Back to Front PageVOLUME 6, NUMBER 4

Getting to Know Capitol Hill’s Key Players in Academic Medicine

By Jennifer Proctor

January brought many changes to Washington, D.C., among them the leadership of a number of the congressional committees and subcommittees important to medical schools and teaching hospitals. These senators and representatives will play a key role in addressing the many health issues facing the 107th Congress, such as supporting graduate medical education; funding the National Institutes of Health and other Public Health Service agencies; and addressing health disparities based on race, ethnicity, socio-economic status, and geography.

As a guide to the new Congress, the AAMC Reporter has compiled a listing of House and Senate leadership that have a significant influence on legislation affecting medical schools and teaching hospitals.

Senate Committee on Appropriations, Labor-HHS-Education Subcommittee

Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.)
Chair

Sen. Arlen Specter, Pennsylvania’s senior senator, is a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, the Judiciary Committee, and the Government Affairs Committee. He also chairs the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee and, in the past, has led the Senate Intelligence Committee. As chair of the Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations Subcommittee, Specter has been a leading advocate for doubling the NIH budget and has worked to increase the agency’s funding in the last four years by more than $8 billion. The senator has also championed federal funding for research using embryonic stem cells.

Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa)
Ranking Minority Member

Sen. Tom Harkin is serving Iowa for his third term. Recognized as a longtime leader in health care and supporter of medical research, Harkin has teamed up with Specter in the effort to double the NIH budget. Harkin also sponsored the 21st Century Laboratories Act to support state-of-the-art research facilities and instrumentation. In addition, he chaired the Senate Rural Health Caucus, in which he supported legislation to bring health professionals to small towns and rural areas.

House Committee on Appropriations, Labor-HHS-Education Subcommittee

Rep. Ralph Regula (R-Ohio) Chair

Rep. Ralph Regula (R-Ohio)
Chair

Now serving his 15th term representing Ohio’s 16th District, Rep. Ralph Regula is taking on a new challenge — chairing the House Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations Subcommittee. The largest of the 13 appropriations subcommittees, the Labor-HHS panel last year allocated $108 billion in discretionary spending. The subcommittee has jurisdiction over funding for most of the Public Health Service, including the NIH and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Rep. David Obey (D-Wis.)
Ranking Minority Member

Rep. David Obey, who represents Wisconsin’s 7th District, serves as the ranking Democrat on both the House Appropriations Committee and its Labor-HHS-Education Subcommittee. Obey has proven a strong supporter of medical research and public health programs and has argued for balance in the budget between health and education programs.

Senate Committee on Finance

Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) Chair

Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa)
Chair

Sen. Charles Grassley, the senior senator from Iowa, assumes the chair of the Senate Finance Committee following the defeat last November of former chair William Roth (R-Del.). A 16-year veteran of the committee, Grassley will bring a decidedly rural focus to the panel, which has jurisdiction over Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, and taxes. He has expressed his interest in modernizing the Medicare program this Congress and intends to hold hearings on the subject.

The senator has already chaired two hearings this year on the uninsured and sponsored legislation to make Medicaid coverage available to families with disabled children. In addition, Grassley has reintroduced legislation to provide tax deductions and credits to pay for the costs of long-term care, and he is an original co-sponsor of legislation to eliminate the 60-month limit and increase the income limitation on student loan interest deductions. First elected to the House in 1974 and the Senate in 1980, Grassley also serves on the Senate Judiciary and Budget committees.

Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.)
Ranking Minority Member

Sen. Max Baucus is serving the state of Montana for his fourth term. He assumes the position of ranking minority member on the Senate Finance Committee following the retirement of Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan (D-N.Y.). Baucus has worked actively to restore funding to Medicare programs for telehealth, hospitals, and home health care in rural areas.

House Committee on Ways and Means

Rep. Bill Thomas (R-Calif.) Chair

 

Rep. Bill Thomas (R-Calif.)
Chair

Rep. Bill Thomas, who represents California’s 21st District in the House, has been named chair of the House Ways and Means Committee. The oldest in Congress, the committee has legislative and oversight authority over economic policy, international trade, welfare, and health care policy, including Medicare.

Thomas, who previously chaired the Ways and Means Health Subcommittee, shepherded the passage of the Medicare Preservation Act, also known as the Balanced Budget Act of 1997, and its two succeeding refinement acts. The congressman has also served as the administrative chair of the National Bipartisan Commission on the Future of Medicare.

Thomas has already assumed an important role in promoting tax cut legislation proposed by the Bush administration, and he will continue to be an important player in health care, particularly in reforming Medicare.

Rep. Charles B. Rangel (D-N.Y.)
Ranking Minority Member

Rep. Charles Rangel has served the 15th District of New York since 1971. Rangel is the ranking member of the Committee on Ways and Means, deputy Democratic whip of the House, and co-chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. In addition, he is a founding member and former chair of the Congressional Black Caucus. When it comes to health care, Rangel is a strong defender of graduate medical education and disproportionate share hospital payments.

House Ways and Means Health Subcommittee

Rep. Nancy Johnson (R-Conn.) Chair

Rep. Nancy Johnson (R-Conn.)
Chair

Rep. Nancy Johnson is serving her 10th term in office representing Connecticut’s 6th District. Among Johnson’s chief legislative priorities for the 107th Congress are strengthening Medicare with a prescription drug benefit and expanding coverage for the uninsured. In addition, Johnson has reintroduced legislation exempting from gross income for tax purposes payments for tuition, fees, and related education expenses under the National Health Service Corps scholarship program.

In 1988, the congresswoman became the first Republican woman named to the Ways and Means Committee, and in January 2001, she was named chair of the Ways and Means Health Subcommittee.

Rep. Pete Stark (D-Calif.)
Ranking Minority Member

Rep. Pete Stark has represented the 13th District of California since 1973. Stark is a senior member of the House Ways and Means Committee and served as chair of its Health Subcommittee between 1985 and 1994. During his tenure as chair, Stark presided over major Medicare reforms. In addition, he has strongly advocated for universal health coverage and physician self-referral laws.

House Committee on Energy and Commerce

Rep. Billy Tauzin (R-La.) Chair

Rep. Billy Tauzin (R-La.)
Chair

In January, Rep. Billy Tauzin, who has represented Louisiana’s 3rd District since 1980, took over as chair of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, which is the authorizing committee for the Public Health Service, Medicare Part B, and Medicaid. Tauzin has signaled his interest in re-energizing the committee to take a more active role in health care.

Rep. John D. Dingell (D-Mich.)
Ranking Minority Member

First elected to Congress in 1955, Rep. John D. Dingell has served more consecutive terms than any other member of the House. Dingell, who represents the 16th District of Michigan, is the ranking member on the Energy and Commerce Committee as well as its Health Subcommittee. Having served in the House when Medicare was legislated into existence, Dingell continues to be a strong supporter of the program. In addition, he introduced the Democratic Patients’ Bill of Rights in the House and is a major leader in efforts to pass such legislation.

House Committee on Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee

Rep. Michael Bilirakis (R-Fla.)
Chair

Rep. Michael Bilirakis began serving the 9th District of Florida in 1983. His committee assignments in the 107th Congress include chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee Subcommittee on Health. Bilirakis has served as a member of the National Bipartisan Commission on the Future of Medicare, and has introduced legislation to provide prescription drug assistance to poor and sick Medicare recipients.

Rep. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio)
Ranking Minority Member

Rep. Sherrod Brown represents Ohio’s 13th District. He secured a position on the Energy and Commerce Committee in his first term, and now is the ranking member of the committee’s Health Subcommittee. Brown played a key role in crafting the Patients’ Bill of Rights, and has come out against the privatization of Medicare and Social Security.

Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions

Sen. James Jeffords (R-Vt.)
Chair

Elected to the Senate in 1988, Sen. James Jeffords is chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee (HELP), which has jurisdiction over private health insurance and public health programs. He is also a member of the Senate Finance Committee, which oversees the Medicare and Medicaid programs, as well as the Veterans’ Affairs Committee and the Special Committee on Aging. Jeffords is a strong supporter of the National Health Service Corps and has spon-sored legislation to provide tax credits to low- and moderate-income Americans without health insurance.

Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.)
Ranking Minority Member

Sen. Edward Kennedy, now the third most senior senator, has represented Massachusetts in the Senate for 37 years. Throughout his career, Kennedy has made health care a priority. A major proponent of teaching hospitals, the senator fought to restore many of the Medicare cuts implemented by the Balanced Budget Act of 1997. His recent achievements include the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and the Children’s Health Act of 1997, which makes health insurance more widely available to children. Kennedy is currently leading the Senate effort to enact the Patients’ Bill of Rights. He also is the senior Democrat on the Senate HELP Committee and its Public Health Subcommittee.

Sen. Bill Frist, M.D. (R-Tenn.)
Chair, Public Health Subcommittee of the Senate HELP Committee

A heart transplant surgeon, Sen. Bill Frist left the operating room in 1993 to run for the Senate. Now in his second term, he serves on three committees: HELP, Budget, and Foreign Relations. Frist chairs the Public Health Subcommittee of the HELP Committee. In 1995, he chaired the Senate Working Group on Medicare and, in 1998, served as a member of the National Bipartisan Commission on the Future of Medicare. Viewed as a leader on health issues, Frist is an active proponent of Medicare reform.

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18 May 2001