AFSCME Legislative Report
AFSCME LEGISLATIVE
REPORT
May 4, 2007
In this issue:
House Fails to Override Veto of War Bill
The
House failed to override President Bush's veto of the $124 billion
emergency spending bill funding the troops in Iraq but also
containing a timetable for pulling U.S. troops from Iraq. The House
vote of 222-203 was far short of the two-thirds needed to override
the veto. White House officials immediately indicated a willingness
to negotiate over the provisions of a new spending bill for the
troops, but insisted the President would not support any troop
withdrawal language. Hill leaders said the negotiations will include
discussion of benchmarks to hold the Iraqi government accountable.
Another victim of the veto at least for now may be any new funding
for domestic spending emergencies, including money for the State
Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), homeland security and
disaster relief. At a White House meeting, the two sides talked
about removing billions of dollars in domestic spending for
children's health insurance and other domestic emergencies from the
bill until they work out their disagreements on Iraq.
(Ed Jayne-
ejayne@afscme.org)
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Head Start Bill Renewed Without Faith-Based
Hiring Provision
The House voted to reauthorize the Head
Start program, 365-48, after rejecting a proposal, 195-222, that
would have allowed providers to hire employees based on religious
preferences. The bill boosted the authorized funding for Head Start
to $7.4 billion for FY 2008, an increase of one-half billion over
the current year. The House also approved important amendments that
will benefit AFSCME Head Start workers. By a vote of 312-107, the
House approved a proposal that would forgive student loans for Head
Start and Early Head Start teachers who earn bachelor's degrees in a
related field and commit to teach in the program for at least three
years. Another amendment would ensure that training and technical
assistance are provided by entities with specific expertise in
infant and toddler development. It would direct 50 percent of
training and technical assistance funds directly to the grantees for
the purposes of program improvement. Another would require that Head
Start grantees to perform criminal background checks before hiring
employees and finally, another would make Head Start classrooms more
inclusive for children with disabilities.
Next, the legislation moves to the Senate where Sen. Edward
Kennedy (D-MA) has worked out a bipartisan agreement (S. 556) that
also does not include a hiring preference based on religious
affiliation. Senate action is likely to occur in the next two
months.
(Marge Allen- mallen@afscme.org)
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"Say On Pay" Bill Introduced in Senate
Sen.
Barack Obama (D-IL) introduced legislation (S. 1181) which is
identical to the bill passed recently by the House of
Representatives providing shareholders with an advisory vote on
executive compensation. The House approved the "say on pay" bill by
a 269-134 vote to give shareholders the right to cast nonbinding
votes on the pay of top company executives, handing investor
advocates a win over the business community and defying the Bush
Administration. The original legislation was drafted by Rep. Barney
Frank (D-MA), Chair of the Financial Services Committee.
(Ed
Jayne- ejayne@afscme.org)
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Lessening the Burden of the GPO on Retired Public
Workers
Sens. Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) and George
Voinovich (R-OH) introduced the Government Pension Offset (GPO)
Reform Act (S. 1254), bipartisan legislation that would amend the
Social Security Act by reducing the cut in Social Security benefits
that certain retired public workers experience. Currently, the GPO
prevents local, state and federal government retirees from
collecting both a government pension and a Social Security benefit
that is based on their spouse's work, unlike workers in the private
sector. The Social Security survivor benefit is reduced by an amount
equal to two-thirds of the government pension payable. S. 1254 would
lessen the Social Security reduction according to income and there
would be no reduction for a retiree drawing less than $1,200 per
month from their government pension and Social Security benefit
combined.
(Jayne Clancy- jclancy@afscme.org)
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Senate Introduces FAA Authorization Bill with Personnel
Reform
On May 2, Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) introduced
legislation that would reauthorize the Federal Aviation
Administration (FAA). The bill contains a provision to reform the
FAA labor-management bargaining process that is tilted heavily in
favor of management. AFSCME and other FAA unions have been caught up
in a maelstrom of negotiations that produced neither mutually agreed
upon contracts nor timely implementation of settlements. The
AFSCME-FAA agreement was concluded in 2001 but never implemented due
to opposition by the Bush Administration. The bill would require
binding arbitration to settle negotiation impasses rather than the
system now that allows FAA to unilaterally impose its own terms on
employees after advising Congress of an impasse and waiting 60 days.
The House will be introducing its version of the FAA reauthorization
bill soon and will also include language to reform the FAA personnel
system.
(Jayne Clancy- jclancy@afscme.org)
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Hate Crimes Measure Approved in the House
On
May 3, the House voted 237-180 to approve the Local Law Enforcement
Hate Crimes Prevention Act (H.R 1592). The legislation, which has
the endorsement of 230 law enforcement, civil rights, civic and
religious organizations, was introduced by Reps. John Conyers (D-MI)
and Mark Kirk (R-IL), along with more than 100 other members of
Congress.
H.R. 1592 would expand federal hate crimes law and make it easier
for federal law enforcement agencies to assist state and local
governments in investigating and prosecuting hate crimes. The bill
would strengthen existing hate crimes laws by including crimes
committed against individuals because of their gender, disability,
or sexual orientation. In addition, the legislation removes existing
provisions that restrict federal assistance except under limited
circumstances, such as requirements that the victim be engaged in
federally protected activities or that the crime be committed on
federal property. H.R. 1592 would empower federal prosecutors to
work with local police while providing funding to assist in
investigations. The Senate will soon consider an identical bill, the
Matthew Shepard Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act of
2007 (S. 1105), named in honor of a young man killed because he was
gay.
(Cynthia Bradley- cbradley@afscme.org)
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Native Hawaiian Bill Approved by House
Committee
On May 2, the House Natural Resources
Committee approved a bill (H.R. 505) that would give Native
Hawaiians legal status similar to that of mainland indigenous tribes
like the American Indians. Under the bill, Native Hawaiians would be
able to reorganize into a single government for the purpose of
negotiating with the federal government in an effort to improve the
lives of Native Hawaiians. The bill was approved by voice vote.
(Cynthia Bradley– cbradley@afscme.org)
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E-mail: legislation@afscme.org
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