HEALTH
Despite Grassley's Objections, Barton
Maintains Veto Would Be Overriden
Despite objections from the Senate's leading Republican on the topic, House Energy and Commerce ranking member Joe Barton Wednesday maintained that both chambers of Congress have the votes to override a promised veto of legislation delaying for one year seven administration regulations that eliminate or severely cut Medicaid programs.
Senate Finance ranking member Charles Grassley urged members Wednesday -- as the Energy and Commerce Committee approved legislation calling for the delay 46-0 -- to instead work on fixing the regulations to allow Medicaid to get at liberties some states take with billing that have run up costs.
"Let's see if he has the votes to do that," Barton said defiantly.
Supporters of the moratorium argue they need more time to study the regulations to protect states from the $50 billion hole they say the regulations will put in their budgets. "That argument is starting to strain credibility," Grassley said, pointing to at least two of the regulations proposed at least nine months ago.
Senate Republican leaders refused to comment on where their members would come down on a veto override.
House Energy and Commerce leaders struck a deal last week during a Health Subcommittee markup to address GOP concerns with the cost of the bill.
At the time, Barton said he was "reasonably confident" the administration would refrain from a veto. Instead, HHS Secretary Leavitt sent a letter Tuesday to Barton and Energy and Commerce Chairman John Dingell threatening a veto of the bill.
The bill halts regulations that would have eliminated payments for Medicaid-related administrative activities at schools and specialized medical transportation services for children and hospital outpatient services.
It would also freeze implementation of regulations that would have restricted rehabilitation payments and slashed states' ability to provide case management services for disabled beneficiaries.
Barton added that overriding a veto is "never comfortable," but he does not agree with some of the regulations, mainly a proposal to halt Medicaid matching funds for state payments for on-the-job medical training or residency programs known as graduate medical education.
"There is good reason this bill has received broad, bipartisan, unanimous support," Dingell said in a statement.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services claims it does not have the authority to make graduate medical education payments.
Dingell pledged to Barton during Wednesday's markup he would work with the ranking member on separate legislation this year to expressly give CMS authority to cover graduate medical education costs.
The committee shot down a few Republican amendments, including two offered by Health Subcommittee ranking member Nathan Deal, R-Ga., to help pharmacists who foresee crushing reimbursement problems stemming from a pending Medicaid rule.
CMS reworked how it will calculate the "average manufacturer price," and pharmacists claim this will lead to pharmacy reimbursements for generic drugs that are below the cost to acquire the pharmaceuticals.
Democrats also are concerned with the new formula, and while they rejected attaching it to the moratorium, Dingell pledged to hold a committee meeting to figure out how to get at the problem. He would not promise to move a bill this year.
By Anna Edney, with Fawn Johnson contributing
SENATE RACES
Ensign Stirs GOP Faithful With Thoughts
Of Filibuster-Proof Democratic Majority
Although he has abandoned his rallying cry to retake the majority, National Republican Senatorial Committee Chairman John Ensign of Nevada is using the specter of an almost filibuster-proof Democratic majority to motivate potential GOP supporters in November.
Despite having 23 Republican seats to defend this fall against 12 for Democrats, Ensign held out hope this year that it was possible for Republicans to pull off a huge upset and regain a majority.
That was before a handful of promising Republican challengers withdrew from races. Ensign conceded in an interview with CongressDaily that it is virtually assured Republicans will not be in the majority in January "unless something miraculous happens."
While Republicans may be striving to limit the damage, Ensign is confident their legislative record during the 110th Congress will attract support.
Senate Republicans have used what Senate Minority Leader McConnell early last year called their "robust minority" to shape legislation moving through the Senate and block certain Democratic initiatives.
And if Republican supporters do not want Democrats to ram their agendas through Congress -- especially if there is a Democratic president next year -- Ensign said they will have to help Republicans maintain that strong minority.
"In the Senate, a strong minority can be very effective," Ensign said.
He cited the example of Republican opposition to union-backed legislation to do away with secret-ballot elections for union representation. Employers fear that workers who have to declare publicly whether they wish to unionize or not will be pressured into voting yes.
If the Democrats were to gain enough seats to grow their 51-vote majority to 57 or 58 they could pass "card-check" legislation with a simple majority. But if Republicans can maintain at least 47 seats, or even hold 49, they can prevent that bill and others like it from ever coming to a vote.
"It's really motivating businesses" to support Republican candidates, Ensign said, "because they understand the consequence of it."
Ensign said he has been encouraged by the recent efforts of his colleagues to help each other with phone calls, fundraising and other measures.
Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, in particular has played a crucial role in inspiring his Republican colleagues to help one another, Ensign said. McConnell and other Republican leaders have been among those holding fundraisers.
"It's becoming more of a 'getting our team excited,' and so I see momentum definitely building," Ensign said.
Whatever steam the Republicans can produce heading into the fall, the NRSC will still be hampered by its fundraising woes -- since May 2006, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee has raised more every month than the NRSC.
That cash disadvantage means Republicans will have to be careful where they direct their funds, lest they be wasted. Ensign pointed to Republican Sens. John Sununu in New Hampshire and Norm Coleman in Minnesota as races on which the NRSC will keep a close eye when making funding decisions.
Sununu faces a stiff challenge from former Democratic Gov. Jeanne Shaheen, who continues to lead the GOP incumbent in polls, while Coleman faces comedian and satirist Al Franken, whose national image has enabled him to raise money to make that race competitive.
"We know where the races are right now," Ensign said. "Some races, you may go in earlier than others. Obviously, we don't lay the playbook out for the other side. The bottom line is that we will have to make tough choices at the end based on which races we can make a difference in."
Money is not the only thing Republicans need to worry about.
Although they have put a few months between them and scandals involving Republican Sens. Larry Craig of Idaho, who was accused of soliciting sex in a men's bathroom in the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport, and David Vitter of Louisiana, who was accused of using a Washington, D.C.-based escort service, Ensign cautioned against underestimating the collateral damage from scandals.
"I dropped 12 points because of [former Rep.] Mark Foley," Ensign said, referring to his own polling in the wake of disclosures in September 2006 that the Florida Republican House member had been sending sexually suggestive text messages to congressional pages.
"What did I have to do with Mark Foley? Nothing," said Ensign, and yet his campaign felt the impact.
Ensign said he remains hopeful about the Republicans' chances this fall because there are months left before November. In recent election cycles, the party that felt on top this early out had bad Novembers.
But still he knows the Democrats are feeling a lot better about their chances. "I'm just making an observation," Ensign said. "They feel very good right now."
By Ben Schneider
TAXES
Senate Still Searching For Right Combo On Extenders' Offsets
Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus could introduce his tax extenders package as early as today -- with offsets to be determined, sources on and off Capitol Hill said Wednesday.
How to pay for the roughly $55 billion bill would instead be decided when the Senate Finance Committee considers it, possibly later this month. The measure would extend a series of expired or expiring tax breaks, such as the research and development credit and renewable energy incentives that are considered top priorities of the business community and numerous lawmakers.
Under pay/go rules, the measure needs to be offset with commensurate revenue-raisers. The lack of a bipartisan agreement on how to pay for it spiked the extenders package last year, as Senate Finance ranking member Charles Grassley and other Republicans do not believe extensions of the law should require offsets.
And with the farm bill tax negotiations going down to the wire, Baucus did not want to endorse specific offsets at this time for an extenders package, which could take months to complete. "I think they are afraid of putting some raisers out there for fear they will end up in another bill," said an industry lobbyist.
The House has not started the process for considering the extenders bill, which has become an annual ritual in Congress, along with a patch for the alternative minimum tax.
Baucus has said repeatedly this year there are no plans to offset the $70 billion cost of another one-year fix, as 60 votes would not be achievable under those circumstances.
The Senate version of the FY09 budget resolution leaves out any offsets for an AMT patch; however, it still assumes extensions of other expiring tax cuts would be paid for.
Coming up with offsets just for the extenders package could be difficult.
"Pay-fors" Baucus is said to be considering include delaying new rules going into effect next year allowing multinational firms to allocate their worldwide interest expenses across domestic and foreign assets.
The rules would lower multinationals' tax bills by allowing them to maximize their foreign tax credits. Grassley is an architect of the new rules and opposes any delay, however, as does the White House.
Another offset is a Bush administration proposal to require investment brokers to report the cost-basis of securities transactions, but that provision is so popular it could get used for something else moving earlier.
House Ways and Means Select Revenue Measures Subcommittee Chairman Richard Neal, D-Mass., said how the Senate handles the offset issue could indicate how the House responds. Neal expressed concern about making House Democrats cast tough votes on fully-offset tax bills, if the Senate continues to jettison offsets.
"They're against offsets over there," he said. "Sooner or later it's going to raise questions about the pay/go decision in the House, given what the Senate is doing."
By Peter Cohn
ENVIRONMENT
Bush Climate Change Strategy Looks Beyond This Congress
Though he's an unpopular lame duck with little chance of pushing major legislation through Congress, President Bush appears to be pressing a strategy on global climate change that could steer the debate for years to come.
Bush's new greenhouse gas emissions initiatives, as described at the White House Wednesday, appear less designed to enact a grand package of laws than to subtly force the debate in a direction Bush believes is best.
"We have not just a solid foundation; we have a huge foundation upon which the next president is going to be able to move forward," White House Council on Environmental Quality Chairman James Connaughton said.
The most obvious piece of the strategy is Bush's rejection of a mandatory cap-and-trade program for carbon emissions that will be considered in the Senate the first week of June.
Bush made clear he will reject such ideas and that he has an arsenal of populist arguments ready to help him do so.
"The wrong way is to unilaterally impose regulatory costs that put American businesses at a disadvantage with their competitors abroad -- which would simply drive American jobs overseas and increase emissions there," Bush said in remarks made in the Rose Garden.
"The wrong way is to sharply increase gasoline prices, home heating bills for American families and the cost of energy for American businesses," he added.
"We do not have a proposal and we have not seen a proposal on an overall approach that makes any sense," Connaughton said. "In fact, the ones we've seen are disastrous."
But more subtly, Bush has signed the United States up for a new international process that seeks to establish greenhouse gas reduction goals for the world's "major economies." Bush announced the United States' goal would be to end emission increases by 2025. Two additional countries have announced such "midterm" goals, and others are working on it.
The process, which Bush first announced last year, begs the question: To the extent Bush is able to lock the United States into a new international climate change framework, how easy will it be for the next president to extricate the country if he or she wants to?
Similarly, Bush put himself in the camp of those who support mandatory carbon emissions reductions, but he changed the normally understood boundaries of that camp.
While the White House has given little reason to believe Bush will ever accept a mandatory overall carbon cap, he noted he does subscribe to a variety of mandatory programs that result in lower greenhouse gas emissions.
"We worked with Congress to pass energy legislation that specifies a new fuel economy standard of 35 miles per gallon by 2020 and requires fuel producers to supply at least 36 billion gallons of renewable fuel by 2022," Bush said. "We also mandated new objectives for the coming decade to increase the efficiency of lighting and appliances."
Connaughton and other White House aides this week emphasized Bush's commitment to "mandates" -- an assertion that, intentionally or not, could take some of the steam from those who argue for a carbon cap by allowing lawmakers who oppose the cap to note they too back "mandates" for carbon emissions reductions.
"The president that follows, by the way, whether it's Sen. [John] McCain or Sen. [Hillary Rodham] Clinton or Sen. [Barack] Obama, each one of them voted for these new mandates that just occurred in December," Connaughton said.
Reaction to Bush's speech continued to predictably split along party lines Wednesday on Capitol Hill.
"As the president highlighted, it is imperative that we restore some semblance of sanity to a runaway legal system that has allowed judges and bureaucrats to dictate policies that fail to improve the environment and threaten to derail the U.S. economy, putting millions of jobs in the crosshairs," said House Energy and Commerce Energy and Air Quality Subcommittee ranking member Fred Upton, R-Mich.
"While today's announcement signals an elevated interest in this urgent issue, it does not erase the administration's dismal record nor does it lay forth the bold plan that is needed to achieve our climate change goals," said House Majority Leader Hoyer.
The sponsors of the upcoming Senate bill -- Sens. Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn., and John Warner, R-Va., reacted more genially than most.
Warner said he was "pleased the president is prepared to engage on this vital issue," while Lieberman said he did not think Bush's statements "will have any negative impact on our efforts to attract votes to the Climate Security Act on the Senate floor this June."
By Keith Koffler and Darren Goode
IMMIGRATION
Hearings Kick Off With Acrimony - And Football Metaphors
The House's series of immigration hearings kicked off Wednesday with several members complaining that legislation responding to the shortage of seasonal workers is being held up by efforts to push a broader bill.
"This bill is being held hostage by multiple constituencies on all sides of the immigration issue," said Rep. William Delahunt, D-Mass. The measure would exempt foreign workers who have held low-skilled H-2B visas from a numerical cap. The Homeland Security Department stopped issuing those visas in January.
Democrats in the Congressional Hispanic Caucus are pushing a mini-comprehensive immigration bill that would provide temporary legal status for illegal immigrants, among other things, and they want the H-2B bill to be the vehicle for that measure.
Lawmakers and staffers say that effort is all but dead. "It's on ventilation," Delahunt said.
Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill., would not budge. "Is the Congress of the United States going to respond to the well-organized, well-funded, industry sectors of the country, or is it going to respond to those who aren't as well organized -- the undocumented?" he asked at a House Judiciary Immigration Subcommittee hearing.
Delahunt joined Reps. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., Timothy Bishop, D-N.Y., and Wayne Gilchrest, R-Md., before the subcommittee, to ask for consideration of the H-2B bill.
"Businesses in my district are struggling," said Bishop, who represents the Hamptons. "These small businesses welcome the same seasonal workers back year after year."
Judiciary Chairman John Conyers was lukewarm on the notion that the H-2B bill would be linked with a broader bill. "Let's move this ball down the line. I am thrilled with the fact that some are still talking about comprehensive reform. If I can figure out how that's going to happen before we start to break it down, I will be a devout and dedicated student to whoever is still arguing that."
Gutierrez responded. "Yes, we need a pass. We need a touchdown, too."
Stupak said lawmakers were close to agreeing on a mini-comprehensive bill before Easter, but the deal fell apart. "We just needed 14 more courageous people to help us out," he said after the hearing.
The hearings are designed to call attention to some pressing immigration-related issues that many members feel should not wait for a comprehensive bill. "This is a positive step. That's the way I look at it," Stupak said.
Gilchrest said he had been told the H-2B bill would move separately from a broader bill, possibly on the Iraq war supplemental funding measure. Stupak said the hearing strategy is designed to pick up additional votes for the mini-comprehensive bill.
At the hearing, Gilchrest begged for a separate path for the H-2B bill. "At this point, comprehensive reform -- I'll make this statement even though I'm a Methodist; I know the pope is in town -- but comprehensive reform at this time is a Hail Mary."
By Fawn Johnson
EMPLOYMENT
Bill Extending Unemployment Benefits Clears House Panel
The House Ways and Means Committee Wednesday adopted a bill to extend jobless benefits to unemployed workers an additional 13 weeks and an additional 13 weeks in states where the unemployment rate exceeds 6 percent.
After fending off Republican amendments that would have diluted the scope of the bill, the committee voted 23-13 to send the bill to the House floor.
Negotiations were still under way with House and Senate leaders on whether to incorporate the bill in a must-pass war funding bill that is likely to come to the floor next month.
That would enable Democrats to skirt pay/go rules that could require offsets to pay for a $12 billion reduction in a federal unemployment compensation trust fund.
The jobless pay bill, according to its sponsor, Ways and Means Income Security Subcommittee Chairman Jim McDermott, D-Wash., could be the first element in a second economic stimulus package that might later include expansion of food stamp benefits, more money for federal infrastructure projects, and assistance to cash-strapped states struggling with higher Medicaid costs.
In passing the bill, the Ways and Means panel rejected an amendment by Rep. Jerry Weller, R-Ill., that would have confined jobless benefits to states that have a least a 6 percent unemployment rate.
That amendment was defeated by a 24-13 margin after Rep. Sander Levin, D-Mich., argued that benefits would be denied to states with lower jobless rates but with high pockets of unemployment in certain counties or metropolitan areas.
An amendment by Ways and Means ranking member Jim McCrery to require 20 weeks of continuous full-time employment in order to qualify for benefits was narrowly defeated, 20-16. Another Weller amendment that would authorize states to set up national wage insurance "demonstration" programs was rejected 21-15.
By David Hess
TRANSPORTATION
Boxer Spars With Coburn On Floor Over Coconut Road
Senate Environment and Public Works Chairwoman Barbara Boxer Wednesday called for jail time for those responsible for the "very devious" changing of the disputed Coconut Road earmark.
Boxer and Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., sparred on the Senate floor for about a half-hour over whether Congress or the Justice Department should investigate how an earmark in the 2005 surface transportation reauthorization bill was modified after the House and Senate voted final passage and before President Bush signed it.
In competing amendments to a bill making corrections to the 2005 reauthorization measure, Boxer is seeking a Justice Department probe and Coburn wants to set up a bicameral congressional committee to investigate before potentially handing over findings to law enforcement agencies.
Boxer said a Justice probe would ensure tougher action and avoid the partisan spectacle that could come with a high-profile probe.
"At the end of the day, we want to put people in jail; that's what we're talking about," she said of the "evil doers" who modified the earmark. "I don't want political theater; I want justice done. ... When justice is done and somebody goes to jail ... that sends the best possible message."
The earmark in question was changed from providing $10 million to improving Interstate 75 in Ft. Myers, Fla., to specifically going to build an interchange at Coconut Road. Public watchdog groups charge that Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska, then chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, changed the earmark at the behest of a campaign contributor who was tied to the project.
Neither Boxer nor Coburn cited Young by name on the floor. A Young spokeswoman said he would not object if Congress "decides to take up the matter of this particular project." When asked whether Young would participate in such a probe, she said, "Why don't we cross that bridge when we come to it."
Boxer argued that Coburn's amendment violates the Constitution's Speech and Debate Clause because it would mean the Senate would be investigating actions by the House and vice versa.
Boxer, who chairs the Senate Ethics Committee, said each chamber has its rules and ethics panels for a reason.
Coburn's amendment "raises constitutional issues ... as to whether one part of Congress can investigate another. And I don't want to see this whole thing collapse like a deck of cards because we did something unconstitutional."
Roughly as many times as Boxer called for jail time for those responsible for the earmark, Coburn insisted that he does not know for sure who is involved.
"We don't know where it was changed, who changed it," he said. "There's been speculation in the press, but we don't have any real knowledge of how this happened."
He added: "So, the assumption that we are making is that we would be involved in investigating the House. We don't know that. At least I certainly don't know it."
Coburn also argued a Justice investigation would be a troublesome precedent, both with separation of powers among government branches and with public perception of Congress. "What other powers are we going to give up when we can't handle a simple investigation into what went wrong during the process of enrollment" of a bill, Coburn said. "We'll find another notch down in the confidence of Congress by the American people [because] we will refuse to look under our own bed sheets, for our own bedbugs, and we will give that responsibility away."
The Senate may vote on both amendments today. Both would be voted on as first degree amendments to a Boxer substitute that is pending, with Boxer's amendment coming up for a vote first.
By Darren Goode
AGRICULTURE
Pelosi Position On Farm Bill Taxes Becomes Central Focus House Speaker Pelosi's opposition to the farm bill's $2.5 billion tax package has emerged as central to the bill's fate, but Senate conferees Wednesday prepared a series of tax package options they planned to present to House members before the conference resumes today in hopes that a resolution might be reached quickly.
The farm bill extension expires Friday. The House passed a one-week extension of the farm bill Wednesday, and a spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Reid said the Senate is also planning an extension. Agriculture Deputy Secretary Chuck Conner said Wednesday President Bush will sign another short-term extension only if the administration believes there has been adequate progress.
Upon emerging from the meeting of Senate conferees, Senate Agriculture Chairman Tom Harkin said, "It seems the speaker is adamantly against the tax package. That stymies things." Agriculture ranking member Saxby Chambliss said that Pelosi's position had become crucial.
On Tuesday, Pelosi told the Democratic Caucus that Democratic and Republican senators say they need 60 votes for everything and "have an addiction to tax cuts for the special interests," a source close to Pelosi said.
Pelosi has expressed her opposition to one tax package provision that would speed up depreciation of racehorses. That provision is of great interest to Senate Minority Leader McConnell because his state of Kentucky has a large racing industry, but Chambliss, Senate Finance ranking member Charles Grassley and Sen. Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark., have all defended the provision. Pelosi has told Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus she will not allow money intended to be used for nutrition to be diverted to racehorse tax breaks.
A House conferee told CongressDaily that Pelosi is angry with the Senate over its insistence in including earmarks or their equivalents in other bills and considers the more than 60 tax provisions in the Senate-passed bill to be another example of that.
The conferee said Pelosi's anger over the Senate's action on other bills is a bigger factor in her opposition to the farm bill tax package rather than the overall package or the elements within it. The conferee said he believes even the much-maligned racehorse depreciation provision is a valid piece of legislation that would help that industry.
Senators emphasized Wednesday that many of the tax provisions have popular support. Baucus said many farm groups say the alternative energy tax breaks are important while Budget Chairman Kent Conrad said "hundreds of good government groups" support the conservation tax breaks.
Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., said Tuesday that, "Some of these [tax breaks] were promised by me when I was chairman of the House Agriculture Committee," -- a post he held before he began serving in the Senate in 1997.
Agriculture Secretary Schafer has noted that the tax package could raise the cost of the bill, which the administration does not like. But Roberts said the conferees should ignore White House veto threats, finish the bill and take it directly to President Bush. "We ought to negotiate with the man," Roberts said.
By Jerry Hagstrom
GOVERNMENT OPERATIONS
Dems Seek To Require Electronic Storage Of Agency E-Mail
The White House and federal agencies would have to step up efforts to keep their e-mails under a bill introduced Wednesday, but a nonpartisan watchdog group in a separate report said the legislation does too little to fix an "abysmal" federal e-mail record-keeping system.
Government rules for keeping e-mails have not kept pace with changes in technology and working habits that have meant federal business occurs increasingly online, experts and open government advocates said in testimony submitted for a House Oversight and Government Reform Information Policy Subcommittee hearing on the bill.
With decisions reached and rules drafted through electronic collaboration, an outdated records policy means "we do not know with any certainty that of all the documents and information we need to write our history, to trace policy development and implementation ... are being preserved," Patrice McDermott, director of OpentheGovernment.org, a nonprofit group that advocates government transparency, said in her written testimony.
The legislation, introduced by House Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Henry Waxman and two committee Democrats, would require agencies to store e-mail electronically. It would mandate that the National Archives and Records Administration issue regulations within 18 months on how agencies should satisfy this requirement.
The Federal Records Act now lets agencies keep e-mail in paper files. According to a GAO report released Wednesday, many agencies use print-and-file systems that result in the loss of many e-mails that should be saved.
At four agencies GAO studied, all of which rely on print-and-file systems, "for about half of senior officials, e-mail records were not being appropriately identified and preserved," the report said.
Waxman's bill takes specific aim at the e-mail retention policy of the Bush White House, which the chairman has blasted for losing hundreds of days of e-mails due to reliance on an inadequate records system. A former White House information technology official has called the system "primitive."
Waxman is also investigating the practice of White House officials, including former political adviser Karl Rove, of using mostly Republican National Committee e-mail accounts instead of government e-mail accounts. The RNC says it has destroyed many of those records.
The bill also would update the Presidential Records Act, which allows the president to manage records during his term. The bill instead would direct the National Archives to create standards for White House records retention and to report to Congress on White House compliance.
The hearing on the bill, originally set for Wednesday, was postponed by the subcommittee on information policy, which did not say when it will be rescheduled.
In a report timed to coincide with the bill's introduction, the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington called the Waxman plan "anemic."
CREW, which is suing the White House over the lost e-mails, said the bill lacks effective enforcement mechanisms. Under the measure, "the president can ignore his record-keeping responsibility with impunity," said the report, which is based on review of agency e-mail policies.
With off-the-shelf software for e-mail retention now available, the group argued that Congress should not let agencies wait 18 months to adopt new policies.
"Agencies continue to cling to outdated, inefficient and ineffective paper record-keeping systems," the group said. "The federal government has fallen woefully behind its private-sector counterparts."
By Dan Friedman
HEALTH
Martha Stewart Gives Advice To Senate Aging Committee
Martha Stewart was not invited to testify before the Senate Aging Committee Wednesday to discuss table settings or baking but to address the growing need for caregivers for the elderly in an aging American society.
Stewart and several professionals in geriatrics urged committee members to write legislation to increase the required training for healthcare workers, use grants to encourage geriatrics as a specialty in medical schools, better organize the delivery of health care and educate family members who become caregivers for an elderly relative.
"I understand the challenges family caregivers face," Stewart said. "My mother, Martha Kostyra, passed away last year at the age of 93. My siblings and I were fortunate that she was in good health almost until she died. Still, we came to know firsthand the number of issues that needed to be managed."
Shortly before her mother's death, Stewart opened the Martha Stewart Center for Living at The Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York, a geriatric outpatient clinic.
Although the number of elderly soon will begin to rise swiftly as the first of 78 million baby boomers turn 65, the number of geriatricians has dropped 22 percent since 2000, said John Rowe, chairman of the Institute of Medicine's Committee on the Future Health Care Workforce for Older Americans.
"Today, there is only about one geriatric psychiatrist for every 11,000 older adults; at current rates of growth, in 2030 there will only be one for every 20,000," Rowe said.
Robyn Stone, executive director of the Institute for the Future of Aging Services and senior vice president for research at the American Association of Homes and Services for the Aging, warned the committee members that the growing demand for long-term care and smaller number of caregivers requires action by both public and private sectors.
Aging Chairman Herb Kohl said "we plan to incorporate today's lessons into legislation to expand, train and support the workforce that is dedicated to providing care."
By Ramsey Cox
JUDICIARY
Senate Panel Worries About Coordinating FBI Intel Activities
Senate Commerce-Justice-Science Appropriations Subcommittee Chairwoman Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., said Wednesday that the Bush administration's mostly classified plan to ramp up security of government computer networks, which would get an increase of more than a $100 million under the FY09 budget request, must be carefully constructed to avoid unnecessary duplication among intelligence agencies.
She told FBI Director Robert Mueller she hoped the program has the leadership and technological resources to make it "a boon, not a boondoggle."
The FBI is working with the Homeland Security Department and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence on the proposed expansion of their automated process for collecting and sharing security information -- known as "Einstein" -- and an effort to reduce the number of federal connections to the Web to allow for easier monitoring. Little has been revealed about the scope of the project during House and Senate hearings.
Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, said he was shocked when he saw the initiative's projected funding details over the next five years and said it is imperative that budget increases requested fit together sensibly. He and Mikulski proposed that Mueller, Homeland Security Secretary Chertoff and Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell jointly brief appropriators at a closed-door meeting.
"It's not only about the amount of money, but what needs to be done when and by whom," Mikulski said.
Stevens added: "We want redundancy but the problem is, do we have an overlapping of funding that's warranted?" Mueller indicated that such a meeting would be possible.
The FBI director also gave a progress report on Sentinel, his bureau's long-anticipated program to upgrade its information technology systems.
The effort replaced the now-defunct Virtual Case File system, which was abandoned after a $170 million investment. It's being created by Lockheed Martin.
Phase 1 of the four-phase project was deployed in June and Phase 2 is expected to be on time and on budget, he said. Mueller said he meets quarterly with Lockheed CEO Robert Stevens "to make sure it's on track."
The FBI has asked for $7.1 billion for FY09 -- a $45 million increase over FY08. Counterterrorism activities would get the largest boost with a $3 billion budget, a $234 million increase over FY08. The FBI's intelligence efforts would be funded at $1.4 billion, $208 million more than what Congress provided for FY08, Mikulski said.
Proposed investments in counterterrorism, intelligence gathering and cybercrime show that the modern-day, tech-savvy agency "truly is not J. Edgar Hoover's FBI anymore," Mikulski said, but she worried those changes have come at the expense of the bureau's core crime budget.
Mueller said the FBI's fight against "criminal elements in our communities" continues. In the past two years, investigations have led to the convictions of 1,800 federal, state and local officials who abused the public trust, and agents got involved in 143 violent gang task forces and 52 violent crime and interstate theft task forces, he said.
Furthermore, mortgage fraud cases have surged by 50 percent, which has required the reassignment of agents from other areas. The FBI may need additional resources to address the situation as the mortgage crisis grows, he warned.
By Andrew Noyes
FINANCE
Treasury Tries To Sell Insurance Overhaul To Subcommittee
A top Treasury Department official Wednesday urged Congress to back the Bush administration's proposal for a direct federal role in insurance regulation, arguing that the state-based system had been rendered obsolete by the globalization of the industry.
Testifying before the House Financial Services Capital Markets Subcommittee, Assistant Treasury Secretary David Nason said the "inherent tension" of complying with the insurance laws of 50 states made the development of national products "cumbersome and costly," and hampered the competitiveness of U.S. firms.
The plan was included in the administration's overall blueprint for ramping up federal oversight of the financial industry. It calls for creating an optional federal charter system for insurance regulation under which companies would have the option of submitting to federal or state rules and standards. An Office of National Insurance would be established to administer the federal regulation program.
On an interim basis, the bill calls for the creation of an Office of Insurance Oversight within Treasury to address immediate industry problems.
Legislation mirroring the plan has been introduced in the House by Rep. Melissa Bean, D-Ill., and in the Senate by Sen. Tim Johnson, D-S.D.
Nason's championing of the OFC drew a mixed reaction from the panel. While not explicitly endorsing the plan, Capital Markets Subcommittee Chairman Paul Kanjorski, D-Pa., said Congress should act quickly to modernize insurance regulation to prevent the loss of U.S. jobs. "The status quo in insurance regulation no longer works," he said.
Kanjorski added that he was especially pleased with the oversight office component of the plan, and announced his intention to introduce legislation next week that would authorize the establishment of an Office of Insurance Information within Treasury. "Regardless of whether or not the federal government directly regulates insurance, we must educate ourselves on insurance policy ...," he said.
Rep. Donald Manzullo, R-Ill., said he was skeptical. "I have yet to see evidence that state regulation has failed the insurance industry," said Manzullo.
The plan was strongly opposed at the hearing by New York State Insurance Superintendent Eric Dinallo, who testified as a representative of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners.
Dinallo said state-based oversight had worked efficiently for more than a century and that state regulators were already moving to forge uniform national standards. "So let's not throw the baby out with the bathwater," he said.
By Terry Kivlan
TECHNOLOGY
Gordon: Nanotech Initiative Should Be More Transparent
The federal government's $1.5 billion nanotechnology initiative should pay more attention to environmental, health and safety research and describe its work more clearly to the public to avoid the kind of backlash experienced in debates over nuclear power, genetically modified foods, and stem-cell therapies, according to House Science Chairman Bart Gordon.
Gordon spoke Wednesday as his panel was considering a draft reauthorization bill to allocate 10 percent of the National Nanotechnology Initiative's research budget to environmental issues, health and safety.
The NNI's potential downsides should "be addressed from the beginning in a straightforward and open way," Gordon said.
The five-year-old effort, which is funded by 13 agencies, has acknowledged the importance of risk-reduction activities, but it also "has been slow to put in place a well-designed, adequately funded and effectively executed research program," according to Gordon.
Rep. Vernon Ehlers, R-Mich., said he was pleased the draft would elevate the "EHS" component but added that policies should allow for that research to be embedded into product development. "We know that each nano-product and process may behave differently, and therefore independent EHS research may not always inform a seemingly parallel project," he said.
The proposed 10 percent set-aside has critics.
Floyd Kvamme, co-chairman of the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, said the figure is problematic. Scientifically determined, strategically planned priorities -- rather than arbitrary percentages -- should guide nanotechnology funding, including for safety research, he told the panel. He added that nano-related EHS research has doubled since 2005 and that as industry picks up more applications, the government's role will change.
NanoBusiness Alliance executive director Sean Murdock said his group supports the reauthorization effort and believes the 10 percent allocation is reasonable.
Andrew Maynard, chief science adviser for the Woodrow Wilson Center's Project on Emergency Nanotechnologies, agreed, saying that "any less would risk compromising the success of nanotechnology."
Maynard also called for the establishment of a top-level framework that identifies goals of nanotechnology risk research across agencies. He also said public-private partnerships should be leveraged to address oversight issues in an independent, transparent and timely manner. "Without transparency, there is no clear foundation for establishing strategic planning," he said.
By Andrew Noyes
OUTLOOK
People
CHIEF DAN. Dan Blankenburg is the new chief of staff for Rep. John Doolittle, R-Calif., his office announced Wednesday. Blankenburg, who has been Doolittle's deputy chief of staff for three years, replaces Ron Rogers, who is joining the staff of California Senate Minority Leader David Cogdill. "With the appointment of Mr. Blankenburg, Congressman Doolittle will continue his commitment to constituent services that has been his trademark throughout his 18-year career in the House of Representatives," Doolittle's office said in a statement. Doolittle will not seek a 10th term in the House this fall.
HOLLYWOOD ENDING. Newly elected Rep. Jackie Speier, D-Calif., has started filling her Capitol Hill staff and she's starting off with a bang, raiding the entertainment industry and luring television writer and producer Mike Larsen to be her communications director. "Jackie is one of my closest friends and, by leaps and bounds, the politician I most admire," Larsen said in a statement. He once interned for the late Rep. Tom Lantos, D-Calif. -- whom Speier replaced -- and lived in Washington from 1984 to 1988. Since then, Larsen has written for shows such as "Grace Under Fire," "Ellen," "The Drew Carey Show," "Two Guys and a Girl," and "Reba." He has also worked as a standup comedian and penned comedy pilots for ABC and Fox. He is moving to Washington with his wife, actress Tina Gasbarra, and their daughter Maryann.
MAINE MAN. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, has promoted Matthew Tremblay to be her legislative assistant for agricultural issues in her Washington office. Tremblay, who is from Fort Fairfield, Maine, has been working as a legislative correspondent for the past six months. Tremblay is a graduate of Bentley College with a finance degree. He has worked as a loan officer for Farm Credit of Maine.
By Winter Casey. Have a tip for CongressDailyAM's People column? Call 202-739-8400 or send an e-mail to people@nationaljournal.com.
HOUSE RACE HOTLINE EXTRA
Deep Doo-Doo
After such a disastrous midterm election for Republicans, analysts immediately pointed to 2008 as a possible rebound year for the party. But as it stands, that doesn't appear to be the case. In fact, a double-digit gain by Democrats isn't out of the question.
A huge factor in Republicans' problems is the unbalanced nature of House retirements. So far, Republicans will have to defend 26 open seats in November and, before then, will have dealt with at least three competitive special elections. Democrats have just eight open seats, and only two are seriously in play.
A majority of those Republican open seats have turned into competitive races. The main problem areas look to be in upstate New York, New Jersey, Illinois and Ohio.
But in the last few weeks, another region, most surprisingly, has turned into quite the growing menace for Republicans -- the South. And not the borderline South, like in Florida or Texas, but the Deep South.
The districts that are giving Republicans problems in the South aren't ones that would appear on any early-cycle target list. In fact, President Bush's lowest 2004 winning percentage in any of these districts is 59 percent.
But still, Democrats have managed to put Alabama's 2nd, Louisiana's 4th and 6th and Mississippi's 1st districts into play. All of these open seats have a couple of things in common. First, Democrats have recruited socially conservative candidates. And secondly, Republican recruiting hasn't gone so well. In many cases, the nominee or expected standard bearer wasn't the party's first choice.
Finally, these five Southern Districts have an average black population of 28 percent. It's unusual for Republicans to survive in seats with numbers that high; just eight Republicans sit in seats with a 28 percent black population or higher. So Democrats start off with an immediate base.
Add in a good percentage of white voters attracted by their social conservative views, and Democrats can see a path to victory. It's not easy, but it's doable.
The first signs of Southern trouble came in Baton Rouge, where GOP Rep. Richard Baker's resignation has led to a very difficult special election for Republicans.
Their nominee, Woody Jenkins, has lots of ethical baggage. Meanwhile, state Democratic Rep. Don Cazayoux is riding high, with internal polling in both camps showing Cazayoux up. Republicans have already been forced to spend over $100,000 on the race, and we're still three weeks from the election.
About 250 miles to the north and west of Baton Rouge sits Shreveport, the population center of the 4th District, which for 20 years has been served by Republican Rep. Jim McCrery. When he announced his retirement in December, few thought the seat would be in play.
But Democrats coalesced around Caddo Parish District Attorney Paul Carmouche, who's held his position for 30 years.
Republicans, meanwhile, are just getting their acts together, as McCrery endorsed former Bossier Parish Chamber of Commerce President Jeff Thompson just last week. But he'll need to raise lots of cash in order to compete with Carmouche's high name identification.
It's the same story in Alabama's 2nd District, where retiring GOP Rep. Terry Everett's seat looks in jeopardy of flipping.
Democrats have rallied around Montgomery Mayor Bobby Bright, a conservative who just decided this year that he'd run as a Democrat. Republicans, meanwhile, look to have to deal with a primary scrum for their nominee.
Moving to Mississippi, a special election to replace now-Sen. Roger Wicker is causing Republicans heartburn in the 1st District. Southaven Mayor Greg Davis, a Republican, and Prentiss County Chancery Clerk Travis Childers, a Democrat, won their respective runoffs for the general election in early April, but must now turn around and face each other, along with six other candidates, in a nonpartisan special election Tuesday.
No candidate is likely to receive 50 percent of the vote in that race, so the runoff between the top vote-getters will be held in mid-May. Republicans are worried enough about the race that they've spent over $60,000 on television attacking Childers for the way he runs a retirement home he owns.
Democratic polling shows a tight race in a head-to-head between Childers and Davis, but Davis has the edge in the nonpartisan primary. Still, Democrats win here simply by forcing Republicans to spend money to hold a seat like this, where Wicker typically won easily and President Bush won with 62 percent in 2004.
In Alabama, Republicans got a gift when Democratic Rep. Bud Cramer decided to retire. The seat is, on paper, the party's best hope for an open seat pickup.
Republican Wayne Parker, who lost to Cramer in 1994 and 1996, is the party's standard-bearer, and although he was unable to dislodge Cramer in the 1994 GOP wave, he'll likely be a good candidate.
Democrats appear likely to nominate state Sen. Parker Griffith, who has high name ID and a conservative record and are upbeat about his odds.
It's not as if all these seats are lost causes for Republicans, although Baker's seat appears to be heading in that direction. These contests will be fought on home turf, and a presidential election will boost party turnout.
But if Republicans are forced to spend much time, or for that matter, precious resources, defending seats in the Deep South, then they'll be in for another big disappointment in November.
By Tim Sahd
HILL BRIEFS House Panel Votes To Mandate
More 401(k) Fee Disclosure
A bill opposed by the Bush administration requiring investment fund administrators to disclose to more than 50 million participants in 401(k) plans all hidden fees and charges cleared a sharply divided House Education and Labor Committee Wednesday on its way to the full House.
The measure won approval on a 25-19 roll call. The approved version, a substitute by Education and Labor Chairman George Miller, requires plan administrators to reveal charges associated with four categories: administrative fees, investment management fees, transaction fees, and other costs. His original bill had 13 categories, which were criticized as too many.
The legislation amends the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 and requires the Labor Department of Labor to establish an Advisory Council on Improving Employer-Employee Retirement Practices and issue an annual report on the state of retirement income security in the United States. The bill includes penalties up to $1,000 a day for violations.
Mich. Senators, White House
Agree On Judicial Nominees
Michigan's senators have brokered a deal with the Bush administration clearing the way for three new federal judges to be confirmed in the next few weeks, the Detroit News reported Wednesday.
One of the prospective judges has actually been in limbo for more than a decade: Helene White, a Michigan Court of Appeals judge, was nominated to the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals by former President Clinton in 1997, but was never confirmed.
Under the agreement, the White House will withdraw its choice for the 6th Circuit, Detroit U.S. Attorney Stephen Murphy, and nominate him for a seat on the U.S. District Court in Detroit, the newspaper reported. That will open the door for White's confirmation.
In return, Michigan Democratic Sens. Carl Levin and Debbie Stabenow agreed to support the nomination of Troy, Mich., attorney Raymond Kethledge, who was President Bush's selection for a seat on the 6th Circuit Court in 2005.
Squad Of Ex-Senate Leaders
Tackling Healthcare Reform
Four former Senate majority leaders are teaming up to develop recommendations for Congress on reforming the nation's healthcare system, a pair of them -- former Sens. Robert Dole, R-Kan., and George Mitchell, D-Maine -- said Wednesday.
"We've got everything but votes," said Dole, announcing that he and Mitchell will be joined in the effort by former Sens. Tom Daschle, D-S.D., and Howard Baker, R-Tenn.
The senators will each oversee forums on four pillars for reform: improving quality and value, improving access, ensuring a strong role for consumers, and finding a way to finance it, Dole and Mitchell said at a news conference hosted by the Bipartisan Policy Center.
Dole and Mitchell said they will wait until after the presidential election to make their recommendations.
Biden Pushes Funding Boost
To Fight Online Exploitation
Senate Judiciary Crime and Drugs Subcommittee Chairman Joseph Biden, D-Del., said Wednesday that increased government funding is needed to combat online child abuse and exploitation.
Testifying before the subcommittee was Special Agent Flint Waters of the Wyoming attorney general's office, who presented software that can monitor the locations of computers that have been used to transfer files containing child pornography.
This data, when combined with adequate funding, can lead to a greater number of prosecutions, Biden said. He urged senators to support his bill to create a Justice Department program and a nationwide task force on child exploitation. Similar legislation passed the House last year to authorize $1.05 billion over eight years for the effort.
"We have not provided enough support for local law enforcement agencies," said Biden.
Americans United Targets
Six Republican Lawmakers
Seeking to capitalize on President Bush's continuing unpopularity and the sagging economy, Democratic operatives are targeting six Republican lawmakers with radio ads saying their support for Bush has helped worsen the economy.
The ads, which hit the airwaves today and will run through next week, are sponsored by Americans United for Change, a group close to Democratic congressional leaders.
In the crosshairs are GOP Sens. Norm Coleman of Minnesota and John Sununu of New Hampshire, and Reps. Jon Porter of Nevada, Steve Chabot of Ohio, Don Young of Alaska and Tim Walberg of Michigan.
Pelosi Joins Celebration
At Today's Papal Mass
A number of Catholic lawmakers who support abortion rights, led by House Speaker Pelosi, plan to attend today's Mass at Nationals Park even though the celebrant, Pope Benedict XVI, has said politicians not in line with church doctrine against abortion should refrain from receiving Communion.
A spokesman for Pelosi said she intends to receive Communion from one of the 300 priests and lay ministers who will offer it to the gathered flock of 45,000 at the Mass, the Associated Press reported.
Rep. Jose Serrano, D-N.Y., also plans to attend today's Mass. "There's a time for celebrating who we are as Catholics, and this is one of those times," he said.
POLITICAL ROUNDUP Madia Added To DCCC's
Red To Blue Program
Iraq war veteran Ashwin Madia, who won the Democratic endorsement for the seat held by retiring Rep. Jim Ramstad, R-Minn., will immediately be added to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee's Red to Blue program for open seats, DCCC Chairman Chris Van Hollen of Maryland said Wednesday.
"Ashwin Madia's experience as a U.S. Marine serving in Iraq, commitment to protecting the middle class and his solution-oriented approach to government makes him an ideal candidate to move our country in a new direction," said Van Hollen. "The Red to Blue Program will give Ashwin the financial and structural edge to be even more competitive this year."
Franken's Corporation Faces
Unpaid Corporate Taxes
The personal corporation of Democrat Al Franken, who is seeking the seat held by Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Minn., did not file corporate income tax returns in California from 2003 to 2007, the Associated Press reported.
A spokesman for the California Franchise Tax Board said the corporation, Alan Franken Inc., owes a minimum of $800 per year as well as penalties and interest to the state of California.
John Barrett, spokesman for the Franchise Tax Board, said in order to stop filing corporate income tax returns that Franken's corporation needed to officially dissolve itself in the state of California. He said that was never done.
A campaign spokeswoman said Franken was operating under the advice of an accountant who believed that when the corporation stopped doing business in California that no additional filing was required.
Bellavia Files Papers To Join
Race For Reynolds' Seat
David Bellavia Tuesday filed to form a campaign committee for the seat being vacated by Rep. Thomas Reynolds, R-N.Y.
The Iraq war veteran said he filed on tax day to highlight the need for change.
"During this time of challenge for the U.S. economy, Western New Yorkers need someone who will go to Washington to fight for their job and their families," Bellavia said.
Democrats competing for the seat include industrialist Jack Davis, attorney Alice Kryzan and Iraq war veteran Jonathan Powers.
No other Republicans have formally entered the race.
Blackburn Acknowledges
Reporting Discrepancies
The campaign committee of Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., failed to report or incorrectly reported donations and spending totaling more than $440,000 since 2002, Blackburn revealed Tuesday.
Blackburn said her campaign discovered the errors during a review of its records after concerns were raised by her bookkeeper and fundraiser, the Nashville Tennessean reported.
The campaign contacted the FEC last year about the issue.
Blackburn said the issue would not hurt her reputation or her re-election campaign.
"If I had let it go unattended, I think it would have," she said.
The Tennessee Democratic Party used the opportunity to criticize Blackburn.
"It is clear that the congresswoman understands as little about our present fiscal situation as she does her own campaign account," said Wade Munday, the state party's communications director.
Democrat Seeking McHugh's
Seat Ends Campaign Run
A Democrat planning to run for the seat held by Rep. John McHugh, R-N.Y, says he is abandoning his bid, the Syracuse Post-Standard reported.
Schroeppel Democratic Committee Treasurer Eric Carciofolo told district leaders that he is no longer a candidate.
"About two weeks ago, I suffered a minor heart attack. I do wish to continue, but I don't [believe], because of health reasons, I'd be able to run the race I want at this point," Carciofolo said.
In N.C., Challenger May Put
Money Where His Mouth Is
The challenger to Rep. Walter Jones, R-N.C., in next month's primary has come up with a novel tactic.
Joe McLaughlin, a retired Army officer and former county commissioner, pledged Wednesday to "personally" donate $1,000 to the 3rd District GOP if Jones "is willing to pledge to the people of this district that he will remain a Republican for the next two years."
A Jones spokeswoman termed McLaughlin's statements "nonsense" and declared the incumbent "is and will remain a conservative Republican."
That assertion may not prompt McLaughlin to pony up the cash. "The truth is that I believe Walter Jones has no intention of remaining a Republican," McLaughlin said in a press release.
He is largely basing his candidacy on Jones' emergence as a leading GOP critic of the war in Iraq.
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