Supplemental War Spending bill with Moratoria passed in the Senate

This is a little late but published in the Monthly Center for Workers with Disabilities Newsletter.

On May 22, the Senate overwhelmingly passed a
supplemental war spending bill with domestic policy
provisions including moratoriums on seven Medicaid
regulations, as well as the Aug. 17, 2007, Centers for
Medicare and Medicaid Services directive on State
Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) coverage.
The domestic policy provisions were passed in a
separate amendment by a vote of 75-22. The amendment
includes moratoriums until April 1, 2009, for
seven controversial Medicaid regulations on public
providers, provider taxes, graduate medical education,
school-based administration and transportation, rehabilitation
services, outpatient hospital reimbursement and
optional case management services. The language also
includes a provision added by Sen. Frank Lautenberg
(D-N.J.) to place a moratorium on the Aug. 17 SCHIP
directive. The amendment includes an expansion of veterans’
education benefits, an extension of unemployment
benefits, $10.4 billion for hurricane and disaster
recovery, and $1 billion for the Low-Income Home
Energy Assistance Program.
After the strong bipartisan vote in favor of the domestic
policy initiatives, the Senate failed to pass an amendment
that included both war funding and controversial
Iraq war policy provisions. Instead, the Senate passed by
70-26 an amendment with more than $165 billion in
war spending.
Because the Senate altered the amendments passed by
the House, including the addition of war funding, the
legislation must be sent back to the House so that body
can pass the amended package. It will then still face a
possible veto by President Bush, who has said he will not
approve any spending bills beyond his budget proposals.
For more information, please visit http://www.nasmd.
org/Home/home_news.asp.

So the jury is still out.

MVE