The Colorado Independent » house of reps

GOP lawmakers protest ‘government takeover’ of student lending

Mike Lillis — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 16:42:40 +0000

A group of Republicans this afternoon will meet with reporters to protest the Democrats’ plans to eliminate tens of billions of dollars in government subsidies to private companies that lend to students. The Democrats’ bill would have students borrow directly from the U.S. Treasury, which makes sense to supporters because it’s the Treasury that currently assumes all the risk for those loans anyway — a boon to private companies that assume no risk. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that eliminating the private middleman will save $67 billion over the next decade, most of which will go toward expanding college scholarships to low-income students.

No matter. “Such a move,” the Republicans’ release claims, “is an abuse of the legislative process that will eliminate borrower choice and competition, destroy tens of thousands of jobs, and add to the country’s long-term debt.”

The group includes Sen. Lamar Alexander (Tenn.), chairman of the Senate Republican Conference; Rep. John Kline (Minn.), the senior Republican on the House Education and Labor Committee; and Rep. Brett Guthrie (Ky.), the top Republican on the higher education subpanel.

It’s worth noting that not all conservatives agree. In fact, President George W. Bush proposed similar reforms as part of his annual budget proposal during three years of his tenure. More recently, The Weekly Standard blasted the current system of guaranteed loans as “a textbook example of crony capitalism or (if you prefer) corporate socialism.”

The government assumes all the risk while doling out contracts to favored businesses, who then reap the profits. With student loans, the lender gets preening rights in the bargain, marketing itself as a Merchant of Dreams, a benefactor of America’s youth, a sweet-tempered Mr. Jaggers to a nation of eager Pips.

In truth, the only people who like the system of guaranteed loans are the student loan industry — now handling more than $90 billion a year — and the congressmen whose districts contain large numbers of people who work in the student loan industry.

Earlier this month, Rep. Thomas Petri (Wis.), a senior Republican on the Education and Labor Committee, also condemned the current lending framework as a boondoggle enriching private lenders at the expense of taxpayers and students.

“Private loans are much more expensive for borrowers — and much more profitable for lenders,” Petri wrote in Roll Call. “We’ve seen how this plays out — and it isn’t in the form of true choice or competition for students.”

Perhaps GOP leaders knew where Petri stood when they skipped over the 16-term Wisconsin Republican to install Kline — a more conservative four-termer — atop the GOP team on the Education and Labor panel.

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The resolution may be televised: C-SPAN asks to broadcast health bills merger

Mike Lillis — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 16:57:27 +0000

The news that Democrats in the House and Senate will likely marry their health reform bills in closed-door sessions — not in a formal conference committee — strays a long way from President Obama’s campaign-trail claim that the entire process would be televised for the world to see. And the discrepancy hasn’t been lost on the folks at C-SPAN, who sent a letter to Democratic leaders last week requesting that the merger be broadcast.

“President Obama, Senate and House leaders, many of your rank-and-file members, and the nation’s editorial pages have all talked about the value of transparent discussions on reforming the nation’s health care system,” C-SPAN CEO Brian Lamb wrote. “Now that the process moves to the critical stage of reconciliation between the Chambers, we respectfully request that you allow the public full access, through television, to legislation that will affect the lives of every single American.”

Some Democratic leaders are in Washington this week to begin the informal discussions over how to combine the two bills. No word yet whether they’ve responded to Lamb’s request.

H/t: The Hill.

A hidden stimulus in health reform

Mike Lillis — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 16:14:20 +0000

It’s a nonsensical element of Medicaid’s funding formula that during economic downturns, when state budgets are most squeezed, states are also asked to bear much higher health costs as the Medicaid rolls swell. The result, inevitably, is the erosion of health coverage for the country’s most vulnerable populations.

The $787 billion economic stimulus bill addressed the issue, providing additional federal funding for the state-federal Medicaid program. But that extra help expires at the end of next year, when unemployment rates are expected to remain near double digits. The looming expiration has left state health officials and children’s welfare advocates anxious about the effects on kids’ health care.

Enter the House health reform bill, which would provide more than $23 billion to continue the additional federal funding for six months. The Washington Post explains:

Under the Affordable Health Care for America Act, the federal government would continue to pay a higher share of all Medicaid costs — 66 percent on average, up from 57 percent before the stimulus — for an additional six months, and erase in one fell swoop a major chunk of states’ projected shortfalls for the coming year.

“It would be a huge help — critical,” said Cindi Jones, chief deputy director of Virginia’s Medicaid program, which quickly estimated last week that it would receive an extra $360 million to $380 million next year under the bill. At a meeting last week of the nation’s Medicaid directors, Jones said the group is unanimously in favor of the provision.

That provision isn’t included in the Senate’s health reform bill, but states are hoping that it will work its way into the final bill. Of course, the temporary help is no remedy to the flawed Medicaid funding formula. It’s worth asking when Democratic leaders plan to tackle that larger problem, if not in the context of the most sweeping health reforms since the program was created.

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DeGette rounds up votes to defeat anti-abortion health reform amendment

Mike Lillis — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 15:59:21 +0000

House Democratic leaders might have thought they dodged a bullet on Saturday when they agreed to appease moderate Dems with an amendment to restrict abortion coverage — a provision that allowed the bill to pass by a very slim 220 to 215 margin. One day later, however, liberal Democrats vowed to sink the bill if the amendment remains the next time the bill travels through the House. And they already have the numbers to defeat it.

From The Washington Post:

U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette, D-CO1

Although House liberals voted for the bill with the amendment to keep the process moving forward, Rep. Diana DeGette (Colo.) said she has collected more than 40 signatures from House Democrats vowing to oppose any final bill that includes the amendment — enough to block passage.

“There’s going to be a firestorm here,” DeGette said. “Women are going to realize that a Democratic-controlled House has passed legislation that would prohibit women paying for abortions with their own funds. . . . We’re not going to let this into law.”

And the White House thought the public option was going to be the highest hurdle …