Week Ending May 11, 2018

  

  • White House Submits New Budget Cuts
  • New Work Requirements Threaten Basic Standards of Living
  • VA Privatization Plan Advances
  • House Republican Moderates Launch DACA Petition

White House Submits New Budget Cuts

The Trump administration has sent to Congress a package of new budget cuts (H.R. 3) that would rescind a total of $15.4 billion from 38 programs that have funds authorized in the budget from previous fiscal years. This is the first of several rescission packages expected to be sent to Congress by the administration. Congress has 45 days to pass the package with just a majority vote needed in both the House and the Senate. A House floor vote on the package could come as early as next week. While House passage is expected, subsequent Senate action is uncertain.

What You Need to Know: The rescission package includes $7 billion in cuts from the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP), $5.1 billion from the Children's Health Insurance Fund and $1.9 billion from the Child Enrollment Contingency Fund; $800 million from the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation program; $107 million from funding for Hurricane Sandy relief; money allocated for the Ebola outbreak; and several grants. The Department of Labor's Training and Employment Services Administration would be cut by $22.9 million. The Corporation for National and Community Service would be cut by $150 million. AFSCME strongly opposes these cuts and is working to oppose them.

New Work Requirements Threaten Basic Standards of Living

Next week the House GOP is expected to force through harsh new work requirements as part of the House Farm bill (H.R. 2) and reauthorization of SNAP benefits. These new work rules are part of a long-term strategy to impose harsh work rules on federal safety-net recipients of food stamps, public housing, and Medicaid benefits. Though some members of the GOP are divided on this issue, President Trump is threatening to veto any related bill that comes to his desk if it does not include tougher work requirements, which seem designed to reduce benefits.

What You Need to Know: Approximately 43 million people use SNAP. It helps about one in eight Americans afford a basic diet and not go hungry. Stringent new work requirements in public-assistance programs like SNAP would disproportionately affect many women, elderly, children and other vulnerable Americans. And, while work requirements are framed as an effort to help people into gainful employment, many are already working. These new punitive requirements will impact millions of recipients, who will lose benefits altogether while others will have their benefits reduced. AFSCME strongly opposes the Farm bill, which cuts SNAP by $17 billion and would continue to work against efforts to impose punitive work requirements in other benefits programs.

VA Privatization Plan Advances

This week, by a vote of 20 to 2, the House Veterans Affairs Committee passed the VA Mission Act of 2018 (H.R. 5674), which would allow the Secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to privatize veterans' health care and dismantle or close many of the 170 VA medical centers and 1,061 clinics across the nation. Advocates for privatizing veterans' health care, which includes groups frunded by the Koch brothers, would destroy publicly provided health care and ignore that the VA provides unique, veteran-centric comprehensive and integrated care that simply does not exist outside the VA. The full House is expected to vote on this bill in the coming weeks.

What You Need to Know: The proponents for privatization made voting against this bill particularly difficult because they've sweetened the bill with an expansion of the caregiver program for veterans. The bill also includes a good provision to speed VA's ability to enter into care agreements with State Veterans Homes, but it's still a bad bill overall.

House Republican Moderates Launch DACA Petition

This week a group of moderate House Republicans launched an effort to force a vote on legislation that would provide a path to citizenship and protection from deportation for immigrants who were brought to the U.S. as children. GOP moderates hope to collect the names of the majority of House members on a "discharge petition," which would allow a vote by the House and prevent their GOP leadership from blocking the bill.

What You Need to Know: The effort has 248 co-sponsors, more than enough to pass if it is allowed to receive a vote. Despite polls that show Americans overwhelmingly support legislation to protect these immigrants, House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI), Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) and others are opposed to the discharge petition. If the petition is successful, it would launch a process to allow a vote on five different proposals, similar to the Senate action earlier this year. Proposals would include an enforcement-only policy authored by Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-VA), the DREAM Act and other proposals laid out by Reps. Will Hurd (R-TX) and Pete Aguilar (D-CA), Jeff Denham (R-CA), and one from Speaker Ryan. AFSCME is encouraging House members to sign the discharge petition.

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