AFSCME Legislative Highlights
AFSCME LEGISLATIVE
REPORT
July 28, 2006 In this issue:
House Leaders Cancel Vote on Business Activity Taxes
In a big win for AFSCME, House Republican leaders in
the face of widespread opposition were forced to pull a corporate
tax cut bill before the scheduled vote could occur. AFSCME joined
with the National Governors Association (NGA), the National School
Board Association, and the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities in
strong opposition to a bill (H.R. 1956) to repeal the Business
Activity Tax and restrict states' ability to tax businesses not
physically located within their borders. The Congressional Budget
Office estimated the bill would lose $1 billion in state revenues in
the first year and $3 billion a year thereafter, but some estimates
put the revenue loss as high as $6 billion a year nationally. The
impact on states would be severe in some cases. Washington State,
for example, would stand to lose as much as an estimated $689
million in FY 2007—about 3.5 percent of its tax revenue, the most of
any state. It is not clear when the bill will return to the floor. A
spokesman for Majority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) said that it was
"postponed until a later date."
The Senate Finance Subcommittee on International Trade held a
hearing on a similar bill (S. 2721) introduced by Sen. Chuck Schumer
(D-NY) that would also eliminate the Business Activity Tax. At the
hearing, strong testimony was given by the NGA and others in
opposition to the bill, but as expected, there was widespread
support from the business community. The hearing included testimony
on The Sales Tax Fairness and Simplification Act (S. 2152), which
would mandate tax collection by remote sellers on behalf of states.
(Ed Jayne -ejayne@afscme.org , Marc
Granowitter- mgranowitter@afscme.org)
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House GOP Leaders Cave to Pressure: House Will Vote on
Increasing the Minimum
Wage
The GOP leadership had done everything it could to prevent a
vote on increasing the minimum wage, however the pressure from their
moderate wing and from the Democrats became too much to brush off.
This week top House GOP leaders, Majority Whip Roy Blunt (R-MO) and
Majority Leader Boehner, said the House would hold its first vote in
a decade on increasing the minimum wage, which could even take place
before House members leave for the August recess this weekend. GOP
leaders have come under heightened pressure from Democrats and
moderate Republicans for supporting increases in their own salaries
while the federal minimum wage has remained frozen at $5.15 an hour
since 1997. However, it is still not clear whether House leaders
will embrace the increase to $7.25 an hour that Democrats have
called for or whether they will offer a more modest proposal that
could be tied to changes in labor laws, tax breaks to business or
some other legislation that Democrats oppose such as the Association
Health Plan bill (H.R. 525).
Democrats in both the
House and the Senate have pledged to block all congressional pay
increases until the minimum wage is increased. Since 1997, members
of Congress have seen their pay rise by $31,600, to $165,200 a year.
Meanwhile, inflation has eroded the minimum wage's buying power to
its lowest level in more than 50 years.
Boehner had
said in June that House leaders would probably not allow a vote on
the minimum wage. But he reversed that stance, saying that while he
still believes a higher minimum wage is "bad economic policy,"
political realities have a vote. This reversal is testament to
Democratic efforts to make the minimum wage a central component of
their campaign message. House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA)
has said a higher minimum wage would be the first act of a
Democratic-led Congress next year. Pressure from moderate
Republicans has also been building. Last week, 26 moderate
Republicans sent a letter to their leadership urging a vote on the
minimum wage. This week, a similar letter garnered 48 GOP
signatures. Also since 1997, a total of 22 states and the District
of Columbia have enacted minimum wages greater than the federally
mandated level. This year alone eight states have raised their
minimum wage. Fifty-eight percent of the national population now
lives in states that have, or are about to have, minimum wages
higher than the federal level.
(Marge Allen- mallen@afscme.org)
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Voting Rights Act Signed into Law
The Fannie
Lou Hamer, Rosa Parks, Coretta Scott King and Cesar Chevez Voting
Rights Act Reauthorization and Amendments Act of 2006 (S. 2703) was
signed into law by President George W. Bush on July 27. The Act
reauthorizes temporary provisions of the Voting Rights Act that are
due to expire next year. Congress rejected attempts to weaken the
original intent of the bill and passed a strong bill that will
remain in place for the next 25 years. Advocates of the bill,
including AFSCME are calling on President Bush and the Justice
Department to enforce the provisions of the Act.
(Cynthia
Bradley- cbradley@afscme.org)
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House Passes Flawed Health Information Technology
Bill
On Thursday, by a vote of 270-148, the House
approved the "Health Information Technology Promotion Act" (H.R.
4157), a bill aimed at encouraging the adoption of information
technology that will allow the sharing of electronic health records
of patients between providers across town and across the country.
AFSCME supports the adoption of health information technology
because it holds the promise of reducing costs and improving the
quality of care. However, this bill has a number of flaws. Chief
among them is that it sets a path for federal preemption of state
privacy laws that are more protective of patients than the federal
law. The bill also fails to require health care providers to include
nurses and other frontline health care workers in the development of
information systems that could have a significant impact on how they
do their work.
(Barbara Coufal- bcoufal@afscme.org)
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House GOP Pulls Sunset Commission Legislation from the
Schedule
Because of division within the Republican
caucus, House GOP leaders are postponing consideration of the
Government Efficiency Act (H.R. 5766) until after the August recess.
H.R. 5766 would establish sunset commissions to review all federal
programs and agencies to determine whether they should be abolished,
continued or changed. While the legislation appears innocuous, it is
not. It is written to minimize the influence of the Congress and the
public on the process. This creates the opportunity for the
executive branch to force enactment of controversial changes in laws
and programs. In fact, the process is a back door route to muscle
through drastic cuts in Medicare, Medicaid and privatization of
Social Security. The bill also threatens other programs that provide
federal funding for jobs held by AFSCME members across the country.
H.R. 5766 and a similar bill, H.R. 3282, are supported by most
GOP House members. However, in the last few days, a small group of
Republican moderates have demanded a few modest changes in H.R. 5766
in order to win their support. But, even with their improvements in
the legislation, H.R. 5766 would still set a path for enacting
damaging changes to programs, including Social Security and
Medicare, on which working families rely. Last week, the GOP
leadership also postponed action on H.R. 3282 until after the August
recess.
(Barbara Coufal- bcoufal@afscme.org)
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Estate Tax Repeal on Hold for Now
House and
Senate leaders are still struggling to get a deal on legislation
that would make changes in the estate tax collection. So far, the
Senate has been unable to fashion a compromise deal that would
garner 60 votes needed to end debate and move to the legislation.
The House has already passed a total repeal bill and a subsequent
compromise and they are now threatening to pass yet another bill.
Efforts to put the estate tax reform measure on the pending Pension
bill (H.R. 2830), has thus far been unsuccessful so the House may
pass yet another new tax cut and add the estate tax changes to that
bill sending it to the Senate yet again.
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Charles E. Grassley (R-IA) and
Ranking Member Max Baucus (D-MT) have resisted efforts to add the
estate tax to the pension conference agreement package and have
discouraged adding it another tax bill as well. According to Baucus,
"It's in limbo," but negotiations are still continuing. House and
Senate GOP leaders are desperate for a deal and would like to win
approval of an estate tax deal before they leave for the month-long
August recess.
(Ed Jayne- ejayne@afscme.org)
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AFSCME Retirees Call on Santorum to Fix Medicare Part
D
AFSCME Council 13 retirees want changes to Medicare
Part D. Over a dozen retired AFSCME members delivered petitions
bearing about 600 signatures to the Harrisburg office of Sen. Rick
Santorum (R-PA) this week. Petitions with another 600 signatures had
been delivered during a previous visit. AFSCME is urging Congress to
eliminate the so-called "doughnut hole" in Part D, eliminate the
penalty on people who did not sign up by May 15 and allow Medicare
to negotiate discounts from drug manufacturers. Seniors pay 100
percent of their drug costs when they are in the doughnut hole.
(Jessica Weinstein- jweinstein@afscme.org)
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Corrections Officer's Death Calls for Support of the
Bulletproof Vest Act
Rep. Ted Strickland (D-OH), who
introduced the Wayne 'Cotton' Morgan Bulletproof Vest Act (H.R.
4215), called on his colleagues to support his bill that would waive
the federal requirement for state and local funding matches for
bullet proof and stab proof vests, citing the July 25 killing of a
Maryland Correctional Officer. AFSCME member David McGuinn was
murdered by three inmates who jammed the locks to their cell doors
and stabbed him with homemade weapons. He is the second correctional
officer to be killed in the line of duty in Maryland this year.
Calling the attack "a somber reminder of the risk that correctional
officers undertake in order to perform a service critical to our
nation's justice system," Rep. Strickland requested support for H.R.
4215, named for an AFSCME Correctional Leader who was shot and
killed outside of the Kingston, Tennessee Court House by the wife of
the inmate he was transporting last year.
(Jayne Clancy- jclancy@afscme.org)
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House Passes Child Welfare Legislation
This
week the House passed H.R. 5640, bipartisan legislation which
reauthorizes the Promoting Safe and Stable Families (PSSF) program,
the Court Improvement Program and the Mentoring Children of
Prisoners Program. PSSF provides $345 million a year to states to
prevent and address child abuse and neglect, as well as the Child
Welfare Services program, which provides money to states to
administer their child welfare agencies. The legislation includes
$40 million a year in new funding to be used to ensure children in
foster care are visited by a caseworker monthly, as well as for
recruitment, training and retention of the child welfare workforce.
Beginning in FY 2008, only states that show improvement in monthly
visits to foster care children will continue to receive these
funds.
Earlier this month, the Senate passed similar legislation (S.
3525) which also reauthorizes all three programs. The Senate bill
differs from the House version in that it dedicates the additional
$40 million a year towards regional partnership grants to deal with
the impact of methamphetamine in the child welfare system. It is
unclear when the bills will move to conference. PSSF expires on
September 30.
(Fran Bernstein- fbernstein@afscme.org)
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Two Republicans Attempt to Bridge the Divide on
Immigration
Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) and Rep.
Mike Pence (R-IN) introduced legislation that they hope will become
the foundation for a possible compromise between the Senate, which
voted for a plan that would provide a new path to citizenship, and
the House, which has demanded that Congress focus only on securing
borders for now.
Under the Hutchison-Pence bill, there would be no changes to our
current immigration laws until the President certifies that the
borders are secure which would take a minimum of two years while the
government instituted the security changes. The bill would
"pressure" illegal immigrants to 'self-deport' to their home
countries within two years of the law's enactment and apply for a
new kind of visa that would allow them to return to the U.S. quickly
and work legally if a job awaits them. They would have to work here
for 17 years, however, to be eligible for U.S. citizenship.
Meanwhile, U.S. companies would get contracts to open Ellis
Island-type centers in many countries abroad to process applications
for a new kind of work visa, known as the Good Neighbor Secure
Authorized Foreign Employee (SAFE) visa. The government would create
tamper-proof identification cards that contain personal information
and biometric technology designed to minimize fraud. Illegal
immigrants would be required to return to their home countries and
apply for the SAFE visa. They would undergo criminal background
checks and health screenings and would need to prove that a U.S. job
awaits them.
The new visa would be offered only to immigrants from countries
that are part of trade pacts covering Canada, Mexico and most of
Central America. The SAFE visas would be good for two years and
could be renewed five times, for a total stay of 12 years. At any
point, the holders could return to their home countries and apply
for U.S. citizenship without paying a fine or back taxes. But they
would have to wait in line.
Illegal immigrants could extend their stay beyond 12 years by
applying for a five-year X-Change visa, which requires a job and a
clean record. After 17 years in the system, X-Change visa-holders
could go through the citizenship process without leaving the U.S.
The bill also includes the security measures that have passed the
House and Senate, including new border fences, additional
enforcement personnel and bigger detention facilities.
(Marge
Allen- mallen@afscme.org)
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New Treasury Report Highlights Large Cost of Bush Tax
Breaks
A new U.S. Department of Treasury report
acknowledges that Congress would need to either raise taxes or
reduce spending to offset the potential costs of extending President
Bush's recent tax breaks. Contrary to expectations, the report
dismissed the Republican-backed myth that tax breaks are
self-financed. The report's bureaucratese states, "The issue of how,
or even if, these policies need to be financed remains a source of
discussion among economists." In clearer language, Robert
Carroll, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Tax Analysis, said
Treasury's view is "a recognition the federal government has to
finance the tax relief" to avoid a rise in government debt. In
practical terms, the report rebukes President Bush's July 11 claim
that, "Some in Washington say we had to choose between cutting taxes
and cutting the deficit? that was a false choice. The economic
growth fueled by tax relief has helped send our tax revenues
soaring."
(Marc Granowitter- mgranowitter@afscme.org)
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