LSA Washington – October 27, 2009

A regular publication from the LSA Public Policy Office

House and Senate Continue Mergers of Health Care Reform Bills

Leadership in the House and Senate continue work on merging their respective health care reform bills. House leadership is expected to release their version later this week, with hopes that action on the bill on the floor of the House will begin next week. In the Senate, Majority Leader Harry Reid announced Monday the bill that will be brought to the Senate floor will contain a public option with an opt-out mechanism for states. The Senate bill was sent to the Congressional Budget Office Monday afternoon for scoring.

As the legislation that will move to the House and Senate floors is crafted, LSA continues to advocate for the inclusion of the CLASS program, the Community First Choice Option, the home visitation program and tax credit options for nonprofit organizations that provide health insurance to their employees. LSA's letter to the Senate on these provisions can be found here. For more information on health care reform and to keep up with the action on the legislation, visit our blog and our Twitter site.

--Lisa Hassenstab

Senate Hearing on Legislation to Modernize Affordable Housing for Seniors and People with Disabilities

On October 29, the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, Subcommittee on Housing, Transportation and Community Development will hold a hearing on modernizing affordable housing for seniors and people with disabilities. The subject of the hearing will be the Frank Melville Supportive Housing Investment Act of 2009 (S. 1481), which would reform the Section 811 Supportive Housing for Persons with Disabilities program and the Section 202 Supportive Housing for the Elderly Reform Act (S. 118). The legislation to reform the Section 811 program passed the House on July 22.

Please continue to contact members of the Senate Banking Committee to urge them to cosponsor these important pieces of legislation. For more information about the Section 811 legislation, please visit www.lsadnadvocacy.org. Additional information about the Section 202 legislation is available at www.lutheranservices.org/affordable_housing.

--Heather Ansley

Appropriations for HUD and HHS Still on Hold

As the continuing resolution passed by Congress at the end of September inches toward expiration at the end of October, Congress continues work on several appropriations bills for FY2010, including those that fund the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The HUD appropriations bill also includes appropriations for the Department of Transportation; the House and Senate have both passed T-HUD appropriations bills, but reports indicate that disagreement about pieces of the transportation portion of the conferenced bill are holding up final passage of the bill. The Senate has yet to take up their Labor-HHS-Education appropriations bill, while the House passed their bill on July 24.

The House and Senate are both expected to take up a stand-alone continuing resolution this week that would extend funding to federal agencies through mid-December at FY2009 levels. It is not yet known when the T-HUD and Labor-HHS-Education bills are expected to come up for final passage.