December 2005 Policy Update
Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations (HR 3010),
Budget Reconciliation, Katrina and Tax Cuts.
Tough negotiations are ahead for members of Congress when they reconvene on December 6, 2005 and try to end the session before Christmas. The appropriations bill for Health and Human Services (HHS) was defeated in the House just before Thanksgiving, so now it goes back to conference committee so members can hammer out a bill that can pass both the House and Senate. Budget reconciliation bills have passed both the House and Senate, but there is a difference of $15 billion between the two versions. Finally, House legislation to cut taxes even further is waiting in the wings. The Senate has already passed its tax cut bill. So that’s three major bills that Congressional leaders want to finish.
Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations (HR 3010)
The House failed to pass the conference version of the Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations on November 17, 2005. Twenty-two Republicans joined 201 Democrats and 1 Independent to defeat the bill by a vote of 209 to 224. This forced the Senate to delay their vote until representatives from both houses could meet again to draft a version that can pass both the House and Senate. Until the FY 2006 appropriation is passed, HHS is operating under a continuing resolution that keeps their budget at the same level as last year.
Of particular concern in this package were cuts or level funding for programs that benefit racial and ethnic minorities:
- Healthy Community Access Program is abolished.
- Health professions training for diversity is reduced by more than half ($118 million to $52 million), affecting the Centers of Excellence, Health Careers Opportunity Program (HCOP), and scholarships for disadvantaged students.
- Level funding for Ryan White CARE programs ($2.048 billion), except for an additional $10 million for the AIDS Drug Assistance Program
- A mere $1.2 million increase for the National Center for Minority Health and Health Disparities (from $196.2 million to $197.4 million)
Budget Reconciliation, Katrina and Tax Cuts
At 1:42am on Friday, November 18, the House did pass a budget reconciliation (HR 4241) by a very close vote of 217-215. The count was at 215-215 before the final two votes were cast in favor of the bill. No Democrats voted in favor of the bill.
The legislation promises 100% reimbursement to states that are providing services to victims of Hurricane Katrina until May 15, 2006. However, that is not enough to balance out the worst part of the bill. It chops almost $50 billion from Medicaid, food stamps, student loans and other programs that serve the poor. Immigrants are once again a target with the proposal to extend the waiting period for legal immigrants to get food stamps from 5 years to 7 years.
Dozens of advocacy groups, including APIAHF, organized opposition to the bill when it was originally introduced the week before. Because of that advocacy, the Republican leadership pulled the bill off the floor rather than see it fail. They spent the next week corralling enough moderates to vote for the bill. As the vote total shows, they were successful.
Nevertheless, continued pressure is needed as the House and Senate now meet to draft a compromise between their respective bills. The House bill cuts spending by $49.9 billion: the Senate version by $35 billion (S. 1932). A number of moderates came on board after extracting promises that their concerns would be taken up in the upcoming conference with the Senate. Congressional Quarterly reports “conference is likely to be extremely difficult, and winning adoption of a final agreement — if one is ever reached — could prove even harder.”
Reconciliation legislation is used by Congress to bring existing revenue and spending law into conformity with the policies in the budget resolution. Unlike appropriations, reconciliation is an optional process. This reconciliation legislation needs to be defeated. Senator Gordon Smith (R-OR) has indicated that he and six other Republican senators will vote against the bill if it contains cuts to Medicaid and Food Stamps.
These drastic cuts of benefits for the poor are deemed necessary by Republican leaders in order to afford tax cuts that benefit people who make more than $200K per year. The Senate passed its $59.6 billion tax cut bill (S. 2020) by 64-33 before recess. The House went into recess as leaders assessed whether enough Republican members were still on hand and willing to vote for their $56.1 billion tax bill (HR 4297).
For questions or feedback, email Gem P. Daus at gdaus@apiahf.org
