Congress continues work on SCHIP alternatives

10/22/2007

A roundup of the most recent SCHIP news from the Capitol.

Health.   House Minority Leader Boehner and Minority Whip Blunt sent a letter today to Speaker Pelosi asking for a meeting to discuss a new version of a children's health bill that is expected to hit the floor in the next two weeks. "On September 19th, we sent you a letter expressing our interest in working with you to craft a responsible, bipartisan [State Children's Health Insurance Program] bill the president will sign into law. We are still awaiting a response to our letter and have yet to be included in any discussions thus far," the letter said. "We stand ready and willing to meet at a time of your choosing." Boehner and Blunt signed on as co-sponsors to a Republican alternative SCHIP bill that would add $11 billion to the program for children in families making less than 200 percent of the federal poverty level. The bill, which has been rejected by Democrats, would create a refundable tax credit for families making between 200 percent and 300 percent of poverty to subsidize premiums for private insurance. Sen. Mel Martinez, R-Fla., sponsors the same legislation in the Senate.

APPROPRIATIONS
Senate To Vote On Moving Earmark Money To Kids' Health
     Sens. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., and Richard Burr, R-N.C., today offered an amendment to withhold funding for the roughly $400 million in senators' earmarks contained in the $150 billion FY08 Labor-HHS spending bill until the HHS secretary certifies that all eligible children under 18 are receiving health coverage. The move was mostly symbolic, aiming to put senators on the spot when the vote occurs on the amendment, perhaps Monday. "This amendment is going to be a fun vote," Coburn said. "Kids vs. my political earmarks ... we're going to begin to see what the real priorities of the Senate are." Coburn singled out one state's $72 million in earmarks, alluding to the home state of Labor-HHS Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, although Coburn did not say so. Coburn argued that sum could cover all of the state's uninsured children.

Burr himself requested several earmarks in the bill totaling $750,000, mostly joint requests with Sen. Elizabeth Dole, R-N.C. "I've got some in this bill; I'd give them up as long as I knew they were going somewhere they could do some good," Burr said. In response, Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., came to the floor and argued if the Republicans cared about insuring poor children, they would have voted for the $35 billion State Children's Health Insurance Program legislation that President Bush vetoed because it was too costly. He noted that earmarks are a "very, very small percentage" of the bill and that "the rest of it goes downtown to some agency." He noted that "the power of the purse rests with the United States Congress" and that earmarks have significant value. He said the Human Genome Project, which he called "an unbelievable success story," originated with a Senate-proposed earmark. "It didn't come from some decision from a GS-13 or GS-15 at some agency," Dorgan said. "There are some good ideas coming from the Congress and they have for a long time." It began as a $5.3 million Energy Department pilot project in 1986, with funding later expanded to the National Institutes of Health. By FY03, the Human Genome Project was funded at a combined $437 million, according to the Energy Department. Harkin said there might be late votes Monday, and Reid said a vote on final passage is possible Tuesday.