AFSCME Legislative Report
June 24, 2005
AFSCME LEGISLATIVE REPORT
Congress — Week ending July 1
Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor announces her retirement. CAFTA
clears Senate. House plans to consider Social Security private accounts bill in
July and passes two spending bills.
The Congress now begins its traditional Fourth of July recess, and will
reconvene July 11th. The next Legislative Report will be on July 12th.
In this issue:
Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor Announces Her Intent to
Retire
Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, the first woman appointed to the U.S. Supreme
Court, announced on July 1st that she is retiring and that she expects to leave
before the start of the court's next term in October, or whenever the Senate
confirms her successor. Justice O'Connor's announcement will launch a major
battle over her replacement and the future of the U.S. Supreme Court. It has
been 11 years since the last vacancy on the court, and she has been an important
swing vote in many cases protecting the rights of workers.
In a press statement
released on July 1st, President McEntee urged President Bush to work with both
Democrats and Republicans to find a "nominee that will unite the country — not
cause a greater divide. The Supreme Court rules on issues that profoundly affect
the lives of working people, such as wage laws, worker safety, discrimination
and harassment. Working families deserve a court that will look out for their
safety and wellbeing, and it is President Bush's job to ensure that his nominee
has their best interest at heart."
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CAFTA Approved in the Senate
The Dominican Republic-Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) was
approved in the Senate Finance Committee on a voice vote and went on to be
approved by the full Senate by 54 to 45, the closest margin ever for a big trade
vote. The real battle will be in the House in July where a number of Republicans
have already announced their opposition. AFSCME joined with the entire labor
movement in opposing CAFTA because the implementing legislation fails to address
CAFTA's fundamental flaws and merely offers prospective promises of assistance
and support — promises the Administration has not hesitated to break in the
past. Moreover, the labor provisions in CAFTA are actually weaker than the
current labor conditions that apply to Central American countries under our
unilateral trade preference programs, the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP)
and the Caribbean Basin Initiative (CBI). They are a step backwards from the
labor rights provisions of the U.S.-Jordan Free Trade Agreement, which passed
Congress unanimously in 2001. Unlike the Jordan agreement, CAFTA excludes the
vast majority of its labor rights obligations from the accord's dispute
settlement and enforcement mechanisms. Under CAFTA, only the requirement that
countries enforce their own labor laws is subject to dispute settlement and
enforcement, but this is rendered meaningless by the fact that CAFTA does not
require countries to maintain even minimal labor standards like child labor
laws. Furthermore, countries are free to weaken their existing already weak
labor laws as often and whenever they like without losing any CAFTA benefits.
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Bush and GOP Congressional Leaders Resort to Misrepresentations,
Lies and Distortions in Fight for Private Accounts
If anyone thought that President Bush had pulled back in his efforts to
privatize Social Security just because the vast majority of Americans are
opposed to the idea, they would be dead wrong. And, as if we needed to be
reminded that George Bush and his allies in Congress will stop at nothing to
privatize Social Security — even overriding massive public opposition to private
accounts — all we have to do is read the remarks of Rep. Jack Kingston (R-GA),
the Vice Chairman of the House Republican Conference, in the Washington Times
newspaper saying that it doesn't matter whether or not private accounts are in
any Social Security bill which passes the Senate — because the GOP leadership
will just impose them on the American people behind closed doors in a
congressional conference committee. Of course, Kingston is assuming that a bill
with private accounts will pass the full House and the opponents of
privatization therefore need to be sure that that does not happen.
The situation on privatizing Social Security is this: Ways and Means Chairman
Bill Thomas (R-CA) is expected to have the votes in his committee to pass a
retirement security bill in July that will contain the latest version of private
accounts but may or may not address Social Security's long term solvency
problem. And, although the Senate is far from agreement on personal accounts,
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Charles Grassley (R-IA) is reported as close
to reaching a consensus among his committee's GOP members on how to make the
Social Security system solvent although reportedly they haven't yet discussed
the private accounts pushed by President Bush. And, while Grassley did not make
any details of his negotiations public, he did said that his proposal would
involve cutting Social Security benefits, changing the retirement age and making
some revenue change.
The latest description of the House privatization plan is pure public
relations. Advocates are talking about using the Social Security surplus to fund
private accounts. What surplus are they talking about? The reality is that
Social Security does not have a surplus — it has a long term shortfall. A
surplus is where there is more money than is needed to pay 100 percent of the
bills coming due. If nothing is done to strengthen the Social Security Trust
Fund, there is enough money to pay 100 percent of guaranteed benefits until
sometime between 2041 and 2052. But, if their solution is to use the Trust Fund
to pay for private accounts instead of strengthening the program by getting
more, not less money into it, the Trust Fund will be reduced sooner and there
would have to be benefit cuts or a hike in the retirement age to fund those
private accounts. In reality, it is the same as the Bush plan: It takes payroll
tax money that's already earmarked to pay future Social Security benefits and
uses it instead for private accounts. It does nothing to help the system stay
solvent after mid-century. It would increase the nation's already staggering
debt and lead to deep benefit cuts not only for those whose private accounts
would be small but for anyone who might live longer than he or she expects.
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House Cuts Funding for Health, Education, Workforce, and Human
Services Programs in its FY 2006 Appropriations Bill
The House completed its FY 2006 Labor-Health and Human Services (HHS)-Education
Appropriations bill late last week and, as we reported in the June 24th
Washington Report as the bill was being debated, dozens of programs are on the
chopping block, including the Employment Service, K-12 school funding and a
number of programs affecting public health institutions. In addition to the
program cuts we listed in last week's Legislative Report, the House adopted an
amendment offered by Rep. Jim Kolbe (R-AZ), which prohibits the Department of
Education from using appropriated funds to enforce its own rule that does not
allow for-profit charter schools to receive federal special education and Title
I funds because they are not public schools. AFSCME is opposing this provision
and the draconian cuts in the House bill as the Senate takes up its Labor-HHS-Education
Appropriations bill starting on July 12th. After the Senate passes its
appropriations bill, the House and Senate bills will go into conference to
resolve differences between the two bills.
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House Committee Considers Another Campaign Finance Bill
On Wednesday, the Committee on House Administration debated the "527 Reform
Act of 2005" (H.R. 513), a campaign finance bill introduced by Reps. Christopher
Shays (R-CT) and Martin Meehan (D-MA). The bill was reported out of committee,
without a recommendation of support or opposition, with all Republicans voting
in favor of advancing the bill to the full House and all Democrats voting
against.
AFSCME opposes the Shays-Meehan bill because it would make it much more
difficult for unions to engage in grassroots activity in support of state and
local candidates. It would also shut down organizations such as America Votes
and America Coming Together that, with financial support from labor, conducted
grassroots programs in 2004 that helped to produce the highest voter turnout
since 1968.
While the design of H.R. 513 would eliminate the grassroots work that unions
and progressive organizations engage in, it would not have the same impact on
conservative 527 organizations that could continue to raise large contributions
from individual donors. In addition, the bill would not have the same impact on
corporations, allowing them to continue their involvement in political activity.
Earlier this month, this same committee approved an alternative campaign
finance bill (H.R. 1316) introduced by Reps. Mike Pence (R-IN) and Albert Wynn
(D-MD). This bill was reported out of committee with a recommendation of
support, again along party lines with all Republicans voting in favor of the
bill and Democrats opposing. AFSCME also opposes H.R. 1316 because it would
increase the ability of wealthy individuals and trade associations to make
political contributions to candidates, party committees and political action
committees. As a consequence, the wealthy and trade associations will increase
their domination of the political process at the expense of working families.
It appears that both bills will be put on the House floor for a vote during
the month of July. At this time, we expect the bills to be voted on separately,
rather than combined into one bill.
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House Approves Transportation-HUD Bill & Retains CDBG at HUD
The House of Representatives voted 405 to 18 to approve the Transportation,
Treasury, Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Judiciary, District of Columbia
FY 2006 Appropriations bill (H.R. 3058). The bill's spending levels remained
largely the same as reported out by the Appropriations Committee, except for a
$626 million increase to Amtrak. Before the debate even began, the House Rules
Committee voted along party lines to block a Democratic amendment by Rep. John
Olver (D-MA) to add $2.1 billion to the bill and offsetting the increase by
reducing tax breaks for taxpayers with incomes over $1 million. Olver's
amendment would have added $657 million for Amtrak, $143 million for HOPE VI
housing programs, $250 million for the Community Development Block Grant (CDGB),
$800 million for the Help America Vote Act, and $180 million for IRS tax
enforcement. Although the bill cuts CDBG formula funding by $250 million from
last year, the House rejected President Bush's proposal to move CDBG to the
Commerce Department and instead, retain it at HUD.
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Congress Approves Another Extension of Surface Transportation Bill
Unable to complete negotiations on a massive surface transportation bill, the
Congress has approved another extension of the law that provides funding and
policies for the nation's highways and transit systems. As programs expire on
June 30th, the House and Senate have now approved its eighth extension, through
July 19th. It had been anticipated that the House and Senate would complete work
on the bill this week, however, major issues still need to be resolved in the
conference including the minimum guarantee of funding to states as well as
control over projects. Tensions over these issues now threaten the "deal"
reached last week to pass a bill with an overall funding level of $286.5
billion.
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House Passes 10th Extension of Welfare Law
Yesterday, the House passed the 10th bill to extend Temporary Assistance for
Needy Families (TANF) until September 30, 2005. The Senate is expected to pass
the bill before the current extension expires today. The House and Senate have
failed to agree on TANF reauthorization, however both chambers have
reauthorization bills in progress.
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Senate Approves Interior-Environment Spending Bill; Includes Boost
for VA
The Senate Appropriations Committee passed the spending bill for the
Department of Interior, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and other
related agencies for FY 2006 yesterday. Total funding for the bill is $26.3
billion, more than the President's $25.7 billion request but $700 million less
than the current level. Other provisions include $1.1 billion for the Clean
Water State Revolving Loan Fund and $850 million for the Drinking Water State
Revolving Loan Fund. Also included is a $1.5 billion increase for veterans'
health. The House version of the bill passed on May 19th and the legislation
will now move to conference.
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New Report Shows That Latinos Receiving Social Security Benefits
Would Be Hurt by President Bush's Social Security Privatization Plan
A study released by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities shows that
Latinos get more in Social Security benefits for each dollar they pay than
non-Latinos because they are often among those who disproportionately benefit
from the program based on income, lifespan, disability rates and number of
children. Bush's plan would reduce benefits for all workers but put a burden
especially on the 1.2 million elderly Latinos who receive Social Security
benefits, the report found. For the majority of these beneficiaries, the
payments constitute more than half of their income.
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House Clears Raise for Federal Workers
As part of the fiscal 2006 transportation, housing and Treasury spending
bill, the House approved a 3.1 percent raise for federal civilian workers. The
raise exceeds President Bush's proposed 2.3 percent raise.
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