November 2, 2007
Dear Partners,
The situation with SCHIP has been enormously fluid all week, however we wanted to make sure you were updated as the week comes to an end.
Senate and House Votes
Yesterday, the Senate approved the latest SCHIP compromise bill (HR 3963) in a vote of 64 to 30. (The roll call vote can be found here – four Democrats who support the measure Senators Clinton (NY), Dodd (CT), Obama (IL), and Wyden (OR) were not present for the vote.) All of the New England members of the Senate who were present voted in support of the bill except Senator Gregg (R-NH).
As you may remember, the House also passed the same bill last week but failed to reach a veto proof majority. All of the House members from New England who were present voted in favor of the bill (the roll call vote can be found here – Congresswoman Shea-Porter was not present, but her office has reassured us she continues to be supportive of the bill.)
Bi-Partisan Discussions
There has been a substantial amount of press about the level of bi-partisan discussions going on in the House. While we wished that more had been done to secure bi-partisan support prior to last week’s vote, it appears the House leadership has now taken an active role in reaching out to a group of moderate House Republicans to listen to their concerns and find some middle ground through a number of meetings held this week. In addition, Senate Democrats and Republicans met multiple times this week with several House Republicans to try and produce a new compromise that the Senate could have passed as an amendment to HR 3963 and then sent back to the House for final passage by a veto-proof majority.
Because of these discussions, the bipartisan Senate SCHIP negotiators tried to delay yesterday’s vote to allow for more time to negotiate on the House side. However, Senate Minority Leader McConnell (KY) objected to this request, essentially forcing a vote on the unchanged bill that we know the President will veto.
Before yesterday’s vote, Senate Finance Committee Chair Baucus (D-MO) announced that House Republicans will meet with Senate negotiators again on Tuesday. He indicated that they are close to a deal that could garner a veto-proof majority in the House. So, although the process has been further delayed, bipartisan negotiations on SCHIP are still underway. It remains unclear when any compromise (if one is achieved) will be brought up for the next vote.
Potential Negotiating Points
We are not sure how the negotiations will play out. We do know that House and Senate SCHIP leaders seem to be committed to covering 10 million children. We have also heard that Republicans are pressing for changes in the areas of: parental coverage, income disregards, citizenship documentation, and further targeting lower income children before expanding to higher income levels. Details still remain very unclear, but we will continue to keep you updated as we learn more. If a deal is reached, Senator Baucus and Majority Leader Reid (NV) have pledged that the House and Senate will take up the new legislation.
Earlier this week, the Alliance sent emails to every member of the New England delegation reminding them of our priority areas (a copy of our presentation can be found here (titled “SCHIP Briefing Presentation” under the “Alliance Resources” heading)) which include:
- Preserve the option for states to cover children over 200% of FPL
- Define a strong standard benefits package
- Make citizen documentation a state option
- Cover legal immigrant children (this is our only priority area that is not included in the bill in any form)
- Allow states to cover parents
- Support pediatric quality care efforts
As these negotiations are moving forward, we wanted to remind our Members of the issues that matter most to our region. Please feel free to follow-up with your delegation and reinforce these points. We know that House Republicans have put some of these issues on the table so it’s important that Members hear how important these provisions are to a strong SCHIP reauthorization.
White House Action
The President has been very active in his opposition to the SCHIP bill. In addition to the numerous public statements he has made objecting to it, we understand he has also been making individual phone calls to moderate Republicans in the House urging them to vote against the bill. Earlier this week, President Bush also told Republicans in a closed-door meeting that he would not support the SCHIP bill if it includes a cigarette tax (or any other tax increase). These statements lead us to believe that securing a veto proof majority is our best option for passing an SCHIP bill.
Message Points
We want to offer a revised version of our original talking points that we all started using over a year ago. We believe these points can be helpful when talking to the press and policy makers:
• All children deserve the healthcare they need to grow and learn. Medicaid and SCHIP have been enormously successful in providing high-quality, accessible healthcare for millions of vulnerable children.
• Every day that an SCHIP bill is not signed, 2,000 children are joining the ranks of the uninsured. We need Congress to act quickly to pass a strong SCHIP bill that removes administrative barriers to getting children enrolled in this program.
• We are fortunate in New England to have a Congressional delegation that has made children’s healthcare a top priority. We need our delegation to work with their colleagues to pass a compromise bill that covers 10 million children by allowing states to enroll four million more children who would be uninsured without a strong SCHIP bill that allocates an additional $35 billion in funding.
• Now is the time when we need to do more – not less – for our children and support these effective healthcare programs by ensuring that SCHIP is fully funded and Medicaid is protected.
Staying Informed
We are trying our best to keep you up-to-date without inundating you with emails. If you want additional information in between alerts, please feel free to contact me (617-275-2929, arosenthal@communitycatalyst.org) or Erin McDuffie (617-275-2805, emcduffie@communitycatalyst.org) directly with questions.
We know that all of us are anxious to see a strong bill pass through both Chambers with a veto-proof majority – we hope to report back to you soon with good news!
Sincerely,
Amy Rosenthal
Project Director
