Senate Leaders Struggle to Find Votes for Jobs Bill - February 23, 2010

After releasing a slimmed-down jobs bill before the President’s Day Recess, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) is having a hard time finding the 60 votes necessary to begin debate on the bill. So far, no Republicans have agreed to vote to invoke cloture, and several Democrats have expressed their concern with the jobs bill as passed. The Reid jobs bill does not include three of NAPH’s priorities:

• 6-month extension of enhanced Medicaid FMAP for states. The current enhanced FMAP, passed as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), expires at the end of this calendar year.
• One-year extension on increased Medicaid DSH allotments. The current 2.5 percent increase in Medicaid DSH allotments, included in ARRA, expires at the end of this fiscal year–Sept. 30, 2010.
• Clarification of “hospital-based physicians” for the purposes of providing Health Information Technology grant funding. The Health IT grant funding was originally included in ARRA. A jobs bill proposed by Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT) includes the clarification.