House and Senate Announce Health Reform Legislation

Posted on June 10, 2009October 17, 2012

Senate panel announces health reform legislation
Democrats on the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions today released health reform legislation, saying they will continue to discuss key outstanding issues, including a public plan option and coverage requirement for employers, with Republicans on the committee. Committee Chairman Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-MA) said the legislation will allow people to keep the coverage they have while providing new, more affordable options; reduce health care costs through stronger prevention, better quality of care and use of information technology; give citizens more information to support prevention; invest in training for doctors, nurses and health professionals and improve care coordination; and enable the elderly and disabled to live at home and function independently. The committee has scheduled a public hearing for Thursday. It plans to begin marking up legislation June 16.

House leaders issue draft health reform proposal
House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel (D-NY), Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-CA), and Education and Labor Committee Chairman George Miller (D-CA) today released a four-page outline of draft health reform legislation. The three committee chairmen, who share jurisdiction over health care issues in the House, announced they will continue to seek input from colleagues, stakeholders and the administration as they craft a final bill, and expect to send legislation to the House floor prior to the August recess. Among other provisions, they said their legislative proposal would establish a health insurance exchange “to create a transparent marketplace for individuals and small employers to comparison shop among private insurers and a new public health insurance option”; introduce administrative simplification and standardization to reduce administrative costs across health plans and providers; invest in the health care workforce, prevention and public health programs; offer sliding-scale credits to ensure affordability for low and middle-income Americans; and establish shared responsibility among individuals, employers and government.

VA Medical and Health Centers to Receive ARRA Funding

Posted on June 10, 2009October 17, 2012

President Obama and Vice President Biden today released a plan to create or save more than 600,000 jobs over the next 100 days by accelerating implementation of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The Roadmap to Recovery plan includes a Department of Health and Human Services project to enable 1,129 health centers to expand access to primary and preventive care services, and a Department of Veterans Affairs project to improve 90 VA medical centers. Details on specific projects and their funding should be available on each department’s Web site in the next few days, Biden said. According to the administration, the ARRA has created or saved 150,000 jobs since it was enacted in February. “We’ve laid a good foundation in the first 100 days of the Recovery Act and in the next 100 we plan to build on that foundation and accelerate our efforts so we can accomplish even more,” Biden said.

Secretary of Education Calls for Measurable School Reforms

Posted on June 9, 2009October 17, 2012

FOR RELEASE:

June 8, 2009

Contact: John White, Press Secretary
(202) 401-1576

U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said today that school reforms should be monitored and judged by results that can be backed up by research proving their effectiveness.

Speaking at the fourth annual conference of the Institute of Education Sciences, Duncan told an audience of education researchers that supporting states’ efforts to build warehouses of data on student achievement is one of his top priorities.

“Education reform is not about sweeping mandates or grand gestures,” Duncan told the group of researchers who conduct research for IES, which is an independent section of the Education Department. “It’s about systematically examining and learning, building on what we’ve done right, and scrapping what hasn’t worked for kids.”

Under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, states must make assurances that they are making progress in four key areas of school reform:

Adopting rigorous standards that prepare students for success in college and the workforce;
Recruiting and retaining effective teachers, especially in classrooms where they’re needed most;
Turning around low-performing schools; and
Building data systems to track student achievement and teacher effectiveness.

States must report their progress toward completing these assurances in their applications to receive money under the $48.6 billion State Fiscal Stabilization Fund. The Department of Education will evaluate states’ success in meeting the four assurances when considering states’ applications for competitive grants under the $4.35 billion Race to the Top Fund.

Duncan told the researchers today that the data systems should inform education policies that will improve practices. He urged them to work on improving accountability models based on the growth of student test scores and developing fair models of compensating teachers and other school staff based on the achievement of their students. Ultimately, he added, the data should be used to ensure that students are on track to graduation and success in college.

“Hopefully some day we can track kids from pre-school to high-school and from high school to college and college to career,” Duncan said. “Hopefully we can track good kids to good teachers and good teachers to good colleges of education.”

Duncan’s speech is the first in a series over four weeks in which the secretary will detail the Department of Education’s policies on each of the four assurances.

Week at a Glance June 8-12

Posted on June 8, 2009October 17, 2012

Monday, June 8^th

· Senate resumes consideration of HR 1256, Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act. A cloture vote on a substitute amendment to the bill is expected.

· The House will take up several measures under suspension of the rules.

HR 1736 — International Science and Technology Cooperation

Act of 2009

HR 1709 — STEM Education Coordination Act of 2009

H Res 492 — A resolution supporting the goals and ideals of High-Performance Building Week.

Tuesday, June 9^th

· The House considers measures under suspension of the rules.

· The Senate Appropriations subcommittees (Financial Services and General Government Labor; HHS; Education) hearings on proposed FY10 appropriations.

· Subcommittee of the Senate Commerce, Science & Transportation Committee hearing on the “Future Economic Role of Oceans.”

· Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources markup of the Comprehensive Energy Policy.

· House Appropriations markup of FY10 appropriations for Commerce, Justice, Science, and 302(B).

· House Committee on Energy and Commerce subcommittee hearing on “Allowance Allocation Policies in Climate Change Legislation” and on “Green Marketing Practices.”

Wednesday, June 10^th

· House is expected to consider HR 2410 that would authorize the State Department and other diplomatic programs in FY10.

Thursday, June 11^th

· House is expected to consider HR 1886, the Pakistan Enduring Assistance and Cooperation Enhancement (PEACE) Act.

· Senate Appropriations subcommittees (Military Construction, Veterans; Transportation-HUD) hearings on proposed FY10 appropriations.

· Subcommittee of Senate Commerce, Science & Transportation hearing on the 2010 NOAA budget.

· Senate Committee on Indian Affairs hearing on Indian health care

· House Agriculture Committee hearing on climate change.

· House Appropriations Subcommittee markup of FY10 proposed funding for Interior.

Friday, June 12^th

· The House will reconvene at 9 a.m. and continue legislative business from the previous day.

Senator Feingold Introduces Bill to Help Displaced Workers

Posted on June 8, 2009October 17, 2012

Senator Feingold on Helping Displaced Workers Find Health Care Jobs

Wednesday, June 3, 2009

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Russ Feingold introduced legislation today to help displaced workers in communities hit hard by the tough economy retrain for high-demand health care jobs. Feingold’s Community-Based Health Care Retraining Act specifically targets communities that have suffered job loss in a variety of industry sectors including manufacturing, construction and service sectors. The legislation would allow communities to apply for grants that would fund retraining efforts led by local workforce development boards. In April, the unemployment rate in Wisconsin was 8.8 percent according to the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development.

“In this tough economy, communities throughout Wisconsin have lost manufacturing jobs both at large factories and small manufacturing businesses,” Feingold said. My bill is designed to give hard-hit communities the opportunity to help retrain their citizens for good, in-demand jobs in the health care field. This bill will help get people back on their feet and remain in their communities while strengthening our health care industry.” Continue reading “Senator Feingold Introduces Bill to Help Displaced Workers”