congress

Happy Monday. It’s been a while since my last update, but here’s the latest from D.C.

Medicaid/Housing/Doc Fix/RUGs IV Fix
We anticipate a vote in the U.S. Senate this week on the “extenders” bill, H.R. 4213, which contains the 6-month extension of the increased federal Medicaid match (FMAP), new funding for the National Housing Trust Fund, prevention of a cut in nursing home Part B therapy reimbursement (related to physician payment schedule) and correction of the RUGs IV effective date.

The U.S. House of Representatives was unable to pass this package as one bill, so they passed the doc fix separately and left the FMAP increase hanging in limbo. We are pushing for the Senate to pass the package in one piece, but it is going to be a close vote, as concern is growing on the Hill over the federal budget deficit and voter perceptions of it.

We are working the phones on this end to gain Senate support for the package. We understand that this process is dragging on longer than we had originally thought it would, and many of our members have their own legislative issues going on. However, Senate contacts on the bill within the next few days will make the difference to the success we hope to achieve on H.R. 4213.

Please check out our Contact Congress materials.

Fiscal 2011 Budget and Spending
With all the concern over the federal deficit, Congress has been unable to bring itself to adopt a budget plan for the next fiscal year…and it appears increasingly unlikely they will do so.

Since passage of a budget usually precedes allocation of pots of money to the appropriations “cardinals,” the fiscal 2011 spending process has yet to really get off the ground. The House usually tries to have all of its bills well in hand by the July 4 recess, now a mere four weeks away.

The Senate, in turn, has a lot on its plate:  confirmation of a new Supreme Court justice, a big energy bill (think Gulf oil spill), a remaining supplemental appropriations bill for our two wars, and a defense authorization bill, to name just the top agenda items.

Not only are we fast closing in on the July 4 recess, but there are only eight weeks left for legislative activity before the August recess. When Congress returns in September, they will be in session only a few days before recessing again for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. And it is likely that Congress will stick with the planned early October adjournment date because of heightened concern in both parties over the midterm elections.

What All This Means
The regular appropriations bills covering aging services have even less of a chance than they usually do for consideration as separate legislation. Our programs, normally covered by the Transportation/HUD and the Labor/Health and Human Services bills, will likely be funded under an omnibus spending bill, probably passed in September before fiscal 2011 begins October 1.

That is the best-case scenario, which would give us at least some chance of increased funding.

Worst case, we will get funding under a continuing resolution, which would leave funding at this year’s levels for housing and Older Americans Act programs (Medicare and Medicaid are not dependent on annual appropriations).

But we live in hope. Have a great week.