AFSCME Legislative Highlights
 Congress
— Week ending April 7
Congress Leaves Town for Two Weeks Without Acting on Budget and Tax Bills. Senate Deal on Immigration Struck. House Passes Flawed Campaign Finance Bill. The Congress now begins its Spring Recess and will return on April 24th. The next Weekly Report will be Friday, April 28th.
In this issue:
GOP Leaders Fail to Pass Budget
House Republican leaders abandoned efforts to reach an agreement on a budget plan for FY 2007 (H.Con.Res. 376) when it became clear they couldn't get a majority of Republicans to vote for the plan. Rather than holding an already scheduled vote on the budget plan modeled after the Bush budget, which had already been approved by the House Budget Committee, Majority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) abruptly announced there would be no more votes in the House before sending members home for the already scheduled two-week spring recess.
In yet another setback, at the same time the budget effort was crumbling, last ditch efforts to reach agreement on the $70 billion tax reconciliation bill that has been left lingering since last year were also abandoned. The impasse on the budget and tax plans could not come at a worse time for
Boehner, the new Majority Leader, and other House GOP leaders. Not only is the budget and tax plan the cornerstone of President Bush's economic strategy, but House leaders hoped to move beyond the intense press coverage surrounding former leader Tom DeLay's (R-TX) announcement that he intends to resign his House seat in June and not seek reelection.
But, as the week wore on it became clear to Boehner and others that they could not bridge the differences on the budget among various Republican groups in order to get sufficient votes to pass an agreement. At least three different groups of Republicans legislators, appropriators, conservatives and moderates, were haggling over new budget rules and spending limits. House Appropriations Chairman Jerry Lewis (R-CA) said, "I cannot and will not support a resolution that greatly diminishes Congress' ability to respond to national disasters and makes it more difficult for us to get our budget work done on time." Rep. Michael Castle (R-DE), who led efforts among moderates to add an additional $7.2 billion for domestic programs, similar to what took place earlier in the Senate, insisted he and his supporters would not support the budget without the amendment, while the conservative group led by Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN) said his group opposed Castle and wanted deeper cuts in domestic spending.
On taxes, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) said it was his intention with the support of the White House and Boehner to pass a long-sought conference agreement on the $70 billion tax reconciliation bills passed by the House (H.R. 4297) and Senate (S. 1932) before the spring recess. A tentative agreement was announced which included a one-year extension of the Alternative Minimum Tax fix, a two-year extension of the Bush reduction in capital gains and dividends, and an enhancement of small business expensing. Efforts to reach agreement had been held up because a number of Republican senators were opposed to moving new costly tax legislation that primarily benefits the wealthy. In the end, the effort to get an agreement broke down when House and Senate tax writers could not agree on a strategy and a plan. Efforts are expected to resume when the Congress returns from the recess.
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Senate Continues Immigration Debate
After many hours of floor speeches and behind-the-scenes negotiations aimed at piecing together a compromise bill, Senate efforts to pass immigration reform came to a grinding halt when none of the various bills could garner the 60 votes needed to cut off debate and proceed to a vote on the underlying bill. The first measure to go down, 39-60, was the bill that had been reported out of the Senate Judiciary Committee, referred to as the "Specter bill" for the Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman, Arlen Specter (R-PA). The Specter bill had included two of the major provisions of the
Kennedy-McCain bill (S. 1033). First, it would have provided a path to legalization for the 11-12 million undocumented workers who came into the U.S. prior to January 7, 2004 and have remained employed. Second, it would have established a new guest worker program that would have permitted employers to "import" roughly 800,000 immigrants (400,000 plus their working spouses) in the first year and increase by up to 20 percent each year depending on "market demand".
After the Specter bill failed to get "cloture", the Senate voted to deny cloture, 38-60, to a compromise crafted by Sens. Mel Martinez (R-FL) and Chuck Hagel (R-NE). The Martinez-Hagel compromise would have divided the undocumented into three groups: those who have been here more than five years, estimated to be about seven million, would have been able to stay and earn citizenship; those who had been here less than five years and more than two years, an estimated three million, would have to be able to file paperwork for a temporary work visa but would have had to leave the country first in order to come back in with a temporary visa to work and be eligible for a green card based on availability; and those who had been here less than two years, about one to two million, would have had to return home and go through normal channels if they want to return. And, finally in another procedural vote, the Senate voted, 36-62, against proceeding on the Frist border enforcement bill (S. 2454).
As a result of the Senate's inability to clear the procedural hurdles to actually vote on any specific immigration proposal, the outlook for further Senate action is very much in doubt. The Senate leaves for a two-week recess and could return to immigration when it returns but that appears unlikely at this time.
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Senate to Take Up Harmful Health Care Bill
In the first week of May, the Senate is expected to debate the Health Insurance Marketplace Modernization and Affordability Act (S. 1955), a bill that would preempt important state laws that protect 85 million consumers in the individual, small employer and large employer group markets — including health plans that cover state and local government workers. The bill would allow insurance companies to ignore state patient protection laws that require insurers to pay for certain treatments, such as cancer screenings, hospital stays for maternity patients, well-child care, and mental health care. The bill would also eliminate state laws that protect small employers by prohibiting insurers from unreasonable premiums based on the age, gender, size and location of the workforce. As designed, the bill would ultimately drive up the cost of health care plans that provide comprehensive coverage that working families need.
Despite the harm this bill would do to small businesses, conservative organizations like the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) and the National Realtors Association (NRA) are pushing hard for passage. These groups have already helped to muscle through a similar bill in the House.
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House Passes Flawed Campaign Finance Measure
On Wednesday, the House of Representatives approved the so-called "527 Reform Act" (H.R. 513), largely along party lines, by a vote of 218 to 209. All but seven Democrats opposed the bill with 18 Republicans also voting in opposition.
The bill would make it much more difficult for unions to engage in grassroots activity directed at the public in support of state and local candidates. Specifically, the bill would prohibit national unions from providing local unions and state affiliates with funding to pay for such grassroots work.
H.R. 513 would also shutdown independent, progressive 527 organizations that helped to increase voter turnout in 2004 to the highest level since 1968. On the other hand, the bill would not shutdown conservative 527 organizations because of their capacity to raise substantial sums from a large number of individual contributors. Furthermore, H.R. 513 would not have the same impact on corporations and trade associations, allowing them to continue their political activity.
The bill also included a provision advocated by Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) to remove limits on the amount of money a state or national party can spend on federal candidates. The removal of this limit will benefit Republican candidates since Republican Party committees are able to raise more money than Democratic Party committees. Eliminating the cap will especially help the Republican Party's presidential nominee in 2008.
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Supplemental Spending Bill Passes Senate Committee
The Senate Appropriations Committee voted to approve a $106 billion emergency supplemental appropriations bill (H.R. 4939), which would fund $72 billion for military operations and related activities in Iraq and Afghanistan. Including these new funds, the total of war-related supplemental funds appropriated after September 11, 2001 is $390 billion, which is significantly more than President Bush's past estimates.
The bill's other principal measure is $27 billion for Gulf Coast hurricane relief. The committee also approved Sen. Tom Harkin's (D-IA) $2.3 billion amendment for preparations for the pandemic flu, including $300 million to states and localities, and Sen. Robert Byrd's (D-WV) $648 million amendment for port security. The Senate is expected to approve this bill after the Easter recess. Given that the committee's final bill was roughly $14 billion more than President Bush's request and the House's March 16 passed bill, the House-Senate conference could be difficult.
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House Budget Committee Saves Room for County Timber Payments
The House Budget Committee approved language in its FY 2007 Budget Resolution that would allow Chairman Jim Nussle (IA) to make adjustments to the budget in the event that the "Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act" is reauthorized. The Act provides funding to help struggling U.S. Forest counties' school systems and local governments which lost revenue due to a decrease in timber harvesting. The money is used for schools, road and bridge maintenance and repair, public safety, snow removal and other important services. Despite the fact that 38 states, 4,400 school districts and 780 counties receive badly needed funding under this Act, President Bush drastically cut the program (by $52 million) in his budget for FY 2007 and intends to provide no funding by 2011. The current law is scheduled to expire in 2007.
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AFSCME Supports Child Care Increase
Sens. Chris Dodd (D-CT) and Olympia Snowe (R-ME) are laying the groundwork for an increase in child care funding by circulating a bi-partisan letter to their colleagues in the Senate urging them to join in asking the Appropriations Committee to support a $540 million increase in the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) for FY 2007.
AFSCME has been trying to help elected officials recognize the importance of child care to women and children in their states. CCDBG funding has been frozen or declining for four years, contributing to the loss of child care assistance for 250,000 children since FY 2000.
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House Committee Rejects Vets Health Care Enrollment Fees but Targets TRICARE
The House Budget Committee rejected The Bush Administration's plan to charge some veterans a $250 enrollment fee and to raise prescription co-payments from $8 to $15, but the committee kept the President's proposal to double and triple premiums for TRICARE healthcare premiums for some military retirees under age 65.
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AFSCME Protests Bush, Health Savings Accounts and Budget Cuts
Earlier in the week, in anticipation of Bush's visit to Connecticut, Council 4 spoke out against Bush's Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) plan at an event in Hartford, CT. On Wednesday, Council 4 also turned out for a protest against federal budget cuts proposed by Bush, urging Rep. Chris Shays (R-CT) (who was with President Bush) to vote against the cuts.
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AFSCME Circulates Petitions to Stop Service Cuts and Tax Cuts for the Wealthy
AFSCME held events with the Emergency Campaign for America's Priorities (ECAP) to circulate petitions calling on lawmakers to vote no to service and tax cuts. Events were held in New York (Boehlert), Missouri (Emerson), New Jersey (Saxton, LoBiondo), New Mexico (Wilson) and Connecticut (Shays).
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