The Capitol Insider Newsletter

Volume 15, Issue 26
July 6, 2010   

Action Alerts
NEW - What Will Happen to Medicaid? Urge your Senators to support the extension of the FMAP increase

NEW - Help Pass The ABLE Act in This Congress! Contact Your Representatives to Convene a Hearing and Vote on the ABLE Act
Major Events Last Week

U.S. Congress

Gridlock continued on Capitol Hill.  Priority legislation - energy, financial reform, war supplemental funding, unemployment insurance, and extending the increase in the Medicaid federal medical assistance percentage (FMAP) - all failed to move forward with disagreements mostly drawn along party lines. The Senate leadership continues to struggle with finding the 60 votes needed to move most legislation forward.

Health Care Reform

The Administration released another major regulation implementing the Patient's Bill of Rights provision in the Affordable Care Act.   It was published in the Federal Register as an interim final rule on June 28. The rule covers a number of important provisions including prohibition of preexisting condition exclusions and lifetime caps among other consumer protections. This rule joins two other major rules that were published as interim final rules that have open comment periods - regulations on "grandfathered" health plans and on dependent coverage of children under the age of 26.  The DPC is carefully reviewing the regulations and will provide comments later this summer.    See:
http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2010/2010-15278.htm

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced new Pre-existing Condition Insurance Plans (PCIP).  This program was designed to cover individuals who are unable to get health coverage due to a pre-existing condition until 2014, when the Exchanges are established. Individuals who have not been covered for at least six months due to a medical condition are eligible to enroll in a PCIP. Twenty-one states have elected to have HHS run their PCIP and twenty-nine states are running it themselves. As of July 1, all federally-run programs were open for enrollment, and all state-run programs will be operating by the end of the summer. To find information on how to enroll in your state, visit:
www.healthcare.gov.
FY 2011 Budget Enforcement Resolution

On July 1, the House adopted a one-year budget plan to guide fiscal 2011 spending.  This resolution caps the level of discretionary spending for the upcoming fiscal year, permitting the Appropriations Committee to move forward with appropriation bills for fiscal year 2011.  It sets an overall limit of $1.121 trillion on discretionary spending in next year's appropriations bills.  This limit is well below the President's request and $3 billion below the resolution approved by the Senate Budget Committee.  Given this limit it will be difficult to secure increases in many areas of spending important to people with disabilities.

FY 2011 Appropriations/Education

House Democrats decided last Thursday to put off voting on the FY 2010 supplemental war spending bill.  The bill includes domestic spending including $10 billion in aid to states intended to prevent teacher layoffs, including special education teachers.  The House offset some of the costs of the increased education spending by proposing to rescind money from other education programs, including the Administration's Race to the Top fund which provides aid to states to support education reform.  This provision and other objections to the war funding part of the bill prompted a veto threat from the Obama Administration. 

FY 2011 Appropriations/Transportation and Housing

A House Appropriations subcommittee approved a spending bill for the Departments of Transportation and Housing and Urban Development (HUD) last week that would provide $1.3 billion less for discretionary programs than President Obama requested. Over $11.3 billion was provided for public transportation programs, an increase of $508 million above the President's request.  HUD would receive $46.6 billion, about $1 billion more than Obama requested, including $17.2 billion for tenant-based rental assistance.  The bill provides $300 million for the Section 811 Supportive Housing for Persons with Disabilities program, rejecting the Administration's proposed cut.  In addition, the bill instructs HUD to take administrative action to improve the functioning of the program. 

Fiscal Commission

The National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform held its third public meeting and heard testimony from nearly 90 groups and individuals. Policy experts, advocacy groups, think tanks and concerned citizens shared their ideas and suggestions to address the federal budget imbalances. The next public meeting will be on July 28.  For more information, see:
http://www.fiscalcommission.gov/

Major Events Today

Health Care Reform

The Administration launched HealthCare.gov, a new online tool to connect consumers with information and resources to help them access quality, affordable health coverage.  The resource also has a specific section for persons with disabilities at:
http://www.healthcare.gov/foryou/disabilities/index.html

Major Events Ahead

U.S. Congress

The Congress will be out of session this week for the Independence Day recess.  When the Congress reconvenes on July 12, it will have only 7 work weeks before the start of the 2011 fiscal year.  During this time, the Senate has to confirm a Supreme Court nominee and pass the spending bills needed to fund the federal government.  This short time frame will make it increasingly difficult to secure passage of disability-related legislation in this Congress.   

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Please note that you can view previous issues of the Capitol Insider, at thearc.org anytime by choosing "Capitol Insider" under "Public Policy."
 

If you have any questions, feel free to contact me at:
mailto:acosta@thedpc.org

Sincerely,

Annie Acosta 
Director of Communications and Grassroots Advocacy 
Disability Policy Collaboration