Senate Session Resumes

Eight straight weeks of Senate activity. We’re hunkering down to get our bills considered in committee, and keeping up with constituent visits, breakfasts, and responding to requests to sign onto “Dear Colleague” letters, which request co-sponsorship on bills and appropriation requests.

Before recess ended, I slipped into the Library of Congress for a library card - more a souvenir than necessity, since Congressional staff has full access with an ID. I also took advantage of the time to see the play, "History Boys," midweek up at the Studio Theater on 14th and P Sts, NW (the center of Washington's African-American nightlife for much of the 20th century and the birthplace of Duke Ellington). I was touched by the tension in the play about teaching to the heart and transforming lives, or teaching for a tangible student accomplishment (exams, building a resume, getting into college), not that they’re mutually exclusive.

PBS has been showing that great series, "Unnatural Causes," on Thursday evenings. If only the legislature were watching. http://www.pbs.org/unnaturalcauses/What’s happening with the budget now? According to a source at work to which I subscribe:

"House and Senate Democrats need to begin reconciling their versions of the FY09budget resolution. The two measures are similar except in one major respect: The House version includes "reconciliation" instructions to produce filibuster-proof Medicare and alternative minimum tax measures, or other initiatives Democrats see fit to include so long as the overall impact is to reduce the deficit.

"The Senate version does not include reconciliation, which placated moderates like Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, who voted for the Democratic budget. Snowe said she will not support the final version if it includes reconciliation. Snowe said the complex health and tax issues within the Finance Committee's jurisdiction were best left to be handled in that panel, where she sits, on a bipartisan basis.

"Using reconciliation would make it a partisan process by cutting Republicans out of the process, as reconciliation enables the majority to get around a filibuster by allowing only a simple majority, rather than the normal 60-vote threshold, to pass legislation."

Another resource that I use regularly, in addition to the Legislative Information Services (info that you can access on Thomas.gov) is the policy information from the party policy sites, in my case, http://democrats.senate.gov/dpc/. The Republican Party also provides this service to the Republican offices.

And a third source which I like is sent to my inbox at 12:01am (not that I read it then), updated twice daily: CongressDailyAM, with such info as:

HEALTH
"The House Energy and Commerce Committee is scheduled to mark up legislation this week to give FDA authority over tobacco, according to lobbyists and congressional sources. The committee is looking to Wednesday for the markup.
"Republicans so far have produced nearly 30 amendments. But which ones they will offer is unclear. Also still unclear is whether committee Democrats have or will address Republican concerns that a fee in the bill collected from tobacco companies technically is a tax that falls under House Ways and Means Committee jurisdiction.
"The bill would task FDA with regulating tobacco products, including their ingredients and warning label requirements. The measure would ban flavored cigarettes and directs FDA to create tobacco product standards, though it leaves to Congress the power to ban tobacco products or reduce nicotine levels to zero.
"Introduced by House Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Henry Waxman, the bill has 220 co-sponsors. The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee approved similar legislation in August. The full Senate has yet to consider the bill.
"Also on Wednesday, the House Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee will hear from Jesse Goodman, FDA's biologics center director, on the division's FY09 budget request.
"Meanwhile, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Actuary Richard Foster will address the House Ways and Means Health Subcommittee Tuesday about Medicare trustees' recent projection that the program will become insolvent by 2019.
"Foster will likely repeat statements that Congress eventually will need to take major action to address the funding shortfalls.
"Reacting to the trustees' report, Health Subcommittee Chairman Fortney (Pete) Stark, D-Calif., said the most immediate way to fix the funding problems is to eliminate extra payments to private Medicare Advantage plans, an idea that has gone nowhere. Stark also said lawmakers "should not succumb to alarmist claims that the sky is falling."
"Speaking at the American Enterprise Institute last week, Foster said the Medicare Part B projections are understated by 10-20 percent because they assume a 10percent physicians' pay cut scheduled will go into effect July 1 and another 5 percent cut will occur Jan. 1. "That's not plausible," Foster said, predicting that lawmakers would temporarily halt that pay cut as they have in the past.
"The American Medical Association is holding its annual conference this week, and its main legislative focus will be on stopping the pay cut from going into effect. AMA will hold a rally on Capitol Hill Wednesday to call attention to the issue, saying that 60 percent of physicians will be forced to limit their Medicare patients if the pay cut is implemented.
"On Thursday, the Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee will hold a hearing on a bill sponsored by Energy and Commerce Chairman John Dingell to place a one-year moratorium on seven Medicaid regulations recently published by CMS.
"CBO estimates that the rules will costs states about $20 billion over five years. Congress already has a stay in place for four of the Medicaid regulations, but that is set to expire in July.
"Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Chairman Edward Kennedy and ranking member Michael Enzi will join members of the business community Wednesday to release a report on health information technology and call for action on a bill that would spur health providers to adopt an interoperable electronic system for storing health data."

It keeps us current on what’s happening this week and make sure that we’re prepared. The health staff from the Democratic Policy Committee also sends the Democratic office health LA’s current info on bills, committee meetings, briefings and other timely events.

With warmer weather, I’m walking more and the walking shoes are working well. Now I need more comfortable socks, as I’m starting to get blisters. I hope to get this wardrobe issue right before it’s time to go home…

Question: what public-health related federal policy do you recommend Congress pursue this year (maybe I can make progress on it)?