The sand in the hourglass is about to run out on numerous legislative issues that would provide funding for hospitals, medical research, health care access, education, student loans, law enforcement, highway infrastructure, veterans health care and renewable energy.
While the House of Representatives has passed such legislation in the past year, it has failed to become law, either because of lack of commitment in the Senate, lack of super-majorities to override vetoes or vetoes by President Bush.
At a Dec. 17 press conference in Kingston, U.S. Representative Maurice Hinchey, D-22nd district, said he hoped the latest funding package proposed by the Democratic leadership would finally get passed into law. The spending levels are more modest than similar bills introduced in the past, which increases the likelihood of success, he said, but still above the amounts proposed by the president.
If there had been an event menu, partisan red meat would have been prominent.
Calling Bush “the most impeachable president we”™ve ever had,” Hinchey bashed the president”™s alleged obstruction of legislation supporting a host of social issues, including expanded health care insurance coverage for children, incentives for renewable energy, and tax relief for the middle class. “Democrats in Congress have been trying to chart a new direction for America over the past year and President Bush continues to wave his giant veto flag around on almost every issue,” said Hinchey.
Why has the Democratic majority in Congress failed to have any clout? While the House has been effective in passing legislation, the Senate has not, mainly because Senate Democrats only have a one-vote majority.
That one vote frequently supports the more conservative Republican agenda. For example, Senator Joseph Lieberman can be counted on to shoot down any bill reducing funding for the Iraq War, while a Democratic Senator in Louisiana supports the oil and gas industry and always votes against energy reforms, Hinchey said.
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Furthermore, Republicans in the Senate have the power of the filibuster to defeat proposed legislation they don”™t like. A 60-vote majority is required to override a filibuster in the Senate, which makes it nearly impossible for Democrats to push their agenda. “A member of the Senate can talk for a long time and you need 60 votes to stop it,” Hinchey said.
The latest House funding package would invest $13 billion more than the president proposed for health care access, medical research, education, renewable energy and energy efficiency, and other services, along with $3.7 billion more in funding for veterans health care. Hinchey said the amount is a fraction of what the Iraq War costs.
According to Hinchey, the Democrats”™ proposed $1 billion increase in spending for medical research is equal to what military operations in Iraq cost for three days. The $1.4 billion in additional spending for better health care access is equal to what the military operations in Iraq cost for four days. And the proposed increase of $5.9 billion in education funding is equal to what operations in Iraq cost for 18 days, he said.
President Bush “wants to be the president (who launches) World War III,” Hinchey alleged, saying the administration has failed to stop the proliferation of nuclear weapons. “We need legislative restraints on the development of nuclear weapons,” he said.
Hinchey said the House passed legislation last week that would provide more than $50 billion in middle-class tax relief and save 43,367 households in his district from paying higher taxes under the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT). Originally designed to ensure the wealthy do not avoid paying income tax as a result of significant tax write-offs, the AMT now threatens to impact middle-class taxpayers and raise taxes on 23 million Americans. Hinchey said if the law doesn”™t pass, there would be a five-fold increase in the number of households in his district that would have to pay the AMT. According to information from his office, the average AMT liability is $3,457 in Dutchess County: $2,863 in Orange; and $3,628 in Ulster.
Hinchey said it had been a struggle to pass a Medicare reform bill, which would restore Medicare reimbursements to hospitals in the region (see accompanying story). Rather than adequately fund Medicare, President Bush has been diverting federal money into Medicare Advantage, which enables private health care insurance companies to cover Medicare recipients, he siad.
The president, said Hinchey, is “attempting to privatize Medicare, by shifting money out of Medicare into Medicare Advantage. The right wingers are determined to eliminate Medicare.”
Hinchey said $3.2 million in funds has been secured for The Solar Energy Consortium (TSEC), a group of business leaders in Ulster County seeking to establish a clean-tech cluster. But an additional $1.5 million he has obtained is part of an omnibus appropriations bill that hasn”™t yet passed. He said it was likely the money would be reduced by 2 percent.
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Regarding TSEC, Hinchey acknowledged that “dealing with Congress is not the only frustrating issue.” TSEC is seeking to establish a facility at TechCity, the former IBM facility owned by Alan Ginsberg, but efforts are stalled. He said the consortium “was still talking to Alan Ginsberg to work out an agreement with him. If it can”™t be set up at TechCity, we”™re already looking into other places.”
Hinchey said TSEC “is in the interests of the state of New York” and while it had gotten “a very positive response from the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority,” much more money was needed from Empire State Development (ESD). ESD has yet to give any money to TSEC directly, although it has awarded $1.5 million for solar-energy companies seeking to expand.
ESD, said Hinchey, “likes to give money to big companies, instead of being clever and investing in new R&D.”
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