BIAA Legislative Update September 2007
This just in from Laura Schiebelhut [grassroots@biausa.org]:
Congress cleared a bill to provide stopgap funding to continue government operations this week, as none of the annual appropriations bills will be completed in time for the new fiscal year which begins on Monday, October 1.
Also this week, both the House and Senate passed a compromise bill to reauthorize and expand the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). Of particular significance to the brain injury community, this bill includes a six-month moratorium on implementation of a proposed federal regulation to restrict the use of the Medicaid Rehabilitative Services option.
Deliberations continued this week in the Senate on the fiscal 2008 defense authorization bill (H.R. 1585), including the passage of an amendment, supported by BIAA, specifically addressing neuro-optometric care for returning service members with TBI.
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Appropriations Update
Congress cleared a bill to provide stopgap funding to continue government operations this week, as none of the annual appropriations bills will be completed in time for the new fiscal year which begins on Monday, October 1. The continuing resolution (CR) passed by Congress this week will fund the government through mid-November, although Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) expressed yesterday (Thursday, September 27) that he hopes to send President Bush three fiscal 2008 spending bills within the next few weeks. It is unclear which spending measures these will be and what action the president will take on them, as President Bush has threatened to veto any appropriations bill which provides more funding than he requested in his budget earlier this year. Many insiders agree that an omnibus appropriations bill will likely emerge at some point later this fall.
Senator Reid has specifically indicated that he plans to take up the Labor-HHS-Education spending bill within the next few weeks, likely following the Columbus Day recess, which runs from October 8 to October 12.
BIAA has signed on to a letter spearheaded by The Coalition for American Trauma Care urging House and Senate Appropriations Committee leaders to provide the highest possible funding in a final Labor-HHS-Education conference bill for programs that support trauma care, trauma care research, injury prevention, and TBI-specific programs housed within HRSA and CDC. In its letter, the Coalition urges Congress to support the higher Senate number of $10.091 million for the Traumatic Brain Injury HRSA state grant program, instead of the smaller allocation of $8.910 million proposed by the House of Representatives in its version of the spending bill. Likewise, the Coalition expresses its support of the higher Senate increase for Traumatic Brain Injury activities within the CDC’s National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, which is $1 million over fiscal 2007, versus the more modest House increase of $529,000.
Congress Passes SCHIP Reauthorization, Including Important Medicaid Provisions
Congress passed a compromise bill to reauthorize and expand the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) this week. This bill includes a six-month moratorium on implementing a federal regulation proposed by the Bush Administration which would restrict the use of Medicaid’s Rehabilitative Services option. Rehabilitation services provided under the Medicaid Rehabilitative Services option are often vital to individuals with traumatic brain injury to improve and maintain their health and independence. (Note: BIAA has been working as part of the Coalition to Preserve Rehabilitation to prevent implementation of this restrictive rule, and will soon be submitting comments to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) voicing strong opposition to proposed regulation. These comments will be posted on BIAA's website shortly).
Unfortunately, President Bush is expected to veto this SCHIP reauthorization bill. As the Senate already has sufficient votes for the two-thirds majority required for an override of such a likely veto, the question will largely come down to whether the House of Representatives can garner enough votes to override the veto as well. Currently it appears that there is not enough Republican support in the House for an override.
The Senate this week adopted by unanimous consent an amendment to the fiscal 2008 defense authorization bill (H.R. 1585) aimed at closing the gap between traditional optometric care and the non-standard optometric care that is required for returning service members with TBI. The amendment, based on S. 1999, a bill introduced by Sen. Kerry (D-MA) earlier this year, would authorize the establishment of a Center of Excellence in prevention, diagnosis, mitigation, treatment and rehabilitation of military eye injuries. The amendment, supported by the Blinded Veterans Association and BIAA, would create a Military Eye Injury Registry and would also authorize a study on Traumatic Brain Injury Post Traumatic Visual Syndrome. Rep. John Boozman (R-AR) has introduced a companion bill, H.R. 3558, in the House of Representatives.
