AFSCME Legislative Highlights
 Congress
— Week ending March 17
The Senate clears budget plan which rejects President Bush's proposed cuts in domestic programs. The House adopts a supplemental spending plan increasing funds for the Iraq war as well as additional hurricane relief.
The House and Senate will be in recess next week. The next Weekly Report will be on March 31st.
In this issue:
Senate Overwhelmingly Rebuffs President Bush Boosting Funding for Key Domestic Programs
In a major defeat for President Bush's efforts to cut funds for key domestic programs, the Senate voted overwhelmingly to add $7 billion to the Senate Budget Resolution for health, education, social services and labor programs in which AFSCME members work nationwide. The vote for the amendment was a lopsided 73-27, with many Republican Senators, including Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) supporting it. If the funding levels prevail, enough funding will be provided for the Appropriations Panels to restore some funds that were cut in last year's budget. AFSCME strongly supported the amendment, activating the ECAP grassroots structure, as well as local AFSCME activists.
Senate Approves Bigger Budget Plan
The Senate voted 51-49 to approve the FY 2007 congressional Budget Resolution. Five Republicans voted no, including Sens. Norm Coleman (MN), Lincoln Chafee (RI), Susan Collins (ME), Mike DeWine (OH) and John Ensign (NV). Only Sen. Mary Landrieu (LA) on the Democratic side supported it. The resolution includes a provision allowing drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR).
In addition to the bipartisan amendment by Sens. Arlen Specter (R-PA) and Tom Harkin (D-IA) to increase funding for education, labor, health and social service programs, other amendments which boost domestic spending were also approved. This will set up a tough conference with the House once it approves its version of a budget resolution. Amendments were adopted to increase the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) survivor benefits for military families, cancer research, IRS enforcement and Alzheimer's disease research. The total increase for these programs comes to another $3 billion.
In separate action, the House approved $91.9 billion in increased spending for the war in Iraq and for hurricane relief over the objection of conservative lawmakers.
House Republican leaders have put off House action on their version of the Budget Resolution until after the recess. As a result it looks like the budget plan will not be taken up in the House until early April.
Senate Defeats Amendment to Improve Medicare Drug Program
Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) offered an amendment to the Budget Resolution that would have fixed many of the problems with the new Medicare prescription drug program. The amendment, which AFSCME supported, was defeated by a vote of 60-39. No Republicans voted for it and five Democrats and one Independent opposed it.
Specifically, the Stabenow amendment would have established a Medicare-administered prescription drug option that beneficiaries could join, rather than selecting a private drug plan. To reduce costs, the amendment would have allowed the federal government to negotiate directly with drug makers over the price of drugs provided through the Medicare-administered option. Currently, the Medicare drug law prohibits such negotiations. Stabenow's amendment would have also required savings from those negotiations to be used to improve the benefit. Finally, the amendment would have prohibited private drug plans from changing their formularies after beneficiaries were locked into the plan.
Senate Approves Increase in Debt Limit
The Senate voted to approve a $781 billion increase in the $8.184 trillion federal debt limit by a vote of 52-48. An amendment by Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT) to require a study of foreign ownership of the debt was rejected by a vote of 44-55. If the amendment had passed it would have required the debt limit increase to go back to the House for a vote, something House leaders have worked to avoid. The measure was adopted by the House last year without a roll call vote. It was the fourth increase in the federal debt limit since President Bush took office, adding a total of $3 trillion to the national debt. Democrats complained that much of the increased debt is due to President Bush's 2001 and 2003 tax cuts for the wealthy.
Lobby Reform Package Will Include Harmful Campaign Finance Measure
This week, House Rules Committee Chair David Dreier (R-CA) again announced that the House Republican leadership lobby reform bill will include a measure that would subject so-called "527" organizations and accounts to federal campaign finance regulations, including separate, segregated accounts maintained by AFSCME affiliates. The measure would limit the ability of AFSCME affiliates to communicate with the public about candidates endorsed for state and local office. It is also likely that the bill will include other campaign finance measures that would rollback Watergate-era reforms and allow the wealthy to contribute more to parties and candidates. While the House leaders have not finished drafting their lobby reform bill, they plan to hold a vote on it the week of April 3.
Senate Judiciary Committee Makes Little Progress on Immigration Bill
The Senate Judiciary Committee continued to slog along in an effort to find majority support for changes to the nation's immigration laws. However, by the end of the week, the Committee only approved a handful of non-controversial amendments. Anything in disagreement, including how the bill should treat the 11-12 million undocumented workers who are estimated to live in the U.S. now, was postponed for later action. Senate Majority Leader Frist repeated his intention to bring his own immigration bill to the Senate floor the week of March 27th if the committee does not complete work on its bill before then. Frist introduced his own bill (S. 2454) boosting border enforcement.
Senate Panel Approves Health Care Bill that Would Make Coverage More Expensive
On Wednesday, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee completed debate of the Health Insurance Marketplace Modernization and Affordability Act (S. 1955), sponsored by Sen. Michael Enzi (R-WY). Among other things, the bill would allow insurance companies to ignore state patient protection laws such as those that require cancer screenings, access to emergency care, diabetes education and supplies, mental health and substance abuse care and well-baby care and immunizations. It would also allow insurance companies to ignore state laws that are designed to make coverage more affordable for small employers. While proponents tout it as a way to reduce health coverage costs, the bill would actually drive up the cost of comprehensive coverage that working families need. The bill could be scheduled for a vote by the full Senate as early as the week of March 27.
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