AFSCME Federal Legislative Report-Corrected Version, last weekly report until Congress returns

[Omaha Steve]

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

This will be the last weekly report until Congress returns from its August recess after Labor Day.

AFSCME LEGISLATIVE REPORT
August 3, 2007

In this issue:

* Efforts to Undo Food Stamp Anti-Privatization Protection is Sidelined
* House and Senate Approve Separate Health Bill–President Threatens to Veto Both Versions
* House and Senate Approve Final Ethics Reform Bill
* Pay Discrimination Legislation Passes in the House
* Unemployment Insurance Reform Legislation Introduced in the Senate

Efforts to Undo Food Stamp Anti-Privatization Protection is Sidelined
Early this week, Rep. Michael Conaway (R-TX) signaled his intention to undo the Food Stamp Act anti-privatization protection in the just-passed Farm Bill by offering an amendment to the FY 2008 Agriculture spending bill. Because of pressures to limit the amount of time on the appropriations bill, the House leadership later in the week reduced the number of amendments that would be allowed on the House floor, and the Conaway amendment never went to a vote.

However, in the few intervening days, we were able to secure the support of most House Democrats and some Republicans in opposing the amendment and would have been able to defeat it if it had come to a vote. In the process, we made significant progress educating House members on the privatization issue and in demonstrating the importance of the issue to the tens of millions of Americans who depend upon the Food Stamp program. We expect an even more difficult fight over Food Stamp privatization as legislative action shifts to the Senate.
(Nanine Meiklejohn- [email protected])

House and Senate Approve Separate Children's Health Bills–President Threatens to Veto Both Versions
This week, the House and Senate each passed major health care bills centered on reauthorizing, or renewing, the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). However, enactment of a final bill is at great risk due to a threat by President Bush that he would veto a final bill if it is similar to either the House or Senate bill. The President has stated that he opposes covering more kids on "philosophical" grounds. In contrast to his opposition to providing federal funds to provide health care coverage to children, he continues to demand that the Congress not eliminate the overpayments, or subsidies, to the private insurance companies that cover Medicare beneficiaries.

In the Senate, the Children's Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act (S. 1893) was approved by a vote of 68-31 late after a week-long debate during which several attempts were made to weaken the bill. The approved bill provides $35 billion in additional federal funds to the states over five years. The additional funds will provide coverage to just over three million children, who are eligible for SCHIP but not enrolled. The bill also includes language sought by AFSCME that protects Medicaid eligibility determinations from privatization. In order to fund the additional coverage, the bill increases the federal tax on tobacco by 61 cents per cigarette pack.

Importantly, the Senate vote in favor of the bill exceeds, by one, the number needed to override a presidential veto. No Democrat voted against the bill. Seventeen Republicans voted for it: Sens. Lamar Alexander (TN), Christopher Bond (MO), Norm Coleman (MN), Susan Collins (ME), Bob Corker (TN), Pete Domenici (NM), Charles Grassley (IA), Orrin Hatch (UT), Kay Bailey Hutchison (TX), Richard Lugar (IN), Lisa Murkowski (AK), Pat Roberts (KS), Gordon Smith (OR), Olympia Snowe (ME), Arlen Specter (PA), Ted Stevens (AK), John Sununu (NH) and John Warner (VA).

In the House, the Children's Health and Medicare Protection (CHAMP) Act (H.R. 3162) was approved by a vote of 225-204. The CHAMP Act includes the following components:

* A measure to reauthorize the SCHIP providing an additional $50 billion in funding to states over the next five years. The additional funding will allow five million more low-income children to have health coverage.
* Language promoted by AFSCME that protects Medicaid eligibility determinations from privatization.
* Improvements in the Medicare benefit package and the dedication of $12.7 billion to assist low-income beneficiaries with out-of-pocket costs.
* Cancellation of a 10 percent cut in Medicare's payments to physicians who treat Medicare beneficiaries.
* An increase in the federal tobacco tax of 45 cents per pack.
* A cut in the expensive subsidies to Medicare Advantage plans, the private insurance plans that are marketed to seniors as a substitute for traditional, government-administered Medicare–a major AFSCME legislative priority. The savings from the cuts in subsidies are used to pay for improvements in the Medicare program and to help pay for the increase in funding for the SCHIP program. By cutting the unaffordable subsidies, the bill also helps to strengthen the financial solvency of the Medicare program.

The House bill was approved largely along party lines and falls far short of the number needed to override a presidential veto. As shown below, five Republicans voted for the bill and 10 Democrats opposed it. The Democrats who voted against the bill were primarily opposed to the tobacco tax increase.

Republicans who Voted Right
Shelley Moore Capito (WV)
Michael Ferguson (NJ)
Ray LaHood (IL)
Frank LoBiondo (NJ)
Christopher Shays (CT)

Democrats who Voted Wrong
Dan Boren (OK)
Jim Cooper (TN)
Joe Donnelly (IN)
Brad Ellsworth (IN)
Bob Etheridge (NC)
Jim Marshall (GA)
Baron Hill (IN)
Heath Shuler (NC)
Gene Taylor (MS)
Mike McIntyre (NC)

(Barbara Coufal- [email protected])

House and Senate Approve Final Ethics Reform Bill
This week, the House and Senate approved the Honest Leadership and Open Government Act of 2007 (S. 1), by margins of 411-8 in the House and 83-14 in the Senate. The bill makes a number of changes aimed at reducing the influence of special interests on the legislative process, including reforms in earmarking, bans on gifts to members of Congress and a requirement that charter plane rates be paid when members of Congress travel on corporate jets. The bill also increases the reporting requirements of lobbyists.

Democrats had made this bill a priority for the year. Each house of Congress enacted its own version early in the year. However, attempts to resolve the differences between the bills foundered when a lone GOP Senator used a procedural obstacle to prevent these negotiations from taking place for months. The procedural obstacle was ultimately surmounted and a final bill was worked out. It is expected that the President will sign the bill.
(Barbara Coufal- [email protected])

Pay Discrimination Legislation Passes in the House
The House voted 225-199 on July 31 to reverse the Supreme Court's decision limiting the time that workers have to sue their employers for pay discrimination. The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2007 (H.R. 2831) would remove the statute of limitations for pay discrimination lawsuits for longtime company employees. The legislation was introduced by Rep. George Miller (D-CA) in response to a recent Supreme Court decision involving a woman named Lilly Ledbetter.

Lilly Ledbetter filed discrimination charges against the Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company for paying her substantially less than her male co-workers. The Supreme Court ruled in a 5-4 decision that an employee had 180 days to bring suit after the first unfair paycheck and that Lilly had waited too long to sue. The Court's decision reverses decades of the practice of recognizing that an employer violates the law with each paycheck that is based on a discriminatory decision. Also, the Court's decision places an unrealistic timetable on employees who are victims of pay discrimination, while protecting employers who discriminate from liability.

H.R. 2831 would restore prior practice allowing individuals who are victims of discrimination based on race, sex, age or disability, to challenge discriminatory pay decisions each time they are victimized by such decisions or every time a paycheck is issued that is based on discrimination. The legislation addresses real life situations by recognizing that employees may not be aware initially that they are being victimized, as was the case with Ms. Ledbetter. Pay information is typically confidential so a victimized employee may not be aware that they are victims of discrimination and therefore cannot file claims quickly.

President Bush has threatened to veto the bill. Unfortunately the number of votes in favor of legislation is far less than the number needed to override a veto. A similar bill has been introduced in the Senate.
(Cynthia Bradley- [email protected])

Unemployment Insurance Reform Legislation Introduced in the Senate
A bipartisan group of Senators has introduced legislation that would release a significant amount of money from the Federal Unemployment Trust Fund to states that adopt a number of reforms designed to improve the unemployment insurance (UI) system, including measures that make it easier for low-wage and part time workers to receive benefits. If all the states adopt the reforms, another 500,000 workers a year would collect UI benefits

The Unemployment Insurance Modernization Act (S. 1871), sponsored by Sens. Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA), Olympia Snowe (R-ME), John D. Rockefeller (D-WV), John Warner (R-VA) and Maria Cantwell (D-WA), also includes $500 million in funding for all states to help address the serious cuts in federal state administrative grants that fund critical UI services such as in-person UI claims, reemployment services, better technology, and multilingual services.

A comparable bill was introduced in the House by Rep. Jim McDermott (D-WA) in May, and we are hopeful the legislation will move forward this year.
(Nanine Meiklejohn- [email protected])

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