Senate Approves Amendments To Economic Stimulus Package, Adds $6.5B for Medical Research at NIH

The Senate on Tuesday during debate on an economic stimulus package approved amendments, such as a measure that would increase funds for medical research at NIH, that raised the cost of the package to more than $900 billion, the New York Times reports (Herszenhorn, New York Times, 2/4). The amendment, proposed by Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), would provide NIH with an additional $6.5 billion (Rubin/Schatz, CQ Today, 2/3). Senate Republicans did not object to the amendment (Taylor, AP/Arizona Daily Star, 2/4). In addition, the Senate rejected an amendment supported by the pharmaceutical industry that would have allowed multinational corporations to repatriate profits at lower tax rates (Groppe, Indianapolis Star, 2/4).

Senate To Consider Health Care IT Amendments
Meanwhile, a number of senators might propose amendments to the health care information technology portion of the stimulus package, CongressDaily reports. Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee Chair Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) and Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) plan to propose an amendment that would require electronic health records to collect information on race, ethnicity and gender in an effort to help eliminate health care disparities.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) might propose an amendment that would exempt "quality initiatives," such as disease management and care coordination, from a provision that would require the HHS secretary to issue new health care operations rules. Health care providers have raised concerns that the rules would limit their ability to share information.

In addition, Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) plans to propose an amendment under which states could not hire outside attorneys to handle class-action lawsuits filed over alleged violations of federal medical privacy laws, and Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) plans to propose an amendment that would extend public notification requirements for breaches of medical privacy (Noyes, CongressDaily, 2/4).

Senate Passage Uncertain
Senate Democrats on Tuesday said that they do not have adequate votes to pass the stimulus package as currently drafted and might have to reduce the cost of the package to obtain support from Republicans, the Washington Post reports. According to the Post, "whether Democrats are willing to tamper with measures that are considered high priorities" for President Obama and "tackle longer-term challenges such as health care reform" remains uncertain.

Sens. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) have led efforts to reduce the cost of the stimulus package and have proposed to eliminate provisions that would provide $75 million for smoking cessation programs, $400 million for HIV screenings and $1.1 billion for comparative-effectiveness research, "an Obama priority and part of the foundation he is trying to build for health care reform," the Post reports (Murray/Kane, Washington Post, 2/4). Larry Summers, chief economic adviser to Obama, said that the funds for smoking cessation programs are "not unreasonable" because such programs can reduce health care costs in the long term (Lochhead, San Francisco Chronicle, 2/4).

Senior Senate Democrats also have raised concerns that the debate over the stimulus package has "morphed into a fight between House and Senate Democratic leaders vying for control over the final product" and have suggested intervention by the White House, CongressDaily reports (Sanchez/Bourge, CongressDaily, 2/4).

Opinion Piece
The stimulus package would "not only fail to stimulate the economy but could seriously delay economic recovery," and among the "more egregious provisions in the Senate bill is a $166 billion bailout plan for the states" for Medicaid and other programs, Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), a physician, writes in a Wall Street Journal opinion piece. He writes, "The Senate bill doubles the amount of the Medicaid bailout requested by governors and lays the groundwork for government-run health care, which invariably leads to rationing," adding, "This ideological overreach has led even some Democrats ... to express concern that various 'sacred cows' in the package are hurting the bill's overall goals."

The "ill-conceived bailout to states ... rewards bad budgeting at the state level," Coburn writes, adding, "Instead of a bailout, Congress could offer states an emergency loan that could be repaid at a low interest rate" (Coburn, Wall Street Journal, 2/4).

Broadcast Coverage

• ABC's "Good Morning America" on Tuesday reported on bipartisan support for the stimulus package from many governors (Trapper, "Good Morning America," ABC, 2/3).
  
  
• ABC's "World News Tonight" on Tuesday featured an interview with Obama in which he discusses the stimulus package (Gibson, "World News Tonight," ABC, 2/3).
  
  
• American Public Media's "Marketplace Morning Report" on Wednesday featured an analysis on the likely effects of the stimulus package. The segment includes comments from Lawrence Meyer, an analyst with MacroEconomic Advisers, and Len Burman of the Tax Policy Center (Dimsdale, "Marketplace Morning Report," American Public Media, 2/4).
  
  
• CBS' "Evening News" on Tuesday reported on the number of congressional Republicans who oppose the stimulus package (Attkisson, "Evening News," CBS, 2/3). In addition, CBS' "Evening News" on Tuesday featured commentary from Michelle Miller about the stimulus package (Miller, "Evening News," CBS, 2/3).