Government Report
Published monthly by The
Arc, a national organization on mental retardation.
Governmental
Affairs Office; ph 202-785-3388; GAOinfo@thearc.org;
http://www.thearc.org/
| Volume 30, Issue 8 |
September 30, 2000 |
In
Brief
(Click on the highlighted text to jump
to the article.)
With
only one week left before Congress’ scheduled adjournment, many bills are
left in limbo.
As Adjournment Nears, Many Bills are in Limbo
As this issue of Government Report goes to press, there is only one week left before the 106th Congress is scheduled to adjourn. The original plan was to adjourn on Oct. 6th so that Members of the House and Senate, who are up for re-election, can have time to campaign before the Nov. 7th elections. Currently, things are not so clear-cut. Not only are elections approaching, but even more immediate is the beginning of the new fiscal year (Oct. 1) and only two FY 2001 appropriations bills have been signed into law. The other 11 appropriations bills, including those of most importance to The Arc, are in limbo -- along with the most important pieces of non-appropriations legislation.
A continuing resolution (CR) was passed by Congress the week of Sept. 25. It is designed to keep the government running at current funding levels through Oct. 6. If the appropriations bills are not completed by early next week — and that looks like a very ambitious target — another CR will be needed.
Conference negotiations on the FY 2001 funding bill for the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education have been stalled. Congressional leaders have tentatively agreed to add four billion dollars for programs in the bill, but it is not certain whether the extra money will be spent to satisfy President Clinton’s priorities enough for him to sign the bill. The bill that funds the Departments of Veterans Affairs, Housing and Urban Development, and a variety of Independent Agencies is also stalled. The House passed its poorly funded bill in July. The Senate so far has only taken committee action, but the Senate HUD-VA bill has higher funding levels. The controversy now is how much, if any, additional funds will be added for new tenant-based rental assistance.
Front burner legislative issues that have yet to see closure – and may not – include managed care consumer protections, Medicare prescription drugs, tax cuts, and an increase in the minimum wage. One politically popular initiative supported by The Arc, the Children’s Health Act of 2000 passed the House and Senate late in September and should soon be sent to the president for his signature. The future of other issues of importance to The Arc, such as the Family Opportunity Act, the Hate Crimes Prevention Act, long-term services initiatives, and the reauthorization of the Developmental Disabilities and Family Support Act is up in the air (see related articles).
Family Opportunity Act
Facing Hard Times
But Still Alive!
While the Family Opportunity Act (FOA) is still a hot issue on Capitol Hill, the events of the past several days have not been very positive. FOA sponsors in Congress and supporters around the country continue to work hard to try and find a way to get it enacted into law this year – but time is very short. The Senate bill, S. 2274, introduced by Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) with Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.), currently has 76 co-sponsors (32 Republicans and 44 Democrats). This is more than enough support to get the bill passed in the Senate – IF – it could get to the Senate floor. As this issue of Government Report goes to press, that is a pretty big IF.
As time got shorter in this session of Congress, Grassley’s strategy was to add the FOA as an amendment to other bills that were being considered by the Finance Committee. Earlier, he had been rebuffed in his effort to get a Finance Committee (with jurisdiction over Medicaid) hearing on the bill so he held one in the Senate Budget Committee (see July Government Report). At this late point in the year, many Senators wanted to add amendments to bills that were actually moving through the Finance Committee. However, Grassley’s effort to add the FOA was the only effort on behalf of families with children with disabilities. This effort failed on Sept. 28 when he could not get the votes he needed to add the FOA to a railroad retirement bill.
No one really expected that he would get the votes of several conservative members of the committee such as Chairman William Roth (R-Del.) and Sens. Phil Gramm (R-Texas), Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-Miss.), and Don Nickles (R-Okla.). However, advocates were disappointed that only one Republican committee member and FOA cosponsor voted with him: Sen. Jim Jeffords (Vt.). Two other Republican co-sponsors on the committee, Sens. Fred Thompson (Tenn.) and Frank Murkowski (Alaska) voted against him. More surprising, however, was that three Democratic members of the committee and FOA cosponsors, Sens. Daniel Moynihan (N.Y.), Jay Rockefeller (W.V.) and Max Baucus (Mont.) voted against him. The rest of the Democrats on the Finance Committee supported his efforts.
The number of co-sponsors for the House bill (H.R. 4825), introduced by Reps. Jeff Sessions (R-Texas), Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), Fred Upton (R-Mich.), and Thomas Barrett (D-Wisc.) continues to grow. There are now 119 (55 Republicans and 64 Democrats). A majority of the House Commerce Committee (with jurisdiction over Medicaid) are FOA co-sponsors, including Rep. Michael Bilarkaris, Chairman of the Commerce Committee Subcommittee on Health and the Environment.
As in the Senate, few bills are moving in the House. One bill that is moving, H.R.5291, would “give-back” approximately $21 billion in cuts made to Medicare providers by the Balanced Budget Act of 1997. The House Commerce and Ways and Means Committees have jurisdiction over this bill. Waxman and others made an effort to include the FOA in this bill; however, their effort was rejected when the Congressional Budget Office scored the bill at approximately $3.5 billion over five years. FOA sponsors in both the House and Senate and the White House are questioning this budget estimate. However, supporters argue that in view of the cost of other provisions in the bill and the families it would help, this is a small amount.
These set-backs are disappointing, especially this late in the year. However, Sens. Grassley and Kennedy and Rep. Sessions and others are still strongly committed to continuing the fight to get the FOA passed this year. The popularity of the FOA is reflected in the number of messages sent from The Arc Action Center to members of Congress on this issue and in the large number of phone calls received by the Governmental Affairs Office from families across the nation, who are not part of The Arc. The Arc will continue to work with them on this bill of importance to families of children with disabilities.
SSA Issues Final SSI Childhood Disability Regulations
On Sept. 11, 2000, the Social Security Administration (SSA) published final regulations for determining childhood disability for the Supplemental Security Income program. The regulations will become effective on Jan. 2, 2001.
These final regulations respond to public comments on the interim final regulations which were published and have been in effect since February 1997. The regulations are based upon SSA’s interpretation of the statutory standard for children and require that a child show marked limitations in at least two areas of functioning or extreme limitations in one area of functioning. The interpretation of the statutory standard has been a source of disagreement between SSA and advocates and key Members of Congress since enactment in 1996 as part of the changes to the nation’s welfare system.
Despite continued disagreement with SSA’s interpretation of the basic standard for children, The Arc and other advocates hail these final regulations as important, necessary, and significant in addressing problems in the assessment of children for the SSI program. Advocates applaud SSA Commissioner Ken Apfel for his dedication to thoroughly evaluating the childhood SSI program and making changes where necessary. From his Senate confirmation hearing pledge to conduct a top-to-bottom review through the publication of this final regulation, Commissioner Apfel has examined numerous troubling aspects of the childhood SSI program, devoted agency resources to thoroughly study various aspects of assessment process and policy, and instituted policy and procedural change where necessary to ensure accurate determinations for children.
These final regulations are expected to clarify, simplify, and improve the assessment of “functional equivalence” for children. The functional equivalence assessment is conducted for children who do not have an impairment that meets the “listings” of impairments in SSA’s regulations. At this step in the process, children are assessed to see whether they have an impairment(s) which limits them in a way that is functionally equal to the level of impairments in the listings.
The final regulations simplify and clarify the functional equivalence step by reducing four previous methods into one and by bringing all relevant criteria into the functional equivalence regulation (eliminating references to listings in other parts of SSA’s rules.)
Based on public comments and on SSA’s own experiences with the interim regulations, SSA has revised the domains, or broad areas of development or functioning, that are assessed for each child. Children of all ages will be assessed in each area of functioning. The broad areas of functioning are:
- Acquiring and using information
- Attending and completing tasks
- Interacting and relating with others
- Moving about and manipulating objects
- Caring for yourself
- Health and physical well-being (new for evaluating physical impairments)
The rules emphasize that, in assessing a child in an area of functioning, the comparison is made to other children of the same age who do not have impairments. There are numerous additional factors that SSA indicates must also be taken into account in assessing a child’s functioning. These include:
- Symptoms, such as pain, fatigue, decreased energy, anxiety
- Functioning in relation to age
- Combined effects of multiple impairments
- Ability to initiate, sustain, and complete activities, including the amount of help or adaptation needed and the effects of structured or supportive settings
- Unusual settings, such as one-on-one testing
- Early intervention and school programs
- Impact of chronic illness and limitations that interfere with activities over time
- Effects of treatment, such as medication and therapies
The Arc had been particularly concerned about the interim regulations’ treatment of communication and cognition as one area of functioning. The new final rules improve the treatment of limitations in these two areas through clarification of the six areas of functioning and overall clarification of treatment of multiple impairments. The rules should make it simpler for adjudicators to assess the separate and combined impacts of the child’s diagnosed impairments across the six areas of functioning. Marked (or extreme) limitations must be shown in the areas of functioning, not for each separate diagnosed impairment.
Overall, the final rules should make the process simpler and more accurate for adjudicators and fairer for children.
The delayed implementation date allows SSA to prepare and conduct extensive training of SSA personnel and adjudicators and to revise forms and notices. The interim final rules will continue to apply until the effective date. When the final rules become effective, SSA will apply them to new applications filed on or after January 2, 2001 and to claims pending at any step in SSA’s administrative process.
In the meantime, SSA continues to conduct evaluations of its assessment policies and practices for the childhood SSI program. The Arc and other advocates will continue to monitor the implementation of the SSI program for children and the development of new information through SSA’s on-going evaluations.
Developmental Disabilities Act Still Not Finalized
The seven-year reauthorization of the Developmental Disabilities (DD) and Family Support Act should have been completed soon after Congress returned early in September. However, one final step in the reauthorization process still has not been completed, placing the whole bill in jeopardy at this late date in the session.
The Senate passed the DD and Family Support Act last year and the House acted in July. The only differences between the two bills are reauthorization dates (because of the span of time between the passage of the two versions). The Senate approved a concurrent resolution accepting the date changes in the House bill before it left for its summer recess. Now, that resolution and the final bill need to be approved by the House. Rep. Rick Lazio (R-N.Y.) led a bipartisan effort to get the bill passed in the House (with the family support provisions intact). It was expected that he would lead the effort to bring the bill back to the House floor for final passage, but he has not yet done so. Therefore, action is stalled. The Arc has been working with both House and Senate Republican and Democratic staff to get the final step completed as soon as possible and to get the bill to President Clinton for his signature.
Senate Committee Acts on Special Education Funding
The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee approved the Full Funding for Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (S.2341) on Sept. 20.
The Full Funding for IDEA Act (S. 2341), sponsored by Sen. Gregg (R-N.H.), would authorize funding for Part B of IDEA at $7 billion for FY 2001 and increase funding over the next ten years by $2 billion per year. The purpose of the bill is to reach the goal of paying 40 percent of the cost of providing special education and related services as authorized under the law. An identical bill passed the House in May (H.R. 4055).
The bill is a nice statement of support for providing adequate funds for special education services, but its meaning is mostly symbolic. Existing law already authorizes full funding for IDEA; and even if S. 2341 passed, the FY 2001 L-HHS-ED appropriations bill only provides a $1.3 billion increase for IDEA state grants.
During the HELP Committee mark-up, Sen. Harkin (D-Iowa) stated that if the bill reached the Senate floor, he would offer an amendment to mandate full funding for IDEA by FY 2001 by tapping non-Social Security surplus funds. With the Democrats poised to try to appropriate real – not just authorized -- money, the Senate Republican leadership is not likely to allow S. 2341 to see floor action before the end of the 106th Congress.
Congress Supports Resolution Celebrating 25th Anniversary of IDEA
On Sept. 20, the Senate HELP Committee passed a concurrent resolution (S. Con. Res. 135) commemorating the 25th anniversary of the Education for All Handicapped Children’s Act of 1975 (P.L. 94-142), now the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. The resolution was sponsored by Sen. Jim Jeffords (R-Vt.), an original co-sponsor of the legislation. Sens. Jeffords and Kennedy (D-MA) both made strong positive statements in support of the opportunities IDEA has provided to the over five million children who receive special education and related services under the Act each year.
The IDEA concurrent resolution has not seen Senate action yet but was approved by the House of Representatives (H. Con. Res. 399) on Sept. 25 by a vote of 359-2. The House resolution was sponsored by Rep. Bill Goodling (R-Pa.), chairman of the Committee on Education and the Workforce. Selected provisions are reprinted on the next page. The complete text is available on the Governmental Affairs section of The Arc web site.
The Education Task Force of the Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities is sponsoring several events to celebrate the 25th anniversary of IDEA. On Oct. 4, CCD is holding a congressional reception to honor former and current Members of Congress who were original co-sponsors of the bill that became P.L. 94-142 in 1975. Additional honorees include Members of Congress and the administration who have played instrumental roles in protecting, expanding, and funding IDEA over the last two and one-half decades. On Oct. 5, CCD is co-sponsoring a half-day IDEA symposium with the U.S. Department of Education.
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106th CONGRESS, H. CON. RES. 399 (selected provisions) Recognizing the 25th anniversary of the enactment of the Education for All Handicapped Children Act of 1975. Whereas the Education for All Handicapped Children Act of 1975 (Public Law 94-142) was signed into law 25 years ago on November 29, 1975, and amended the State grant program under part B of the Education of the Handicapped Act; Whereas the Education for All Handicapped Children Act of 1975 established the Federal policy of ensuring that all children, regardless of the nature or severity of their disability, have available to them a free appropriate public education in the least restrictive environment; Whereas the Education of the Handicapped Act was further amended by the Education of the Handicapped Act Amendments of 1986 (Public Law 99-457) to create a preschool grant program for children with disabilities 3 to 5 years of age and an early intervention program for infants and toddlers with disabilities from birth through age 2; Whereas IDEA currently serves an estimated 200,000 infants and toddlers, 600,000 preschoolers, and 5,400,000 children 6 to 21 years of age; Whereas IDEA has assisted in a dramatic reduction in the number of children with developmental disabilities who must live in State institutions away from their families; Whereas the number of children with disabilities who complete high school has grown significantly since the enactment of IDEA; Whereas the number of children with disabilities who enroll in college as freshmen has more than tripled since the enactment of IDEA; Whereas IDEA has supported the classrooms of this Nation by providing Federal resources to the States and local schools to help meet their obligation to educate all children with disabilities; Whereas, while the Federal Government has not yet met its commitment to fund part B of IDEA at 40 percent of the average per pupil expenditure, it has made significant increases in part B funding by increasing the appropriation by 115 percent since 1995, which is an increase of over $2,600,000,000; Whereas the 1997 amendments to IDEA increased the amount of Federal funds that have a direct impact on students through improvements such as capping allowable State administrative expenses, which ensures that nearly 99 percent of funding increases directly reach local schools, and requiring mediation upon request by parents in order to reduce costly litigation: Now, therefore, be it
(1) recognizes the 25th anniversary of the enactment of the Education for All Handicapped Children Act of 1975 (Public Law 94-142); (2) acknowledges the many and varied contributions of children with disabilities, their parents, teachers, related services personnel, and administrators; and (3) reaffirms its support for the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act so that all children with disabilities have access to a free appropriate public education. |
Hate Crimes Legislation Sees Some Action
Hate crimes prevention legislation is another important issue to The Arc that has seen recent congressional action. It has also enjoyed recent strong Administration support in the press. However, it remains to be seen if the Republican leadership will allow a hate crimes bill to be enacted into law this year.
Both the House and the Senate have taken some type of vote in support of strengthening federal hate crimes protections. But, in both cases, the votes have been somewhat convoluted. The Senate voted in June to include the Hate Crimes Prevention Act, renamed the Local Law Enforcement Enhancement Act of 2000, as an amendment to the Department of Defense (DoD) Authorization bill (S. 2549). The House DoD bill (H.R. 4205) did not include the hate crimes provision. However, the House took a very positive step in support of hate crimes legislation on Sept. 13 when it passed a non-binding motion to instruct the DoD conferees to include the Senate-passed hate crimes provision in the final version of the DoD bill. Forty-one Republicans joined 190 Democrats and one independent in supporting the motion. House and Senate conferees are currently in the final process of working out the differences between the two DoD bills.
While President Clinton has made enactment of the hate crimes bill a top priority before he leaves office, Senate Majority Leader Lott (Miss.) and other Republican leaders have stated their determination to remove the hate crimes provision from the DoD authorization bill.
The hate crimes provision under debate would include people with disabilities as a protected class under current federal hate crimes laws. As of July 2000, only 22 states include people with disabilities in their hate crime statutes. The incidence of violence motivated by the actual or perceived disability of the victim is a serious problem that current federal laws do not address.
People with mental retardation and related disabilities have a long history of being abused and discriminated against based on their disability. According to a 1998 report from the University of California in Irvine, people with developmental disabilities have a four to ten times higher risk of becoming crime victims than people without disabilities. Children with disabilities are more than twice as likely as their peers without disabilities to be physically or sexually abused. Roughly five million serious crimes are committed against people with developmental disabilities in the Unites States each year.
Like bias crimes based on race, color, ethnicity, religion, gender or sexual orientation, crimes against people with disabilities send a message to the entire group. Individual bias-motivated attacks instill fear in all people with disabilities, not only limiting job opportunities and places to live but also threatening their daily existence and ability to function in society. Without protection against disability-based attacks, people with mental retardation and other disabilities face a daily risk that they may not receive justice when they are victims of a hate crime.
The Arc Governmental Affairs Office is participating in a larger civil rights coalition that includes the Leadership Council on Civil Rights, the National Organization on Women, NAACP and many others to enact this important legislation.
Opening Doors is a housing initiative designed to provide information on affordable housing issues to people with disabilities, their families, advocates, and service providers across the United States. Opening Doors is a joint effort of the Technical Assistance Collaborative, Inc. (TAC) and the Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities (CCD) Housing Task Force.
The Opening Doors initiative includes special reports, funding alerts, and a quarterly housing publication, also entitled Opening Doors. Each state chapter of The Arc receives Opening Doors by mail; however, it is also available on the internet at the following address: http://www.c-c-d.org/doors.html or http://www.tacinc.org/
To sign up to receive the Opening Doors newsletter by mail, contact Maura Collins Versluys at the Technical Assistance Collaborative (TAC): Phone: 617-742-5657; mversluys@tacinc.org.
Visit the Opening Doors Exhibit at
The Arc National
Convention in Birmingham!