This Week in Washington- Friday, February 26, 2010

Washington was consumed by the healthcare summit this week. The President, along with Republican and Democratic Congressional leaders sat down at the Blair House to talk healthcare.

There was not much agreement or a new breakthrough. What was on display though was a fundamental difference on the role of government. The President and Nancy Pelosi believe that creating more government programs, boards and commissions and spending hundreds of billions in taxpayer dollars is the answer. My colleagues including Representative Paul Ryan from Wisconsin and Senator Tom Coburn from Oklahoma made a very good argument that there are better solutions.

It is very likely that the Senate will now try to use a parliamentary trick called reconciliation to move this healthcare bill. It changes the rules required to pass legislation in the Senate. However, exactly what that bill will look like or when it will happen, we still do not know.

Legislation:
· Health Anti-Trust Bill, H.R. 4626: The House passed legislation to remove the health insurance industry's current federal anti-trust exemption by a vote of 406 - 19. Health insurers that were previously exempt from anti-trust laws will now bear legal responsibility for price fixing, dividing up territories among themselves and sabotaging their competitors in order to gain a monopoly in the marketplace. Such practices have been outlawed in other industries for decades. I voted for the bill.
· PATRIOT Act Reauthorization: After running out of time on a long-term reauthorization bill, the House and Senate passed a one-year reauthorization of several expiring provisions of the PATRIOT Act. I voted for it, because I believe it is important to give our law enforcement officials all the tools in the toolbox to protect us. It is clear that everyday, there are people out there planning to do harm to this country.
· Intelligence Authorization, H.R. 2701: The House passed the Intelligence Authorization bill by a vote of 235 - 168. The bill authorizes the intelligence activities of the United States government. There was no outright prohibition on using intelligence funds to bring Guantanamo detainees into the U.S. and so I voted against the bill.
· Native Hawaiian Bill, H.R. 2314: The House passed a bill to recognize and authorize the creation of a sovereign Native Hawaiian governing entity. The bill would establish a process for organizing the Native Hawaiian people into an entity that possesses authority over its members and adopts governing documents. The bill would immediately grant the native governing entity "inherent powers" preempting State regulation, taxation, and civil and possibly criminal jurisdiction for undefined "government activities" conducted by the entity.
If each Native Hawaiian eligible under this legislation were to apply to become a member of the new governing entity, it would be one of the nation's largest Indian tribes. This bill would confer upon them exclusive benefits, discriminating against Hawaiian residents of other races. The bill passed 245-164 and I voted no.

· Extensions, H.R. 4691: The House passed H.R. 4691, the Temporary Extension Act of 2010, by a voice vote. The bill extends a number of programs including federally funded unemployment benefits, COBRA insurance premium subsidies for unemployed workers, the Medicare Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) payment adjustment, spending authority through the Highway Trust Fund, SBA loan fee waivers, and the Satellite Home Viewer Act. Under current law, these programs were set to expire on February 28, 2010.

The House will be is session again next week. Have a good weekend.

 

Sincerely,

Sam Graves