House Approves Supplemental War Appropriations Bill With Medicaid Provision

The House on Thursday passed a $257.5 billion supplemental war appropriations bill (HR 2642) with a provision that would delay for one year six new Medicaid regulations proposed by the Bush administration, the Washington Post reports (Kane, Washington Post, 6/20). The House approved the legislation in two votes, one for war spending and one for domestic programs and spending. The House voted 268-155 to pass the war spending and 416-12 to approve the domestic programs and spending (Hulse, New York Times, 6/20).

According to CQ Today, the House finalized the bill after "weeks of negotiations within the Democratic caucus, with the White House and between the chambers" in which Democrats agreed to a spending cap in exchange for the Medicaid provision and other measures. As part of the negotiations, Democrats agreed to revise the Medicaid provision to apply to six, rather than all seven, of the regulations. The Medicaid provision would not apply to a regulation that would limit federal funds for hospital outpatient services, House Appropriations Committee Chair David Obey (D-Wis.) said. That regulation would save the federal government $300 million over five years -- the least of any of the seven -- according to the Congressional Budget Office (Higa/Rogin, CQ Today, 6/19).

"Democrats, many Republicans and governors across the country emerged the victors in a battle with the White House to block new Bush administration rules designed to cut spending on Medicaid," the AP/Houston Chronicle reports (Taylor, AP/Houston Chronicle, 6/19).

Additional Funds
In addition to the Medicaid provision, the bill would provide $1 billion in funds for domestic programs that President Bush did not request (CQ Today, 6/20). The funds include $150 million for FDA (Higa/Rogin, CQ Today, 6/19). The bill also would provide $4.6 billion for military construction, health care for veterans and military hospitals -- $2.2 billion more than Bush requested (CQ Today, 6/20). The $4.6 billion includes $416 million for the construction of a new Walter Reed Army Medical Center at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md. (Hay Brown, Baltimore Sun, 6/20).

Prospects
The Senate likely will consider the House version of the bill early next week (Sanchez, CongressDaily, 6/20). According to CQ Today, "after weeks of negotiations and with the military running short of money, Senate Democrats reluctantly endorsed the deal that House Democrats finally struck with the White House and GOP leadership," and Democratic leaders "expressed cautious optimism that it would clear that chamber" (Rogin, CQ Today, 6/19).

White House Office of Management and Budget Director Jim Nussle on Thursday said that Bush "can support" the House version of the bill (Baltimore Sun, 6/20). In a statement, the White House Office of the Press Secretary on Wednesday announced support for the legislation and said, "We urge both the House and Senate to immediately pass this bipartisan agreement" (Rogin, CQ Today, 6/19).

Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations Bill
The House Appropriations Labor, HHS, Education and Related Agencies Subcommittee on Thursday by voice vote approved a $626 billion fiscal year 2009 Labor-HHS-Education appropriations bill that includes $153.1 billion in discretionary spending, $7.8 billion more than Bush requested and an increase of about $8 billion from FY 2008, CQ Today reports. According to CQ Today, the legislation "would provide modest spending increases to several health and education programs," and NIH "would see noteworthy increases."

The bill would provide $30.1 billion for NIH, an increase of about $1.2 billion from FY 2008. In addition, the legislation would provide $69 billion in discretionary spending for HHS, according to a spokesperson for Obey. The bill would provide $370 million for programs to fight pandemic flu, $137 million less than Bush requested but an increase from $75 million for FY 2008, according to House Appropriations Committee ranking member Jerry Lewis (R-Calif.) (Wayne, CQ Today, 6/19).

The legislation would increase funds for community health centers by $100 million from FY 2008 to expand access to an additional 330,000 individuals. The bill also would provide $75 million to establish a state high-risk health insurance pool to make coverage more affordable for 200,000 individuals and increase funds for rural health care programs by $31 million from FY 2008 (Edney, CongressDaily, 6/19).

The full committee plans to consider the bill next week, according to a spokesperson for Obey. Bush has promised to veto any appropriations bills that exceed his requests (Wayne, CQ Today, 6/19).

Agriculture Appropriations Bill
The House Appropriations Agriculture Subcommittee on Thursday by voice vote approved a $97.4 billion FY 2009 Agriculture appropriations bill, effectively "rejecting President Bush's proposed cuts to rural and nutrition programs," CQ Today reports. The bill would provide $97.4 billion for USDA, FDA and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. The measure includes $20.6 billion in discretionary spending, about $1.9 billion more than Bush requested. The full committee plans to consider the bill next week, according to Lewis (Sternstein, CQ Today, 6/19).