Senate Approves FY2006 Spending Reconciliation Bill/House Bills Moves Through Committee

This week, the Senate approved the FY2006 spending reconciliation bill, and the House Budget Committee marked up its version of the measure. Under the FY2006 budget resolution (H. Con. Res. 95), authorizing committees were directed to find $34.7 billion in mandatory spending cuts over five years (see The Source, 4/29/05).

Senate Action

On November 3, the Senate approved, 52-47, the FY2006 spending reconciliation bill (S. 1932), which would establish $39 billion in savings over five years. The Senate Budget Committee approved the measure on October 25 (see The Source, 10/28/05).

During consideration of the bill, the Senate approved the following amendments:

• an amendment by Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) that would amend the definition of an “independent student” to include homeless and unaccompanied children under the Higher Education Act, by unanimous consent;
• an amendment by Sen. Michael Enzi (R-WY) that would authorize $1.66 billion for local educational agencies in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama that are serving students displaced by Hurricanes Rita and Katrina. The amendment also would authorize $900 million to reduce from 3 percent to 2 percent the loan origination fees for college students, by voice vote;
• an amendment by Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA) that would express the sense of the Senate in support of maintaining federal funding for the child support enforcement program, by voice vote;
• an amendment by Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) that would block a scheduled decrease in the federal matching rate for Medicaid, 54-45;
• an amendment by Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA) that would reauthorize through FY2010 the Justice for All Act (P.L. 108-405), which allows inmates access to post-conviction DNA testing and grants specific rights to all victims of violent crimes, by unanimous consent;
• an amendment by Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT) that would provide an additional $800 million over five years for community pharmacy payments under Medicaid. The amendment would be offset by extending the prescription drug rebates for Medicaid managed care organizations, by voice vote;
• an amendment by Sen. Gordon Smith (R-OR) that would authorize $450 million through FY2010 for a demonstration project to provide Medicaid coverage for low-income individuals with HIV/AIDS, by voice vote;
• an amendment by Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) that would authorize the continuation of adult day care services under state Medicaid plans, by unanimous consent;
• an amendment by Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA) that would provide Medicare coverage for marriage counselors, family therapists, and mental health services, by voice vote; and
• an amendment by Sen. Kent Conrad (D-ND) that would ensure Medicaid beneficiaries have access to small, independent pharmacies in rural areas, by voice vote.

The Senate rejected the following amendments:

• an amendment by Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) that would have struck the provision in the bill to increase from 11 percent to 17 percent the Medicaid rebate for generic drugs, 49-50; and
• an amendment by Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL) that would have prohibited an increase in Medicare Part B premiums, 49-50.

The following amendments were ruled out of order by the chair, and 60 votes were required to waive a budget point of order:

• an amendment by Sen. Conrad that would have reinstated through FY2010 the pay-as-you-go rule requiring that any spending increases be offset with spending cuts, 50-49;
• an amendment by Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-AR) that would have extended Medicaid coverage for five months to all individuals affected by Hurricane Katrina whose income was below the federal poverty level, 48-51;
• an amendment by Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME) that would have allowed the secretary of Health and Human Services to negotiate prescription drug prices for Medicare, 51-48;
• an amendment by Sen. Murray that would have extended the availability of Medicaid prescription drug coverage for six months for seniors who qualify for both Medicare and Medicaid while they transition to Medicare coverage, 43-56; and
• an amendment by Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) that would have required seniors participating in the Medicare prescription drug program to certify their knowledge that they would lack coverage if their drug costs had reached $2,250, but had not yet exceeded $5,100, 43-56.

House Committee Action

On November 3, the House Budget Committee approved its version of the FY2006 budget reconciliation bill (as-yet-unnumbered). House authorizing committees approved their portions of the bill last week (see The Source, 10/28/05).

The measure would establish $53.9 billion in savings over five years, including $3.7 billion from the Agriculture Committee; $20.4 billion from the Education and the Workforce Committee; $17 billion from the Energy and Commerce Committee; $470 million from the Financial Services Committee; $3.6 billion from the Resources Committee; $156 million from the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee; and $8 billion from the Ways and Means Committee.

The committee was not allowed to amend to the reconciliation bill, but Democrats offered a number of failed motions instructing the Budget Committee chair to confer with the Rules Committee chair on what amendments may be offered during floor consideration. They included:

• a motion by Rep. Richard Neal (D-MA) that would have allowed the House to consider the budget reconciliation bill only after the House had considered a tax cut bill reported by the Ways and Means Committee, 17-22;
• a motion by Rep. Ron Kind (D-WI) that would have made in order an amendment to eliminate all new student-paid fees in the Higher Education Act, 16-22;
• a motion by Rep. Thomas Allen (D-ME) that would have made in order an amendment to strike all provisions in the bill related to Medicaid. The amendment would have been offset by eliminating the stabilization fund created by the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003 (P.L. 108-173), 16-22; and
• a motion by Rep. Artur Davis (D-AL) that would have made in order an amendment to strike language in the bill that cuts funding for state child support payments, eliminates the federal matching of child support incentive funds, and cuts food stamp benefits, 17-20.

The House is expected to consider the measure next week.