This Week in Congress: 7.30.07-8.3.07

CAP Prepares You for This Week’s Big Issues

SCHIP

The Senate will begin debate on a $35 billion bill to reauthorize the State Children’s Health Insurance Program, or SCHIP. The bill easily has the 60 votes needed to withstand a filibuster, but amendments from both Republicans and Democrats threaten to jeopardize the deal reached by a bipartisan group of Finance Committee members.

Meanwhile in the House, a plan to expand SCHIP by $50 billion is likely to reach the floor. The plan would be financed by a 45-cent-per-pack increase in the cigarette tax, a cut in extra payments to private Medicare Advantage plans, and Medicare payment rate freezes for several health care providers, but it faces strong opposition from Republicans and a veto threat from the president.

Read more about SCHIP from the Center for American Progress:

• Children’s Health Insurance: Just the Facts
• SCHIP Interactives
• Children’s Health Care Benefits
• The SCHIP Shortfall Crisis: Ramifications for Minority Children

 

Appropriations

On Wednesday, congressional leaders will meet with President Bush to discuss major outstanding issues in the appropriations process, including a looming standoff over domestic spending.

The Senate last week passed the Homeland Security spending bill by a veto-proof margin, adding $5.2 billion to Bush’s original request. A veto-proof majority in the House also passed legislation that would add $4 billion for veterans’ health and $1.1 billion for water projects and the Department of Energy.

House Republicans have limited other domestic spending so far, while the Senate has not yet brought any domestic appropriations bills to the floor. The House this week also takes up the Agriculture appropriations bill. Most of the $90.7 billion in the farm bill is allocated for mandatory spending such as food stamps, crop insurance, and commodity programs, but the discretionary portion of the bill is $18.8 billion, nearly $1 billion above the president’s request.

Read Scott Lilly’s view of the appropriations process:

• Showdown on Government Investment
• Cutting Corners on Domestic Spending

Read Jake Caldwell’s plan for reforming the farm bill:

• A Farm Bill for All
• Fueling a New Farm Economy: Creating Incentives for Biofuels in Agriculture and Trade Policy

 

Iraq

The House considers the $459.6 billion fiscal year 2008 Defense measure this week, which will prompt a small battle that will likely be a preview of the fight expected over Iraq war funding this fall. The president is requesting an additional $141.7 billion—six times more than the $23 billion that Democrats are seeking above Bush’s overall budget request, an amount that the president has threatened to veto.

House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman John Murtha (D-PA) plans to introduce an amendment that would require the Bush administration to begin reducing the U.S. military presence in Iraq 60 days after its enactment as well as language on the floor that would require troops to be fully trained and equipped for their missions. Democrats will also offer an amendment that would close the military’s detention facility at Guantánamo Bay within 180 days.

The House will also consider two other Iraq-related bills on the floor. One mandates downtime for active-duty and reserve troops between deployments to Iraq. The other requires the administration to report to Congress within 60 days on the status of its plans to withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq.

Read the Center for American Progress’ recent report outlining a strategy for reclaiming control of U.S. security in the Middle East:

• Strategic Reset

Watch a new video from the Center about the toll the war is taking on U.S. troops:

• Iraq by the Numbers

 

Energy

House Democratic leaders plan to take up an energy package this week. Amendments for renewable electricity, biofuels, and fuel efficiency standards will likely cause debate. Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) supports an expected amendment from Reps. Tom Udall (D-NM) and Todd Platts (R-PA) requiring utilities to increase their use of renewable energy to 20 percent by 2020. Southern Democrats oppose this mandate because, they argue, their region does not have the necessary renewable resources.

Democratic leaders might also back an amendment to boost production of biofuels, and the party is still divided on plans to increase the Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards for cars and light trucks. Republican leaders have criticized the energy package as insufficiently promoting domestic production.

Read the Center’s guide to biofuels:

• Biofuels 101

Read the Center’s plan for putting America on the road to energy security:

• American Energy: the Renewable Path to Energy Security

 

 

Ethics

Democratic leaders are pushing to pass a comprehensive lobbying reform bill before the August recess. But negotiations stalled when Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) objected to taking the bill to conference. Now Democrats from both the House and Senate are writing a final version without GOP input.

House Democrats may act on the bill as early as Tuesday, which would give the Senate time to approve identical language and send the bill to the president for his signature. A requirement that lobbyists disclose their bundling of campaign contributions is one of the most controversial provisions.

Read John Podesta and Scott Lilly’s recommendations to Congress for reforming lobbying and ethics practices:

• New Rules: Congressional Reform a Top Priority

 

Discriminatory Pay

The House will vote on a bill that Democrats say will correct the recent Supreme Court decision in Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. The Supreme Court ruled that an employee alleging pay discrimination could only file a lawsuit up to 180 days after the discrimination began and could not claim each paycheck to be the start of a 180-day statute of limitations.

Democrats argue that the ruling makes it nearly impossible for employees to sue their employers for wage discrimination. The legislation, which has bipartisan support, clarifies the statute of limitations period to begin "each time wages, benefits, or other compensation is paid." The White House issued a veto threat against the bill on Friday.

Read more about the Ledbetter decision and the politicization of the Supreme Court from the Center for American Progress:

• Closing the Ledbetter Loophole

• The Politicization of the Supreme Court