Democrat Paul S. Sarbanes, the longest serving U.S. Senator in Maryland history, will not seek a sixth term next year. Sarbanes is the top Democrat on the Banking Committee. He is the co-author with Rep. Michael G. Oxley, (R-Ohio), of the 2002 corporate accountability act that bears their name. Sarbanes joins Sens. Mark Dayton, (D-Minnesota), and Bill Frist, (R-Tennessee), in deciding against a 2006 reelection bid. Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley and Montgomery County Executive Douglas M. Duncan, both Democrats, have been jockeying for the gubernatorial nomination, but one of them could now shift his focus to the Senate. Others mentioned as possible contenders are Rep. Albert R. Wynn, (D-Maryland)., and former Rep. Kweisi Mfume, who stepped down in January as head of the NAACP.

The Senate yesterday approved by a vote of 99-0 the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Improvement Act of 2005 (S. 250), a bill to reauthorize and amend the Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Technical Education Act of 1998 (Perkins). The bill would maintain separate funding streams for the Perkins basic grant and Tech Prep programs. It also would provide states with a 5 percent set-aside to fund administrative costs and up to 10 percent for professional development activities.

The House is tentatively expected to consider its version of Perkins reauthorization legislation (H.R. 366) sometime after the spring congressional recess.

Congresswoman Matsui was elected on Tuesday to succeed her husband, the late Congressman Bob Matsui. Representing Sacramento, Congresswoman was sworn in this morning. She is a former Clinton appointee and lobbyist.

House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi (California) announced today that she will appoint Congresswoman Doris Matsui (D-California) to the House Rules Committee.

The House Committee on Rules determines the guidelines under which bills will be debated on the floor of the House. Because of its unique power to create and waive rules and frame the debate on the floor, the Rules Committee is considered to be one of the most powerful committees in the House of Representatives.

The House is aiming to pass the transportation reauthorization bill today, after deciding yesterday to not address the contentious doner/donee gas tax issue. Members suggested the issue would be taken up once in conference with the Senate.

Another hotly contested issue surrounding the transit bill concerns the amount of dollars available for states in the measure. Currently, the number stands at 92.6%, with House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Don Young (R-Alaska) looking to keep the figure around 92.3%, a small decline but much larger than the version the House passed in 2004 of 84%.

The administration again reiterated that certain provisions contained within the bill would trigger a presidential veto. First and foremost among them is a measure which would "reopen" the bill after 2006 should new funding sources not become available. Such a move could increase the costs of the bill over the administration's preferred level of $283.9 billion.

On the amendment side, a measure to use tolls to construct new interstates was defeated soundly 155-265. Another measure to exempt certain industries from new hours-of-service driving regulations was also defeated, shortly before a similar amendment was passed. A tort reform measure relating to rental cars also passed narrowly.

The full text of the manager's amendment is available here (in pdf format). Other documents of interest include the list of highway projects and the list of transit projects, both in .pdf format.

The long delayed transit bill reauthorization (H.R. 3) reached the floor of the House today. Earlier, the White House threatened to veto the bill if a provision enabling higher funding (at a later date) was included. As we get additional information we'll be sure to pass it along.

The Senate Finance Committee completed markup today of the TANF reauthorization bill. The measure passed out of committee with a bipartisan 10-1 voice vote.

As approved the measure would provide an additional $6 billion in child care funding over the next five years. The White House opposes that increase, proposing only $1 billion extra for child care during the same period.

Key provisions that were included in the TANF reauthorization bill include:

1. A provision that holds states harmless from financial penalty if their work participation rate improves at least 5 percent above the rate in the prior year and if they have entered into a corrective compliance plan,
2. Replacement of the caseload reduction credit with an employment credit,
3. $1 billion in new Social Services Block Grant funding over five years.

In addition, today the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) marked up the Caring for Children Act of 2005 (S. 525). The bill, which would reauthorize the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) was unanimously approved without amendment. The legislation includes discretionary funding for child care and contains programmatic changes to CCDBG, including an increase in the quality set-aside from 4% to 6%.

Markup of reauthorization of the 1998 law (Carl D. Perkins Act) covering federal grants for state vocational programs begins tomorrow in the Senate and House. Both bills mirror legislation introduced in 2004, with funding for Perkins grants, despite the administration's desire to kill the $1.3 billion program.

The Perkins grants allow states to reserve up to 10 percent of their grants for professional development activities and 5% for administrative programs. The Senate version would give states more flexibility in how funds are spent, while the House version would cap administrative costs at 2%. The House version would also merge the Perkins grants with another program, Tech-Prep, which provides courses to prepare high school graduates to move to vocational schools. The Senate version keeps the programs separate.

Yesterday an amendment by Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Massachusetts) to increase the minimum wage to $7.25 from its current level of $5.15 was defeated by a vote of 46-49. Four Republicans crossed the aisle to support the measure, but three Democrats and Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pennsylvania) missed the vote. Another smaller wage increase measure by Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pennsylvania) was defeated as well, 38-61.

The move to invoke cloture combined with the failure of Sen. Chuck Schumer's (D-New York) abortion-related amendment means the bankruptcy legislation will likely pass the Senate and move to the president's desk.

The Senate Finance Committee is scheduled to mark up TANF reauthorization tomorrow, Wednesday, March 9.

Some highlights include: an increase in the participation rate requirements, and a replacement of the caseload reduction credits with an employment credit, which provides a percentage credit for each percent reduction in caseload due to employment.

Please see the attached side-by-side comparisons (in pdf format) of the House and Senate proposals as prepared by The American Public Human Services Association.

Over on our analysis side we've got a series of forms for the various House Appropriations subcommittees. Be sure to go check them out.

The Senate Democrats released the lineup of ranking members for the newly reworked Senate Appropriations subcommittees. The actual changes are fairly minor, as the altered subcommittees only affected one ranking member.

Senator Barbara Mikulski (D-Maryland) will now become the new ranking member of the CJS subcommittee. Her old panel, the VA/HUD subcommittee, has been removed under the new scheme. Given that the former head of the CJS panel had retired, (Senator Fritz Hollings (South Carolina), Mikulski's move won't affect any other Dems.

With that, here's the current roster of ranking members for the 109th Congress:

Agriculture, Rural Development, and Related Agencies

Sen. Herb Kohl (D-Wisconsin)

Commerce, Justice, and Science Subcommittee

Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-Maryland)

Defense

Sen. Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii)

District of Columbia

Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-Louisiana)

Energy and Water

Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nevada)

Homeland Security

Sen. Robert Byrd (D-West Virginia)

Interior and Related Agencies

Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-North Dakota)

Interior and Related Agencies

Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-North Dakota)

Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies

Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa)

Legislative Branch

Sen. Richard Durbin (D-Illinois)

Military Construction and Veterans Affairs

Sen. Diane Feinstein (D-California)

State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs

Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont)

Transportation, Treasury, the Judiciary, and Housing and Urban Development

Sen. Patty Murray (D-Washington)

The House passed H.R. 27 yesterday by a vote of 224-200 to revamp the Workforce Investment Act of 1998 (WIA). The vote was primarily along party lines with a few exceptions. Eight Republicans voted with the Democrats against the bill and 4 Democrats voted with the Republicans for the bill. H.R. 27 would combine job-training funds for adults, dislocated workers, and employment services into a single state block grant and provide Governors with new discretion to distribute funds. It also includes language to establish Personal Reemployment Accounts (PRAs) for unemployed workers. An amendment offered by Rep. Robert Scott (D-Virginia) to strike controversial language allowing faith-based organizations to consider the religious beliefs of job applications failed by a vote of 186-239. This provision and the PRAs could be challenged in the Senate.

Yesterday Republican members of the Senate Appropriations Committee approved the below plan to restructure the committee. The plan eliminates only one subcommittee and restructures the jurisdiction of several others. Although the plan is not as far reaching as one adopted earlier this year by the House Appropriations Committee, Senate Appropriations Chairman Thad Cochran (R-Mississippi) believes the new structure should enable the Senate and House panels to work smoothly together on the 13 annual spending bills.

AGRICULTURE, RURAL DEVELOPMENT (8-7)

Senators Bennett, Cochran, Specter, Bond, McConnell, Burns, Craig, Brownback

COMMERCE, JUSTICE, & SCIENCE (8-7) (*increased from 7-6)

Senators Shelby, Gregg, Stevens, Domenici, McConnell, Hutchison, Brownback, Bond.

DEFENSE (10-9)

Senators Stevens, Cochran, Specter, Domenici, Bond, McConnell, Shelby, Gregg, Hutchison, Burns.

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA (3-2)

Senators DeWine, Cochran, Allard.

ENERGY & WATER (9-8) (*increased from 7-6)

Senators Domenici, Cochran, McConnell, Bennett, Burns, Craig, Bond, Hutchison, Allard.

HOMELAND SECURITY (9-8)

Senators Gregg, Cochran, Stevens, Specter, Domenici, Shelby, Craig, Bennett, Allard.

INTERIOR & RELATED AGENCIES (8-7)

Senators Burns, Stevens, Cochran, Domenici, Bennett, Gregg, Craig, Allard.

LABOR, HHS, & EDUCATION (8-7)

Senators Specter, Cochran, Gregg, Craig, Hutchison, Stevens, DeWine, Shelby.

LEGISLATIVE BRANCH (3-2)

Senators Brownback, DeWine, Allard.

MILITARY CONSTRUCTION & VETERANS AFFAIRS (6-5) (*increased from 5-4)

Senators Hutchison, Burns, Craig, DeWine, Brownback, Allard.

STATE, FOREIGN OPERATIONS (8-7)

Senators McConnell, Specter, Gregg, Shelby, Bennett, Bond, DeWine, Brownback.

TRANSPORTATION, TREASURY, JUDICIARY & HUD (10-9) (*increased from 8-7)

Senators Bond, Shelby, Specter, Bennett, Hutchison, DeWine, Brownback, Stevens, Domenici, Burns.

The House Committee on Transportation & Infrastructure today approved for floor consideration H.R. 3 - the "TEA-LU" legislation. The mark-up was speedy and no amendments were offered. The Chairman put before the committee an "Chairman's Mark" that included some minor revisions to the original version of the bill as introduced a few weeks ago. Changes to the introduced bill relating to the highway funding formula were not included in the chairman's version. It is expected a "committee amendment" will be offered on the floor of the House that will include provisions on the highway formula, Buy America in the transit program and other topics.

Here is the text of the Chairman's Mark from today. It contains a list of 3315 "High Priority Projects" in the highway program. We have the project list and are providing our clients with information on projects of interest included on the list.

Floor consideration is expected as early as March 9. We will keep our clients posted on developments.

Today the Workforce Investment Act reauthorization legislation is on the House floor. The Democratic leadership expects it to be approved on a party line vote with the Republicans voting for it and the Democrats voting against, with a possible handful of exceptions.

The measure includes two notable provisions. One is a provision that would allow "faith-based" groups that receive job-training grants to use religious preferences in hiring. Most Democrats oppose this provision, concerned that it promotes religious discrimination with the use of federal funds. This measure will likely face great opposition in the Senate.

The second provision would combine several job training programs into a single $3 billion block grant program and give governors more discretion over how such funds are spent. Some members are concerned that beneficiaries of existing programs could lose funding under the proposal.

Also in the bill is an initiative to fund partnerships between community colleges and employers in high-demand industries as well as a pilot program to provide personal re-employment accounts to unemployed workers. Congress had refused to fund the $50 million Bush voucher proposal, so the Labor Department announced in September it was using $9 million in discretionary funds to set up a pilot program in nine states. Seven states now participate in the program

Governors attending the National Governors Association conference in Washington this week met with President Bush to discuss Medicaid. Governors and administration officials expressed doubt that they could reach a quick agreement on a package of cost saving changes in the health care program.

Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt has urged governors to embrace a number of program changes to save money and has urged them to move quickly to present a united front on Capitol Hill.

The rapid growth in Medicaid has severely strained state budgets and governors of both parties say the program must be restructured to save money and provide better health care for low-income Americans.

Governors are wary of making a deal without knowing more about whether they can fend off cuts the size Bush has recommended in his new budget. President Bush has recommended $60 billion in Medicaid cuts over the next ten years.

The Medicaid issue is a bipartisan one. Both Republican and Democrats face the same problems, as rising enrollment and growing health care costs have forced state executives to squeeze the program in the past few years. Governors, however, are divided over strategy.

Governor Leavitt told the governors that “there is not as much desire in the halls of Congress for a Medicaid debate and discussion” as there is in the states and that progress will require a consensus solution from the governors and the administration.

Some governors are concerned about locking themselves into a number, rather than looking at a broad array of reform that in turn will drive the budget number.

President Bush today spoke to the nation's governors, saying that he would work with them to reduce the costs of Medicaid, which has been increasingly straining state budgets. From the Post this afternoon:

Before the White House meeting, governors said they opposed Bush's proposal to cut some $40 billion from the system. They also wanted the ability to experiment in order to lower costs. Many were encouraged by parts of the administration's budget proposal that would give states more flexibility.

"We want Medicaid to work," Bush told the governors before a brief, private question-and-answer session. "The system needs to be reformed and we want to work with governors."

But the one detail Bush emphasized was his plan to cut federal dollars in an effort to stop state Medicaid accounting practices that the administration contends cheats taxpayers.

Many state leaders say the money derived this way is essential. Federal officials say it artificially inflates health care prices to bring in more federal cash, which states sometimes use for other purposes.

Restraining the growth of Medicaid payments is a big issue for states, who have seen the program begin to take up over 20% of their budget each year.