This Week on the Hill:

The House and Senate will begin debate on their FY 2006 budget resolutions this week before adjourning on Friday, March 18, for a two-week spring recess. The Senate began debate today and the House starts later in the week. The House will also address the $81.2 billion FY 2005 supplemental spending bill for the Iraq/Afghanistan war and tsunami relief efforts.

Senate floor debate on the budget is scheduled for up to 45 hours with unlimited amendments. Controversial issues expected to consume Senate floor time include cuts to many popular programs, pay-as-you go rules for both spending increases and tax cuts, and oil exploration in Alaska's National Wildlife Refuge. In the House, it is anticipated that the size of the deficit and the scale of the spending cuts in its budget resolution will sustain the debate.

Floor Schedules

SENATE. The Senate began debate at 10:00 a.m. today on the FY 2006 Budget Resolution. Debate is expected throughout the week.

HOUSE. The House will consider 14 measures under suspension, including a bill (H.R. 1160) that would extend the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Program for the ninth time. The extension would be through June 30, 2005. On Tuesday, the chamber will begin consideration of the Emergency Supplemental Wartime Appropriations Act. The remainder of the week will be focused on the supplemental as well as the FY 2006 budget resolution.

Senate Committee Approves FY 2006 Budget Resolution

The Senate Budget Committee approved (by a vote of 12-10) its $2.56 trillion FY 2006 Budget Resolution on Thursday, March 10. Reconciliation instructions call for committees to determine $32 billion in mandatory savings over five years by June 6, with the Senate Finance Committee required to produce $15 billion in savings, the majority of which is expected to come from the Medicaid program. A reconciliation instruction is a provision in a budget resolution directing one or more committees to report (or submit to the Budget Committee) legislation changing existing law in order to bring spending, revenues, or the debt-limit into conformity with the budget resolution. The instructions specify the committees to which they apply, indicate the appropriate dollar changes to be achieved, and usually provide a deadline by which the legislation is to be reported or submitted (in this particular case, June 6).

During the Senate mark-up, the committee approved a non-binding 'sense of the senate' amendment stressing the importance of Medicaid and opposing any reconciliation instructions that would undermine or cap the program. The budget resolution also calls for tax cuts that would total over $70 billion, all of it in a reconciliation instructions to be considered sometime in September. Floor debate is restricted to 50 hours with unlimited amendments. Senator Gordon Smith (R-Ore.) and Senator Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.) are expected to offer an amendment on the Senate floor that would strike the Medicaid cut, as well as offer support for the formation of a Medicaid Commission, but it would not be binding.

The House Committee is scheduled to consider its FY 2006 Budget Resolution, which was approved by the Committee last Wednesday, March 9. The House budget resolution totals $2.57 trillion and includes $843 billion in discretionary spending. It contains reconciliation instructions calling for $69 billion in mandatory program savings over five years, including instructions to the House Energy and Commerce Committee to save $20 billion over a five-year period. It also instructs the House Education and the Workforce Committee to find $21.4 billion in savings over five years. The deadline for pertinent committees to report back their mandatory program savings packages is September 16. In addition, the House budget resolution assumes $106 billion in tax cuts over the next five years but only $45 billion would advance under fast-track budget reconciliation procedures.

House Passes TEA-LU Bill

On Thursday, March 10, the House passed the Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (TEA-LU) or H.R. 3, which includes a "re-opener" provision. The bill provides a total of $283.9 billion in guaranteed obligations for highway, transit, and safety programs for FY 2004 through FY 2009. The total authorization level in the bill is not yet known even though a deal on the minimum guarantee program was reached.

Nevada received around $88.8 million in authorizations. For a full list of projects as listed in the manager's amendment to H.R. 3, please visit our website at www.nevadadc.org and click on TEA-LU projects for Nevada.

Senate Passes Perkins Reauthorization

Last week, the Senate approved the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Improvement Act of 2005 or S. 250, which would reauthorize and amended the Perkins Vocational and Technical Education Act of 1998. The bill would maintain separate funding streams for the Perkins basic grant and Tech prep programs. It would also provide states with a set aside of 5 percent to fund administrative costs. Close to 10 percent would be provided for professional development activities.

The House is expected to consider its version of Perkins reauthorization after the spring recess. (H.R. 366).

Senate Passes Bankruptcy Bill

The Senate last week passed legislation that would make it more difficult for people to rid themselves of debt by filing for bankruptcy. The House is expected to move the bill quickly through their chamber with markup scheduled for sometime this week and floor consideration anticipated shortly after the spring recess.

S. 256 passed the Senate by a vote of 74 to 25. Congressional and industry backers have been pushing for reform within financial institutions for the past 8 years. S. 256 would set up an income based test for measuring a debtor's ability to repay debts. It would require people in bankruptcy to pay for credit counseling and would stiffen some legal requirements for debtors in the bankruptcy process. The measure would also ease some requirements for creditors and enable credit care issuers, retailers and other lenders to recover more of what is owed them. Those with insufficient assets would be allowed to file under Chapter 7 of the code, which erases debts after certain assets are forfeited. Those with income above the state's median income who can pay at least $6,000 over five years would be forced into Chapter 13, which would result in a court-ordered repayment plan.

Under current law, a bankruptcy judge determines which chapter of bankruptcy code a person falls under. Chapter 7 now allows people to escape paying any of their credit card and other debts. Filings under Chapter 13 force people to repay debts over time in accordance with a court approved plan.

Senate Committee Approves Welfare Reform Bill

Last week, the Senate Finance Committee approved the Personal Responsibility and Individual Development for Everyone (PRIDE) bill to reauthorize welfare programs. The measure contains several new provisions over last year's Senate Finance mark.

The following provisions are part of the PRIDE bill: Holding states harmless from financial penalty if their work participation rate improves at least 5 percent above the rate in the prior year and if they have entered into a corrective compliance plan; replacement of the caseload reduction credit with an employment credit; $6 billion in new mandatory child care funding and $1 billion in new Social Services Block Grant funding over 5 years.

In addition to approving the welfare reform bill, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee marked up a bill (S.525) that would reauthorize the Child Care and Development Block Grant, (the Caring for Children Act of 2005). The bill was unanimously approved without amendments. The legislation would include discretionary funding for child care and contains programmatic changes to CCDBG, including an increase in the quality set-aside from 4 to 6 percent.

For a list of this week's new grant notifications, please visit www.nevadadc.org and click on the link for grant notifications.