AFSCME Legislative Report
AFSCME LEGISLATIVE
REPORT
May 11, 2007
In this issue:
Negotiations Between House and Senate Start on
Congressional Budget Agreement
On May 10, House and
Senate budget leaders began negotiating to reconcile differences
between their budget resolutions with a goal of reaching an
agreement on a final budget resolution by May 15. The Democratic
leadership wants this finalized to ensure Congress gives proper
guidance to appropriations panels before the initial consideration
of spending bills scheduled to start next week. The resolution sets
a binding total level of discretionary funding that the
appropriations committees then divide across 12 subcommittees.
These negotiations must resolve several key issues of major
concern to AFSCME. First, the House resolution contains $7 billion
more in domestic discretionary funding than the Senate. Second, the
Senate resolution dedicates $132 billion of a projected 2012 surplus
to offset the cost of extending expiring Bush tax cuts. To try to
influence the outcome, the Senate voted on several nonbinding
motions to instruct Senate negotiators. On May 9, the Senate voted,
51-44, to approve Sen. Kent Conrad’s (D-ND) motion to support the
Senate’s position on taxes. The Senate voted, 55-41, to approve Sen.
Jon Kyl’s (R-AZ) motion to permanently reduce the estate tax. A
motion by Sen. Judd Gregg (R-NH) to extend many expiring Bush 2001
and 2003 tax provisions was defeated, 44-51.
(Marc Granowitter -
mgranowitter@afscme.org)
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Bush Begins to Weaken on Iraq
In the face of
an unyielding House of Representatives and growing Republican
uneasiness, President Bush has said he would accept benchmarks to
measure progress (or lack there of) by the Iraqi government in a war
spending bill. However, keeping the pressure on the President, the
House passed, by a vote of 221-205, another emergency war
spending measure that drew another veto threat because it still
contains troop withdrawal language. Bush made it clear he would
accept a bill with benchmarks aimed at gauging the progress of the
Iraqi government. Many Republicans have said they would support
benchmarks, but do not want them to be tied to consequences. House
Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said, “Benchmarks without consequences
and enforcement are meaningless, a blank check." Further
negotiations are expected to take place before the Senate votes on
another war spending bill.
(Ed Jayne - ejayne@afscme.org
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AFSCME Nurses Lobby the Congress
This week,
300 AFSCME nurses went to Capitol Hill to lobby the Congress for
labor law reform, health care reform and the State Children’s Health
Insurance Program (SCHIP). In particular, the nurses urged members
of Congress to support the RESPECT Act (H.R. 1644/S. 969) which
would restore collective bargaining rights for nurses and other
workers in the private sector. The RESPECT Act was made necessary by
a series of decisions by the National Labor Relations Board which
give broad discretion to employers to declare nurses to be
supervisors and, therefore, allow employers to refuse to bargain
with them. The RESPECT Act, introduced in the House by Rep. Robert
Andrews (D-NJ) and in the Senate by Sens. Christopher Dodd (D-CT)
and Richard Durbin (D-IL), would restore the original intent of the
Congress to cover workers who have only minor supervisory duties,
such as a charge nurse who assigns patients to other nurses for a
shift. Over 40 of the nurses packed a hearing on the RESPECT Act
held by the Employer-Employee Relations Subcommittee of the House
Education and Labor Committee, chaired by Rep. Andrews.
(Barbara
Coufal - bcoufal@afscme.org)
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Senate Kills Amendment to Reduce Prescription Drug
Costs
This week, the Senate debated the Prescription
Drug User Fee Amendment of 2007 (S. 1082), to overhaul procedures
under the Food and Drug Administration for ensuring drug safety.
During the debate, Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-ND) offered an amendment to
allow for the importation of prescription drugs from Canada and 30
other nations where the very same drugs can be purchased for less
than the amount pharmaceutical companies charge in the United
States. After the Dorgan amendment was agreed to by a vote of 63-28,
an amendment to gut the Dorgan amendment was offered by Sen. Thad
Cochran (R-MS) and agreed to by a vote of 49-40. The net effect is
that the effort to reduce the cost of prescription drugs for
American citizens was defeated.
The Senate went on to approve the final bill by a vote of
93-1.
(Barbara Coufal - bcoufal@afscme.org)
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House Democrats and White House Agree to Labor Provisions
in Trade Agreements
Congressional Democratic leaders and
the Bush Administration announced Thursday that an agreement had
been reached to add labor and environmental standards to several
pending trade agreements, including agreements with Panama and Peru.
While the full details are not yet known, it appears that the deal
would require that trade pacts negotiated by the United States
include broad principles outlined in an International Labor
Organization (ILO) declaration, rather than more specific
requirements. The ILO declaration includes principles regarding the
right of workers to organize, a ban on child labor and forced labor
and a ban on employment discrimination.
(Barbara Coufal - bcoufal@afscme.org)
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Unemployment Insurance and Wage Insurance Legislation
Introduced in House
This week, Rep. Jim McDermott
(D-WA), Chair of the House Ways and Means Income Security and Family
Support Subcommittee, introduced two bills that address economic
dislocations of workers.
AFSCME and the AFL-CIO have worked closely with Rep. McDermott on
the Unemployment Insurance Modernization Act and strongly support
it. The bill encourages states to expand unemployment insurance
eligibility for low-income workers and workers seeking part-time
work; to support workers enrolled in training programs for
high-demand occupations; and to accommodate workers’ compelling
personal circumstances, which is especially important to women with
families. Of particular importance to AFSCME members working in
state unemployment insurance (UI) and employment services (ES)
operations, the bill also would provide additional resources to meet
the states’ desperate need for more federal funding to keep the
UI/ES system running.
The second of the two bills, the Worker Empowerment Act, was
introduced despite strenuous objections from organized labor. It
would establish a national wage insurance program to temporarily
supplement the earnings of dislocated workers who become reemployed
in lower-paying jobs. In general the program would replace half of a
worker’s lost wages, compared to previous employment, for up to two
years and up to $10,000 per year. Although the idea has initial
appeal, a close look at the proposal has led us to conclude that it
will subsidize downward mobility, shift more workers away from
quality retraining opportunities into lower wage jobs, favor
low-wage employers such as Wal-Mart, and claim federal resources
that would be better spent further shoring up the employment
security system and retraining opportunities under the Trade
Adjustment Act and other federal training programs.
(Nanine
Meiklejohn - nmeiklejohn@afscme.org)
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U.S. House Passes Resolution Recognizing Child Care
Providers
By a vote of 345 to 73, the U.S. House of
Representatives passed the National Child Care Worthy Wage Day
resolution (H. Con. Res. 112), sponsored by Rep. Carolyn McCarthy
(D-NY). The resolution recognizes the important work of child care
providers in nurturing and teaching young children, and calls for
adequate compensation. The average salary for providers is $18,180
per year, and only one-third have health insurance. Even fewer have
a pension plan.
(Karen Swift Wick - kswift@afscme.org)
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Classified School Employees Honored in House
Resolution
The House approved a resolution (H. Res. 376)
by voice vote which honors the work of Classified School Employees.
The resolution, introduced by Rep. Lynn Woolsey (D-CA), acknowledges
classified school employees for their contribution to quality
education across the country. In addition, it supports the
recognition of the National School Employee of the Year. (Marjorie
Allen - mallen@afscme.org)
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Voting Rights Advocates Score Significant Victory in
House
Since the start of the 110th Congress several
bills have been introduced that seek to prevent problems citizens
face when they go to the polls to vote. The bills, however, have
seen very little movement in the Congress. On May 9, one bill was
approved by the House Administration Committee by a vote of 6-3. The
legislation, the Voter Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act
(H.R. 811), would ban paperless voting machines and require all
voting to either be done directly on paper, or on machines that
produce voter-verifiable paper ballots and meet strict security
requirements.
H.R. 811 is sponsored by Rep. Rush Holt (D-NJ) who is seeking to
fix voting machine problems before the next presidential election.
The bill is an attempt to avoid situations such as the fiasco in
2006 in Sarasota County, Florida where 18,000 votes failed to be
recorded on voting machines.
Republican leaders on the committee introduced 12 weakening
amendments, including a photo identification provision that would
potentially disenfranchise millions of voters. All 12 amendments
failed.
(Cynthia Bradley - cbradley@afscme.org)
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Native Hawaiian Bill Approved by Senate
Committee
On May 10, the Senate Indian Affairs Committee
approved S. 310, a bill that would give Native Hawaiians legal
status similar to that of mainland indigenous tribes like the
American Indians. 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.
Under the bill, Native Hawaiians would elect federally recognized
leaders who would coordinate programs and policies with a new
bureaucracy within the Interior Department.
(Cynthia Bradley - cbradley@afscme.org)
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House Gives D.C. Mayor Authority to Take Control of
Public Schools
On May 8, the House approved District of
Columbia Mayor Adrian Fenty’s plan to take over the City’s public
school system. The bill (H.R. 2080) would amend the Home Rule
Charter that governs the District to give the Mayor control over the
budget and the bulk of administrative functions for public schools.
The measure also gives Mayor Fenty control over a proposed 10-year,
$2.3 billion project to upgrade and improve school facilities. The
City Council would, however, get the ability to strike items from
the budget (line item veto) that it disapproves. The City Council
also would have the authority to revoke the Mayor’s control if he
does not show sufficient progress in improving education within five
years.
(Cynthia Bradley - cbradley@afscme.org)
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AFSCME Department of Legislation
Phone: 202/429-5020 or 800/732-8120
Fax: 202/223-3413
E-mail: legislation@afscme.org
Website: http://www.afscme.org/action/index.html
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