AFSCME Legislative Report
AFSCME LEGISLATIVE REPORT
October 26, 2007
In this issue:
Senate Passes Labor-HHS-Education Spending Bill
Despite President Bush's threatened veto, the Senate, with strong bipartisan support, approved the FY 2008 Labor-Health and Human Services-Education (Labor-HHS) spending bill (H.R. 3043) by a vote of 75-19. Twenty-seven Republicans joined all Democrats in support. The margin of victory would have been even greater had five absent Democrats been there to vote. Two-thirds of those present and voting are needed to override a Presidential veto. The legislation includes a five percent increase in spending over FY 2007, $9.6 billion more than the President's budget request but $1.9 billion less than the House-passed version, approved in July. House and Senate leaders hope to send a conference agreement compromise bill to President Bush in early November. If it is vetoed as expected, the House will again vote first to override the veto, followed by the Senate.
As part of our overall effort to generate support for the Labor-HHS-Education bill, AFSCME child care advocates e-mailed over 1,000 letters and generated over 500 phone calls urging Congress to support the $75 million increase in the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) in the House bill. These letters and phone calls were key to getting 69 Representatives to sign a letter led by Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) urging conferees to maintain the $75 million increase in the final bill.
(Ed Jayne- ejayne@afscme.org and Becky Levin- blevin@afscme.org)
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House Votes on New Bipartisan Children's Health Bill Compromise
As the President issued a new veto threat, the House held a vote on a new bipartisan compromise of the bill (H.R. 3963) to renew the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). The bill was approved by a vote of 265 to 142. Forty-three Republicans voted in favor and only one Democrat voted in opposition. However, more than two dozen House members were absent for the vote. Many of those absent were in California due to the fire emergency. The Senate is expected to take up the bill late next week. After the expected veto by the President, the House will then attempt to override.
A few significant changes and policy clarifications were made to the original bill. Importantly, the new compromise maintains the commitment to cover 10 million children and to provide the $35 billion more in resources needed to do that over the next five years.
(Barbara Coufal- bcoufal@afscme.org)
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AFSCME Scores Another Anti-Privatization Victory as House Panel Approves Expansion of Trade Adjustment Assistance and Unemployment Insurance Programs
A House committee approved landmark legislation expanding the federal program providing retraining assistance to workers dislocated as a result of the nation's trade policies and modernizing the unemployment insurance program. The bill's cumulative effect is to significantly bolster the state delivery systems for the Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) and Unemployment Insurance (UI) programs while also expanding access to both programs. Three Republicans supported the final bill.
The TAA section of the Trade and Globalization Assistance Act of 2007 (TGAA) expands eligibility for TAA benefits and training to service sector workers, including public sector workers, and increases training funds from $220 million to $440 million, with additional increases in future years. The legislation also provides increased resources for state agencies to conduct eligibility determinations and provide employment services, including $12.5 million for each state to maintain a stable staff to conduct important outreach activities. It further makes clear that eligibility decisions and employment services, which are provided with new funds available under the bill, must be conducted by state employees.
Republicans offered two amendments aimed at public sector workers. The first, to remove the public staffing requirement, failed on a roll call vote with all Committee Democrats and Rep. Phil English (R-PA) voting against it. The second amendment, removing public sector workers from eligibility for the TAA program, was defeated on a voice vote.
The UI reforms in the legislation also are extremely significant. The bill provides financial incentives to states to modify their programs to make it easier for low-wage, part-time, and women workers to receive UI benefits. It provides annual distributions for five years of an additional $100 million each year to the states to strengthen their UI and employment services delivery systems which have been weakened by decades of stagnant funding and cuts.
Labor Department Secretary Elaine Chao laid out the Administration's opposition in a letter detailing numerous objections to various provisions in the bill.
(Nanine Meiklejohn- nmeiklejohn@afscme.org)
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AFSCME Home Health Care Worker Testifies in Support of Overtime Pay
On Thursday, AFSCME District Council 1707, Local 389 member Manuela Butler testified before the House Workforce Protections Subcommittee in support of the Fair Home Health Care Worker Act (H.R. 3582). The legislation would require that home care workers, who provide the physically and emotionally demanding and often life-sustaining care for the elderly and disabled in their homes, be paid the minimum wage and receive extra pay when they work overtime. Bulter works 42 hours a week but does not receive overtime pay because of a narrow exemption in the Fair Labor Standards Act for individuals who provide "companionship services to individuals who (because of age or infirmity) are unable to care for themselves." Butler testified that providing home health care workers with premium pay for overtime hours is a matter of fairness and valuing work which enables individuals with disabilities to remain independent and in their homes. AFSCME is pressing for the enactment of H.R. 3582 and its Senate companion bill (S. 2061).
(Linda Bennett- lbennett@afscme.org)
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AFSCME Member Testifies Before Congress on Deficient Bridges
On Tuesday, AFSCME Council 5 member Bart Andersen, a bridge inspector for the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDot), testified before the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure's Subcommittee on Highways and Transit. Andersen worked on the I-35W bridge that collapsed in Minneapolis on August 1st. He told the Subcommittee that lack of resources and the reduction of MnDot employees have made it impossible to maintain the State's transportation infrastructure. He revealed that Minnesota currently has only 77 bridge inspectors who are expected to inspect all 14,000 bridges in the State, while at the same time performing routine maintenance and a host of other responsibilities.
Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman James Oberstar (D-MN) praised Andersen for his courage in coming before the Congress and sharing his experiences as a bridge inspector. Andersen's testimony will be extremely valuable as Chairman Oberstar writes legislation aimed at fixing the thousands of deficient bridges in the country. His testimony will also assist our union as we advocate for increasing the number of state DOT employees nationwide.
(Cynthia Bradley- cbradley@afscme.org)
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Senate Blocks Immigrant Education Bill
Efforts to vote on the DREAM Act (S. 774) failed on Wednesday when the Senate fell eight votes short of the required 60 to close debate on the bill. The DREAM Act (Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors Act) could help as many as 65,000 undocumented children a year gain a path to legal status if they attend college or join the military for at least two years. The Act provides a common sense solution and is limited to children who were brought to the United States prior to the age of 16, have lived in the U.S. for at least five years, and are under 30 years old.
(Andrea Zuniga DiBitetto- adibitetto@afscme.org)
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Senate Approves Controversial Judge
On October 24, the Senate approved the nomination of Judge Leslie Southwick to the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals by a vote of 59-38. As a judge on the Mississippi Court of Appeals from 1995-2006, Southwick consistently favored employers over employees, corporations over consumers, and routinely decided against plaintiffs in racial discrimination cases. In one case, he ruled in favor of an employee who was fired for using a vulgar racial slur against a black colleague. The 5th Circuit covers an area that is one of the most heavily minority, covering Mississippi, Louisiana and east Texas.
An earlier vote to end debate on the nomination and move to the final vote unfortunately passed with the help of 12 Democrats and one independent. They are: Sens. Daniel Akaka (HI), Thomas Carper (DE), Daniel Inouye (HI),) Blanche Lincoln (AR), Tim Johnson (SD), Kent Conrad (ND), Robert Byrd (WV), Mark Pryor (AR), Byron Dorgan (ND), Ken Salazar (CO), Dianne Feinstein (CA), Ben Nelson (NE) and Joseph Lieberman (I-CT).
(Cynthia Bradley- cbradley@afscme.org)
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Senate Extends Moratorium on Internet Access Taxes
The Senate passed by unanimous consent a bill to extend the moratorium on Internet access taxes for seven years. The Senate first agreed to the House-passed measure (H.R. 3678) that would extend the moratorium by four years. It was then amended to extend the moratorium to seven. The House now must act before the moratorium expires November 1, but it is unclear whether they will insist on the shorter extension period. The Senate action ended the debate on a permanent ban on new taxes which is strongly opposed by AFSCME, the National Governors Association, the U.S Conference of Mayors and others.
(Marc Granowitter- mgranowitter@afscme.org)
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AFSCME Department of Legislation
Phone:
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