AFSCME LEGISLATIVE
REPORT
September 15, 2006
In this issue:
- Senate Panel Looks at Nonprofit Hospitals
- House Panel Approves Voter ID Legislation
- House Approves Watered Down Earmark Reform Bill
- Senate Votes to Approve Security Training For Port Workers
- House Votes to Build Wall Along Mexican Border and House GOP Leaders Announce Intention to Pass Additional Immigration Measures
- House Approves Bill to Establish Public Database of Contracts and Grants
- Congressional Study Shows State-by-State Impact of Bush Social Security Privatization Plan
- New GAO Report Confirms Middle-Class Benefit Cuts From Bush Social Security Plan
- 500,000 Medicare Beneficiaries Will Lose Automatic Enrollment in Drug Plan Next Year
- Study Finds Health Savings Accounts Attract Wealthier Americans, Don't Decrease Health Care Costs or Improve Health Care Quality
Senate Panel Looks at Nonprofit Hospitals
On Wednesday, the Senate Finance Committee held a hearing to examine the low
levels of charity care, higher charges to the uninsured, aggressive collection
practices and other abuses by a few nonprofit hospitals and whether new
regulations should be developed to prohibit such abuses. AFSCME submitted a
statement for the hearing record, prepared by Council 31, which described abuses
at Resurrection Health Care, a hospital system where the Council is conducting
an organizing campaign.
In return for a tax exemption on income, nonprofit health care facilities are required to provide benefits to their community. However, some nonprofit hospitals behave more like profit-maximizing corporations rather than institutions centered on a mission to serve their communities. While the chair of the Senate Finance Committee, Charles E. Grassley (R-IA), has been holding hearings and studying the issue for some time, it is not clear that the Committee will draft legislation to tighten up existing rules.
AFSCME's statement to the Committee highlighted that the
public is best served by policies that foster a strong public and nonprofit
health care sector. The statement also called upon the Congress to enact
comprehensive health care reform.
(Barbara Coufal-
bcoufal@afscme.org)
House Panel Approves Voter ID Legislation
Legislation that would require voters to present a photo identification card
before casting their ballot passed the House Administration Committee on
September 14. The "Federal Election Integrity Act of 2006" (H.R. 4844) passed on
a party line vote of 4-3. The legislation would require all eligible voters to
obtain a government–issued photo ID in order to cast a ballot, after showing
their birth-certificate or passport to prove citizenship. Rep. Henry Hyde (R-IL)
introduced H.R. 4844 claiming that the measure is designed to reduce voter
fraud. In reality, it would simply encourage discrimination and prevent many
eligible voters from exercising the most sacred and important civil right they
have.
At AFSCME's convention in August, a resolution was adopted
by the delegates expressing the Union's opposition to any and all forms of voter
ID legislation. The resolution stated that "Voter ID will do nothing to improve
our election system and ensure that every vote counts. Voter ID will not prevent
any fraud from occurring. A photo ID is not definitive proof of address, nor
does it definitively provide other relevant information. Low income people and
senior citizens would be disproportionately affected by the requirement for a
Voter ID because they are less likely to have a valid driver's license or
state-issued ID, and it is harder for them to get one."
(Cynthia Bradley-
cbradley@afscme.org)
House Approves Watered Down Earmark Reform Bill
In what will probably be the only congressional response to the ethics and
lobbying scandals which have befallen Congress over the past two years, the
House voted 245-171, mostly on party-lines, to approve H.R. 1000 which would
impose limited disclosure requirements on House appropriations earmarks and
special interest tax breaks. Although Democrats want to require the House to
disclose the congressional sponsor of every earmark and any tax legislation
benefiting special interests, the bill is narrowly written to require disclosure
of the sponsors of tax breaks benefiting only a single corporate entity and
would expire at the end of the current Congress. The Resolution also permits
these weak requirements to be overridden by a simple House majority.
(Marc Granowitter-
mgranowitter@afscme.org)
Senate Votes to Approve Security Training For Port
Workers
The Senate approved port security legislation (H.R. 4954) that included an
amendment requiring mandatory training for all port workers. The bipartisan
amendment was offered by Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) and will ensure that tens of
thousands of port workers are properly prepared in the event of a terrorist
threat or attack. The amendment requires that the Department of Homeland
Security establish and implement a meaningful worker security training program,
utilize the expertise of various training partners and mandate that terminal
operators establish a strategy and timeline for including training as a
part of all port security plans. Labor unions have fought for mandatory training
for some time, however the Administration has largely ignored proposals to
provide this training.
(Cynthia Bradley-
cbradley@afscme.org)
House Votes To Build Wall Along Mexican Border and
House GOP Leaders Announce Intention to Pass Additional Immigration Measures
House Republican leaders, as part of their pre-election push, announced that
they intended to press for the passage of 10 border security measures, which
would be included in the spending bill on homeland security programs, before
recessing in late September. Following that announcement, the first of the
initiatives (H.R. 6061) which would require the construction of 700 miles of
fencing along the U.S.-Mexican border was brought to the House floor for a vote
where it passed 283-138. In addition to the fence, H.R. 6061, sponsored by
Homeland Security Chairman Peter King (R-NY), authorized other provisions
extracted from a broader immigration bill (H.R. 4437) which the House passed in
December 2005, including a "virtual" fence made up of unmanned aerial vehicles,
ground sensors, cameras, and other surveillance technology.
Whether the Senate will accept these provisions is
uncertain since the Senate and President Bush are pressing for a broader
immigration reform bill that would include a guest worker program.
(Marge Allen-
mallen@afscme.org)
House Approves Bill to Establish Public Database
of Contracts and Grants
This week, the House approved the Senate-passed Federal Funding Accountability
and Transparency Act of 2006 (S. 2590). This bill establishes a single federal
database disclosing federal grants and contracts awarded to businesses,
nonprofit organizations and state and local agencies. The searchable database
will be available to the public and accessible on the internet by January 2008.
The legislation also establishes a two-year pilot program to identify a method
for monitoring subcontracts and subgrants. By July 2009, subcontracts and
subgrants are to be included in the broader database. The database will provide
a very helpful tool for monitoring contracts awarded by the federal government
and the subcontracts and subgrants awarded by state and local governments. This
uncontroversial bill now goes to the President for his signature.
(Barbara Coufal-
bcoufal@afscme.org)
Congressional Study Shows State-by-State Impact of
Bush Social Security Privatization Plan
If President Bush's Social Security privatization plan had been in place for
today's workers over their full careers, they would be experiencing annual
benefit cuts ranging from $6,013 in Washington, D.C. to $7,598 in New Jersey,
according to an analysis by House Committee on Ways and Means Democrats. The
Bush privatization plan includes two cuts in Social Security guaranteed
benefits. First, it imposes a middle-class benefit cut by changing the way the
benefit formula is revised to keep pace with the economy. This cut would apply
to everyone, even people who chose not to have private accounts. And, the Bush
plan includes a tax on those who opt for private accounts. Under this scheme,
private account holders would be required to repay the Social Security Trust
Fund for diverting funds to their private accounts, which would result in a very
substantial reduction in the guaranteed Social Security benefit.
(Fran Bernstein-
fbernstein@afscme.org)
New GAO Report Confirms Middle-Class Benefit Cuts
From Bush Social Security Plan
A new report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO), "Social Security
Reform Implications of Different Indexing Choices," confirms that the
middle-class benefit cuts outlined by President Bush as part of his proposal to
privatize Social Security would have a dramatic and negative effect on benefit
levels. The GAO analyzed possible changes to the indexing of Social Security
benefits–how they are adjusted over time to keep up with the economy. The
analysis included the middle-class benefit cut proposed by President Bush,
referred to as "progressive indexing" by supporters, which would index future
benefits to prices rather than to wages for everyone who earned more than
$20,000 a year. Under his proposal, benefits would be reduced for 7 in 10 future
workers. "Changes to the benefit formula...will have similar results regardless
of whether the change is an indexing change or a straight benefit reduction."
(Fran Bernstein-
fbernstein@afscme.org)
500,000 Medicare Beneficiaries Will Lose Automatic
Enrollment in Drug Plan Next Year
As many as half a million low-income beneficiaries who were automatically
enrolled in the Medicare drug benefit this year will not be automatically
enrolled for 2007, even though they likely will qualify, according to a
statement this week by Mark McClellan, outgoing Administrator of the Centers for
Medicare and Medicaid Services. In addition, the enrollment period in 2007 will
be only six weeks instead of the six months allowed in 2006, adding to the
obstacles low-income seniors will face next year in receiving the prescription
drugs they need at affordable prices. These new coverage barriers will compound
the existing drug program's shortcomings, including Medicare's inability to
negotiate for lower drug prices, and the "doughnut hole" coverage gap during
which beneficiaries must pay the full cost of their prescriptions until they
reach their annual out-of-pocket limit.
(Fran Bernstein-
fbernstein@afscme.org)
Study Finds Health Savings Accounts Attract
Wealthier Americans, Don't Decrease Health Care Costs or Improve Health Care
Quality
Health savings accounts (HSAs) tend to "attract healthier individuals who
use less health care or...higher-income individuals with the means to pay higher
deductibles and the desire to accrue tax-free savings," according to a report
released last week by the GAO. The report, entitled "Consumer-Directed Health
Plans: Early Enrollee Experiences with Health Savings Accounts and Eligible
Health Plans," noted that more than half of those with HSAs earn $75,000 a year
or more, compared with 18 percent of all tax filers. The GAO also found that
individuals with greater health needs would likely pay higher prices for health
care financed through an HSA rather than through a traditional health care plan.
And, HSAs have had little impact on individuals' spending on health care. This
report bolsters the arguments of AFSCME, other health care advocates and many
members of Congress that HSAs run counter to what's needed for real health care
reform.
(Fran Bernstein-
fbernstein@afscme.org)
Please advice Local 801 of any changes. Contact us by email at webmaster