Senate Passes Budget Resolution;
House Postpones Final Committee Action
March 12, 2004 - In a vote early Friday morning, the
Senate approved its version of the FY 2005 budget resolution
(S.
Con. Res. 95) by a vote of 51-45. Senators adopted an
amendment to strike language regarding Medicaid cuts, and
an amendment to add an additional $1.3 billion to the National
Institutes of Health (NIH). The House Budget Committee began
its markup of the budget resolution March 11, but agreed to
recess at 6 pm until the week of March 15 while members work
on separate budget enforcement legislation.
In a late night vote on March 10, Senators adopted 53-43
an amendment sponsored by Senator Max Baucus (D-Mont.) that
struck from the budget resolution language a directive that
the Senate Finance Committee write legislation that would
have effectively required $11 billion in cuts to Medicaid
[see Washington Highlights,
March 5]. Eight Republicans supported the amendment: Kit
Bond (Mo.), Lincoln Chafee (R.I.), Norm Coleman (Minn.), Susan
Collins (Maine), Mike DeWine (Ohio), Gordon Smith (Ore.),
Olympia Snowe (Maine), and Arlen Specter (Pa.); Zell Miller
(Ga.) was the only Democrat to oppose the amendment. The AAMC
joined 17 other provider groups in signing a letter
(PDF, 1 page - 78KB) to the Senate on March 9 opposing
the cuts.
As part of a Thursday evening vote-a-rama, the Senate also
passed an amendment sponsored by Senator Specter to add an
additional $1.3 billion to the NIH. The amendment passed by
a vote of 72-24, bringing the resolution’s total recommendation
for the NIH to $29.9 billion, an increase of 7.2 percent.
The amendment was offset by a one sixth of one percent cut
to Function 920 (Allowances), which covers travel and administrative
expenses throughout the federal government. The original version
of Senator Specter’s amendment would have added $2 billion
to the budget resolution for public health, including $771for
the National Institutes of Health (NIH), $508 million for
the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and
$721 million for the Health Resources and Services Administration
(HRSA), including restoration of the President’s proposed
cuts to the health professions programs.
Senators rejected an amendment sponsored by Senators Tom
Harkin (D-Iowa) and Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) that sought
to increase funding for public health by raising the federal
tobacco tax by a vote of 64-32. Specifically, the amendment
would have increased the federal tobacco tax by $0.61 to $1.00,
which was expected to generate $8 billion in revenue, $6 billion
of which would be directed to public health programs under
Function 550 (Health) of the budget resolution. This equals
the recommendation that many health groups have been supporting
to provide a 12 percent increase to the overall discretionary
health budget. The remaining $2 billion would be dedicated
to deficit reduction.
Information:
Dave Moore, Senior Director
AAMC Government Relations
dbmoore@aamc.org
(202) 828-0525
Jonathan Fishburn, Director, Research, Education and Veterans' Legislative Affairs
AAMC Government Relations
jfishburn@aamc.org
(202) 828-0525
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