Following the August recess, Members of Congress returned to Washington faced with quite a “to do” list. Concerns regarding the post-war situation in Iraq and the August blackout have altered the priorities of both Congressional chambers.

On September 4, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist set out his top priorities for the Senate for the coming weeks. His goal is to complete fiscal 2004 appropriations, a supplemental spending bill to cover the costs of military operations and reconstruction in Iraq, Medicare drug legislation, and a comprehensive energy bill before Congress recesses for the year. He also said that he would continue to urge the House-Senate conferees to come to an agreement on the child tax credit issue. In addition, the Senate Finance Committee marked up legislation to reauthorize the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) program on September 10. How can people of faith respond to health, hunger, and environmental legislation this fall?

TANF Reauthorization

In early September, the U.S. Census Bureau released poverty figures for 2002. The results? In 2002 alone, 1.3 million more Americans joined the ranks of those in poverty. There are now almost 35 million Americans living in poverty — 12 percent of the population. Alarmingly, the portion of children living in poverty also increased in 2002 -from 16.4 percent of the population to 17.2 percent.

At the same time, the number of people receiving benefits through TANF, the welfare-to-work program, has diminished. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services noted that the numbers fell 4.3 percent from March 2002 to 2003, from nearly 5.19 million to 4.96 million. And the number of families on welfare fell 2 percent, from 2.08 million to 2.04 million.

U.S. Secretary of Health & Human Services Tommy Thompson responded to the caseload decline and noted, “Americans are demonstrating that they want to be self-sufficient and economically independent for the benefit of themselves and their children.” However, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Charles Grassley (R-IA), whose committee has jurisdiction over TANF, noted that he was pleased that the rolls declined, but expressed concern, noting “Simply going off welfare doesn’t mean families have achieved significant income and job security.” Sen. Grassley called for a TANF reauthorization that will help families become self-sufficient.

The U.S. Senate has been slow to push legislation to reauthorize TANF, which expired in September 2002, and has been funding the program through a series of continuing resolutions. The House passed legislation (H.R. 4) earlier this year, which increases work requirements, does not restore benefits to legal immigrants, and does little to address the growing need for child care for TANF participants. At press time, the Senate Finance Committee was working on a bill to send to the Senate floor.

ACTION: Call the Capitol switchboard at (202) 224-3121 and ask to be connected with your Senator(s). Ask your Senators to push for TANF reauthorization that seeks to reduce poverty and help people become self-sufficient. Call on them to maintain current work requirements, expand opportunities for education and training, restore benefits for immigrants, and increase child care funding by at least $5.5 billion over 5 years.

Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit

Members of the House and Senate conference committee continue to work to come to an agreement on their respective Medicare prescription drug bills (HR 1 and S 1) that passed each chamber in June. Both bills abide by the joint budget resolution, which limits spending on this legislation to $400 billion over 10 years. Major concerns regarding how to structure the benefit remain unresolved, including:

• What role the private sector should play in delivery of this benefit,
• How to treat those dually eligible for Medicare and Medicaid (i.e. the lowest income seniors), and
• How much beneficiaries should pay for this new benefit.

The Senate version, S. 1, also includes a provision that would restore health benefits to legal immigrant children and pregnant women. Many additional issues remain (which isn’t surprising, since S. 1 is 1044 pages long and HR 1 is 749 pages long).

More details about the differences between the House and Senate bills are available in the July/August Washington Report to Presbyterians.

How we can, as people of faith, work to assure the availability of this benefit to ALL people? What can we do to guarantee that this much-needed benefit is affordable and accessible to all?

ACTION: Call the Capitol switchboard at (202) 224-3121 and ask to be connected with your Senators and Representative. Ask them to pass a Medicare prescription drug benefit that is affordable and accessible to all. Specifically, call on them advocate on behalf of the lowest-income seniors, “dual eligibles.” Ask them to ensure that dual eligibles get their prescription coverage through Medicare (as the House bill suggests) and call on them to support the low-income subsidies proposed in the Senate bill. Also, urge them to support restoration of benefits for immigrants, as included in the Senate bill.

Energy Legislation

As a result of the blackout that impacted much of the United States and Canada on August 17th, there is renewed interest in passing comprehensive energy legislation before Congress recesses this fall. The House passed legislation in April (HR 6) and the Senate passed their version just before the August recess (S 14). Now, House-Senate conferees must work out the differences between the two bills.

While conferees agree on the need to pass electricity reliability standards, they have not come to agreement on numerous other non-electricity-related issues in the energy bills. The conference committee is expected to grapple with whether or not to allow drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, what role renewable energy sources should play U.S. energy policy, and what incentives, if any, should be employed to encourage energy production. Senator Pete Domenici (R-NM), who is chairing the conference talks along with House Energy and Commerce Chairman Billy Tauzin (R-LA), said that he is committed to passing a comprehensive energy bill. The Senate appointed 7 Republicans and 6 Democrats to the conference committee, while the House sent 53 members.

As CQ Today noted, “Many Democrats want to put aside the omnibus energy bill and pass more limited legislation designed to prevent future electricity blackouts like the one that left 50 million Americans and Canadians in the dark August 14.” Representative John Dingell (D-MI) suggested that Congress strip out the energy bill’s electricity-reliability provisions and pass them separately, but on September 5th, the House, by a vote of 211 to 176, rejected his proposal. Dingell said he would continue to advocate for this approach in the conference committee.

ACTION: Though recently, the electricity provisions of the energy legislation are getting the most press attention, it is important to remember that the energy bills call for increased energy production and federal incentives for that production that could be unsustainable and harmful to God’s creation. Contact the Capitol switchboard at (202) 224-3121 and ask your Members of Congress to promote a national energy policy that based upon the values of justice and sustainability. Tell your members that you believe the United States can and must meet the energy needs of the present without sacrificing environmental protection, despoiling pristine lands, and putting at risk the needs of future generations.