Washington
Round-Up
August, 1998 Washington Round-Up
House Postpones Vote on FY 1999 Labor-HHS Spending Bill
House Postpones Vote on FY 1999 Labor-HHS
Spending Bill
The House postponed any vote on
the FY 1999 Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education
spending measure until after the August summer recess. The
House will reconvene on Wednesday, September 9, 1998. In a
meeting of the health care community leaders called by House
Majority Whip Tom DeLay (R-TX) and Representative John Porter
(R-IL), Chairman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on
Labor, HHS, and Education, the Majority Whip discussed the
status of this year's House Appropriations Labor-HHS-Education
spending measure. Mr. DeLay explained that the bill would not
be brought to the House Floor for a vote until after the August
Recess due to difficulties in securing enough votes for its
passage. According to the Majority Whip, this is because several
moderate Republicans are wavering on voting for the bill because
of the education and labor segments of the bill being reduced
or eliminated for FY 1999. Mr. DeLay thanked the health care
community for their grassroots support of the bill, and asked
them to continue to target undecided moderate Republicans to
encourage them to vote in favor of the Labor-HHS-Education
legislation.
The Senate Subcommittee will be
marking up its version of the bill on September 2, 1998.
The ASTP has been working very closely
with congressional staff regarding these bills. On Wednesday,
July 29, 1998, Dr. John Neylan, ASTP President, and Dr. Jack
Lake, ASTP President-Elect, visited with the staff of Senators
who sit on the Senate Appropriations Labor, HHS, and Education
Subcommittee, to discuss the Senate Labor-HHS-Education bill.
As a result of these meetings, Senator Lauch Faircloth (R-NC)
sent a letter to Senator Arlen Specter (R-PA), Chairman of
the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and
Human Services urging him to support the recent rule on Medicare
Conditions of Participation (COPs) regarding hospital communications
with OPOs.
Senate Puts Off Patients' Rights
Legislation Until September
On Friday, July
31, 1998, the Senate adjourned for its August recess, putting
off debate on the
Republican and Democratic versions of "patients' rights" legislation
until it returns in September. Before leaving town, Senator
Tom Daschle (D-SD) and several other senators who support the
Patient Bill of Rights legislation, sent a letter to Majority
Leader Trent Lott (R-MS) with an outline of amendments that
should be allowed during the debate of managed care reform.
Meanwhile, a bipartisan
group of centrists led by Sen. John Chafee (R-R.I.) laid out
their own
proposal for a "patients' bill of rights," which
contains many of the same elements as the Democrats' bill but
provides more limited liability for health plans. Sen. Chafee
suggested that his plan could provide a compromise option if
partisan squabbling sinks the other two bills.
*This will be the last edition
of the Washington Round-Up until September, when Congress
reconvenes for the conclusion of the 105th Congress, 2nd
Session.
