Action Alerts

Ongoing: None.

Major Events Last Week

Fiscal Year 2009 Appropriations

President Obama signed the FY 2009 Omnibus Appropriations bill into law on March 11. The bill funds $410 billion in federal discretionary funding, including all disability programs. One controversial aspect of the bill was almost $8 billion in earmarked spending for 8,500 designated local projects. Enactment of the appropriations bill comes with just over one half of FY 2009 remaining. There are substantial increases in funding for many disability programs. All of the program cuts or eliminations sought by former President Bush were rejected. A special edition of the DPC News and Information bulletin will be published later this week with specific details of this appropriations bill.

Earmark Policy

Shortly before signing the FY 2009 Omnibus Appropriations bill into law, President Obama released a new set of principles his Administration will use regarding future earmarked spending. Future earmarks by Members of Congress will need to be posted on their web sites; the earmark requests should be justified in public hearings; and earmarks to for profit entities would have to be competitively bid. The President pledged to work with the Congress to eliminate earmarks that have no legitimate public purpose. The House Democratic leadership embraced the new policy while the Senate Democratic leadership announced some earmark reforms but not necessarily identical to the Obama policy. The House and Senate Appropriations Committees announced a plan to limit earmarked spending to less than one percent of overall discretionary spending for FY 2010.

Health Care Reform

The first regional health care reform summit was held in Dearborn, Michigan. Governors Jennifer Granholm (D-MI) and Jim Doyle (D-WI) hosted the event. Additional regional summits, also hosted by Governors, will be held on:

• March 17 - Burlington, Vermont
• March 23 - Des Moines, Iowa
• March 31 - Greensboro, North Carolina
• April 6 - Los Angeles, California

Individuals interested in participating in these summits should contact the respective Governors' offices.

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT) announced this intention to have health care reform legislation completed by the August recess. Similarly, House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-CA), Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel (D-NY) and Education and Labor Committee Chairman George Miller (D-CA) sent a letter to President Obama stating that they planned to bring a health care reform bill to the House floor before the August recess.

Employment

On March 9^th Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) held a hearing entitled "Preventing Worker Exploitation: Protecting Individuals With Disabilities and Other Vulnerable Populations." The hearing was in reaction to the situation of the 21 men with intellectual disabilities in eastern Iowa who were employed by Henry's Turkey Service and found to be living in a rundown bunk house and earning very little money. The hearing was intended to explore whether changes were needed in key parts of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) such as the use of subminimum wage and the provision that allows employers to deduct meals, housing and other things from an employee's wages. Witnesses included a representative from the Wage and Hour Division, U.S. Department of Labor who described current efforts to enforce the laws and labor lawyers who highlighted several concerns with implementing the law. Other witnesses included Curt Decker, Executive Director of the National Disability Rights Network and Joyce Bender, Bender Consulting who both questioned the subminimum wage program for individuals with significant disabilities. Senator Harkin pledged to introduce legislation to fix the laws. The DPC staff will work with the Senator and the HELP Committee to strengthen and enforce existing laws, and to develop additional strategies to prevent future abuses from occurring. The DPC sent a letter to Senator Harkin prior to the hearing detailing some of the key policies that need to be addressed in solving a number of complicated issues related to this case.

National Service

National service programs such as AmeriCorps and VISTA may see dramatic increases in this Congress. The House Education and Labor Committee approved a bill (H.R. 1388) last week which would not only triple the number of volunteers in national service programs but increase the education award to $5,350. The Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee is scheduled to mark-up a companion bill (S. 277) this Wednesday. These increases could benefit the disability community is two ways. First volunteers could serve at disability nonprofits at local, state and national levels. Also, individuals with disabilities can become national service members, gaining valuable work experience and money for college. The effect of national service monthly stipends on Social Security payments varies: VISTA member monthly stipends are excluded from Social security income consideration while AmeriCorps participants' stipend and education award are included in that calculation.

Obama Administration

President Obama announced his intent to nominate Tom Perez as Assistant Attorney General, Civil Rights Division at the Department of Justice. Tom Perez currently serves as the Secretary of Maryland's Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation (DLLR). During the Clinton Administration, Perez served as Deputy Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights under Attorney General Janet Reno. Among other responsibilities, Secretary Perez chaired the interagency Worker Exploitation Task Force, which oversaw a variety of initiatives designed to protect vulnerable workers. For the final two years of the Clinton administration, Perez served as the Director of the Office for Civil Rights at the United States Department of Health and Human Services.

Major Events Ahead

Community Choice Act (CCA)

Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA) and Rep. Danny Davis (D-IL) are expected to introduce the Community Choice Act (CCA) in both Houses of Congress on March 24. The CCA will allow people with disabilities and older people to choose to stay in their own homes and communities with attendant supports instead of being forced into nursing homes and other institutions by the current institutional bias in Medicaid. The definition of covered services includes: services and supports to assist an individual in activities of daily living, instrumental activities of daily living, and health-related tasks through hands-on assistance, supervision, or cueing under a plan of services and supports that is based on an assessment of functional need. Both President Obama and Vice President Biden were CCA co-sponsors during their years in the Senate.

Health Care Reform

On Wednesday, the Senate Finance Committee's Health Subcommittee chaired by Sen. John Rockefeller IV (D-WV) will hold a hearing on "What is Health Care Quality and Who Decides?"

On Tuesday the House Energy and Commerce Committee will hold a Health subcommittee hearing on "Making Health Care Work for American Families: Ensuring Affordable Coverage." See:
http://energycommerce.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1534&Itemid=1

On Wednesday, the Senate Finance Committee's Heath Subcommittee, chaired by Sen. John Rockefeller IV (D-WV), will hold a hearing on "What is Health Care Quality and Who Decides?" See:
http://finance.senate.gov/sitepages/hearing031809.htm

Early Childhood

On Tuesday the House Education and Labor Committee will hold a hearing on "The Importance of Early Childhood Development." See:
http://edlabor.house.gov/hearings/2009/03/the-importance-of-early-childh.shtml

Emergency Preparedness

On Tuesday the House Homeland Security Committee will hold an Emergency Communications, Preparedness, and Response Subcommittee on "PKEMRA (Post Katrina Emergency Management Reform Act) Implementation: An Examination of FEMA's Preparedness and Response Mission." See:
http://homeland.house.gov/about/schedule.asp

National Service

On Tuesday the House Rules Committee meets to consider the rule on H.R. 1388, "Generations Invigorating Volunteerism Act." See:
http://rules.house.gov/bills_details.aspx?NewsID=4177

Economic Recovery

On Thursday, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, chaired by Rep. Edolphus Towns (D-NY), will hold a hearing on "Preventing Stimulus Waste and Fraud: Who are the Watchdogs?" See:
http://oversight.house.gov/documents/20090312192106.pdf

Announcements

Social Security and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) Payments

The Social Security Administration has developed a leaflet describing the one-time payment of $250 which will go to Social Security and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) beneficiaries. This payment is authorized by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The leaflet describes the timing of the payment, who is eligible for the payment, how payments will be made, impact on SSI eligibility, and what to do if the payment does not arrive. Affiliates of UCP and chapters of The Arc are urged to distribute this information to individuals and families whom they serve. The leaflet is available at: http://www.socialsecurity.gov/pubs/10519.pdf.

Public Transportation Survey

In conjunction with a grant received from the Federal Transit Administration, Meeting the Challenge, Inc. is conducting a survey designed to collect information from people with disabilities regarding their experiences with public transportation. Information gathered will be used to determine what barriers still exist in public transportation for people with disabilities and will be used to create Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) technical assistance materials directed toward alleviating those barriers. This is an on-line survey which can be accessed from this link:
http://mtcinc.transit.sgizmo.com.
It is estimated that it will take from 5 to 15 minutes to complete the survey. If you do not have internet access, you can participate by calling Meeting the Challenge at 1-800-864-4264 (select menu choice #2), Monday through Friday between 9:00 AM and 4:00 PM (MT), and a staff member will assist you with the survey by telephone. If you prefer a paper copy of the survey, one can be obtained by calling the same phone number. Responses to the survey will be collected through March 31, 2009.

Economic Stimulus Information

The U.S. Department of Education has released more information on the education funding available under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. In addition to information that is available on the www.recovery.gov web site, more information on the IDEA Part B State grants can be found at
www.ed.gov/policy/gen/leg/recovery/factsheet/idea/html.

Additional information on the education State Fiscal Stabilization Fund can be found at
www.ed.gov/policy/gen/leg/recovery/factsheet/stabilization-fund.html.

Please note that you can view previous issues of the Capitol Insider, at UCP.org anytime by choosing "Capitol Insider" under "Public Policy."

Read previous Capitol Insider issues now.

If you have any questions, feel free to contact me at acosta@thedpc.org.

Sincerely,

Annie Acosta
Director of Communications and Grassroots
Disability Policy Collaboration