Federal Update
December 2009
Summary
This has been a very busy year in Washington in which Brown has played an active role. Below are some highlights and a forecast for the coming year.
Health Care Reform
With just a few days left before his self-imposed Christmas deadline, Majority Leader Harry Reid, (D-Nev), was able to corral the 60 votes he needed to move his health insurance reform bill and he plans to complete action on it before the holiday. The $871 billion Senate bill would alter the way health care is paid for and delivered. Some 31 million Americans would be able to obtain health insurance if the legislation becomes law, according to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO).
At the same time, Medicare spending would be reduced by hundreds of billions of dollars over the decade, and there would be new taxes on insurers, medical device manufacturers, the drug industry and wealthy Americans. There will also be financial penalties for those who fail to obtain insurance coverage, as well as with most employers if they declined to help pay for workers’ coverage.
One issue of importance to Brown and the Alpert Medical School in the bill is support for Graduate Medical Education (GME) through new Medicare supported residency positions as part of health care reform to ensure that we have enough physicians and that medical students continue to have adequate residency opportunities.
Specifically, Senate amendment SA 2909 would add up to 15,000 new training slots. Introduced by Bill Nelson (D- FL), it is co-sponsored by a group of Democratic Senators including the Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), Assistant Majority Leader Dick Durbin (D-IL), and Vice Chair of the Democratic Caucus Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Senator Jack Reed (D-RI). Unfortunately this amendment is not currently in the bill moving through the Senate. We continue to work with our Senators to urge its inclusion in the final bill.
Research Funding
Throughout the year, Brown has advocated for increased research funding at the federal research agencies.
On December 10, the House passed a House-Senate agreement on an omnibus spending package that includes six of the seven regular FY 2010 appropriations bills that have yet to be enacted. The conference agreement includes the Transportation-Housing and Urban Development bill (H.R. 3288), which serves as the legislative vehicle for the package; and the Labor-HHS-Education, Military Construction-Veterans Affairs, Commerce-Justice-Science, Financial Services-General Government, and State-Foreign Operations bills. The vote was 221-202.
The conference agreement includes $163.6 billion in discretionary spending for programs under the Labor-HHS-Education bill (H.R. 3293), an increase of $8.5 billion (5.5 percent) over the FY 2009 bill, excluding emergency appropriations. This includes $48.5 billion for programs in the Public Health Service, an increase of $1.1 billion (2.4 percent) over FY 2009.
National Institutes of Health (NIH): For NIH, the conference agreement includes $31.0 billion, an increase of $691.8 million (2.3 percent) over the FY 2009 bill, and $250 million more than the president's request.
The conference agreement includes legislative language proposed by the Senate requiring the Secretary of Health and Human Services to amend regulations by May 1, 2010, regarding financial conflict of interest among NIH extramural investigators and institutions. The conference agreement also continues language from previous years' appropriations bills setting the limit on salaries of researchers through NIH grants at Executive Level I ($196,700 in 2009); includes $193.9 million to continue the National Children's Health Study; and provides $5 million for a bioethics initiative proposed by the House.
Health Professions: The conference agreement provides $254 million for Title VII health professions programs, a $32 million (14.4 percent) increase over FY 2009, but $11 million less than the president's request.
The conference agreement also includes $24 million for "investigator-initiated research" and $21 million for "Patient-Centered Health Research," funded at $50 million in FY 2009 under the heading "Clinical Effectiveness Research."
The agreement provides $581 million for VA Medical and Prosthetics Research, a $71 million (13.9 percent) increase over FY 2009. Conferees added $1 million over the House and Senate bills for research on Gulf War Veteran's illness.
National Science Foundation (NSF): Congress provided $6.926 billion for NSF, a $436 million (6.8 percent) increase over FY 2009, but $145 million below the president's request of $7.045 billion.
Department of Energy: The President signed the FY 2010 Energy and Water Development Appropriations Bill on October 28, 2009. Total funding for the Energy and Water Development Appropriations Bill increased by less than 1 percent, or $200 million, over last year’s funding. Funding for the Department of Energy increased by $318 million to $27.1 billion. The bill provides $4,903.7 million for the DOE office of Science, an increase of 3.1 percent or $146.1 million over last year’s budget.
Student Aid
In September 17, 2009 the House passed the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act (H.R. 3221). The Senate has not completed its work on this bill. This legislation seeks to expand access to college for students. H.R. 3221 contains a number of provisions that will benefit students, such as setting aside mandatory funding to supplement the Pell Grant maximum grant award over the next 10 years, streamlining the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, broadening access to Perkins Loans, and keeping subsidized student loans affordable in future years by modifying the interest rate increase scheduled to take effect in 2012.
While the bill includes a number of positive initiatives, there are several provisions that represent a marked departure from federal policy and practice that may be detrimental. Brown has concerns about provisions in Section 782 and Section 504 that threaten the balance of the current partnership between institutions, states and the federal government. We greatly appreciate the inclusion in the bill of the “rule of construction” language for private institutions but urged the Congress to continue to work with us to address remaining concerns. While we appreciate the bill provisions broadening the Perkins Loan program, we have urged that Congress work to ensure that institutions like Brown will be able to transition to the new program smoothly and with a minimum of disruption in service to their students. We also raised concerns that the proposed overhaul of the Perkins Loan Program could obligate institutions either to pay interest on behalf of their student borrowers while they are in school or to pay new participation fees.
Climate Change
In June, the House of Representatives narrowly passed American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 (H.R. 2454) that would reduce U.S. carbon emissions by 17 percent by 2020, from 2005 levels. The Senate chose to use the House as the basis for its draft legislation, but the Senate bill has only made it through the Environment and Public Works Committee.
On July 16, 2009, a group of 34 Nobel Laureates sent a letter to President Obama asking him to urge Congress to include in its final climate change bill the 10-year, $150-million Clean Energy Technology Fund he has requested. The group expressed concern that climate-change legislation approved by the House provides “less than one-fifteenth” of the amount the Administration proposed for federal energy research, development, and demonstration programs. “This stable R&D spending is not a luxury,” the letter stated. “The stable support this Fund would provide is essential to pay for the research and development needed if the U.S., as well as the developing world, are to achieve their goals in reducing greenhouse gases at an affordable cost.” Brown has supported the effort to include increased funding for research in the climate legislation.
2010 Forecast
Given that 2010 will be an election year, any major action taken by the Congress will have to occur early in the session. With the approval ratings for the President and Congress going down it becomes increasingly difficult to make change. When Congress returns in January, they will be focused in four areas: completing health reform, passing student aid legislation, moving climate change legislation, and starting the FY 11 budget process.
Health Reform: If the Senate can complete its work on health insurance reform package before Christmas, the two houses will conference the two versions of the bill in January. Their goal is to get the final bill to the President’s desk before the State of the Union on in January. This will be very hard to accomplish, but most people in Washington still now believe the President will be able to sign a bill in the new year.
Climate Change: the House passed its version of Climate change legislation, but the Senate was unable to do so. That was partly due to disagreements about the bill, but also because of the focus on health reform. The Senate hopes to pass a bill by March. This will be extremely challenging to accomplish. If the health care bill does pass that will help bring momentum to the climate bill.
Student Aid bill: Again the House has passed a student aid bill, but the Senate was unable to do so. The bill will now be rolled into the budget reconciliation bill, which will require the bill to be greatly reduced. It could move quickly in the new year.
FY 11 Budget: The President’s budget will be released following the State of the Union. From all reports many programs Brown relies on from research agencies to the student aid are likely to see flat budgets if not cuts. This is because the Administration wants to begin to tackle the sky-rocketing deficit. By starting with a flat budget, it will not be easy for Congress to raise funding levels because they don’t want to be accused of adding to the deficit.
If you have questions about any of these items please contact Tim Leshan, Director of Government Relations and Community Affairs at tim_leshan@brown.edu.
For more information please contact:
Tim Leshan
Director of Government Affairs and Community Relations
Brown University
Box 1920
Providence, RI 02912
401-863-2552
401-863-3189 (fax)
Tim_Leshan@brown.edu
http://www.brown.edu/Administration/PAUR/cgr/