AFSCME Federal Legislative Report September 21, 2007

[Omaha Steve]

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

AFSCME LEGISLATIVE REPORT
September 21, 2007

In this issue:

* House and Senate to Vote on Children's Health Bill–President Reiterates Veto Threat
* Senate Rejects D.C. Voting Rights Bill
* House Committee Approves Nurse Collective Bargaining Rights Bill
* Bills to Secure Minimum Wage and Overtime for Home Health Care Workers Introduced
* Senate Passes Mental Health Parity Legislation
* New Bipartisan Senate Bill Would Create Entitlement Reform Task Force
* House Committee Approves Short-Term Trade Adjustment Assistance Act Extension
* House and Senate Agree on FDA Reauthorization; Generic Biotech Drugs Not Included

House and Senate to Vote on Children's Health Bill – President Reiterates Veto Threat
House and Senate leaders are completing the final details in negotiations on a compromise bill to continue and improve the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). Both the House and Senate plan to hold votes on the bill next week. The bill is expected to easily win passage, but it is uncertain whether there will be enough support among House Republicans to achieve the two-thirds majority needed to override an expected veto by President Bush.

The compromise bill would provide coverage to an additional four million children who are already eligible for health coverage but currently unenrolled in state programs due primarily to a lack of federal funding. The increase in coverage is paid for by an increase in the federal tobacco tax. For a pack of cigarettes, the tax would increase by about 61 cents. Unfortunately, the final bill did not include provisions from the House-passed bill that were aimed at improving the Medicare program, including the elimination of overpayments to the private Medicare Advantage plans that are offered as an alternative to traditional fee-for-service Medicare. While the Senate was unwilling to include the Medicare provisions in the SCHIP bill, Senate leaders have promised to develop and advance separate legislation to address the overpayments and other needed improvements in the Medicare program.
(Barbara Coufal- [e-mail])

How You Can Help Kids!

Call your Representative and urge him/her to vote for the SCHIP bill. Tell him/her that children need health care in order to have a healthy start in life. Without coverage, kids don't get the regular checkups and doctor visits that they need. Call Today, Toll Free at 1-888-460-0813. Insist that your Representative stand with children and not with the President!

Senate Rejects D.C. Voting Rights Bill
On September 18, the Senate failed to pass a bill that would have given the District of Columbia a vote in the House of Representatives. While obtaining 57 votes, proponents failed to achieve the 60 votes necessary to overcome a procedural hurdle erected by GOP leaders. The D.C. House Voting Rights Act (S. 1257) would have given the District of Columbia one voting member in the U.S. House of Representatives and, as part of a compromise, cleared the way for Utah to have an additional seat in the House. The House of Representatives approved its bill in April. Polls show that most Americans support full voting representation for D.C. residents.
(Cynthia Bradley- [e-mail])

House Committee Approves Nurse Collective Bargaining Rights Bill
On Wednesday, the House Committee on Education and Labor approved the Re-Empowerment of Skilled and Professional Employees and Construction Tradeworkers (RESPECT) Act (H.R. 1644), which restores the fundamental right to organize to millions of hard-working Americans. The Committee adopted the bill by a vote of 26-20, along party lines.

The RESPECT Act makes necessary modifications to the statutory definition of a "supervisor" under the National Labor Relations Act, the law that governs labor relations in the private sector. Unlike other workers, "supervisors" do not have protection under federal labor law and can be legally fired for joining or forming a union. Recent interpretations of the term "supervisor" by courts and the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) have given employers the ability to strip collective bargaining rights from nurses and other employees who do not have managerial authority but who might direct a co-worker on a single, discrete task. The bill would make two minor modifications to federal labor law to ensure that "employees with minor supervisory duties" continue to have the right to organize and bargain collectively. AFSCME will be pressing for passage of H.R. 1644 and for the Senate to pass its version of the bill (S. 969). You can see whether your representatives or senators are cosponsoring H.R. 1644/S. 969 by checking at http://thomas.loc.gov/
(Linda Bennett- [e-mail])

Bills to Secure Minimum Wage and Overtime for Home Health Care Workers Introduced
The Fair Home Health Care Act (S. 2061/H.R. 3582), introduced by Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA) and Rep. Lynn Woolsey (D-CA), would give home health care workers the minimum wage and overtime protections of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), so long as the workers are not employed on an occasional basis. The legislation will nullify and correct the recent Supreme Court decision in Long Island Care at Home, Ltd. v. Evelyn Coke, which put home care providers employed by a home care agency outside of the core protections of the FLSA.
(Linda Bennett- [e-mail])

Senate Passes Mental Health Parity Legislation
The Senate passed legislation (S. 558) that would require mental health benefits to be equal in amount and scope to other benefits in insurance plans. The bill does not require plans or insurers to offer mental health coverage. Current law is set to expire at the end of the year and only prohibits plans from imposing higher annual and lifetime dollar limits on mental health coverage than is imposed on medical and surgical benefits. The law allows state and local plans to opt out of these requirements. Two House committees have taken positive action on the slightly different House mental health parity bill (H.R. 1424), but a third committee must yet consider the bill. As the House proceeds to consider the legislation, AFSCME will advocate to close the opt-out loophole for state and local plans and to strengthen mental health parity.
(Linda Bennett- [e-mail])

New Bipartisan Senate Bill Would Create Entitlement Reform Task Force
The Chair and Ranking Republican of the Senate Budget Committee introduced "The Bipartisan Task Force for Responsible Fiscal Action Act of 2007" (S. 2063), which would create a task force on entitlement reform. The bipartisan task force would "review all aspects of the current and long-term financial condition of the federal government." This 16 person task force would include 14 members of Congress and Administration officials, and would be chaired by the Treasury Secretary. It would report to Congress before December 10, 2008 with an analysis of all potential solutions, and make legislative recommendations to Congress for substantially improving long-term fiscal balance. The House and Senate would be required to give these recommendations expedited consideration with limited floor debate. AFSCME has opposed similar legislation in the past. House Democratic leaders are also cool to this idea.
(Marc Granowitter- [e-mail])

House Committee Approves Short-Term Trade Adjustment Assistance Act Extension
With the Trade Adjustment Assistance Act expiring on September 30, the House Ways and Means Committee this week approved a three-month extension of the program (H.R. 3375). Both the House and Senate are expected to approve the legislation before the end of September.

Meanwhile congressional staff are developing legislation that would renew and substantially expand the current program which provides extended unemployment benefits and retraining for workers who lose their jobs due to trade. Among the important improvements would be an expansion of coverage to service workers and public employees and increasing the resources available for training.

AFSCME has been working with staff in both the House and Senate to design a new funding stream for state employment service and unemployment insurance employees to provide counseling, assessment and other case management services to workers applying for the program. Previously, the state employment service provided these services, but funding reductions have substantially eroded their ability to do so.

In addition, in recent years DOL has been pushing states to use Workforce Investment Act (WIA) funds and WIA contractors to serve qualifying workers. AFSCME is working to ensure that the new law includes a requirement to continue the program's longstanding practice of requiring that state agency merit staff administer the benefits and provide the counseling services for the program.
(Nanine Meiklejohn- [e-mail])

House and Senate Agree on FDA Reauthorization; Generic Biotech Drugs Not Included
Both the House of Representatives and the Senate overwhelmingly passed legislation (H.R. 3580) to reauthorize the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) prescription drug and medical device review program through FY 2012, financed by nearly $400 million in drug and device company user fees. Among the bill's provisions: a new program for the voluntary review of prescription drug direct-to-consumer television advertisements; new rules involving the disclosure of clinical trial results; incentives for pediatric research; and new rules on conflict of interests in drug agency advisory boards. The bill does not include authority for FDA to approve generic versions of biotech drugs or "biologics", which are products such as insulin and hormones that are made from biological substances. Legislation concerning the review and approval process for generic biotech drugs, which has been considered by the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, will be considered separately from the FDA drug user fee program reauthorization.
(Linda Bennett- [e-mail])

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