By Peggy Hathaway and Andrew Morris
Showdown on SCHIP
Here, we take a look at how bills affecting you become law using the prism of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Restoration Act.
Another bill illustrates how unpredictable Congress can be and how quickly United Spinal Association and other advocates must act – the State Children’s Health Insurance Plan (SCHIP) legislation. SCHIP provides health insurance for children whose families do not qualify for Medicaid but cannot afford health care or insurance. This summer, the House and Senate passed different SCHIP bills. Shortly thereafter, on a Thursday afternoon, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi invited United Spinal Association and other advocates to a meeting to announce that Senate and House leaders had just agreed in concept to a compromise bill. They expected it to come to a vote on the House floor the following Tuesday. In the meantime, staff was drafting the compromise bill, which was amended into an existing bill on Monday and passed the House on Tuesday.
United Spinal Association and other advocacy groups took action immediately. Because a Presidential veto was anticipated, and the Senate bill had passed with enough votes to override a veto, the focus was on House Republicans. Our efforts were rewarded when the House and Senate both passed the compromise bill by September 27, 2007 with strong support from both Democrats and Republicans.
On October 2, the President vetoed the SCHIP legislation claiming that the legislation promoted government-run health care. In fact, it is private doctors and health plans that deliver services under SCHIP, just as with other health insurance.
The House voted on October 18 to override the presidential veto but fell short by less than 15 votes. The very next day, Speaker Nancy Pelosi invited United Spinal Association and other advocates to discuss the next steps for SCHIP. At press time, it was expected that another bill with only minor changes would go to the President again. It is expected he will veto the new bill, but the House is expected to have enough votes to override the veto this time. The SCHIP legislation has been negotiated at all hours of the day and night with meetings for input happening as legislative language is being drafted.
Congress would like to have SCHIP done before November 16, which is when the funding for SCHIP is scheduled to cease. United Spinal Association will continue to advocate for SCHIP so that many children, including those with spinal cord injuries and disorders, will continue to have health care.
Stem-Cell Research Dropped from Labor- Health and Human Services Spending Bill
Last week during negotiations for health care spending, the Democrats agreed to drop stem- cell research from the Labor – Health and Human Services (L – HHS) spending bill in order to gain support for funding social services, job training, and health research. Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), Chair of the Health Appropriations Subcommittee was disappointed to drop the stem-cell research, but without it the bill is less likely to be vetoed. The language would have allowed for expanded federal funding of embryonic stem-cell research, as well as imposed ethical guidelines for the research. Congress is hoping to have the spending bill to the President by early November.
The Senate bill includes $152 billion in spending, about $11 billion more than the President requested in his FY 2008 budget. The President’s proposed budget would have resulted in many service reductions which would hurt people with disabilities. One important component of this bill is that it appropriates $125 million more then the President requested for Social Security administrative costs. This will help reduce the unconscionable backlogs in applications for Social Security disability programs.
For more information about these and other public policy issues, please send an e-mail to publicpolicy@unitedspinal.org.
