AFSCME LEGISLATIVE REPORT July 27, 2007

[Omaha Steve]

Below are the top stories of the week from Capitol Hill.

AFSCME LEGISLATIVE REPORT
July 27, 2007

In this issue:

* House of Representatives Takes Major Step Toward Curbing Privatization
* House Committees Take Up Major Health Bill; Action Expected on House Floor Next Week
* Senate to Debate Children's Health Bill
* AFSCME Employment Security Member Calls for WIA Reform
* Senate and House Approve Bill Implementing Recommendation of 9/11 Commission
* Senator Kennedy Introduces Bill to Stop Mandatory Overtime for Nurses
* The Safe Schools Improvement Act Introduced
* Senate Passes Second Higher Education Bill
* Minimum Wage Increase Takes Effect

House of Representatives Takes Major Step Toward Curbing Privatization
After two days of lengthy debate the House passed the House farm bill (H.R. 2419), by a vote of 231-191 on Friday, July 27.

Passage of the bill marks a major milestone in AFSCME's effort to hold back pressure from private companies and some right wing ideologues to privatize large portions of government-provided services. The bill includes a key provision that is intended to block the Bush Administration from allowing states to evade the Food Stamp Act's requirement that state civil service employees conduct the eligibility determination process for the Food Stamp program.

Final passage of the bill occurred after the bill survived a crucial test when an amendment that would have destroyed the delicate political coalition supporting the Agriculture Committee's bill was defeated by a vote of 117-309. AFSCME lobbied hard in support of the bill.
(Nanine Meiklejohn- [e-mail])

House Committees Take Up Major Health Bill; Action Expected on House Floor Next Week
On Thursday, the House Energy and Commerce Committee and the Ways and Means Committee each began meetings to debate the Children's Health and Medicare Protection (CHAMP) Act (H.R. 3162). By the end of the day, only the Ways and Means Committee had concluded action on the bill with a final vote of 24 -17, along party lines, to approve the bill. The debate began again on Friday in the Energy and Commerce Committee. In both committees, Republican leaders employed delaying tactics to prevent debate on the bill and consideration of amendments. If delaying tactics continue through Friday in the Energy and Commerce Committee, it is expected that the Democratic leadership will pull the bill from the committee and put it on the House floor for consideration next week.

The bill includes the following components:

* A measure to reauthorize, or renew, the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) providing an additional $50 billion in funding to the states over the next five years to continue coverage of the six million children covered today and assure coverage for millions more eligible, but uninsured, low-income children.
* Language promoted by AFSCME that protects Medicaid eligibility determinations from privatization.
* Improvements in the Medicare program, including features that reduce costs for low-income seniors, makes mental health care more affordable and eliminates co-payments and deductibles for certain preventive health benefits.
* A measure to block a 10 percent cut in Medicare's payments to doctors who treat Medicare beneficiaries.
* An increase in the federal tobacco tax to help pay for the increased funding for children's health coverage.
* A cut in the expensive subsidies to Medicare Advantage plans, the private insurance plans that are marketed to seniors as a substitute for traditional, government administered Medicare – a major AFSCME legislative priority. The savings from the cuts in subsidies are used to pay for improvements in the Medicare program and to help pay for the increase in funding for the SCHIP program. By cutting the unaffordable subsidies, the bill also helps to strengthen the financial solvency of the Medicare program.

During debate on the bill in the Ways and Means Committee, an amendment was offered by Rep. Phil English (R-PA) to strip language in the bill that eliminates the subsidies to the Medicare Advantage plans. The amendment failed largely along party lines. But the debate over this amendment foreshadows what will be a tough fight over the bill on the House floor with the insurance industry waging a strong fight to keep its subsidies.
(Barbara Coufal- [e-mail])

Senate to Debate Children's Health Bill
Next week, the Senate is also expected to debate its version of legislation reauthorizing the State Children's Health Insurance Program. The Senate bill provides $35 billion over five years in additional funding for children's health care, paid for with an increase in the federal tobacco tax. The Senate bill does not address the Medicare Advantage subsidies. The Senate bill also includes language promoted by AFSCME protecting Medicaid eligibility determinations from being privatized.
(Barbara Coufal- [e-mail])

We Need Your Help!

Please Call Your Representative and Your Senators Now toll free at 1-888-460-0813.
Urge them to vote for bills to reauthorize the Children's Health Insurance Program.
Tell them that we must fulfill the nation's promise to provide
health coverage to low-income children.

AFSCME Employment Security Member Calls for WIA Reform
Testifying before a subcommittee of the House of Representatives, Mason Petit, a trade adjustment assistance counselor from Washington State and a member of AFSCME Council 28, called for a realignment of the workforce system. He urged Congress to create a collaborative system in which the state employment service is the major provider of labor exchange services with the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) primarily providing training and intensive services. Petit described how private agencies provide little training and low-cost job matching while the state labor exchange capacity continues to decline. A copy of the testimony appears on the AFSCME website.
(Nanine Meiklejohn- [e-mail])

Senate and House Approve Bill Implementing Recommendations of 9/11 Commission
Late this week the House and Senate approved the Improving America's Security Act (H.R. 1), legislation that implements recommendations for homeland security made by the bipartisan 9/11 commission. The bill includes measures to address emergency communications and rail, aviation and mass transit security. Because of opposition from the White House and from GOP leaders, a provision restoring collective bargaining rights to airport security screeners was dropped from the bill.
(Barbara Coufal- [e-mail])

Senator Kennedy Introduces Bill to Stop Mandatory Overtime for Nurses
The Safe Nursing and Patient Care Act of 2007 (S. 1842), recently introduced by Sens. Edward Kennedy (D-MA) and John Kerry (D-MA) would improve the quality of care in hospitals by setting reasonable limits on mandatory overtime from nurses. Nurses are routinely forced to work double shifts and extra hours, even though this practice puts patient safety in jeopardy. Research has found that when nurses work 12.5 hours or more per day the likelihood of giving the patient the wrong medication or making other errors triples. The bill would prohibit health care facilities from requiring registered nurses and licensed practical nurses to work more than a scheduled work shift, more than 12 hours in a 24-hour period, or more than 80 hours in a consecutive 14-day period, absent a declared emergency. The bill also protects nurses from retaliation if they report employers for violating these patient safety provisions. Reps. Pete Stark (D-CA) and Steven LaTourette (R-OH) have introduced a companion bill in the House.
(Linda Bennett- [e-mail])

The Safe Schools Improvement Act Introduced
The Safe Schools Improvement Act (H.R. 3132) was introduced by Rep. Linda Sanchez (D-CA) with over 30 bipartisan cosponsors. The bill, which would amend the Safe and Drug-Free Schools and Communities Act, would require that schools and districts ensure that their codes of conduct specifically prohibit bullying and harassment, and that states include bullying and harassment data in their state-wide reporting just as districts include such data in their plans to address school safety. Current federal law provides important federal support to promote school safety but does not comprehensively and expressly focus on issues of bullying or harassment.
(Marge Allen- [e-mail])

Senate Passes Second Higher Education Bill
Last week, the Senate approved H.R. 2669 which would increase the maximum Pell Grant by more than $1,000 and lower the interest rates for student loans by providing that monthly repayments never exceed 15 percent of monthly income. The bill would also provide loan forgiveness after 10 years for teachers, firefighters, child care workers and other public employees. This week, the Senate approved the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act (S. 1642) by a 95-0 vote. This bill contains ethics reforms in the student loan industry. It would also simplify the federal financial aid application and delivery process, to ensure that a complex process does not become a barrier to access for low-income students.
(Marge Allen- [e-mail])

Minimum Wage Increase Takes Effect
The first of three minimum wage increases went into effect on July 24 when the minimum wage rose to $5.85 an hour. The second increase, to $6.55, will take place on July 24, 2008 and the final increase, to $7.25 an hour, will take place on July 24, 2009. The increases are the result of legislation that the Democratic-controlled Congress approved in January 2007. Nearly 13 million workers, or 10 percent of the U.S. workforce, will directly or indirectly benefit from a raise in the minimum wage to $7.25 per hour. A rally, attended by over 100 members of Congress and hundreds of cheering trade unionists, was held on Capitol Hill to hail the first increase in 10 years. At that rally, Sen. Edward Kennedy and Rep. George Miller (D-CA) announced that they plan to introduce legislation to increase the wage further. At the new rate of $5.85, the real value of the minimum wage – its purchasing power – is still $2.25 below what it was at the peak of its buying power in 1968. The minimum wage would have to be $9.50 an hour today to have the purchasing power that it had in 1968.
(Marge Allen [e-mail])

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