We are still full throttle at Senate Finance Committee

The Senate Finance Committee is preparing for a busy summer as our panel works on pending bills and toward major healthcare and tax reform efforts in 2009. It’s already been a productive year.

Economic stimulus checks are showing up in mailboxes across the country, thanks to the Finance Committee’s work four months ago to create that rebate program and to include 20 million American seniors and 250,000 disabled veterans who would otherwise have been left out.

Before the Memorial Day recess, Congress passed a farm bill with a robust package of tax reforms funding tax relief for America’s agricultural producers, as well as legislation providing important tax relief for America’s military families. The Senate also approved key Finance provisions in the domestic spending portion of the 2008 supplemental funding bill, including measures that would extend unemployment insurance (UI) for America’s workers and that would safeguard Medicaid services for millions of low-income Americans. The Finance Committee introduced similar UI provisions in late January as part of the economic stimulus package. And I have been vocal in my opposition to the improper HHS regulations that would strip $20 billion in federal funding from the Medicaid program.

There is much left to do to heal the nation’s economy and to enable the health and financial well-being of all Americans, and the Finance Committee will play a key role. Much of the rest of this year will be dedicated to hearings and summits to determine how best to go about making fundamental change to an ailing healthcare system and an outdated tax code, as well as finally taking progressive steps toward solving the energy crisis and creating more good-paying jobs for America’s working families.

On healthcare reform, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and I will convene a bipartisan summit at the Library of Congress on June 16 called “Prepare for Launch: Health Reform Summit 2008.” It will be an opportunity for senators, representatives and health policy experts to dig in to prepare for health care reform in 2009. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and genomic research pioneer Dr. J. Craig Venter will address attendees. We will take up issues like state-based reform efforts, employer-sponsored coverage trends, rising healthcare costs, demographic shifts, insurance market reform, the role of public programs and delivery system reform. We will also have hearings throughout the spring and summer to examine the health care system and avenues for reform, in preparation for Committee action next year.

The balance of our healthcare focus right now is on crafting a Medicare bill that works for America’s seniors and that increases physician payments to stave off cuts that threaten to kick in on July 1. Over the recess, my staff and I worked on legislation with a number of goals, including improvements in preventive care and other beneficiary services, appropriate fixes to increase access to the prescription drug benefit, and sufficient savings from bloated parts of the Medicare program. Sen. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) and I also intend to introduce a bill promoting comparative effectiveness in the American healthcare system.

The committee must also tackle legislation soon to extend key expiring tax incentives. Congress must ensure that Americans continue to receive real tax relief on college tuition, state and local sales taxes, and business investments for individuals and companies alike. It is vital to prevent the Alternative Minimum Tax from hitting millions of Americans who didn’t pay it last year. And Congress must move legislation that will encourage the production and use of alternative energy and extend tax incentives for renewable energy solutions. The House Ways and Means Committee has already approved energy measures on its “extenders” bill that largely represent the energy package that Finance members proposed last December.

Beyond these immediate tax measures, the committee is also working on housing tax legislation to provide a standard property tax deduction for the 28.3 million non-itemizers who pay local property taxes. Finance provisions in the pending FAA bill can help to fund a safer and more efficient satellite system for American air traffic control, and replenish the highway trust fund. And it is essential that we begin to prepare for a comprehensive overhaul of the tax system in 2009. To that end, a series of hearings on the current individual and corporate tax systems, and possible alternatives, is already underway.

A robust renewal and expansion of the Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) program remains my number-one trade priority for the Finance Committee this year, and I continue to work with my colleagues on legislation that will support and protect American workers if trade negatively affects their jobs. It is crucial that we help workers in both the manufacturing and the services sectors to get back on their feet with necessary retraining, health coverage and unemployment insurance in order to sustain American competitiveness and continue to move our nation forward. Trade enforcement legislation and continued work on a new framework for settling international currency imbalances remain on the agenda as well.

The Finance Committee has these and many other tasks to tackle in the second half of 2008. We will continue to work together to do what’s right for America’s working families and business owners, to keep this country prosperous and globally competitive in the years to come.

Baucus is the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee.