AFSCME Legislative Report
 AFSCME LEGISLATIVE REPORT
Legislation Department
November 14, 2005
Congress — Week ending November 11
House and Senate GOP Leadership unable to move budget and tax cut bills — will try again this week.
In this issue:
Huge Budget and Tax Victories in the House and Senate — GOP in Disarray
After making concessions on the issues of ANWR, offshore drilling and Food Stamps, the House GOP leadership attempted to ram the $50 billion budget cutting reconciliation bill through the House. But even with those givebacks, they could not gather the 218 votes they needed for passage and they pulled the bill from consideration.
This is a huge victory for AFSCME and its allies in the Emergency Campaign for American's Priorities (ECAP). Stopping the Administration and the GOP Leadership's budget and tax cuts is our major legislative priority and the latest action is a testament to all of our hard work.
But our work is not over. The House Leadership will try again this week and we can be sure that there will be more sweetheart deals. We will continue to lobby against the misplaced priorities of this mean-spirited bill.
In other news, the Senate Finance Committee could not reach agreement on their $70 billion tax cut bill and had to postpone their committee meeting. Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME), a committee member, has been steadfast in her opposition to the capital gains and dividend tax cuts and without an agreement with her, the Committee could not act. Sen. Charles Grassley (R-IA), the committee Chair, is working with members of the Committee to try to work out some agreement.
Call your Representative and tell them to oppose the budget cut bill.Return to Index
Senator Snowe Delays Senate's Harmful Tax Plan
Sen. Olympia Snowe's (R-ME) opposition to parts of the Senate Finance Committee Chairman's $68.8 billion Tax Reconciliation proposal last week derailed the entire plan. One of Chairman Charles Grassley's (R-IA) measures would have extended for one year the 15 percent reduced tax rate on capital gains and dividend income and cost $11 billion. Sen. Snowe objected to this proposal and after conservatives, including Sen. Jon Kyl, objected to removing the proposal, the stalemate forced Sen. Grassley to cancel the Committee's mark-up. AFSCME opposed these tax breaks because they are skewed to benefit the wealthiest Americans. Overall, the net $68.8 billion tax break plan will divert needed funds that states and localities would otherwise use to deliver vital public services to the nation's children, seniors, and needy families. Sen. Grassley rescheduled the Committee's mark-up for November 14 and he is expected to unveil a revised package.
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House Ways and Means GOP Chair Releases Harmful Tax Plan
The Republican Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, Rep. William Thomas (R-CA) announced his tax plan (H.R. 4297), including a two-year extension of the reduced 15 percent tax rate on capital gains and dividend income and many one-year tax extensions in the Senate plan. Noticeably absent was tax relief for the Alternative Minimum Tax. The bill is expected to pass out of the Ways and Means Committee, scheduled for November 15, along party lines and then encounter potential problems on the House floor after Thanksgiving.
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Dangerous Consent Decree Legislation Moving in Congress
Congress is moving the "Federal Consent Decree Fairness Act", as part of the larger budget legislation, which AFSCME strongly opposes. It could be up for consideration early next week. We oppose this legislation because consent decrees are an effective tool to promote compliance by state and local governments with public health and environmental laws, and because this legislation would have the perverse effect of encouraging more litigation by discouraging or disrupting out-of court settlements. If adopted, this bill could do considerable damage to working families, the disabled and the elderly.
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Head Start Reauthorization bill Expected to Move Again
Legislation to reauthorize the Head Start program (S. 1107) may soon be considered by the full Senate. We are concerned that this bill does not address the low pay offered to Head Start teachers and staff and the lack of financial assistance in meeting new and more rigorous educational requirements. We support S. 1107's focus on raising standards for Head Start teachers but we have very serious concerns regarding the provision calling for at least 50 percent of all teachers in a Head Start center-based program to have a bachelor's degree within five years and all new Head Start teachers to have an associate's degree. While we support increased qualifications for Head Start teachers, the language in S. 1107 could be used to punish programs unfairly by failing to provide the funding for scholarships, release time substitutes and most importantly, compensation to attract and retain teachers who meet the higher degree requirements.
We are also deeply concerned with the controversial amendment introduced by Rep. John Boehner (R-OH) in the House bill that repealed longstanding civil rights protections, including religious protections, from the Head Start programs. If the amendment is adopted, AFSCME will oppose the bill on final passage.
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Judge Alito Bringing His Case to the Senate
President Bush's latest nomination to the Supreme Court, Judge Samuel Alito, has spent the week since his nomination visiting members of the U.S. Senate. Reportedly, Senators are asking Alito a range of questions that will help them judge his nomination-questions on the right to privacy, workplace discrimination, family and medical leave and civil and constitutional rights. Some groups have already announced their opposition to the Alito nomination while others are withholding making such an announcement until they can make their way through the large number of cases Alito has been involved with.
AFSCME is reviewing Judge Alito's record and in particular those cases that relate to workers' rights. The record examined to date is troubling. Although the review is not yet complete, it is clear that in his 15 years on the federal bench, Judge Alito has written a number of decisions and opinions that are contrary to workers' interests.
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(Not) SMART Bill Would Deny Federal Employees a Pay Increase
Sen. John Ensign (R-NV) has introduced legislation that would freeze federal employees' pay for the upcoming year. This bill, the SMART Act (S. 1928), would stop the federal employees' pay increase from going forward resulting in a 2.3 percent loss in pay next year for federal employees except for those with law enforcement officer status.
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Intergovernmental Relations — Update
The following is a periodic report on the activities of state and local government interest groups and other advocacy organizations.
- National Conference of State Legislatures Decries Cost Shift to States in House Spending Budget Bill — The National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) went on record this week opposing a number of federal budget "savings" in the House budget bill, especially those provisions that would shift costs for essential programs from the federal to state budgets. NCSL noted that the House bill shifts about $8 billion in costs to states over the next five years by reducing match rates for child support administration, prohibiting states from claiming administrative costs for placing children in certain foster care homes, and reducing the number of children who become eligible for federal foster care assistance. NCSL also opposes the proposed changes to eligibility for Food Stamps contained in the House bill, which would deny categorical eligibility to families who automatically qualify for Food Stamp assistance through the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) block grant, and extends from five to seven years the period for legal immigrants to qualify for food stamps. These changes would save the federal government nearly $1 billion, while shifting this cost burden to states.
- Human Services Administrators Oppose Cuts in House Budget Bill — Joining the National Governors Association (NGA) (see last week's Update) and NCSL, the American Public Human Services Association (APHSA) has sent letters to House committees and leadership outlining its opposition to numerous budget-cutting proposals in the House budget bill. Specifically, APHSA opposes cuts to Food Stamps; opposes a provision that would prohibit states from providing "targeted case management" health benefits to certain vulnerable populations; opposes proposed limits on federal funding for foster care; opposes the reduction in the federal match rate for administration of states' child support enforcement systems; and opposes the inclusion of TANF and Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) reauthorization in the House budget bill, which inadequately funds subsidized child care for low-income families.
- AARP Opposes Medicaid Cuts in House Budget Bill — AARP CEO Bill Novelli urged House members to vote against its budget bill because the cuts to Medicaid would unfairly penalize seniors by tightening eligibility restrictions and extending the time frame used to determine eligibility for Medicaid. "This would mean that a lower income stroke patient could be prevented from entering a nursing home, even if there were no alternatives, simply because she had helped a grandson with college tuition years earlier." AARP is also opposed to denying Medicaid coverage to lower income individuals who have had property value increases, which would force people to sell their family homes or use expensive reverse mortgages.
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