Action on Stimulus Package Still Delayed

With Republicans and Democrats in Congress "deadlocked" over competing versions of economic stimulus legislation, the House and Senate have recessed for Thanksgiving "without even beginning bipartisan negotiations," and President Bush has "made no serious effort to bring them together," the New York Times reports (Stevenson, New York Times, 11/17). House Ways and Means Committee Chair Bill Thomas (R-Calif.) on Nov. 16 said that Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) "is to blame" for the delay, and House Democrats "stepped up their demand for an economic stimulus bill that would extend unemployment and health care benefits to workers who have lost their jobs" since Sept. 11 (Norton/Wegner, CongressDaily, 11/16). Last week, Senate Republicans blocked a bill proposed by Democrats that would have provided $14.3 billion to extend benefits for unemployed workers by 13 weeks and $12.3 billion to help unemployed workers purchase health coverage through COBRA. COBRA, the 1986 Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act, allows unemployed workers to retain health coverage under their former employers' insurance plans by paying 102% of the premiums. The legislation also would have allowed states to extend Medicaid coverage to unemployed workers who do not qualify for COBRA and provided $1.4 billion to boost the federal match to states for Medicaid. In addition, the legislation included a $15 billion provision sponsored by Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.) to improve homeland security, including anti-bioterrorism and food safety measures (Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, 11/15). In October, the House approved a $100 billion GOP-sponsored bill, supported by President Bush, that includes a number of tax cuts and would increase funding for the Social Services Block Grant program by $3 billion to allow states to provide health insurance to unemployed workers and their families (Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, 10/29).

'Large Tax Break'
House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt (D-Mo.) on Nov. 16 called the House-passed bill a "large tax break giveaway to special interests" and urged Republicans to negotiate legislation that helps unemployed workers. He said that "worker assistance legislation" is "urgently needed" (CongressDaily, 11/16). But on Nov. 18, Thomas, speaking on CNN's "Novak, Hunt & Shields," defended the House bill, saying, "The quickest way for a stimulus is to get it to the states to assist the states. ... So what we were trying to do was to help relieve some of the administrative costs at the state level, and ... help them pay both the unemployment insurance, and also assist in health care" ("Novak, Hunt & Shields," CNN, 11/17).