WASHINGTON WIRE
March 16, 2007
Issue 125
Senate Panel Approves FY 2008 Budget Proposal
Additional SCHIP Funds Added to Supplemental Spending Bill
FDA Testifies Before Senate Panel; PDUFA Reauthorization to be Stalled
Top Story
Senate Panel Approves FY 2008 Budget Proposal
The Senate Budget Committee approved its FY 2008 Budget Resolution this week, rejecting many of the harsh cuts to domestic programs such as Medicare and Medicaid that were requested in the President's budget.
Senate Budget Committee Chairman, Kent Conrad (D-ND) offered a $2.96 trillion budget blueprint that would set FY 2008 discretionary spending at $948.8 billion, plus an additional $2 billion in "advanced appropriations." This is $18 billion above the discretionary spending level requested by President Bush.
The resolution provides $43.1 billion for veterans' benefits over five years - $3.5 billion more than the President requested in his budget request. Additionally, the Chairman budget did not include the President's proposal to increase TRICARE co-payments.
The proposed budget resolution would also allow up to $50 billion over five years in increases to the SCHIP program, $15 of which come from unspecified Medicare cuts. The other $35 billion could be established in the form of a reserve fund and would require finding offsets. Chairman Conrad's proposed $15 billion in Medicare cuts stands in stark contrast to the $65 billion proposed by the President in his FY 2008 budget request.
Other proposals include the creation of a deficit-neutral "comparative effectiveness" reserve fund to evaluate the effectiveness or costs of medical devices, technologies, pharmaceuticals or treatments and $383 million to fight fraud and abuse in the Medicaid program.
Chairman Conrad's budget projects a surplus of $132 billion by 2012, placing much emphasis on pay-as-you-go budget rules and tax enforcement initiatives. But such calculations have been heavily criticized by his Republican colleagues who state the budget proposal relies too heavily on unspecified revenues and does not go far enough in controlling entitlement spending.
The Senate Budget Committee approved the measure late Thursday afternoon along party lines and the measure now heads to the Senate floor for debate. The House Budget Committee is expected to consider its Budget resolution next week.
Health Care News
Additional SCHIP Funds Added to Supplemental Spending Bill
The House will likely vote next week on a emergency supplemental spending bill that will include approximately $750 million in additional funds for the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). The funds will be used to cover shortfalls expected in 14 states' SCHIP programs this year.
The majority of the funding in the roughly $124 billion supplemental spending bill will be allocated to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, but several technical corrections for Medicaid have been added, such as clarifications for children's screening requirements and the proof of citizenship requirement.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) also announced this week that a reserve fund will be added to the FY 2008 House budget resolution with off-set federal money for the upcoming five-year SCHIP reauthorization. Such a fund is included in the Senate Budget Committee's FY 2008 budget proposal.
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT) has estimated that $50 billion would be needed to cover all eligible children over five years. The Congressional Budget Office originally set its estimate at $32 billion but, in a recent memo, increased the figure to $47.5 billion over five years.
Congressman John Dingell (D-MI), Chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, and Senator Hillary Clinton (D-NY) introduced legislation this week that would increase funding for SCHIP to $50 billion over five years. The legislation would give incentives to states to expand their coverage to include children in families earning up to 400 percent of the federal poverty level. Senator John Rockefeller (D-WV), who sits on the Senate Finance Committee, also announced this week that he will introduce a bill to reauthorize SCHIP and add between $50 and $60 billion in funds to the program over five years. Senator Rockefeller's bill would also "retool" the funding formula that calculates allocations of federal SCHIP funds to the states in an effort to prevent future shortfalls.
FDA Testifies Before Senate Panel; PDUFA Reauthorization to be Stalled
The Senate Health Education Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee will postpone its March 28th mark-up of the Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA) reauthorization legislation because the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has yet to submit negotiated performance goals to Congress.
During a HELP Committee hearing on Wednesday, FDA Commissioner Andrew von Eschenbach stated that it would be several weeks before his agency would be ready to hand over details on performance goals negotiated between the FDA and the pharmaceutical industry. HELP Committee members expressed frustration with the announcement, as the current drug user fee act expires on September 30, 2007 and without the details of the FDA and industry agreement, reauthorization cannot move forward.
To complicate matters, Commissioner von Eschenbach indicated to Committee members that passage of a drug safety bill introduced by Chairman Kennedy (D-MA) and Ranking Member Enzi (R-WY) would require renegotiation of the performance goals, potentially delaying the reauthorization process further. It has been speculated that the drug safety legislation would be attached to the must-pass PDUFA reauthorization.
Also on Wednesday, several consumer groups and health care experts sent letters to Committee leaders requesting a one-year reauthorization of PDUFA, rather than the standard five-year reauthorization, in order to provide additional time to consider drug safety issues. Some stakeholders feel that debate on such issues is being rushed and a one-year reauthorization would require drug safety language to be considered more thoroughly over the coming year.
Upcoming Events
PPSV Office Move
On Friday, March 23, 2007, PPSV will be moving offices. Our new address is 1501 M Street, NW, Seventh Floor, Washington, DC 20005. Our phone and fax numbers remain unchanged.
Due to our office move, PPSV will not publish a Weekly Washington Wire next week. We will resume publication the following Friday. Fiscal 2008 Appropriations: Labor, HHS, Education
Hearings
Monday, March 19, 2007
Senate Appropriations - Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies
1 p.m., 216 Hart
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
Alzheimer's Research
Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions - Subcommittee on Retirement and Aging
10 a.m., 216 Hart
Medicare Physician Fraud
Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs - Subcommittee on Permanent Investigations
2:30 p.m., 342 Dirksen
Veterans' Health Care
House Armed Services Committee
4:30 p.m., 2118 Rayburn
Wednesday, March 21, 2007
Illnesses Related to September 11th Respondents
Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee
10 a.m., 216 Hart
Medicare Advantage Program
House Ways and Means - Subcommittee on Health
2 p.m., 1100 Longworth
Threat of Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis
Hose Foreign Affairs - Subcommittee on Africa and Global Health
3 p.m., 2172 Rayburn
Thursday, March 22, 2007
FDA Efforts to Assure the Safety of the Drug Supply
House Energy and Commerce - Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations
9:30 a.m., 2123 Rayburn
Safe Health Care for Children
Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee
10 a.m., 430 Dirksen
For More Information
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