US LEGISLATIVE REPORT May 8, 2009

[Omaha Steve]

AFSCME LEGISLATIVE REPORT
May 8, 2009

In this issue:

v Obama Budget Sent to Congress

v Senate Finance Committee Holds Hearing Focusing on Public Health Insurance Option

v Top Tax-Writer in House Says No to Taxing Health Care Benefits

v Representative Schakowsky Introduces Safe Nurse Staffing Bill

v Obama Administration Rescinds Harmful Medicaid Regulations

v Senator Specter Willing to Work on EFCA

v House Panel Hears from AFSCME-UNAC/UHCP-NUHHCE Nurse

v House Panel Considers 2009 Supplemental with $2 Billion for Pandemic Flu

v Federal Employees Paid Leave Bill Advances

v Senator Casey Introduces Bill to Improve Child Care Provider Compensation and Quality

v House Passes School Construction Bill



Obama Budget Sent to Congress

A more detailed version of President Obama's fiscal year 2010 federal budget was sent to Congress this week. According to the President, "We're doing everything that we can to create jobs and to get our economy moving while building a new foundation for lasting prosperity – a foundation that invests in quality education, lowers health care costs, and develops new sources of energy powered by new jobs and industries." Obama went on to say, "But one of the pillars of this foundation is fiscal responsibility." A main component of the plan is making good on his pledge to cut $17 billion through reductions and terminations of ineffective and duplicative programs. Congress will weigh the Obama budget recommendations in making its decisions on program funding levels for next fiscal year's spending bills.





Program Eliminations

The administration released a list of 121 programs it wants Congress to scrap or reduce funding for in FY 2010, about evenly divided between defense and domestic programs. Among the programs are:

* The Justice Department's State Criminal Alien Assistance Program ($400 million) to subsidize the cost to local and state governments of incarcerating illegal immigrants who have committed crimes.
* The Education Department's Safe and Drug-Free Schools and Communities State Grants ($295 million).
* The Even Start program ($66 million), redirecting funding to other early childhood education programs.

Tax Policy



* The President's budget makes the Obama Making Work Pay tax credit permanent.
* The budget expands the Child Tax Credit and the Earned Income Tax Credit.
* It also makes permanent the American Opportunity Tax Credit, providing financial assistance of up to $2,500 for individuals seeking a college education.
* The budget increases the Internal Revenue Service budget by 8% for tax enforcement efforts.

Labor Programs



· The budget provides $1.7 billion, a 10% increase, for the Department of Labor's worker protection agencies, which enforce laws that protect worker safety and health, wages, and equal employment, with significant increases for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (10%), and the Wage and Hour Division (18%).

· The budget restores to 2001 levels the number of Wage and Hour Division investigators, who are responsible for enforcing the minimum wage, overtime pay, recordkeeping, and child labor requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act, and also administers and enforces the prevailing wage requirements of the Davis Bacon Act and the Service Contract Act.

· The President's budget provides $229 billion for the Dislocated Worker National Reserve, a $71 million (45%) increase from 2009.



Health and Human Services Programs



· Reflecting the unprecedented infusion of funds from the Economic Recovery bill for many health and human services programs, the HHS 2010 budget largely provides funds at fiscal 2009 levels.

· Funding for Head Start includes additional funding to accommodate cost of living increases.

· Obama proposes a $20 million increase in training for child welfare workers, to $27 million, and also proposes to spend $8.6 billion over 10 years on a new program to provide state grants to send child welfare workers to visit the homes of low-income families.



Education Programs



* The budget would provide an additional $500 million in annual spending for the Department of Education, not including Pell Grant increases, which would be included in mandatory spending under the president's higher education reform proposal.
* Title I funding for K-12 would drop $1.5 billion from FY09, reflecting Recovery Act spending for education.
* The budget proposes a $500 million new early childhood initiative to create Early Learning Challenge Grants, which would be available to states to develop integrated early learning supports and services for children from birth through age five. These grants could be used to raise standards, support quality ratings initiatives and monitor all publicly funded early childhood programs. In addition, a new program is proposed to provide $500 million for state matching grant funds based on each state's utilization of Title I Economic Recovery funds for Pre-K.
* Obama's budget proposal assumes $4 billion in annual savings from eliminating subsidies to private lenders under the Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) program. AFSCME is working to ensure that the infrastructure of FFEL loan servicers (state designated guaranty agencies) remains intact to seamlessly assist prospective college students, families, and local colleges and universities, as well as to promote financial literacy in the expanded direct loan program.

Transportation Programs



· The President's budget includes $73.3 billion, compared to $71.5 billion in FY 2009, for the Department of Transportation.

· It includes additional annually provided funds to construct and improve the National Highway System, roads and bridges and improvements in mass transportation systems for cities to plan, build and maintain transit systems.

(Ed Jayne - [e-mail])

(Fran Bernstein - [e-mail])

(Becky Levin - [e-mail])

(Cynthia Bradley - [e-mail])



Senate Finance Committee Holds Hearing Focusing on Public Health Insurance Option



This week, the Senate Finance Committee held a hearing to discuss whether health reform legislation should provide coverage to everyone and whether it should include the choice of a public helath insurance plan, giving employers and families another choice of coverage. A number of witnesses argued that the choice of a public health insurance plan is essential to containing costs over the long run and to ensuring that families will always have high quality coverage no matter what happens to their private coverage. A number of Democratic senators spoke in favor of a public health insurance option, including Sens. Charles Schumer (NY), Debbie Stabenow (MI) and Robert Menendez (NJ). On the other hand, witnesses from the insurance industry argued that they should not be forced to compete against a public health insurance plan.

(Barbara Coufal - [e-mail])



Top Tax-Writer in House Says No to Taxing Health Care Benefits



Rep. Charles B. Rangel (D-NY), chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, said this week there is "no way" he would support taxing employer-provided health benefits. He stated his position after a committee hearing in which Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius testified about President Obama's health care reform priorities. She signaled strong support for a public health insurance choice because it would increase competition to drive best practices and provide cost efficiencies. She also testified that eliminating the tax exclusion for health benefits has the potential to destabilize employer-sponsored coverage and is therefore not part of Obama's plan.
(Fran Bernstein- [e-mail])



Representative Schakowsky Introduces Safe Nurse Staffing Bill



Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) introduced the Nurse Staffing Standards for Patient Safety and Quality Act (H.R. 2273), which would require hospitals to implement specific nurse-to-patient ratios. AFSCME supports this legislation, which would improve patient care and safety, and increase retention of nurses.

(Linda Bennett- [e-mail])



Obama Administration Rescinds Harmful Medicaid Regulations



On May 1, the Department of Health and Human Services announced it would rescind three Medicaid regulations that would have had adverse effects on beneficiaries and states. The regulations are currently under moratoria until June 1, 2009. They would have impacted Medicaid payments to states for outpatient hospital services, school-based administration and transportation claims, and targeted case management (TCM). Two of the regulations have not yet been implemented by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), and one, TCM, has been partially implemented. A pending regulation addressing provider tax policy will be delayed for one year while more information is gathered. AFSCME and our allies fought long and hard against these harmful proposed regulations.
(Fran Bernstein- [e-mail])



Senator Specter Willing to Work on EFCA



This week Sen. Arlen Specter (D-PA), at his first Democratic Caucus luncheon, said he is willing to work to find common ground on the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA). While he continued to express opposition to "giving up the secret ballot" and mandatory arbitration, he did stress labor law reform is long overdue. Now more than ever, AFSCME members in Pennsylvania should call 1-888-460-0813 and ask Senator Specter to reconsider his opposition.
(Andrea Zuniga DiBitetto- [e-mail])



House Panel Hears from AFSCME-UNAC/UHCP-NUHHCE Nurse


On Thursday, the House Education and Labor Committee heard testimony on preparing against the 2009 H1N1 influenza from Miguel Garcia, a Registered Nurse member of the United Nurses Associations of California/Union of Health Care Professionals, which is affiliated with the National Union of Hospital and Health Care Employees and AFSCME. Because health care workers and first responders are on the frontlines of fighting the outbreak of a novel influenza for which most of the population does not have immunity, our union is calling for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to require employers to take steps to protect these workers who are at high risk of occupational exposure. OSHA should use its existing standards covering respiratory protection and personal protective equipment, and its authority to enforce these standards in health care settings where workers may be exposed to this flu virus. Our union called upon OSHA to make its current "Pandemic Influenza Guidance for Healthcare Workers and Healthcare Employers" mandatory for health care facilities.
(Linda Bennett- [e-mail])



House Panel Considers 2009 Supplemental with $2 Billion for Pandemic Flu



The House Appropriations Committee considered a supplemental spending bill Thursday, the second installment of FY 2009 funding for military and other operations, primarily in Iraq and Afghanistan. The draft bill under consideration, as we go to press, included $2 billion to augment our nation's response to the 2009 H1N1 virus outbreak, including $1.5 billion for federal anti-viral medication stockpiles, developing and purchasing vaccines and expanding detection efforts, $350 million to state and local governments to respond to the emerging pandemic and $220 million to support global efforts to track, contain and slow the spread of a pandemic.
(Linda Bennett- [e-mail])



Federal Employees Paid Leave Bill Advances



A House committee approved the Federal Employees Paid Parental Leave Act (H.R. 626), which would grant four weeks of paid parental leave to federal employees and allow federal employees to use any accumulated annual or sick leave to offset the 12 weeks of unpaid Family Medical Leave Act leave. AFSCME will continue to support the bill as it moves through Congress.
(Andrea Zuniga DiBitetto- [e-mail])



Senator Casey Introduces Bill to Improve Child Care Provider Compensation and Quality



This week, Senator Bob Casey (D-PA) introduced, S. 1000, the "Starting Early, Starting Right Act." The bill would increase federal child care funding to improve the quality of child care, providers' compensation and accessibility for working families. It would increase funding for provider training and education, which is linked to increased compensation; set aside 30% of child care funding for infants and toddlers; encourage more states to adopt quality ratings improvement systems (QRIS); require child care providers who are licensed or registered to participate in an initial 40 hours of training and 24 hours of annual training; increase funding for grants to providers to help them meet licensing requirements; and improve the quality of their settings.
(Becky Levin- [e-mail])



House Panel Hears from AFSCME-UNAC/UHCP-NUHHCE Nurse



This week, the House Education and Labor Committee passed (H.R. 2187), the 21st Century Green High Performing Public School Facilities Act, which provides $6.4 billion for much needed investments to create healthier and more environmentally friendly classrooms. The bill would ensure that school districts quickly receive funds for projects that improve schools' teaching and learning climates, health and safety, and energy efficiency. To further encourage energy efficiency and the use of renewable resources in schools, the legislation would require an increasing percentage of funds be used for school improvement projects that meet widely recognized green building standards, leading up to 100% of the funds used for green projects by 2015.
(Becky Levin- [e-mail])

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