Lawmakers on Capitol Hill today continue to wrangle over a compromise in 2008 spending that would be acceptable to President Bush. The bill would allow more than $6 million for telehealth projects and almost $18 million for healthcare projects.
If lawmakers are unable to forge a compromise, the only option will be to pass a continuing resolution to freeze spending at the current levels for next year.
The House passed its $516 billion budget package Sunday night, with the Senate expected to pass its version later this week. President Bush has indicated he will not sign a bill that exceeds the spending limits he set for next year. Yet, the Labor-Health-Education appropriations bill - one of the 11 bills included in the omnibus package - is slated for $4 billion more than the president's requested amount.
According to the Center for Telehealth and e-Health Law (CTeL), the bill contains a slight reduction in funding for the Office for the Advancement of Telehealth and many non-telehealth programs, but more than $20 million in new telehealth and healthcare IT earmarks.
Rep. David Obey (D-Wis.), chair of the House Appropriations Committee said the House bill "is totally inadequate to meet the long term investment needs of the country, but it is a whole lot better than the country would have without a Democratic Congress.
Obey said Congress has repeatedly asked the White House to compromise.
Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas), chairman of the Republican Study Committee of the Caucus of House Conservatives, said Republicans oppose the some 8,000 earmarks included in the bill. "Those earmarks, combined with budget gimmicks that hide billions of dollars and other added-on spending ensure that the Democrats' bill is well over the spending level requested by President Bush," Hensarling said.
According to Obey, the House omnibus bill, though overall in line with the president's proposal, allocates millions more for healthcare spending, including federal medical research, aid to rural hospitals and improved healthcare access through the Health Resources and Services Administration.