year period on any basis, and must also share the plan name and address of any MA or prescription drug benefit plan in which the claimant was enrolled.

(Sec. 1302) This section requires the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to revise regulations that allow a practitioner to administer narcotic drugs to a person for purposes of relieving acute withdrawal symptoms while the person awaits arrangements for narcotic treatment. The regulations currently authorize up to a one-day supply of narcotic drugs at one time, for a total of up to three days.

The DEA must revise these regulations so as to allow a practitioner to dispense up to a three-day supply of narcotic drugs to one person or for one person's use at one time for the purpose of initiating maintenance treatment or detoxification treatment, or both.

(Sec. 1303) This section increases the funds available to the Medicaid Improvement Fund for state activities relating to mechanized claims systems beginning in FY2025.

TITLE IV--BUDGETARY EFFECTS

(Sec. 1401) This section exempts the budgetary effects of this division from (1) the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2010 (PAYGO), (2) the Senate PAYGO rule, and (3) certain budget scorekeeping rules.

Who voted for it

Every House member of the 116th Congress on the ideology compass. Highlighted: the 343 who voted yea on final passage. Faded: everyone else, including those who voted nay, did not vote, or had not yet taken office.

343 yea67 nay19 present or did not vote

ProEstablishmentAnti
Economic left–right
More liberalMore conservative

Democrats who voted yea(232)

Republicans who voted yea(111)

Data notes

The House’s recorded vote on the final version of the law (roll call 939 in Voteview), matched to the vote the record cites and checked against its totals. Positions are each member’s DW-NOMINATE score for that Congress, as on the Ideology page; left to right is more liberal to more conservative. Paired and announced yea votes count as yea. Lists follow the compass, most liberal first. A name links to a profile only for members of the current Congress. A law passed by voice vote or unanimous consent has no member list, and neither does a vote Voteview has not yet recorded.

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Committees

The committees the bill was sent to, and what each did with it.

Data notes

A committee links to its page only where it exists in the current Congress; older and renamed committees are named without a link.

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Related bills

4 bills the Library of Congress relates to this one.

  • H.R. 1375Related bill

    PAID Act

  • H.R. 2281Related bill

    Easy MAT for Opioid Addiction Act

  • H.R. 8337 · became Public Law 116-159Related bill

    Continuing Appropriations Act, 2021 and Other Extensions Act

  • S. 1989Related bill

    PAID Act

Data notes

Related bills are identified by the Congressional Research Service, the House and the Senate: companion and identical bills, bills with similar text, bills that were folded into this law, and rules that brought it to the floor. A bill that is itself a public law in this site’s data links here; the others link to Congress.gov.

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Timeline

From introduction to signing, newest first: the committees, the floor and the president. 15 actions.

  1. Dec 11, 2020Became lawBecame law · Became Public Law No: 116-215.
  2. Became lawBecame law · Signed by President.
  3. FloorFloor · Presented to President.
  4. FloorFloor · Message on Senate action sent to the House.
  5. FloorFloor · Passed Senate without amendment by Voice Vote.
  6. Dec 9, 2020FloorFloor · Motion to reconsider laid on the table Agreed to without objection.
  7. FloorFloor · On motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill Agreed to by the Yeas and Nays: (2/3 required): 343 - 67 (Roll no. 240).House roll call 240
  8. FloorFloor · Considered as unfinished business.
  9. FloorFloor · At the conclusion of debate, the Yeas and Nays were demanded and ordered. Pursuant to the provisions of clause 8, rule XX, the Chair announced that further proceedings on the motion would be postponed.
  10. FloorFloor · DEBATE - The House proceeded with forty minutes of debate on H.R. 8900.
  11. FloorFloor · Considered under suspension of the rules.
  12. FloorFloor · Ms. DeLauro moved to suspend the rules and pass the bill.
  13. CommitteeCommittee · Received in the Senate, read twice.
  14. Dec 8, 2020CommitteeCommittee · Referred to the Committee on Appropriations, and in addition to the Committee on the Budget, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
  15. IntroducedIntroduced · Introduced in House
Data notes

Every action the Library of Congress lists for the bill, from introduction to signing, plus the dated committee hearings. The source lists many steps twice (the chamber’s own entry and the Library of Congress copy, or a presidential and a became-law entry with the same words); those are shown once. Amendments are listed in their own section.

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Amendments

1 amendment offered to the bill, with the last recorded step of each.

Data notes

Amendments offered to this bill in either chamber, as the Library of Congress records them: each with a status read from its last recorded step: agreed to, rejected, withdrawn, ruled out of order, fell with another amendment, or offered with no vote recorded (most Senate amendments are only ever offered). The wording of each amendment is the source’s. Amendments to amendments and amendments to other bills are not listed.

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Official record

The bill’s full text is on Congress.gov. Data through Oct 7, 2026.