A look at the week on Capitol Hill
Stop arguing, already: Kenner businessman Al Herrera has a simple message for Republicans and Democrats: The nation can't afford more gridlock when it comes to solving the nation's debt problems. Instead of holding to rigid positions -- for some Republicans it's no increases in taxes, for some Democrats, it's no changes in entitlement programs -- the two sides need to compromise.
If they do, the economy will flourish, predicted Herrera, who operates IPS of Louisiana Corp., an industrial parts supplier with 20 employees. Right now, he said, a lot of small business owners aren't willing to invest in expansion, or on new startups, because they don't know what the future holds. "A serious deal is the only kind of security that will encourage entrepreneurs like me to continue starting and growing businesses," Herrera said.
He participated in a roundtable discussion Thursday about the nation's fiscal problems, led by former Shreveport Republican Rep. Jim McCrery. Herrera was brought to Washington by a group called Fix the Debt, which is working on -- you guessed it -- a debt reduction package.
Nice house, says Bill Clinton in New Orleans: This item comes courtesy of my Times-Picayune/NOLA.com, colleague, Laura Maggi. It turns out that former President Bill Clinton did more during his visit to New Orleans this week than give a speech to a medical conference. He went to the New Orleans home of his former campaign advisor, James Carville and his Republican wife, Mary Matalin, for a fund-raiser for Terry McAuliffe, Clinton's former finance director who is running for governor of Virginia. Laura tells me that Clinton spoke about the fund-raiser during his appearance at the medical convention.
"They did a reception for me on behalf of a friend of ours this morning," Clinton said. "I said that Carville had obviously done well, since, I let him escape government service. There were parts of his home here in New Orleans that made the White House look like public housing. And that his wife could at least take comfort from the fact that he is now living like a Republican." Mayor Mitch Landrieu, and his parents, former Mayor Moon Landrieu and Verna Landrieu, attended. "Had a great time with President Clinton," Mitch Landrieu tweeted.
Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush
Not really what Jeb Bush said: Sorry. I got a quotation wrong from former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush's recent speech at a Texas conference. Bush was speaking about what it was like before school reform efforts were implemented for Florida's education system. Rather than the version we offered in last week's On the Hill, a Bush spokeswoman said that what Bush actually said was that his state's poor education results led "some, not me, but some to say thank God for Louisiana and Mississippi," which ranked lower in public school rankings. Bush wasn't saying that he was personally thankful that other states are under-performing in educational achievement.
Bush isn't ruling out a race for the GOP presidential nomination in 2016 and might find himself running against a field that includes Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal.
Obama charm offensive doesn't reach Louisiana: President Barack Obama's charm offensive -- dinners and lunches with GOP members of Congress -- hasn't reached the Louisiana congressional delegation. At least, not yet. This week, Obama had lunch with 12 GOP senators (David Vitter of Louisiana wasn't among them), and the next day, lunch with former GOP vice presidential candidate and House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Ind., and the panel's top Democrat, Chris Van Hollen of Maryland.
No invitations yet for Louisiana's six Republican congressional members. Perhaps, it because some haven't expressed much willingness to compromise on spending and tax issues.
But they'll all get their chance. Over the next week, the president is scheduled to meet with the entire GOP House and Senate delegations - in separate meetings. Rep. Steve Scalise, R-Jefferson, said that it's a good thing the president is "finally" reaching out to Congressional Republicans. But will it lead to an agreement on thorny spending issues? Scalise said that, as far as he's concerned, the GOP did all the compromising it's prepared to do on taxes by allowing some Bush income tax reductions to expire on the first of the year.
Vitter offers health care bills: Sen. David Vitter, R-La., has introduced and co-sponsored a range of bills dealing with health care issues. One has no chance of being enacted -- a repeal of President Barack Obama's 2010 Affordable Care Act -- given that the Senate Democratic majority would never go along, and even if it did, the bill would be instantly vetoed by the president. But others have a shot.
Vitter co-sponsored bills that would expand access to breast cancer screenings and stop what he calls "pay-for-delay deals" in which the big drug companies negotiate agreements to delay the release of less expensive generic drugs. Another bill the senator is co-sponsoring reflects his priority since he first ran for Congress in 2004 -- allowing importation of "safe" but less expensive prescription drugs from countries such as Canada. On that bill, Vitter is joining forces with liberal Minnesota Democratic Sen. Al Franken.
Unintended consequence of Medicare reform: A Medicare policy designed to save money is having unintended consequences for many Louisiana seniors, according to New York Sen. Charles Schumer, D-NY. As a result of these reforms, many patients are being admitted to hospitals, not as regular patients, which has a larger reimbursement rate, but with "observation" status with a lower reimbursement rate.
The problem, according to Schumer, is that Medicare will pay for temporary nursing home care for Medicare recipients after three days of hospitalization, but not for those discharged from three days or more of observation status.
Schumer said that many outgoing hospital patients need the temporary nursing home care -- whether it's after three days of traditional hospitalization care or three days of observation. And right now, only one group is getting the subsidized care. A Schumer bill attempts to remedy that.