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Democrats Release Agenda for First 100 Hours of 110th Congress; Committee Assignments Bring New Members to Education Committee
After twelve years as the minority party in the House of Representatives and Senate, Democrats are eager to start 2007 in the majority. As the majority party, Democrats will set the agenda for legislation to be debated and considered. House Speaker-elect Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) has released a series of issues Democrats will tackle in their first 100 hours of power in the House of Representatives, including addressing student loans. In addition to new majorities, there are many new members of Congress who will report to Washington in January. CEC looks forward to working with new members of Congress on policy issues that impact students with disabilities and/or gifts and talents.
Speaker-elect Pelosi’s top issues that will be addressed in the first 100 hours of the new legislative session in January:
Senate Appropriations Committee
New Democratic Members of the House Appropriations Committee:
Senate Health, Education, Labor, Pensions Committee
New Democratic Members of the Education and Workforce Committee
Senate Passes Ryan White HIV/AIDS Legislation
After months of negotiations, on December 6, the Senate passed the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Treatment Modernization Act of 2006. The House of Representatives had passed a similar measure on September 28 of this year. The legislation, which reauthorizes the Ryan White Act for three years, now awaits the President’s signature to become law.
The Ryan White CARE (Comprehensive AIDS Resource Emergency) Act was originally signed August 18, 1990, as a federal program designed to improve the quality and availability of care for persons with HIV/AIDS and their families.
The legislation amends the Public Health Service Act to allow metropolitan areas to retain eligibility to receive AIDS emergency relief grants for three consecutive years. The legislation maintains funding levels so that states would not receive less than 95 percent of their 2006 funding. The measure also mandates a four-year transition period for states that have code-based reporting systems to switch to name-based reporting systems. In addition, the legislation calls for the repeal of the Ryan White Act after three years. After that period of time, Congress will revisit the issue of individuals living with HIV/AIDS and will write new legislation to support those living with HIV/AIDS.
Congresswoman Mary Bono (R-CA), chief sponsor of the legislation in the House, said "The provisions contained in this critical piece of legislation will ensure that necessary life-saving treatments and services continue; which will encourage and promote longer and healthier lives for those persons living with HIV/AIDS. The negotiation process has been an arduous one, but the best interests of those who are living with HIV/AIDS were upheld as a result of much hard work; protecting those interests was always of paramount importance."
Senator Michael Enzi, who introduced the legislation in the Senate, said "The passage of this bill is a great victory for people struggling to live with HIV/AIDS but who have not been able to receive the care they deserve due to flawed funding formulas under the previous Ryan White CARE Act," Enzi said. "We must address the epidemic of today, not yesterday, and make sure the federal funds follow the person being treated – wherever they live. This bill will modernize the RWCA to ensure that federal dollars to treat HIV/AIDS finally go to the people who are most in need."
Read Congresswoman Bono’s full statement on the passage of the reauthorization of the Ryan White Act
Read Senator Enzi’s complete statement following Senate passage of the Ryan White Act.
CEC is pleased that the House and Senate saw fit to reauthorize this important health program.
Congress Reauthorizes State Child Health Improvement Program (SCHIP)
On December 8, the Senate passed theNational Institutes of Health Reform Act of 2006, comprehensive health reform legislation that includes the State Child Health Improvement Program, or SCHIP. The House had passed its version of this legislation on September 26. The measure was sent to the White House for the President’s signature on December 9.
SCHIP is under Title XXI of the Social Security Act and is jointly financed by federal and state governments to provide free or low-cost insurance to children. The program is administered by the states. Each state, using broad federal guidelines, determines the design of its program, eligibility groups, benefit packages, payment levels for coverage, and administrative and operating procedures. SCHIP provides a capped amount of funds to States on a matching basis for fiscal years through 2007. The language relating to SCHIP provides a formula for redistributing unspent funds from fiscal year 2004 that have not been spent in fiscal year 2006 to address fiscal year 2007 shortfalls.
Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Speaker-elect of the House, said “At a time when more than 8 million children in America are without health insurance and 17 states are facing SCHIP funding shortfalls – 600,000 low-income children would be at risk of losing health insurance coverage without this legislation.”
Read all of Congresswoman Pelosi’s statement.
CEC strongly supports the passage of this vital program to provide health care to our nation’s disadvantaged children.
Assistant Secretary for Elementary and Secondary Education to Retire
Assistant Secretary for Elementary and Secondary Education Henry Johnson is retiring, effective December 31. Johnson has announced plans to return to North Carolina and pursue educational consulting work.
In a statement, Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings stated, "For more than 30 years, Henry Johnson has dedicated his life's work to seeing that America's children have an equal opportunity to succeed in school and in life...His efforts brought our nation closer to realizing its dream of a first-rate, world-class education for all students." CEC wishes Mr. Johnson well in his new endeavors.
Share with CEC How IDEA/Javits Programs Have Impacted You & Your Students!
As you may know, every year CEC publishes its Federal Outlook for Exceptional Children as a way to provide members of Congress, their staffs and officials at the Department of Education with CEC's funding recommendations for federal special and gifted education programs. To give these facts and figures a human touch, we include stories of children who have benefited from IDEA and the Javits program for students with gifts and talents. The Outlook is a vital grassroots tool that CEC staff and advocates use regularly on Capitol Hill.
Each year we put out a call for stories of students with disabilities, gifts and talents, or both who have benefited from IDEA or the Javits grant program. Please don't miss this chance to have a student you know be an advocate for increased federal funding for IDEA or Javits! The deadline for submitting stories is January 15, 2007.
Please consider submitting a story on how funding from IDEA and the Javits program have benefited students and/or educators you know. As Congress continues to drastically under fund special and gifted education, we are hoping stories can highlight the impact of federal funding (or lack thereof) on schools across the country.
Stories should be only 250 words long, and a template is available online to assist in writing these stories.
Submit a story today by emailing kimk@cec.sped.org !