Human Needs Report

The Human Needs Report is the Coalition on Human Needs' newsletter on national policy issues affecting low-income and vulnerable populations. It is published every other week while Congress is in session.

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Articles from February 17, 2006

• GOP Leaders Hope to Jump Procedural Hurdles to Extend Tax Breaks
  Senate and House conferees hope to come to agreement on language for a tax reconciliation bill before the March recess -- and to resolve the debate over whether extensions of the capital gains and dividend tax breaks should be included in the bill.
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• The President's Scandalous Budget
  On February 6, President Bush released his budget proposal for Fiscal 2007. Senator Arlen Specter (R-PA) struck a responsive chord when he called the budget "scandalous" for its cuts in education and health care.
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• How a Bill Becomes a Law - Usually
  Even elementary students of civics know that in order for a bill to become a law, both branches of Congress must enact identical wording, which is then sent to the President for his signature. That constitutionally-required procedure was violated when the President signed the already-controversial budget reconciliation bill on February 8.
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• Katrina Survivors Would Get More Unemployment Help Under Senate Bill
  More than 35,000 Louisiana hurricane survivors now collecting federal Disaster Unemployment Assistance are due to lose the meager aid this program offers on March 4 if Congress does not act to extend aid. Senators Susan Collins (R-ME) and Joseph Lieberman (D-CT) co-sponsored legislation ( S. 1777 ) to extend benefits for 13 more weeks, which was passed on a voice vote on February 15.
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