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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.
Article from the January 19 , 2007 edition
of the CHN Human Needs
Report:
New Congresses are usually sworn in the first week of January and then go about organizing themselves, waiting until after the President’s State of the Union address in late January to begin work on legislation. Congress last year was much maligned for ‘doing nothing.’ Last fall the new Democratic House majority decided that they would show the electorate early on that they could legislate by identifying six bills they would pass within the first 100 hours they were in session. They succeeded in passing all the bills well before the 100 hours were up.
But first the House passed a set of new rules that will govern its work this year. Among the rules is a sweeping change aimed at casting greater transparency on member-sponsored earmarks in the aftermath of lobby scandals. A list of sponsors, justifications, and beneficiaries must accompany earmarks in all appropriations, authorization and tax bills. The House also adopted a pay-as-you-go budget rule that would require new tax cuts and entitlement spending to be offset (that is, paid for) either by tax increases or cuts in entitlement spending. The Senate plans to adopt a similar rule when it passes its budget resolution in the spring. The rules package also contains ethics reforms including a ban on gifts, meals, and travel funded by lobbyists. Similar prohibitions were included in the ethics bill passed this week by the Senate.
After adoption of House rules, the 100-hour clock started ticking. Implementing the 9/11 Commission Recommendations Act of 2007, H.R. 1, passed the House by a vote of 299-128 with 68 Republicans joining the Democrats in support of the bill. Provisions include setting new mandates to scrutinize cargo on ships and planes, providing more aid to areas at greatest risk of terrorism, improving emergency communications, and fighting nuclear proliferation overseas. The Senate will likely consider legislation on the 9/11 Commission recommendations that will differ significantly from the bill passed by the House. For their next act, the House approved an increase in the minimum wage. (See separate article on H.R. 2, the Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2007.)
Use of federal funds for embryonic stem cell research, an issue that was center stage in several elections last fall, was debated again when the House considered the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act of 2007, H.R. 3. The bill passed 253-174 with the support of 37 Republicans while 16 Democrats opposed it. Similar legislation last year resulted in the President’s only veto. The Senate plans to consider stem cell legislation within weeks, hoping to garner enough support to override another likely veto. The House, however, does not now have the two-thirds majority of votes necessary to override a veto.
One of the most controversial elements of the 2003 Medicare prescription drug law was the prohibition barring the federal government from negotiating with the pharmaceutical industry for lower drug prices. The Medicare Prescription Drug Price Negotiation Act of 2007, H.R. 4, reversed the provision by 255-170 with the support of all of the Democrats and 24 Republicans. Larger concerns in the ’03 bill relating to suspension of coverage in some plans after costs exceed $2,251 and before they reach $5,100 – the so-called ‘doughnut hole’ – as well as a ban on the importation of cheaper medicines from Canada were not addressed.
The bill that passed by the largest margin, 356-71, was the College Student Relief Act of 2007, H.R. 5. The bill drops the rate paid on federally subsidized student loans from 6.8 to 3.4 percent over five years. The $6 billion cost would be offset by cutting subsidies to lending institutions. House leaders acknowledge that this bill is merely a down payment on broader legislation they plan to offer addressing the escalating cost of higher education.
Finally, the Clean Energy Act of 2007, H.R. 6, which passed by a vote of 264-163 with support from 36 Republicans while 4 Democrats opposed, repeals $14 billion in subsidies to oil companies. The money will be set aside to invest in renewable energy and energy efficiency.
House leaders acknowledge that many of these bills are a down payment on broader legislation that they plan to offer in the future. In order to become law, similar bills must pass the Senate, with differences ironed out by conference committees, and be signed by the President. Passage is made more difficult in the Senate because its more open rules allow for a wide range of amendments that often kill legislation. Bills that do move forward would likely require 60 votes rather than a simple majority for passage. Counterpart bills in the Senate will move more slowly because they will first be considered by committees of jurisdiction rather than going directly to the floor for a vote as they did in the House. Stay tuned.
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