AFSCME LEGISLATIVE REPORT October 19, 2007

[Omaha Steve]

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

AFSCME LEGISLATIVE REPORT
October 19, 2007

In this issue:

* House Fails to Override the President's Veto of Children's Health Bill
* Sen. Clinton and Rep. DeLauro Introduce Child Care Provider Bill
* Senate passes CJS Appropriations Bill
* Senate Begins Consideration of Labor-HHS-Education Funding Bill
* Mental Health Parity Legislation Passes House Committee
* House Votes Pass Temporary Four-Year Moratorium on Internet Access Taxes
* Subcommittees Hear of Administration's Lax Oversight of Private Medicare Plans
* Report Finds Private Insurers Drive Up Drug Costs with Limited Savings for Medicare

House Fails to Override the President's Veto of Children's Health Bill
On Thursday, the House voted 273 to 156 to override the President's veto of the bill to renew the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). While the vote demonstrated strong, bipartisan support for the bill, the margin of support was short of the two-thirds majority needed to override the President's veto. Two Democrats voted with the President and against the override – Reps. Gene Taylor (MS) and Jim Marshall (GA). On the other hand, 44 Republicans sided with the vast majority of Democrats - and with kids - and voted to override the President. The Republicans who voted right are listed below.
(Barbara Coufal- [e-mail])

Mary Bono (CA)
Vern Buchanan (FL)
Shelley Moore Capito (WV)
Michael Castle (DE)
Tom Davis (VA)
Charles Dent (PA)
Vernon Ehlers (MI)
Jo Ann Emerson (MO)
Phil English (PA)
Mike Ferguson (NJ)
Vito Fossella (NY)
Jim Gerlach (PA)
Wayne Gilchrest (MD)
David Hobson (OH)
Mark Kirk (IL)
Ray LaHood (IL)
Tom Latham (IA)
Steven LaTourette (OH)
Frank LoBiondo (NJ)
John McHugh (NY)
Cathy McMorris Rodgers (WA)
Tim Murphy (PA)
Candice Miller (MI)
Jerry Moran (KS)
Thomas Petri (WI)
Todd Platts (PA)
Jon Porter (NV)
Deborah Pryce (OH)
Jim Ramstad (MN)
Ralph Regula (OH)
Dennis Rehberg (MT)
Dave Reichert (WA)
Rick Renzi (AZ)
Christopher Shays (CT)
Mike Simpson (ID)
Chris Smith (NJ)
Patrick Tiberi (OH)
Michael Turner (OH)
Fred Upton (MI)
James Walsh (NY)
Heather Wilson (NM)
Frank Wolf (VA)
Don Young (AK)
Bill Young (FL)

Sen. Clinton and Rep. DeLauro Introduce Child Care Provider Bill
Standing among AFSCME child care providers from New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan and New Jersey, Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) and Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) announced the introduction of the Quality Child Care for America Act (S. 2187/H.R. 3870) at a press conference this week. President McEntee and Pamela Stewart, an AFSCME family child care provider from Benton Harbor, Michigan, also spoke at the event, along with a Maryland provider represented by SEIU and Nancy Duff Campbell, co-president of the National Women's Law Center. Sen. Robert Casey (D-PA) is an original co-sponsor of the bill.

The new legislation authorizes Congress to add $200 million a year to the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) to support and strengthen the child care workforce. States are given flexibility in how they could use the additional funds. Permissible uses include increasing providers' compensation, including health insurance coverage and retirement benefits; providing paid sick leave, paid vacation leave, or paid release time for education or training; providing tuition assistance; providing technical and financial assistance to meet licensing requirements; and developing mentor and career ladder programs. Union training and technical assistance programs would be eligible to receive funding from their respective states under this legislation. At least 30 percent of the funds must support family child care providers.
(Fran Bernstein- [e-mail])

Senate Passes CJS Appropriations Bill
The Senate passed the FY 2008 Commerce-Justice-Science (CJS) appropriations bill on October 16, which provides $54 billion for the programs and services under by the Departments of Commerce and Justice, including many that provide funding for public safety officers. The bill includes a $4 billion – or 8 percent – increase over current funding.

Of particular importance for AFSCME members, the Senate passed by voice vote an amendment by Sen. Joe Biden (D-DE) to the bill that adds $110 million to re-start the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) hiring program, raising the total funding for COPS to $660 million.
(Blaine Rummel- [e-mail])

Senate Begins Consideration of Labor-HHS-Education Funding Bill
The Senate is mired in debate and numerous amendments on the Labor, Health and Human Services (HHS) and Education funding bill (H.R. 3043), for FY 2008. The bill provides vital public funding to states and local governments for workforce, health care, human services and education programs. Despite modest increases in funding for these programs the President has said he would veto the bill. A Senate vote is expected early next week.
(Ed Jayne- [e-mail])

Mental Health Parity Legislation Passes House Committee
On Tuesday, the House Energy and Commerce Committee approved legislation (H.R. 1424) that would require mental health benefits to be equal in amount and scope to other benefits insurance plans. The bill has cleared two House committees and with 273 cosponsors the legislation is expected to pass. The estimated cost of the House bill is $4.2 billion over ten years. The House Budget Committee must find savings or increase revenue to offset the bill's cost. The Senate has already adopted a different bill (S. 588), which is supported by the Bush Administration, insurers, business groups, and many in the mental health community. Both the House and Senate bills do not require plans or insurers to offer mental health coverage. The House bill goes further in what it would require insurers and plans to cover. Current law is set to expire at the end of the year and only prohibits group plans and insurances from imposing higher annual and lifetime dollar limits on mental health coverage than is imposed on medical and surgical benefits. And, current law allows state and local plans to opt out of these requirements.
(Linda Bennett- [e-mail])

House Votes to Pass Temporary Four-Year Moratorium on Internet Access Taxes
In an increasingly rare show of bipartisan unity, the House voted 405-2 to pass a temporary four-year moratorium on Internet Access taxes. The bill was strongly supported by diverse interests, including labor unions, state and local governments, and the affected industries. The Internet Tax Freedom Act Amendments Act of 2007 (H.R. 3678) also would clarify the definition of Internet Access to reduce corporate tax loopholes and it contains a grandfather clause to preserve current state and local revenues. The Senate has not yet acted, and with the current moratorium expiring on November 1, there is pressure on the Senate Commerce Committee to debate its bill soon. The committee is expected to consider the bipartisan Carper-Alexander ITFA Extension Act of 2007 (S. 1453), which is very similar to the House-passed bill.
(Marc Granowitter- [e-mail])

Subcommittees Hear of Administration's Lax Oversight of Private Medicare Plans
On Tuesday, at a joint hearing of the Health and Oversight Subcommittees of the House Ways and Means Committee, lawmakers heard testimony about the Bush Administration's lax oversight of insurers who offer private plans as an alternative to Medicare. The plans supplant Medicare and are under a program called Medicare Advantage. The General Accountability Office (GAO) has reported that the Administration has failed to properly audit Medicare Advantage insurance companies. GAO found that in 49 audits in 2003, the Administration found significant errors in 41 companies but allowed the insurers to keep $59 million that could have been used to reduce premiums or provide additional benefits to older Americans. Under current law, insurers receive taxpayer funded subsidies to provide an alternative to Medicare but the GAO report shows that the promised benefits and savings are illusory. AFSCME continues to press for Congress to rein in the subsidies to private Medicare Advantage plans which threaten the fiscal solvency of Medicare for current and future beneficiaries.
(Linda Bennett- [e-mail])

Report Finds Private Insurers Drive Up Drug Costs with Limited Savings for Medicare
Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) issued a report prepared for the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform analyzing cost and pricing data from 12 private insurers that provide drug coverage to over 18 million Medicare beneficiaries. Unlike traditional Medicare which is run directly by the government, the current Medicare Part D prescription drug program depends on private insurers. The report, "Private Medicare Drug Plans: High Expenses and Low Rebates Increase the Costs of Medicare Drug Coverage," estimates that taxpayers and Medicare Part D beneficiaries could have saved almost $15 billion in 2007 if administrative expenses in the program were reduced to the level achieved by traditional government administered Medicare and drug prices were lowered to Medicaid levels. The administrative expenses, sales costs, and profits of private insurance companies offering Medicare Part D coverage will cost taxpayers and beneficiaries $180 per beneficiary in 2007. AFSCME supports establishing a nationwide Medicare administered prescription drug plan that allows the federal government to negotiate deep discounts on prescription drug prices on behalf of the 43 million Medicare beneficiaries.
(Linda Bennett- [e-mail])

Click here to join the AFSCME e-Activist Network.

AFSCME Department of Legislation
Phone: [phone] or 800/732-8120
Fax: [phone]
E-mail: [e-mail]
Website: http://www.afscme.org/
Produced by Union Labor

Visit the web address below to tell your friends about this.
Tell-a-friend!

If you received this message from a friend, you can sign up for AFSCME Action Center.

If you would like to unsubscribe from AFSCME Action C