AFSCME Federal Legislative Report 4-27-07

[Omaha Steve]

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

AFSCME LEGISLATIVE REPORT
April 27, 2007

In this issue:

* Despite Veto Threat, Congress Approves War Spending Bill
* President McEntee Testifies on the Need for Health Care Reform
* House Eyes Excess Payments to Medicare Private Plans
* Health Care Reform Bill Introduced
* House Passes Genetic Nondiscrimination Bill
* A National Strategy to Cut Poverty in Half Unveiled
* Anti-Prison Privatization and Public Disclosures for Private Prisons Bills Introduced
* Federal Employees Serving in Combat Zones Deserve Same Tax Breaks as Halliburton Workers
* OSHA Reform Legislation Introduced
* ENDA Introduced in the House
* Trustees Report Social Security Financial Outlook Improves Modestly
* Campus Security is Focus of Hearing
* Rep. Juanita Millender-McDonald Dies

Despite Veto Threat, Congress Approves War Spending Bill
Ignoring the threat of a presidential veto, both the House and Senate stuck with party leaders and approved the supplemental spending bill providing $124.2 billion to fund troop operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, and other priorities. Included in the agreement worked out between House and Senate negotiators is language objected to by President Bush stipulating the beginning of troop withdrawals by October 1, 2007 and a non-binding goal of completing redeployment by April 1, 2008. The conference agreement was approved by the Senate on a near party-line vote of 51-46, with Sens. Chuck Hagel (R-NE) and Gordon Smith (R-OR) voting for the bill, and Sen. Joe Lieberman (ID-CT) voting against. The House passed the conference agreement by a vote of 218-208, with two Republicans voting for the bill, Reps. Walter Jones (NC) and Wayne Gilchrest (MD) and 13 Democrats opposing it. The conference report funds the war and assorted other priorities, including three important health care provisions. One provides $650 million in additional payments to states that are running out of federal funds for their Children's Health Insurance Programs. The second provision prevents the Administration from moving forward on its plan to cut $4 billion in Medicaid payments to public sector health care institutions over five years. The last provision prevents planned cuts in Medicaid payments to institutions with medical education programs. The bill also includes an increase in the minimum wage which President Bush also objects to.
(Ed Jayne- [e-mail])

President McEntee Testifies on the Need for Health Care Reform
On Wednesday, President McEntee testified at a hearing on the uninsured held by the House Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee. The hearing is one of a series that the Subcommittee has held to help lay ground work for health care reform. President McEntee's testimony emphasized that the health care system is in crisis and that the need to cover the 45 million uninsured is both a moral issue as well as a financial issue that impacts AFSCME members who have coverage. The cost of uncompensated care received by the uninsured is largely paid for by those who have coverage. This drives up the cost of premiums paid by AFSCME members and their employers. President McEntee also emphasized the need to require all employers to help finance health care for their workers.
(Barbara Coufal- [e-mail])

House Eyes Excess Payments to Medicare Private Plans
This week, Rep. Pete Stark (D-CA), Chair of the House Ways and Means Health Subcommittee, announced that he plans to introduce legislation that would cut payments to private plans that offer coverage to seniors and other Medicare beneficiaries. Originally, private plans were allowed to offer coverage under Medicare on the premise that they would be less costly than traditional, fee-for-service Medicare. However, in 2003, the plans successfully lobbied the Congress for additional payments to boost their profitability. On average, the private insurance companies now receive 12 percent more than the cost of coverage under traditional Medicare. In addition, the insurance companies market their plans in order to cream the healthiest and least costly beneficiaries from the Medicare pool.

Recently the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC), which advises the Congress on Medicare finances, recommended that payments to the private plans be made equal to the cost of traditional Medicare coverage. This would save an estimated $150 billion over 10 years. Rep. Stark has proposed that the savings resulting in the cut to private plans be used to offset a cut in Medicare payments to physicians, to improve the solvency of the Medicare program and to help pay for expanding coverage under the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP).
(Barbara Coufal- [e-mail])

Health Care Reform Bill Introduced
On Wednesday, Rep. John Dingell (D-MI) and Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA) introduced the Medicare for All Act (H.R. 2034/S.1218). This health care reform bill would achieve universal coverage by allowing individuals and families to become covered by the Medicare program or to choose one of the health care plans that are offered to members of Congress and federal employees. The bill requires employers to help finance the cost of coverage. The International Executive Board approved a resolution at its last meeting strongly endorsing this legislation.
(Barbara Coufal- [e-mail])

House Passes Bill Prohibiting Genetic Discrimination
This week, the House passed legislation (H.R. 493) that would prohibit employers from using an individual's genetic information when making employment decisions such as hiring, firing and promotion. The bill would also prohibit health insurers from using genetic information to deny coverage or set premiums. Unfortunately, the bill has significant weaknesses. In particular, it does not apply to workers' compensation insurers who can require claimants to submit to blood tests to find genetic information that could then be used to deny workers' compensation claims. For this reason, AFSCME did not endorse the bill. Similar legislation (S. 358) has been approved by a Senate committee but has not yet been acted on by the full Senate.
(Barbara Coufal- [e-mail])

A National Strategy to Cut Poverty in Half Unveiled
Seeking to reverse the trend of growing poverty and inequality in our country, the D.C.-based think tank Center for American Progress's Task Force on Poverty released, "From Poverty to Prosperity: A National Strategy to Cut Poverty in Half." The Task Force was established in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, which revealed the enormous racial and economic disparities in New Orleans. The Task Force members include researchers, academics, and activists, including Linda Chavez-Thompson, Executive Vice President of the AFL-CIO.

The report contains 12 specific recommendations for cutting poverty in half over the next 10 years, some of which include raising the minimum wage and indexing it to half the average hourly wage; promoting unionization by enacting the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA); guaranteeing child care assistance to low-income families; ensuring equity for low-wage workers in the Unemployment Insurance (UI) system; creating two million new "opportunity" housing vouchers, and promoting equitable development in and around central cities; and expanding the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and Child Tax Credit. The report notes that all of the 12 recommendations could be fully paid for by reforming the federal tax system and reversing many of the "excessive" tax cuts enacted over the past six years. The report is available at: www.americanprogress.org/issues/2007/04/pdf/poverty_report.pdf.

Also this week, the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Income Security and Family Support held a hearing on reducing poverty, where many of these same issues and recommendations were addressed. Subcommittee Chair Jim McDermott (D-WA) noted that in addition to the toll that poverty takes on the poor, it also drains our country's overall economic productivity. Several speakers stressed the importance of investing in child care and pre-K education for children 0-5 years old, with payoffs throughout the rest of these children's lives. Falling wages relative to inflation was also identified as a critically important cause of rising poverty rates. The speakers identified expansion of the EITC and increasing and indexing the minimum wage as two of the most important policies to ensure that work pays enough to keep families out of poverty. Rep. McDermott also recognized the importance of reforming the unemployment insurance system and noted that Congress is already working on needed reforms to help unemployed workers maintain their standard of living while they are looking for work. And, he noted that last year's Deficit Reduction Act cuts to the child support enforcement program were short-sighted and will cause more families to sink into poverty.
(Fran Bernstein- [e-mail])

Anti-Prison Privatization and Public Disclosure for Private Prisons Bills Introduced
The new Chair of the Congressional Correctional Officers Caucus, Rep. Tim Holden (D-PA) has reintroduced two bills in the 110th Congress that have been at the top of AFSCME's law enforcement congressional agenda. The Public Safety Act (H.R. 1890), ensures that core correctional services related to the operation of correctional facilities and the incarceration of inmates are not provided by non-governmental private entities. H.R. 1889, the Private Prison Information Act, would require private prison corporations to publicly disclose information about the operation of their prisons such as staffing levels, pay, and security measures.
(Jayne Clancy- [e-mail])

Federal Employees Serving in Combat Zones Deserve Same Tax Breaks as Halliburton Workers
Legislation was introduced in the House and Senate last week that would provide federal civilian employees serving in combat zones the same tax credit that is available to military service members. Currently, military and civilian contractors serving in combat zones receive an income tax exemption on their base pay up to a certain limit. H.R. 1974 and S. 1166 would give federal employees, who are called up to serve in Iraq and Afghanistan, the same tax relief. Approximately 2,000 federal employees are working in combat zones.
(Jayne Clancy- [e-mail])

House Committee Holds First Hearing on Pay Equity in 10 Years
On Equal Pay Day, Tuesday, April 24, the House Education and Labor Committee held its first hearing in ten years on equal pay. The hearing focused on the Paycheck Fairness Act (H.R. 1338), introduced by Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), and featured a firsthand account of wage discrimination by a Wal-Mart worker.

Panelists at the hearing included Rep. DeLauro and Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), who will soon reintroduce the Fair Pay Act of 2007. While the two bills share some similarities–notably allowing for class action lawsuits and compensatory and punitive damages–they differ in their scope. The Paycheck Fairness Act maintains current law to prohibit wage discrimination in the same job; whereas The Fair Pay Act provides for comparable worth–prohibiting wage discrimination in jobs that are similar in skill, effort, responsibility and working conditions, even if the jobs themselves are different.

In addition to other panelists who highlighted the continued pay inequity faced by working women, Deidre Farmer, a former manager of a tire and lube division in a Kentucky Wal-Mart store, provided her own account. Ms. Farmer was fired from her job after discovering that she was being paid $2,000 less than male managers doing the same job, including those whom she personally trained. She is now one of the 1.5 million current and former female Wal-Mart employees who are suing the retailer for sex discrimination. (Karen Swift Wick- [e-mail])

OSHA Reform Legislation Introduced
The Senate and House Labor Committees held a joint press conference on Thursday, April 26 to announce the introduction of the Protecting America's Workers Act–legislation to address the deficiencies of the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHAct)–and to set out the congressional agenda for oversight and action on worker safety and health. The legislation seeks to correct weaknesses with the current law including the lack of coverage for public sector and transportation workers. In addition to the press event, House and Senate workplace safety subcommittees held hearings on safety and health issues this week.

April 29 is Workers' Memorial Day, the anniversary of the day that the OSHAct was signed into law in 1970.
(Cynthia Bradley- [e-mail])

ENDA Introduced in the House
The Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) was introduced in the House on April 24 by Reps. Barney Frank (D-MA), Deborah Pryce (R-OH), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) and Christopher Shays (R-CT). The legislation would make it illegal to fire, refuse to hire or refuse to promote an employee based on the person's sexual orientation or gender identity. A number of states already have laws that bar discrimination in the workplace based on sexuality.
(Cynthia Bradley- [e-mail])

Trustees Report Social Security Financial Outlook Improves Modestly
The Social Security trust fund, which finances the government's giant retirement program, is on track to run out of reserves by 2041. The trustees said that 2017, just a decade from now, is the year that Social Security will begin paying out more in benefits than it collects in payroll taxes. The estimate, prepared by the trustees of the federal government's main entitlement programs for the elderly and the disabled, is similar to projections from last year. Bush once vowed to make overhauling Social Security the top domestic priority of his second term. However, his proposal to privatize Social Security was soundly rejected by the public and the Congress.
(Marge Allen- [e-mail])

Campus Security is Focus of Hearing
The tragedy on the campus of Virginia Tech last week prompted legislators to schedule hearings to examine how secure college and university campuses are and what can be done to make them more secure. The Senate Homeland Security Committee held a hearing at which college administrators, campus public safety officials, and mental health counselors cited a number of measures being implemented to protect those who live, work and study on college campuses, but reported that campus counseling is stretched thin and will require additional resources to adequately serve large university populations. Witnesses said that while college campuses are relatively safe places, past experiences put them on notice that colleges, like other institutions, can easily become targets for both terrorist attacks and violent outbursts. They called for improved communications systems to alert the campus community to problems, suggesting that new and old communication methods – such as text messaging and public address systems–be used to inform students, faculty and others during a disaster. Additional hearings are scheduled before the House Education and Labor Committee and House Homeland Security Committee.
(Marge Allen- [e-mail])

Rep. Juanita Millender-McDonald Dies
Rep. Juanita Millender-McDonald (D-CA), who represented the 37th District of California based in southern Los Angeles County which takes in most of Long Beach, all of Compton and Carson and a small part of Los Angeles, died on April 22. She recently took a leave of absence from Congress when she was diagnosed with cancer. The seven-term congresswoman served as Chair of the House Administration Committee, and served on the Small Business Committee, and the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. California Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has scheduled a June 26 primary for candidates in a special election to replace Rep. Millender-McDonald. The special election is set for August 21.


AFSCME Congressional Directory of the 110th Congress
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