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Legislation Department Do-Nothing Congress Still Won't Quit It is hard to comprehend, but a little more than one week from election day the Congress continues to delay completion of final action on its year-end spending bills. Moreover, GOP congressional leaders still appear to be in no real hurry to finish their work and go home to campaign. Action on several major, annual spending bills has still not been completed and two of those bills that the Congress has passed face certain vetoes from the President. Yet to be acted upon is the massive bill to fund programs in the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services and Education which pays the salaries of tens of thousands of AFSCME members around the nation. The Commerce-State-Justice bill, which was combined with the District of Columbia spending bill, was passed, but the President has promised a veto. It is perhaps even more bizarre that GOP leaders in the House and Senate passed yet another new massive tax bill at this late stage. The bill includes $240 billion in tax cuts over 10 years for businesses and the wealthy, $28 billion in so-called Medicare "givebacks," including $10 billion to HMOs, and a $1 increase in the minimum wage. President Clinton said he would veto the bill if it failed to include a bipartisan agreement on school construction funding, a tax credit for those buying health insurance rather than the tax deduction GOP leaders wanted, and more money for public hospitals and nursing homes. The Congress, however, chose to ignore the President and pass a partisan bill. Minority Leader Dick Gephardt (D-MO) best summed-up the actions of this GOP-led Congress. "Republicans have controlled the Congress now for six years. And for more than half a decade, they have labored mightily to pass tax cuts for the wealthy and protect the HMOs, the insurance industry, the pharmaceutical companies, the NRA, and big business. The Republican leadership has blocked progress on issue after issue that are close to the heart of the American people. Republicans killed a patients' bill of rights, a prescription drug benefit under Medicare, hate crimes legislation, gun safety laws, middle class tax cuts. And so far they've refused to increase the minimum wage for workers or pass an education agenda for school construction, hiring new teachers, emergency school repairs, teacher training and afterschool programs. This has been the best Congress that special interests can buy." At this point, a rare weekend session is expected as the Congress stays in session unable to complete its work and unwilling to reach a bipartisan consensus on how to finish its work. AFSCME Checkmates NFIB: FUTA Unemployment Surtax Dropped Bowing to opposition from the White House, AFSCME and other unions, the congressional Republican leadership has agreed to drop the Federal Unemployment Tax Act (FUTA) surtax repeal from its end-of-the-year tax package. As it became increasingly clear that GOP congressional leaders were unwilling to cross the National Federation of Independent Businesses (NFIB) by moving forward with a comprehensive unemployment insurance reform package, AFSCME turned to working with key moderate House Republicans to block NFIB efforts to pass the FUTA surtax repeal without the rest of the unemployment insurance reform. Led by Reps. John Shimkus (R-IL) and Jack Quinn (R-NY), a letter from a dozen moderate Republicans was sent to Speaker Hastert opposing repeal of the FUTA surtax, helping to convince their leadership to accede to White House demands to drop the surtax repeal. FLSA Overtime Provisions Dropped as $1. 00 Minimum Wage Increase Advances Responding to intense opposition from labor to their proposals to exempt millions of American workers from overtime protections under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), Republican congressional leaders agreed to move forward with a $1.00 minimum wage increase over the next two years without any of the overtime changes. The decision to drop these provisions represented a major victory for labor and a rare defeat for the technology industry, which has sought a loosening of overtime protections. Needlestick Bill Passes Senate — Headed for President's Signature On Wednesday, the Senate passed the Needlestick Safety and Prevention Act (S. 3067/H.R. 5178), requiring employers to use safety-designed needles and sharps to reduce needlestick injuries to health care workers. This follows passage of a companion bill in the House on October 3 and clears the way for the President's signature. The bipartisan bill was sponsored by Reps. Cass Ballenger (R-NC) and Major Owens (D-NY) in the House and by Sens. James Jeffords (R-VT), Michael Enzi (R-WY), Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA) and Harry Reid (D-NV) in the Senate. The bill codifies and improves a requirement established last November by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). It is aimed at preventing over 600,000 needlestick injuries each year in health care settings. These injuries result in the transmission of serious diseases to an estimated 1,000 health care workers annually. This bill was a top priority of AFSCME. AFSCME members around the country, especially nurses, provided strong grassroots support for the measure over the last two years, creating the necessary urgency to act among legislators. The success of the legislation is also due to the leadership of Reps. Pete Stark (D-CA), Marge Roukema (R-NJ) and Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA), who had introduced legislation in 1999 (H.R. 1899/ S. 1140). This legislation was the basis for the final bill approved by the House and Senate. AFSCME continues to work to get a special needlestick provision for public hospitals inserted into the Medicare "giveback" bill slated for passage before adjournment. This provision is needed to cover public hospitals in states where public employees are not covered by OSHA and are not, therefore, covered by the newly-passed bill. While there is bipartisan support for the public hospital measure in the House, there is Republican opposition in the Senate. AFSCME has pressed the White House to ensure that this provision is added during negotiations with GOP leaders over the Medicare bill. Senate Passes Standards For Private Prisoner Transport The Senate passed a bill to impose strict, new federal regulations for private prison transport companies used to ferry violent inmates from place to place, a key AFSCME Corrections United priority. The legislation, called "Jeanna's Bill," calls for pre-employment drug testing and criminal background checks for these companies' prospective employees. It sets training standards for guards and requires prisoners to wear bright jail clothes during transport. The bill was in response to the October 13, 1999 escape of convicted child killer and molester Kyle Bell from a prisoner transport van in New Mexico. Bell had been convicted of murdering 11-year-old Jeanna North of Fargo, N.D. in June 1993. The bill passed the full Senate by voice vote. It will now go to the House. S. 1865: Mental Health Diversion Courts Sent to President The House followed the Senate's lead and approved a bill (S. 1865) authorizing the Attorney General to make grants to states, state courts and units of local government to provide for programs that divert the mentally ill from prisons and into treatment. The programs provide continuing judicial supervision, coordination of service delivery and training of law enforcement and judicial personnel to identify and address the unique needs of a mentally ill or mentally retarded offender. The bill now goes to the White House.
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