This
Week in Congress
The Senate will continue
the confirmation process this week and will
consider the nomination of Samuel W. Bodman to be U.S. Secretary of
Energy. Later this week,they
are scheduled to consider the nomination of Alberto Gonzales to
be U.S. Attorney General. In addition, the Senate Homeland Security
and Governmental Affairs Committee will hold a confirmation hearing on
Wednesday, February 2, on the nomination of Michael Chertoff to be U.S.
Secretary of Homeland Security. If the nomination is favorably
reported, the full Senate will consider it later in the week.
The House will convene
tomorrow, February 1 to consider three measures under suspension. On
February 2, the House will consider two additional measures under
suspension as well as a resolution expressing support for equal access of
military recruiters on college campuses. No votes are expected on
Thursday, February 3 or February 4.
In addition, a proposal
was offered by House Appropriations Chairman Jerry Lewis (R-Ca) with the
support of House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Tx) to eliminate three
Appropriations subcommittees.
The total number of Appropriations subcommittees would be reduced from
thirteen to ten with the elimination of the Veterans Affairs/Housing and
Urban Development (HUD) Subcommittee, the Legislative Branch Subcommittee,
and the District of Columbia Subcommittee. Other existing
Appropriations subcommittees would assume jurisdiction over these issues
areas. The Transportation/Treasury Subcommittee would oversee funding
for HUD; the Military Construction Subcommittee would oversee funding for
veterans programs; the Energy and Water Development Subcommittee would
oversee funding for NASA and the Interior Subcommittee would oversee funding
for both the District of Columbia and the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency. The House Republican Steering Committee is tentatively
scheduled to meet on Wednesday, February 2 to consider the proposal, which
also needs to be approved by the full House Appropriations Committee.
Senate
Leadership Present Top Legislative Priorities
On Monday, January 24,
both Republican and Democratic Senate leaders presented their top
legislative goals for the 109th Congress. The first ten bill numbers
were assigned to the following Republican priority issues outlined by
Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn): Overhauling
Social Security (S.1); simplifying the tax code (S.2); fighting terrorism
(S.3); controlling health care costs and expanding the use of Health Savings
Accounts (S.4); reforming the process for filing class action lawsuits
(S.5); making permanent some of the already enacted tax cuts (S.6 and S.7);
making it a federal offense to transport a minor across state lines to avoid
parental notification for an abortion (S.8); expanding education
opportunities (S.9); and passing a comprehensive energy bill (S. 10).
Senator Frist stated that the Senate will first address class action
legislation, after completing the confirmation process for new cabinet
nominees. He also noted that Congress will address the transportation
reauthorization legislation.
The next ten bill
numbers were assigned to Democratic priority
issues, outlined by Senate Minority Leader, Harry Reid (D-NV) and
included: Increasing troop
strength and military benefits (S.11); fighting terrorism (S.12); enhancing
veteran's health care and education benefits (S.13); adopting a higher
minimum wage (S.14); enhancing education opportunities (S.15); making health
care affordable (S.16); creating federal standards for elections (S.17);
making changes to Medicare (S.18); restoring the "pay-as-you-go"
budget rule (S.19); and increasing access to family planning services,
ensuring access to emergency contraception for rape victims, and
establishing or expanding teen pregnancy prevention programs (S. 20).
CBO
Releases Highway Trust Fund Projections
On
Tuesday, January 25, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released a report
estimating Highway Trust Fund (HTF) projections of $201 billion from FY 2005
through FY 2009, the five-year period expected to be included in new
proposals for reauthorizing the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st
Century (TEA-21). However, CBO also provided a different set of charts
to transportation authorizing committees, noting that $210 billion in HTF
revenues would be available over that time period. The report shows
that changes included in the American Jobs Creation Act regarding ethanol
and anti-tax fraud related revenue sources will generate an extra $31.5
billion in revenues for the trust fund over the five-year period.
Illegal
Immigrant Driver's Licenses Restriction Bill Introduced
On
Wednesday, January 26, Chairman of the
House Judiciary Committee, James Sensenbrenner Jr., (R-Wis)
introduced legislation (H.R. 418)
to tighten requirements for state-issued driver's licenses and
identification (ID) cards. The
legislation which is similar to provisions dropped from the House version of
the Intelligence reform bill last year, would require individuals applying
for or renewing driver's licenses and ID cards to prove their "lawful
presence" in the United States. The measure would also require
driver's licenses and ID cards to include features such as a common
machine-readable technology with defined minimum data elements; and physical
features designed to prevent tampering, counterfeiting, or duplication of
the document for fraudulent purposes.
In addition, the bill
prescribes four types of documentation an individual must present in order
to receive a driver's license, including proof of the person's social
security number. However before issuing a driver's license or
identification card to a person, the bill requires the state to verify, with
the issuing agency, the issuance, validity, and completeness of each
document required to be presented in applying for the license. The
bill also requires states to employ technology to capture digital images of
identity source documents (those used to obtain a license) so that the
images can be retained in electronic storage for a minimum of 10 years.
The legislation is
expected to be on the House floor as early as next week. Chairman
Sensenbrenner indicated that his bill would not be marked up in the
Judiciary Committee before floor consideration. The House leadership
has promised to attach the measure to the first "must pass" bill
of the session, which is likely to be the supplemental appropriations bill
for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Senate members have indicated their
preference for a more comprehensive approach to immigration reform. If
H.R. 418 is attached to the supplemental, the Senate has indicated its plans
to offer other reform amendments relating to immigration, such as a guest
worker program.
Study
Highlights Sharp Increase in Medicaid Spending
An Urban Institute study
released on January 26 that was commissioned by the Kaiser Commission on
Medicaid and the Uninsured shows that growth in Medicaid spending averaged
10.2 percent per year between 2000 and 2003, resulting in a one-third
increase in program spending. Medicaid spending grew to $275.5 billion
by FY 2003 from $205.7 billion in FY 2000. The report indicates that
these increases were largely driven by enrollment growth due to the economic
downturn. In addition, the report states that increases in spending
per enrollee were faster than inflation but slower than increases in private
insurance spending.
President
Announces Health Care Initiative
On Wednesday, January
26, President Bush announced
his proposal to make health care more affordable. The proposal
includes an initiative to spend $1 billion on an outreach effort intended to
increase enrollment of eligible children in both Medicaid and the State
Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). It also includes the
creation of tax credits for individuals and families to purchase either
health insurance or a combination of a catastrophic coverage plan and a
Health Savings Account (HSA). The refundable and advanceable tax
credits would be offered to individuals and families with incomes up to 133%
of the federal poverty level (FPL), and its value would be capped at $3,000
per year for a family of four. In addition, the proposal includes $4
billion in grants to encourage states to create insurance purchasing pools
to facilitate utilization of the tax credits.
The President reiterated
his support for Association Health Plans (AHPs) which would allow small
businesses to pool their leverage in
order to negotiate lower priced health insurance
which would be exempt from state regulations.
Teacher
Loan Forgiveness/IDEA Public Meetings
Teachers who teach math,
science, or special education and who have taught for five years in a Title
I school may be eligible for new loan forgiveness limits. The
Taxpayer-Teacher Protection Act (P.L. 108-409) authorizes up to $17,500 in
loan forgiveness to eligible highly qualified math, science and special
education teachers. This increase of $12,500 above the previous loan
limits is meant to ease the shortage of teacher in key subject areas.
For more information, please visit: www.ed.gov/teachers/how/tools/initiative/updates/2005/0124.html and
www.ifap.ed.gov/dpcletters/GEN0414.html
Public meetings are
being held to get input and suggestions for developing regulations based on
the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004 (IDEA).
President Bush signed this act into law on December 3, 2004. The first
public meeting was held on Friday, January 28
at the University of Delaware in Newark, Delaware. The second
public meeting will be held on Thursday,
February 3 from 3:30 pm to 5:30 pm and from 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm at the Ohio
State University in Columbus, Ohio. There will be an additional seven
meetings throughout the country. Individuals can register to comment
at the door on a first come first serve basis. Registered individuals
will have two to five minutes to comment, depending on the amount of
individuals registered. Individuals can provide oral and written
comments at the meetings; written comments that accompany oral remarked are
optional. Written comments or suggestions can be submitted
electronically to comments@ed.gov
Hearings/Meetings
on Capitol Hill
Economic
Outlook. The Senate Budget Committee
has scheduled a Tuesday, February 1, hearing
at 10:00 a.m., in 608 Dirksen Senate Office Building with Congressional
Budget Officer (CBO) Director Douglas J. Holtz-Eakin testifying on the
economic outlook.
Military
Family Benefits. The Senate Armed Services
Committee has scheduled a Tuesday, February 1, hearing at 9:30
a.m., in 216 Hart Senate Office Building on enhancing death benefits for
survivors of military personnel.
The Senate
Veterans Affairs Committee will hold a hearing on Thursday,
February 3, at 10:00 a.m., in 418 Russell Senate Office Building on
veteran's survivor benefits.
Prisoner
Reentry. The House Government Reform
Committee will hold a hearing on Thursday, February 3, at 12:00
noon in 2154 Rayburn House Office Building titled "Confronting
Recidivism: Prisoner Reentry Programs and a Just Future for All
Americans."
Social
Security. The Senate Finance Committee
has scheduled a hearing on Wednesday, February 2, at 10:00 a.m., in 215
Dirksen Senate Office Building with CBO Director Holtz-Eakin testifying on
the long-term outlook for Social Security.
Federal Grants
The State of Nevada Washington Office publishes a
weekly listing of new grant notifications as a service to Nevadans and
other interested parties. The update is published every
Friday. The notifications are listed on our website at www.nevadadc.org
The 73rd session of the Nevada Legislature will begin
next Monday, February 7, 2005. For more information, please visit:
www.leg.state.nv.us
Governor Guinn gave his State-of-the-State
address to a joint session of the Nevada Legislature on Monday, January
24. For a full text and his proposed 2005-2007 budget, please visit:
http://nv.gov/2005SOS.htm
President Bush will deliver the annual
State-of-the-Union address to a joint session of Congress on Wednesday,
February 2.
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