State Update

Enzi bill follow-up

The small business insurance bill is catching fire this week. State officials are ramping up the rhetoric about its impact on their insurance laws. But a CBO report released last night also predicts that states would save money on their Medicaid programs if the bill passed in its current form:

On net, CBO estimates that enacting S. 1955 would reduce direct spending for the federal share of Medicaid expenditures by $235 million over the 2007-2011 period and $790 million over the 2007-2016 period. In addition, the bill would result in estimated Medicaid savings to states totaling $180 million over the 2007-2011 period and $600 million over the 2007-2016 period.

Last year alone, Medicaid cost the states and the feds $330 billion, as in "billion" with a "B." So the Medicaid savings would be miniscule to say the least.

Extra, extra...

I promise not to do this every time I write something, but you might want to check out a story I wrote for the May edition of Illinois Issues. It explains some of the state's efforts to build homeland security infrastructure and how cuts in the federal budget may affect those initiatives.

Luckily, the magazine's full of thought-provoking stories, most of which you can check out online. And Bethany Carson, Illinois Issues' Statehouse reporter, has a blog worth checking out too.

Shameless self-promotion

Today's lead story at Stateline.org (yeah, I wrote it) discusses a pretty controversial bill that could be coming before Congress next week or the week after. It deals with insurance reforms that governors, attorneys general and insurance regulators worry will cut states out of regulating health insurance. It's not the sexiest topic in the world, but it's worth looking into.

More immigration fall-out

There are currently nine members of the U.S. House seeking to become governors in their home states. Seven of them voted in favor of a House bill that sparked a huge backlash among the immigrant community. It would beef up border security and make sneaking into the country a criminal offense. It would also penalize those that help illegal immigrants. The measure, HR 4437, passed on a 239-182 vote on Dec. 16.

Six of the Republicans and one of the Democrats pursuing a governor's seat voted in favor of it. One Democrat voted against it, and one Republican missed the vote. Here's how it breaks down:

YES
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U.S. Rep. Jim Nussle (R-Iowa)
U.S. Rep. Butch Otter (R-Idaho)
U.S. Rep. Bob Beauprez (R-Colo.)
U.S. Rep. Tom Osborne (R-Neb.)
U.S. Rep. Jim Gibbons (R-Nev.)
U.S. Rep. Ted Strickland (D-Ohio)
U.S. Rep. Mark Green (R-Wis.)

NO
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U.S. Rep. Jim Davis (D-Fla.)

NOT VOTING
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U.S. Rep Ernest Istook (R-Okla.)

Where to begin?

If one thing's clear, the immigration debate is affecting every corner of this country these days. A half a million people rallied in Los Angeles, another 300,000 or so took to the streets in Chicago and demonstrations cropped all over the place (Colorado, New Jersey, Ohio, Wisconsin, just to name a few) there's been plenty of media coverage.

While the U.S. Senate debates the merits and details of a guest worker program, states are struggling with a whole host of immigration-related topics as well. A few quick links:

• Stateline.org Staff Writer Mark K. Matthews gives an overview of the wide-ranging reactions to immigration in statehouses on NPR's "All Things Considered." (Yeah, it's a little self-promotion, so what?)
• Two of the three GOP candidates for governor in Nebraska say they would back a bill giving children of illegal immigrants the opportunity to receive in-state tuition rates for public universities there. Gov. Dave Heineman, the third candidate, said he wasn't sure if he could support such a measure.

Monster's ball

Elmo, the oh-so-cute Sesame Street icon, will appear at this weekend's meeting of the National Governors Association, in an effort to promote healthy living.

Elmo is no political neophyte, though. The governors should remember that the wide-eyed monster has already lobbied Congress on behalf of music education (right).

"Please, Congress, help Elmo's friends find the music inside them," Elmo told a House appropriations subcommittee in 2002 as he asked for $2 million.