With health care reform the next priority on the new Administration's "to do" list, debate is heating up on Capitol Hill. Half a dozen hearings have been held in the committees of jurisdiction over various aspects of the plan, and NLBMDA Director of Government Affairs Colleen Levine participated in a House Small Business Committee Democratic Roundtable on health care reform last week. Levine and other participants, including representatives from the National Retail Federation, National Association of Realtors, National Roofing Contractors Association and other industry and medical organizations, urged support for market-based reforms that increase competition and lower costs without imposing costly mandates on already struggling business owners. Read more.
The final House-Senate compromise on the FY2010 budget resolution passed last week on a largely party-line vote. Unfortunately, the Lincoln-Kyl estate tax relief included in the Senate-passed version was stripped from the final bill. Read more.
While Sen. Arlen Specter's dramatic move to the Democratic party was coupled with a pledge to continue to oppose the Employee Free Choice Act, the switch gave new life to compromise efforts as labor continues to press for the 60 votes they need in the Senate. Read more.
A scaled-down mortgage "cramdown" amendment by Sen. Richard Durbin (D-IL) to a housing finance bill, which would have allowed bankruptcy judges to modify certain mortgages on primary residences issued prior to Jan. 1, 2009, failed in the Senate last week by a vote of 45 to 51. Read more.
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