Bush Administration, Democrats Should Compromise on Health Benefits for Trade-Displaced Workers, Editorial Says

In order for the Bush administration to reach its goal of attaining fast-track trade negotiating authority -- which would allow trade bills in Congress to face straight up-or-down votes without amendments -- the Bush administration will need to "strike a deal" with Senate Democrats who want any such bill to include provisions to subsidize health benefits for American workers displaced by international trade, a Washington Post editorial states (Washington Post, 4/8). A trade promotion bill approved by the Senate Finance Committee in February contained a provision that would offer trade-displaced workers a 75% subsidy to purchase health insurance through COBRA -- the 1986 Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act, which allows unemployed workers to keep their employer-sponsored health coverage by paying 102% of the premiums. Neither President Bush's proposal nor the version of the bill passed by the House in December contains any health insurance provisions (Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, 4/5). Republicans prefer "either no health assistance" in the bill or refundable health insurance tax credits (Washington Post, 4/8). Some congressional Republicans have suggested a tax credit that would cover up to 60% of the cost of trade-displaced workers' health insurance (Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, 4/5). The Post states that "it would be crazy [for Republicans] to hold up trade" over disagreements about health care for displaced workers. The trade bill is "not the place to pick an ideological fight," the editorial states, concluding, "Doing so might hold up trade promotion authority, damaging a cause that pro-market Republicans profess to care about" (Washington Post, 4/8).