PEF fighting for programs in face

Both chambers rejected Bush’s proposed budget cuts and, compared to the discretionary spending included in Bush's proposed budget, the House added about $25 billion and the Senate $22 billion. The congressional budget bills increased investments for public services and funding for state fiscal relief, which PEF strongly supports.

The House and Senate will soon begin to iron-out the differences between their respective bills on the final congressional FY 2009 Budget Resolution.

Cost-shifting regs
Bush has also resorted to another favorite strategy for getting out from under paying for things Americans need. He didn’t say they can’t have these things – in this case, Medicare and Medicaid. Instead, he is trying to hand off the $20 billion tab to the states.

They would be left with the choice of raising state taxes to pay for it, or cut other state programs to help make up for the lost federal funds, or let the Medicare and Medicaid programs suffer the full effects of the federal cuts.

As head of the executive branch of federal government, Bush would use regulatory changes to stick states with the bill. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) recently issued seven new regulations limiting Medicaid payments for:

• public safety net institutions;
• coverage of rehabilitation services for people with disabilities;
• outreach and enrollment in schools;
• specialized medical transportation to school for children covered by Medicaid;
• graduate medical education payments;
• coverage of hospital clinic services;
• case management services that allow people with disabilities to remain in the community; and
• state provider tax laws.

PEF strongly supports HR.5613, which would impose a moratorium on implementing these regulations until April 2009. PEF expects a companion bill to HR.5613 may soon be introduced in the Senate.

“I’ve written letters to our congressional delegation and our PEF legislative staff has been working hard on this issue,” Brynien said. “We urge Congress to place a moratorium on these regulatory changes that would shift nearly $20 billion in federal Medicaid costs onto states and providers over the next five years.

If the bill to block the CMS regulations fails and the regs take effect, the drastic reduction of federal funding may result in a significant loss of public-sector jobs and quality services that many PEF members provide to residents in New York State.

PEF and its international affiliates will continue to fight these regulations.

By JOHN MURPHY and SHERRY HALBROOK
How important is it to you that the wealthiest 1 percent of Americans continue to enjoy the tax breaks President George W. Bush and the Republican-dominated Congress of 2001 and 2003 gave them?

Apparently, it’s very important to Bush and the GOP to preserve those tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans, because they are willing to throw just about everything else, except the war in Iraq, under the bus to preserve them.

Among the things Bush has pushed aside in his 2008-09 budget proposal are employment services, social services, education, health care, transportation, housing, Medicare and Medicaid programs and services totaling $19 billion (adjusted for inflation) in grants to states and local governments. If those cuts hold, funding for some PEF members’ jobs, public services and other important items such as federal student loans could be lost.

Joint fight-back effort
PEF and its international affiliates – the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) and the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) – are working hard to persuade Congress to restore some of this funding.

PEF President Ken Brynien has sent letters to New York’s congressional delegation including Sens. Hillary Clinton and Chuck Schumer, pointing out the threat such cuts pose to New Yorkers and urging them to hold the line for the sake of their constituents.

“We continue to fight, along side our allies at AFT and SEIU, for the rejection of the president's budget proposal and in favor of a more balanced approach to funding vital services provided by public employees,” Brynien said.

Apparently the Democrats in both houses of Congress are listening, but it’s been harder to get the Republican legislators to break ranks with the president.

The House of Representatives voted 212-207, with no Republican support, to reject the Bush budget and to substitute its own budget plan. The Senate did the same thing, by a vote of 51-44 with two Republicans crossing party lines.