Here is the Federal Legislative Report for May 11, 2007

[Omaha Steve]

Below are the top stories of the week from Capitol Hill.

AFSCME LEGISLATIVE REPORT
May 11, 2007

In this issue:

* Negotiations Between House and Senate Start on Congressional Budget Agreement
* Bush Begins to Weaken on Iraq
* AFSCME Nurses Lobby the Congress
* Senate Kills Amendment to Reduce Prescription Drug Costs
* House Democrats and White House Agree to Labor Provisions in Trade Agreements
* Unemployment Insurance and Wage Insurance Legislation Introduced in House
* U.S. House Passes Resolution Recognizing Child Care Providers
* Classified School Employees Honored in House Resolution
* Voting Rights Advocates Score Significant Victory in House
* Native Hawaiian Bill Approved by Senate Committee
* House Gives D.C. Mayor Authority to Take Control of Public Schools

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 - [email protected])

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 - [email protected])

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 - [email protected])

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 - [email protected])

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 - [email protected])

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 - [email protected])

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 - [email protected])

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 - [email protected])

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 - [email protected])

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 - [email protected])

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 - [email protected])

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