[NYAPRS Enews] Cole: US Senate Votes Needed to Assure Federal Medicaid Hike Extension!

[Harvey Rosenthal]

NYAPRS Note: Lauri Cole of the NYS Council for Community Behavioral
Healthcare writes this morning that "as we hoped, Senate Leaders have
agreed to utilize a Manager's Amendment as the vehicle through which to
restore/add back the FMAP (Federal Medicaid Assistance Program)
extension back in to the Extender Bill.  Our colleagues in Washington
will be reviewing all of the amendments submitted to the Managers bill
and continue to do so up until Tuesday, June 15." 

 

However, Senate leaders may not have enough votes to pass this measure
and so, Lauri notes, "we need to assist Senate Leaders in the process of
gathering the votes necessary to ensure passage of the Manager's
Amendment whenever it comes to the floor. It is anticipated that a
cloture vote (to end debate) on the bill will happen next Tuesday."

 

Lauri goes on to write that "the Senate will need the support of several
Republicans" and that advocates across the nation should: 

 

"Please reach out TODAY to your colleagues in Maine (Senator Snowe - R;
Senator Collins - DR), in Massachusetts (Brown - R; Kerry-D), in Ohio
(Vionovich - R; Brown - D), and Nebraska (Nelson -D).  Ask them to press
these specific Senators now through Tuesday) to support the Manager's
Amendment when it comes to the floor for a vote.  Our message should
also include that our elected leaders should work to styme any hostile
amendments to the Manager's bill.

NYS advocates should also continue to press grassroots advocates to keep
the pressure on NYS Senators.  We must not let up."

-----------------------------------------------------  

 

Harry Reid: Extenders Bill Will Pass

By Jay Heflin - The Hill  June 8, 2010

 

Senate Democratic leaders on Tuesday expressed confidence they can pass
the tax extenders bill through their chamber next week.

"We're going to pass this good jobs bill that is on the floor," said
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.). 

He predicted the House would accept the Senate's modifications, saying
"we've made some, but not many." 

The bill introduced by Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus
(D-Mont.) deviates from the House-passed version by extending $24
billion in state aid for Medicaid and easing the tax burden on so-called
carried interest paid by hedge fund managers, venture capitalists and
real estate partnerships.....

Schumer said Tuesday that Reid will have the 60 votes necessary to pass
the bill, even though no Republicans have indicated support.

Given the Senate's composition, Democrats will need at least one
crossover vote. But Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) predicts
that securing even that one will be difficult because of qualms over the
bill's cost.

"I can't predict the outcome of the vote, but I do know that there is a
growing feeling in our conference, which we've demonstrated in recent
weeks, that these packages ought to be paid for," McConnell said. "It
seems like every bill that comes across the Senate floor expands the
deficit." 

The extenders bill certainly does that. Its price tag of roughly $140
billion adds $77 billion to the federal deficit, a figure some GOP
centrists find troubling. 

Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), a centrist Democrats hope to win over,
expressed reservations.

"It's my understanding that a majority of the bill is still not paid
for, so that's a problem," she told The Hill. 

Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) said Republican resistance would
likely remain until more of the legislation was paid for. 

"I think that virtually all Republicans oppose the bill in the form it
was introduced here this morning," he said Tuesday. 

Some Democrats are equally uncomfortable that the bill is not fully
offset.

Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) has disapproved of the way his own party
leaders have classified nearly every spending item as an emergency
measure to avoid paying for it.

"Priorities are priorities, but emergencies are emergencies. They're not
always the same," he said this week. 

....Senators will be allowed to amend the bill, and McConnell said his
party will take full advantage of the chance. 

Reid plans to tweak the bill by supporting an amendment that extends the
"doc fix," a term describing a delay in cuts to Medicare reimbursement
to doctors. The bill currently extends the measure for 19 months, but
Reid said he plans to support a proposal that would extend the fix even
beyond that. 

"I want to move on that," he said. "There is some feeling on the Senate
side that there'll be an amendment offered to increase it to at least
three and a half years."

 

 

 

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