AFSCME Legislative Report
April 8, 2005
Congress — Week ending April 8
Congress poised to act on federal budget. Consideration of TANF delayed.
In this issue:
Congress Poised to Act on Final Budget Plan
House and Senate negotiators are getting ready to meet next week on a final
budget resolution plan for FY 2006. The House- and Senate-passed plans vary in
some significant ways as the Senate increased the size of its tax cuts to $129
billion over five years, while the House plan calls for tax cuts of $106
billion. The House plan calls for $20 billion in Medicaid cuts, while the Senate
plan, after lobbying by AFSCME and other groups, dropped the cuts entirely. Rep.
Heather Wilson (R-NM) is circulating a letter among her Republican colleagues to
Budget Chair Jim Nussle (R-IA) stating that the Medicaid cuts in the House bill
should be dropped. We have been working to get signatures on that letter. Both
plans call for spending cuts; the House plan is $216 billion over five years,
and the Senate plan a $203 billion cut.
AFSCME members should call their Members of Congress and tell them to
oppose any congressional budget resolution that cuts vital public services to
the states, cuts Medicaid, increases the deficit and gives more tax cuts to the
rich.
Return to Index
Lots of Action But Bush Makes No Gains on Social
Security During Congressional Recess
Midway through their 60-day coast-to-coast blitz to promote fundamental
revisions in Social Security, President Bush has not been able to pry loose any
Democratic senators from the solid wall of opposition to his plan to privatize
Social Security. Some Republicans who met with constituents on Social Security
during the two-week congressional recess reported that the President had managed
to convince many people that the solvency of Social Security was in jeopardy and
that the program needed to be overhauled. But, they reported that their
constituents were wary about individual accounts as the best solution. However,
the official word from President Bush is that he is undaunted and still expects
to win the fight.
Democrats also fanned out across the country holding town hall meetings to
educate their constituents about how Bush's plan will cut benefits and raise the
national debt. The two sides in the debate also stepped up their television
advertising over the congressional recess. Supporters of the President ran
advertisements comparing the Social Security system to the Titanic and showing a
ticking stopwatch counting down the time until Social Security goes broke. But
there is a split among Republicans. The Club for Growth, which raised more than
$20 million last year to support Republican candidates, is running a commercial
criticizing Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) because he has proposed legislation for
individual accounts under Social Security that would include a tax increase.
Americans United to Protect Social Security, founded by AFSCME and other leading
organizations, plans to begin television commercials next week against the
President's plan.
The congressional timetable for debating Social Security overhaul remains
fluid. Actual legislation to overhaul Social Security is unlikely to advance in
Congress before summer. Meanwhile, House Ways and Means Chairman Bill Thomas
(R-CA) has said he will hold more hearings on Social Security, and Senate
Finance Chairman Charles E. Grassley (R-IA) said that he would hold hearings in
April and begin work on a bill by July.
The nonpartisan Congressional Research Service (CRS) issued a report on the
Bush plan and concluded that President Bush's proposals for Social Security
would mean the end of Social Security's guaranteed benefit. The report said that
the Bush proposal's benefit cuts would start small but that they eventually
become so large that they reduce the guaranteed Social Security benefit to zero.
At that point, individuals would have to rely solely on their private accounts.
Return to Index
Republican Disagreements Delay Senate Consideration of
TANF Bill
In another sign of the new assertiveness of congressional conservatives, a
split has developed in the Republican caucus in the Senate over the cost of the
Senate Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) bill. Conservatives are
alleging that the bill is over budget and have threatened to block it on the
Senate floor. As a result, floor action on the bill, once scheduled for this
week, has been delayed for at least another week.
In a separate matter, efforts are continuing to find acceptable offsets for
the $5 billion increase in child care funding included in the bill. The original
proposal, which would prevent some legal immigrants from receiving the Earned
Income Tax Credit (EITC), created so much controversy that it has been pared
back. When the Senate bill does reach the floor, we expect Sen. Rick Santorum
(R-PA) to offer an amendment to extend the TANF faith-based provisions to the
social services block grant and Sen. Jim Talent (R-MO) to offer an amendment
raising the weekly work hours to 40 hours.
House Committee consideration of the TANF bill could resume within the next
two weeks.
Return to Index
Administration Pushing Hard on "WIA Plus Block Grant"
as Senate Discussion on WIA Reauthorization Begins
Administration officials are reaching out aggressively to Democratic
governors in an attempt to create bipartisan support for its "WIA Plus" block
grant proposal. WIA Plus would allow governors to block grant Workforce
Investment Act (WIA) adult training, employment services, Trade Adjustment
Assistance (TAA), vocational rehabilitation, veterans' employment services and
adult education programs. Under WIA Plus, governors would have complete
discretion in how to organize program services, including contracting out
activities, such as vocational rehabilitation counseling, which currently must
be provided by state civil service workers. In addition, Sen. Mike Enzi (R-WY),
Chairman of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, hopes
for quick action on WIA reauthorization in the Senate and is planning a hearing
on the issue for April 14.
We are hoping to build on the improvements over the House bill that we made
last Congress in the Senate while also fighting off the WIA Plus block grant.
Last year's Senate bill did not include the Employment Service/WIA block grant
in the recently-passed House bill (H.R. 27). However, it did include provisions
for substantial fund transfers from WIA partner programs such as unemployment
insurance, TAA, vocational rehabilitation, and TANF that would lead to
devolution of these state programs to the local one-stop center system.
Return to Index
Intergovernmental Relations — Update
The following is a periodic report on the activities of state and local
government interest groups.
47 States' Employment Service Funding Decreased
- Every state except Minnesota, South Carolina and Rhode Island received
reduced funding in 2005 from the U.S. Department of Labor to run their
Employment Service (ES) programs as compared with 2004, according to figures
just released by the Federal Funds Information for States. The District of
Columbia, Hawaii, Mississippi, Puerto Rico and Utah received the largest
percentage reductions. Nationally, federal funding for ES has fallen by
$10.5 million from 2003-2005.
It's the Premiums, Stupid: Study Predicts Uninsured Will Reach 56 Million
by 2013
- More than one in four Americans under age 65 — nearly 56 million people
— will be without health insurance by 2013 because coverage is becoming too
expensive, according to a
new report posted this week on the Health Affairs web site. This
compares with approximately 45 million uninsured today. The authors found
that while factors such as changes in employment patterns and demographic
shifts have some slight effects on health care coverage, cost has the
largest effect. "Regardless of whether health care benefits are being paid
out of an employer's or employee's pocket, and without regard to the amount
of premium contribution that employees are required to make, there is a
remarkable tight relationship between affordability and coverage rates,"
write authors Todd Gilmer and Richard Kronick of the University of
California, San Diego.
Wealth Gap Growing Between Whites and Blacks
- Using its "Equality Index" to measure disparities between blacks and
whites in America, the National Urban League has found that equality is not
improving in urban America, and that changes are needed in national policies
and priorities. The main areas studied include economics, health, education,
social justice, and civic engagement. The Urban League's 2005 State of
Black America report includes a number of recommendations for policies
and actions, including increasing the minimum wage, strengthening the
Community Development Block Grant program, extending the 1965 Voting Rights
Act, which expires in 2007, and closing the home ownership gap by lowering
down payment requirements and making mortgages more available and
affordable.
No Wonder We Feel So Old!
-
Stateline.org has collected demographic data that shows that the aging
trend in the workforce is more pronounced in state governments than in the
U.S. private workforce in general. According to the National Governors
Association Center for Best Practices, 43.6 percent of state workforces
collectively are comprised of people age 45 or older. The hardest hit will
be the state of Washington, where 64 percent of its workforce is eligible to
retire between now and 2015. States where the projected retirement rate is
over 50 percent include Maine, Tennessee, Michigan and Pennsylvania. Looming
retirements could cause acute shortages of state healthcare workers, legal
professionals, national scientists, engineers, educators and managers,
according to a Rockefeller Institute of Government study in 2002.
Return to Index
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