AFSCME LEGISLATIVE REPORT September 7, 2007

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

AFSCME LEGISLATIVE REPORT
September 7, 2007

In this issue:

* Dark Clouds Threaten Children's Health Bill
* AFSCME Corrections United – Law Enforcement Conference
* Senate Confirms Jim Nussle as New White House Budget Director
* Nurse Collective Bargaining Rights Bill Gains Cosponsors
* House and Senate Hold Hearings on Tax Fairness Issues
* Despite Fifth Year of Economic Recovery, More Live in Poverty and Lack Health Insurance Coverage

Dark Clouds Threaten Children's Health Bill
Despite strong public support for covering children, President Bush continues to state that he will veto legislation passed by the House and Senate to renew the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). He has stated that he opposes covering more low-income children on "philosophical" grounds. In addition, Senate GOP leaders refused this week to allow the Senate to appoint a committee of Senators to negotiate with the House to resolve differences between the two bills.

Just prior to the August congressional recess, the House and Senate each passed distinct bills to renew the State Children's Health Insurance Program. The Senate bill (S. 1893) would provide coverage to three million low-income children who are not covered now. However, the House bill, the Children's Health and Medicare Protection (CHAMP) Act (H.R. 3162), goes further, covering five million new children.

In addition, the CHAMP Act also makes much-needed changes in the Medicare program, by cutting expensive subsidies to Medicare Advantage plans, the private insurance plans that are marketed to seniors as a substitute for traditional, government-administered Medicare. The savings from the cuts in subsidies are used to improve the financial solvency of the Medicare program, pay for improvements in Medicare benefits, and help increase funds for children's health coverage. Because the CHAMP Act covers more kids and improves Medicare, AFSCME has lobbied the Senate to support the House bill.

While we still face a fight over a presidential veto, it is vital that the strongest bill possible be finalized by the House and Senate and sent to the President.
(Barbara Coufal – bcoufal@afscme.org or Linda Bennett – lbennett@afscme.org)

YOUR HELP IS NEEDED NOW!

Please call your Senators toll-free at 1-888-460-0813. Urge them to support the Children's Health and Medicare Protection Act (CHAMP Act). Tell them that the House bill is better because it covers more kids and improves Medicare.

AFSCME Corrections United – Law Enforcement Conference
The Legislation Department conducted legislative briefings for law enforcement and corrections officers at the 2007 AFSCME Corrections United and Law Enforcement Conference. In addition, conference participants spent an afternoon lobbying Members of Congress on top priorities, including collective bargaining for public safety officers, due process rights and the need to repeal Social Security rules that cause many public employees to suffer a reduction in Social Security benefits.
(Blaine Rummel – brummel@afscme.org)

Senate Confirms Jim Nussle as New White House Budget Director
The Senate voted 69-24 to confirm controversial former Congressman Jim Nussle (R-IA) as Director of the White House Office of Management and Budget. No Republican Senator opposed Nussle and the Democrats split 23-23. AFSCME opposed Nussle's confirmation because, while in Congress, he led efforts to shrink federal investments in important public services. Last November, Iowa voters rejected his bid to become Iowa's Governor.
(Marc Granowitter - mgranowitter@afscme.org)

Nurse Collective Bargaining Rights Bill Gains Cosponsors
The Re-Empowerment of Skilled and Professional Employees and Construction Tradesworkers (RESPECT) Act (H.R. 1644/S. 969), a bipartisan bill which is urgently needed to protect the collective bargaining rights of workers, has attracted 103 House cosponsors.

Unlike other workers, "supervisors" do not have protection under federal labor law and can be legally fired for joining or forming a union or even saying words of support for union activities. Unfortunately, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has radically broadened its interpretation of the statutory definition of a "supervisor" in a way to potentially deny protection to approximately one million health care workers – over 843,000 registered nurses, 124,000 licensed practical nurses and 53,000 physician assistants – who routinely direct the work of other employees. These recent NLRB decisions give employers the ability to strip collective bargaining rights from nurses and other employees who do not have managerial authority. The RESPECT Act would make two minor modifications to federal labor law to ensure that "employees with minor supervisory duties" continue to have the right to organize and bargain collectively.

The RESPECT Act has picked up steam as AFSCME activists have asked their U.S. Representatives and Senators to cosponsor the bill, but more cosponsors are needed to overcome fierce opposition from anti-union employer groups and the Bush Administration. You can see whether your Representatives or Senators are cosponsoring H.R. 1644/S. 969 by checking at http://thomas.loc.gov/
(Linda Bennett - lbennett@afscme.org)

House and Senate Committees Hold Hearings on Tax Fairness Issues
The House Ways and Means Committee and the Senate Finance Committee held separate hearings this week on the fairness of certain federal tax policies. The House's broader hearing reviewed the low tax rate paid on "carried interest," a type of investment income earned by managers of private equity firms and hedge funds. It also reviewed the impact of the alternative minimum tax on working families and the practice of reducing taxes by organizing investment funds outside of the U.S. The Senate hearing focused on the topic of the tax rate on carried interest. Senate Finance Committee Chair Max Baucus (D-MT) and Ranking Republican Charles Grassley (R-IA) recently introduced legislation (S. 1624) to increase the tax rate on carried interest. A similar bill (H.R. 2834) has been introduced in the House by Rep. Sander Levin (D-MI). It is expected that one of these measures, or a combination of them, will be approved by the House and Senate this year.
(Marc Granowitter – mgranowitter@afscme.org)

Despite Fifth Year of Economic Recovery, More Live in Poverty and Lack Health Insurance Coverage
New Census Bureau data on poverty, income and health insurance released at the end of August show that in 2006, the poverty rate was still higher, and median income for non-elderly households remained $1,300 lower, than in 2001 when the last recession hit bottom. It is virtually unprecedented for poverty to be higher and the income of working-age households lower in the fifth year of a recovery than in the last year of the previous recession.

The Census figures make clear that low- and middle-income families are not sharing in the gains of the economic growth of the past few years. "There's a lot of evidence that more people are working," noted Jared Bernstein, a senior economist at the D.C.-based Economic Policy Institute. "The important theme going on here is a labor market that's definitely offering people more work and more hours, but at lower wages."

The Census Bureau also reports that the number of Americans without health insurance increased by 2.2 million in 2006, and the number of uninsured children jumped by more than 600,000. The steady progress of recent years, in reducing the number of uninsured children, stalled in 2005 and began to reverse in 2006, in part because funding available for states to increase the number of children enrolled in SCHIP grew scarcer. In spite of this troubling trend, President Bush still vows to veto legislation that the House and Senate passed (in different versions) that would reduce the number of uninsured children by three to five million, and instead proposes to deny coverage to 800,000 children.
(Fran Bernstein – fbernstein@afscme.org)

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AFSCME Department of Legislation
Phone: 202/429-5020 or 800/732-8120
Fax: 202/223-3413
E-mail: legislation@afscme.org
Website: http://www.afscme.org/
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