(Photo: Senate Special Committee on Aging)

Although the Biden administration and Republican House continue to wrangle over raising the federal debt ceiling, the eventual outcome is not likely to have a significant impact on the benefits industry.

"There is nothing in the House bill directly affecting benefits policy, and we are not expecting anything along those lines," said Geoff Manville, government relations leader for Mercer's Law and Policy Group. "At the committee level, however, a lot of action is happening on a number of bipartisan health care priorities in both the House and Senate. The outlook isn't clear right now for how all of this committee work might come together in a final package, because there aren't many must-pass bills this year."