Senate Takes Up Indian Health Care Measure Under Veto Threat

The Senate began its 2008 session Tuesday with legislation to reauthorize health care services for American Indians as the White House threatened a veto of the measure.

The White House, in a policy statement, demanded modifications to the bill, which would reauthorize funding for the Indian Health Service, and said President Bush would veto the bill if they were not made.

The veto threat could easily derail what was expected to be a noncontroversial bill. The administration’s main concern was a provision that would expand federal prevailing wage requirements to projects funded under the bill. The White House also objected to what it says are lax documentation requirements in the bill for enrolling patients in Medicaid and other government programs.

The bill would authorize spending for the Indian Health Service, which provides health care for 1.8 million American Indians and Alaska natives, through 2017. According to a Congressional Budget Office estimate, it would authorize discretionary spending of $16 billion over five years and $35 billion over 10 years.

Since a 1992 reauthorization expired in 2001, the health service has continued operating under old guidelines through annual appropriations. Spending in fiscal 2008 totaled $3 billion.

CQ TODAY MIDDAY UPDATE
Jan. 22, 2008