Congress continues to try and hammer out a year-end spending bill, while outside of Washington, health care organizations dramatically ramped up their deal-making this week.

First, POLITICO’s Sarah Ferris and Adriel Bettelheim join PULSE CHECK to parse what’s happened with the spending negotiations and what’s next. (Starts at the 1:30 mark.)

After the break, Craig Garthwaite, a health economist with Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management, discusses why there were so many eye-catching health care mergers this week and what he likes about CVS’s $69 billion deal to buy Aetna. (Starts at the 16:00 mark.)

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