[NYAPRS Enews] CQ: DC Deal; 6 of 7 Medicaid Regulations Will Get Year's Moratorium

[Matt Canuteson]

NYAPRS Note: It's our understanding that the implementation of only one
of the seven Medicaid regulations will not be forestalled via a new
House agreement that is expected to win Senate and Administration
approval. That regulation is believed to be the one concerning graduate
medical education and not the Targeted Case Management or Medicaid
Rehabilitation Option regulations. More as we know it...

 

House Makes Deal on War Funding

By David Clarke and Liriel Higa, CQ Staff   June 18, 2008

 

The House on Thursday plans to consider a compromise war funding bill
hammered out by the chamber's Democratic and Republican leadership that
has the support of the White House.

 

The agreement, which follows several weeks of wrangling both within the
Democratic Caucus and between House Democratic leaders and the White
House, makes it possible for the bill to be sent to President Bush
before the end of the month.

 

"This agreement has required significant compromise by both sides," said
Appropriations Chairman David R. Obey, D-Wis., who was his party's chief
negotiator.

 

The White House praised the agreement.

 

"If this is the deal, we're obviously very hopeful," said White House
Budget Director Jim Nussle. "It meets the president's requirements of
the troops."

 

Details are still being finalized, but the heart of the deal is that the
bill will include about $165 billion in funding for military operations
in Iraq and Afghanistan to last the rest of this year and into June
2009; a large expansion of a veterans' education benefit, the GI bill,
that will not be offset; and a 13-week extension of unemployment
insurance for all states.

 

According to GOP aides, the bill (HR 2642) will not include any policy
restrictions on how the war funding can be spent - a key White House
demand.

 

In addition, the supplemental is expected to postpone six Medicaid
regulations that Bush had proposed. The original House version of the
war funding bill had delayed seven regulations, and a separate piece of
legislation (HR 5613) had received overwhelming support when the House
passed it, 349-62, as a stand-alone bill in April. 

 

The supplemental bill is also expected to include $2.65 billion for the
Federal Emergency Management Agency disaster relief fund, Army Corps of
Engineers and Small Business Administration to address recent flooding
in the Midwest, Nussle said. He added that it would provide $5.8 billion
in fiscal 2009 funds for levees in Louisiana, which had been requested
by the administration.

 

Senate Open to Moving Measure

The Senate still could present obstacles to getting the bill cleared by
Congress, but early indications are that the chamber's Democratic
leadership is open to moving the agreement. 

 

Senate Democrats have been pushing to advance a bill that would include
funding for domestic priorities such as a low-income energy program and
local law enforcement grants, but the White House is against this added
funding. House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer, D-Md., and Speaker Nancy
Pelosi, D-Calif., met late Wednesday afternoon to brief Senate
Democratic leaders on the agreement.

 

"Early reports indicate the House will send us a supplemental that
includes a GI bill, extends unemployment insurance and provides disaster
relief - three important priorities we have been pushing for some time,"
said Jim Manley, a spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid,
D-Nev. "We look forward to reviewing the House's complete proposal, and
we will take it up quickly once we receive it."

 

House Democrats, led by Obey, have been trying to write a bill that will
become law rather than provoke a veto fight with Bush. Obey canceled two
full committee markups of fiscal 2009 spending bills scheduled for
Wednesday and Thursday to concentrate on reaching an agreement on the
supplemental spending measure.

 

Democrats have pushed hard for the expanded veterans' benefit and hailed
its inclusion in the final bill as a victory.

 

"After 17 months of working with veterans' groups and colleagues, it
appears that Sen. Webb's goal of providing a comprehensive GI bill for
our newest generation of veterans is about to be realized," said Jessica
Smith, a spokeswoman for Jim Webb, D-Va., who introduced the bill (S 22)
that was later folded into the war funding package.

 

'Blue Dogs,' Anti-War Democrats Lose

Still, the details of the agreement, as described by congressional
aides, are sure to leave some members of the Democratic Caucus
disappointed.

 

For instance, House "Blue Dogs," a group of 49 fiscally conservative
Democrats, have pushed to offset the $52 billion, 10-year cost of the
expanded veterans' benefit. That offset has now been dropped, and
Democrats have agreed to a White House proposal to allow veterans to
transfer this benefit to family members, which is likely to add an
additional $10 billion to the cost of the benefit.

 

In addition, the agreement will provide a less-generous unemployment
extension than Democrats proposed, according to GOP aides.

 

Last week the House passed a bill (HR 5749) that would provide a 13-week
extension of unemployment insurance for all states, as well as an
additional 13 weeks in states with high unemployment. Instead, the
supplemental bill is expected to include only a 13-week extension for
all states and also require that individuals have worked at least 20
weeks to be eligible to collect the extended federal benefit - a
provision House Republicans fought to include.

 

The lack of any conditions on the war funding will disappoint anti-war
Democrats.

 

Regardless, Democratic and Republican leaders expect the agreement to be
approved. 

 

Two separate votes on the bill are expected: one on an amendment
containing the war funding and one on an amendment containing the
domestic policy and spending items. 

 

Under the expected rule for floor debate, once both amendments are
adopted, the bill will be sent to the Senate with no final vote on the
total package. This will allow the bill to move forward with Republicans
voting for the war funding and Democrats supporting the domestic
amendment. This protects members from specifically voting for items they
oppose.

 

House Minority Leader John A. Boehner, R-Ohio, who helped strike the
compromise, criticized Democrats for not moving a war funding bill
earlier in the year but praised the final product for not including war
policy restrictions and the added domestic funding supported by the
Senate.

 

"This bill is a real victory," he said. 

 

Josh Rogin and Jonathan Allen contributed to this story. 

 

http://public.cq.com/docs/cqt/news110-000002900154.html 

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