The U.S. Conference of Mayors met today to discuss issues of importance to cities across the nation. Some highlighted points from the meeting:

Homeland Security

• Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle (D-South Dakota) and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-California) went on record and supported direct First Responder funding to localities
• Conference of Mayors urged Congress to provide First Responder funding in a Supplemental Appropriations Bill
• Susan Collins (R-Maine) proposed that cities need direct funding for Homeland Security
• The National League of Cities and other "Big 7" organizations still support First Responder funds being distributed to cities via states

Transportation

• Mayors outlined three principles that should guide TEA 21 reauthorization
  1. Increased funding
  2. Sub-allocation
  3. Congestion mitigation
• Conference of Mayors concerned about maintaining significant levels of funding for transit programs in TEA 3
• House Subcommittee Chairman Jack Quinn (R-NY) will likely hold hearing on the future of Amtrak in late March
• Conference of Mayors does not believe that Congress will pass both Amtrak reauthorization legislation and TEA 3 in the same year - despite claims by Hill staffers that Congress will accomplish both tasks by the end of the year

Today, Senator Dodd decided to forego entering the already crowded Democratic presidential primary race, saying he'd rather focus on his work in the Senate. With Dodd's withdrawal, the only three remaining people whose names are still being tossed around for a possible run are Senator Joe Biden of Delaware, former NATO Supreme Commander Wesley Clark and former Senator Gary Hart. With fundraising time quickly evaporating, any additional candidates will have to make their decisions within a shortened timeframe, in order to avoid the catch-22 stigma of appearing too late to be elected, which reduces a donor's willingness to contribute, which exacerbates the original problem.

Senator Bob Graham from Florida has officially filed papers to form an exploratory presidential campaign. The Floridian is a former two-term governor and has won five statewide victories in this key battleground state. He has also served in the leadership of his party's senatorial campaign committee.

He has served as chairman of the Senate intelligence committee and spent last year warning the nation that the Bush administration is not doing enough to protect homeland from terrorist attacks.

Senator Graham is the ninth Democrat to get in the race. While it is widely viewed that he is getting in the race too late for financial and organizational reasons, his entry does complicate the lives of many Democrats already in the race. He eliminates Senator John Edwards of being the only southerner in the race. His vote against the resolution authorizing war in Iraq will eliminate former Governor Howard Dean as the only candidate with executive experience who is against the war in Iraq. Being a Floridian will also cut into Senator Joe Lieberman's popularity in the state.

Senator Graham is from a wealthy landowning family in Florida. He waited to get into the race to recover from major heart surgery performed in January.

On February 27, members of the States for Passenger Rail Coalition met with members of Congress to discuss passenger rail funding.

The States for Passenger Rail Coalition is an organization of 24 state transportation departments working to enhance passenger rail in America and to advocate for the development of high-speed rail corridors throughout the country. David King, the chair of the coalition and Deputy Secretary for the North Carolina Department of Transportation, said at the meeting "states have been investing in their rail systems and are willing to continue to do their part, but they can not be expected to bear this burden alone." King also emphasized that the states "need a strong federal partner to work with states to support short-term stability and a long-term policy and funding solutions for intercity passenger rail."

King urged the federal government to make a greater financial commitment to rail infrastructure, much like it did in the 1950s with highways. According to King, about $60 billion will be needed for intercity passenger rail capital improvements over the next 20 years. King feels high-speed rail is economically viable and a competitive way to serve intercity travelers, traveling a few hundred miles or less. "We can no longer afford to ignore one of our nation’s most valuable transportation and economic assets", added King.

Leading the list of congressional speakers to the group was Rep. Jack Quinn (R-New York), Chairman of the Railroads Subcommittee. Quinn told the group, state transportation officials "will prove invaluable to me as the federal government outlines its role in our nation’s passenger rail system." Also speaking to them was Rep. Howard Coble (R-North Carolina).

On February 26, during a Joint Hearing between the Aviation and Railroad Subcommittees, Rep. John Mica (R-Florida), Chairman of the Aviation Subcommittee announced that Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska), Chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure (T&I) Committee, would reintroduce his high-speed rail bill from the last Congress, sometime this year. Also at the hearing, Rep. James Oberstar (D-Minnesota), Ranking Member of the House T&I Committee expressed hope that the Committee would try to bring up high-speed rail legislation before the reauthorization of TEA 21.

House Republicans are working to move legislation to better monitor patient safety, an issue that has gained public interest since the recent death of a young girl who received incompatible organs at Duke University. Today, the House Ways and Means Committee is to mark up its version of a bill (HR 877) to encourage doctors to voluntarily report errors they made.

This measure will have to be reconciled with a slightly different measure (HR 663) that the House Energy and Commerce Committee passed earlier this month. The full House may vote on the issue during the week of March 10, "patient safety awareness week". The Ways and Means Committee legislation is similar to a bill the panel reported out last September.

Both bills would allow the Department of Health and Human Services to create "patient safety organizations" that would collect confidential data on medical mistakes from hospitals, doctors and other health care providers. The reporting would be voluntary and in most cases could not be used for evidence by malpractice attorneys.

The patient safety organization would then analyze the error, identify solutions and provide feedback to correct mistakes. A database would be created to track national trends. No state law that has reporting requirements would be pre-empted or affected by the legislation.

The Energy and Commerce Committee version would prohibit the use of patient safety reports in malpractice lawsuits or accreditation actions and would allow fines of up to $10,000 for individuals who disclosed confidential, identifiable information submitted to the patient safety organizations or the patient safety database. The Ways and Means bill provides for a penalty of $50,000 for employers who retaliate against whistleblowers while the Energy and Commerce bill has a fine of $20,000.

Last year, Congress took up at least four bills to encourage health care providers to report medical errors in an effort to identify ways to improve patient safety. However, the issue fell victim to election-year politics.

Similar bills have been introduced in the Senate. Sen. Jeffords (I-Vermont) introduced a medical errors bill last year but action was stalled because of concerns raised by then-Chairman Ted Kennedy (D-Massachusetts). Kennedy was concerned that such legislation could weaken state medical quality programs as well as the ability of patients to obtain redress when they are injured as a result of medical mistakes.

In a hearing before the House Budget Committee on February 26, Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Tommy Thompson defended the administration's Medicaid proposal.

Chairman Jim Nussle (R-Iowa) opened the hearing by raising concerns over the delay in the introduction of the administration's Medicare and Medicaid proposal. Nussle stated that the committee needed proposals within the next three weeks to include such plans in the budget reconciliation bill, which is due by April 15th. Secretary Thompson was non-committal on an exact date of introduction, but pledged that the administration is in the midst of formulating a proposal. The Secretary asked for pertinence and promised an administration proposal in short time. Nussle, however, did praise the Secretary for his work in bioterrorism.

Senior Democrat James Moran (D-Virginia) also raised concerns over the HHS budget for FY 2004. Moran is worried that federal Medicaid payments to states would be capped by the implementation of block grants, but the Secretary pointed out that no such thing would occur. Thompson strongly asserted that the Medicaid system was in need of reform. The Secretary said that 38 states have already cut back on Medicaid services and more would cut back on services if changes were not enacted.

Thompson outlined the main principles of what the administration's Medicaid proposal would look like. Thompson said that states would soon have the option of choosing partnership allotments over the current Medicaid system. The allotment option would allow states the opportunity to receive two separate grants from the federal government: one for acute-care and one for short-term care. Also, the option would combine Medicaid payments with states' Children Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) payments. Under current law, states must return SCHIP payments not used back to the federal government, which the administration wants to change.

If states choose the allotment option, they would also have the flexibility to alter coverage for certain populations, said Thompson. Under current rules, states cannot offer different coverage options to different groups of optional populations. According to the Secretary, the allotment option would provide states with the opportunity to offer different coverage for various optional recipients of Medicaid. For example, the Secretary asserted that instead of eliminating whole populations, which many of the states have been forced to do, states with fiscal trouble could require that optional recipient groups purchase private insurance. However, Thompson stressed throughout the hearing that the allotment program was an option and would be not be forced upon states. Thompson made it clear that states could stay in the current system, but certainly advocated on behalf of the allotment option.

Tommy Thompson stated that close to 1/3 of the Medicaid population is optional, but the optional population is responsible for 2/3rds of the cost, which is necessitating that governors cut whole populations instead of restructuring coverage. While the administration wants to provide states with flexibility with respect to optional Medicaid populations to preserve services, the Secretary reassured members that mandatory benefits for mandatory populations would not change.

Some Democratic committee members like Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisconsin), Artur Davis (D-Alabama) and Darlene Hooley (D-Oregon), expressed concern over the administration's plan and whether the federal government would increase Medicaid payments to states. The Secretary tried to assuage their fears by claiming that federal payments to states as a percentage would increase in the coming years. Thompson reiterated that states could save money and preserve services by enrolling in the allotment option.

Congressman Bill Young (R-Florida)'s tenure as Chairman of the House Appropriations Committee will end next year. This paves the way for a high-profile fight to succeed him and also may force Young to retire from Congress, opening up a potentially competitive seat.

Names circulating to succeed Young as chairman include Representatives Jerry Lewis (R-California) and Hal Rodgers (R-Kentucky), who are currently third and fourth respectively in panel seniority. Second in seniority is Rep. Ralph Regula (R-Illinois), but it is unclear if he will pursue the Chairmanship.

Congressman Pat Toomey (R-Penn) is honoring his pledge to step down from the House after three terms and is preparing to formally announce Friday that he will challenge fellow Republican Senator Arlen Specter next year.

A number of the Members of the Republican House delegation have already said they are supporting Senator Specter's bid for a fifth term. Republican representatives Greenwood, English, Shuster and Platts are all publicly backing Specter for re-election. The White House has sent clear signals that they would support Specter in the primary.

The Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee (RSCC) has also indicated that they will stand strongly behind incumbent Specter. This differs from last year when the RSCC indicated that they would support incumbent then-Senator Bob Smith of New Hampshire in another Republican primary, but did little to help him.

Representative Toomey's chances in the primary don't appear to be strong. Specter already has 10 times as much cash on hand as Toomey.

As expected, Glenn Hubbard, the chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers (CEA), announced his resignation, effective tomorrow. He served as a key advisor to the President and was one of the major forces behind the administration's tax cut plans. The White House named N. Gregory Mankiw, a economics professor at Harvard to the post immediately following Hubbard's announcement.

On February 25, the Reason Foundation, a conservative-leaning think tank, released a report (in .pdf format) which calls for toll lanes to be used in eight regions around the country to help ease traffic congestion. The eight regions for which this solution is suggested are Atlanta, Dallas-Forth Worth, Houston, Miami, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle and Washington.

The proposal focuses on the use of so-call "HOT" lanes (high occupancy toll lanes) which are free to high occupancy vehicles but charge a toll for single occupant autos. At their best, HOT lanes have been shown to reduce congestion on nearby untolled lanes by allowing those who drive HOVs or take transit and those willing to pay a premium to use the special lane.

Peyser Associates has been working in this area since 1984 when a group of private sector firms engaged us to promote the concept of blending toll financing and Federal-Aid highway funds. The 1987 surface transportation act included such a provision and subsequent authorization bills have broadened the authority.

The New York Times of February 26 carried an article on the Reason Foundation proposal. You can also find information on the study by visiting The Reason Public Policy Institute website.

Please call us if you have any questions or need more information on this proposal

After a rocky and partisan start on Sunday, February 23, the National Governors Association (NGA) on the following day approved two policy resolutions putting the organization on record on two key issues: Fiscal Relief for the States and Medicaid.

The meeting started on a note of foreboding on the 23rd when in a rare roll call vote, the Executive Committee of the NGA tabled a policy resolution calling for fiscal relief for the states. The resolution had been worked out in bipartisan staff negotiations before the meeting. Also on Sunday, it appeared a resolution on Medicaid reform would also be removed from possible consideration because of partisan divides.

A closed-door lunch meeting on Monday and lots of behind-the-scenes maneuvering by staff brought both policy resolutions back to life and to ultimate approval.

On fiscal relief, the NGA agreed to seek on a bipartisan basis in the fiscal 2004 funding cycle more Federal support in the following three areas:

• Special Education

  -- to bring Federal assistance closer to the previously promised level of 40% of total costs.

• Homeland Security

  -- to supply flexible Federal funds for homeland security activities like smallpox vaccinations, communications upgrades for police and fire, transit security, etc.

• No Child Left Behind

  -- increase Federal support for implementation of the education reform package through a combination of increased flexibility and more Federal money.

In order to get a consensus on these items, all specific dollar amounts were dropped from the resolution. However, after the meeting at which it was approved, Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell (D) told reporters that the total price tag for these three items came to $21 billion. He went on to say that it would be realistic to hope for $10-12 billion of this to be approved this year.

On Medicaid, the NGA approved a general policy statement expressing their desire for more financial support and more flexibility. They also showed bipartisan agreement that the Medicare program should pick up the cost of prescription drugs for seniors who are also eligible for Medicaid. This change would require Medicare reform to go forward with a prescription drug benefit for seniors and a special provision on the so-called "dual eligibles." In order to hash out the thorny issues on Medicaid, the NGA agreed to set-up a task force of eight governors -- four from each party -- to discuss these issues with the Administration and Congress.

The task force will begin meeting early in March.

Now that the omnibus bill has passed, we can finally reveal the Fiscal Year 2003 requests versus enacted in comparison to the Fiscal Year 2004 numbers. Just check out the newly revised article over in the analysis section throughout the day as the numbers are added. Hopefully this will be the last time that the previous year's budget is finalized after the next year's requests are printed.

In what is shaping up to be an important year for intercity passenger rail, Amtrak President and CEO, David Gunn, detailed his FY 2004 Budget Request. Gunn indicated that Amtrak would get through the remainder of the fiscal year without service interruptions.

For FY 2004, Amtrak has submitted a grant request of $1.812 billion. Amtrak's grant request breaks down into two categories: capital and operating costs. Amtrak estimates that they will require $768 million in operating funds and $1.044 billion in capital funds to sustain intercity passenger rail service during FY 2004. While Congress has yet to pass reauthorization legislation for Amtrak, Mr. Gunn predicted that Amtrak will need just under $2 billion per year for the next 5 years. Gunn noted that equipment and infrastructure maintenance, repairs and upgrades can no longer deferred. According to Gunn, Amtrak must repair and maintain equipment or trains will no longer be able to run at top speeds and train service will suffer.

Gunn stated that the FY 2004 budget request would help Amtrak stabilize itself and allow the rail operator to continue to make needed reforms. Since the near shutdown of Amtrak service this past summer, Amtrak has already begun implementing various reforms. Already, Amtrak has eliminated a call center, streamlined its management, begun providing monthly financial reports, eliminated routes, reduced the workforce and repaired damaged equipment. In the coming months, Amtrak will renegotiate labor contracts which should provide some financial relief for the next few years.

In assessing the FY 2004 outlook, Gunn projects a decrease in passenger revenues because of a slowing economy. However, Gunn also projected substantial savings in expenses, due in part to reforms that have already been implemented and changes that will be undertaken. Some of Amtrak's goals for FY 2004 include: improving reliability and quality of existing service, reinvesting in deteriorating capital assets and not beginning any new service unless it pays for itself.

In terms of security matters, Gunn feels that the newly established Transportation Security Administration (TSA) must properly deal with Amtrak. Gunn is concerned that with the heightened threat of terrorism and only 400 Amtrak police officers, rail service is vulnerable to an attack. Gunn wants the TSA to provide, implement and pay for security measures for Amtrak.

Finally, Gunn reiterated his frustration with the administration for failing to contrive a viable national passenger rail policy. The administration, OMB and U.S. DOT continue to be vague on what they want to see from intercity passenger rail and Amtrak. DOT officials have made vague references to introducing competition in intercity passenger rail, but have provided little leadership on the issue, said Gunn. However, Gunn has repeatedly stated that "I am not a politician" and is mainly interested in stabilizing and improving Amtrak, while DOT officials and Congress decide the future of intercity passenger rail.

We've now got the fiscal year 2004 appropriation request deadlines for members posted over on the analysis portion of the website. The document itself is being updated on the fly, so check it out throughout the day to get the latest information.

Former U.S. Senator Carol Moseley-Braun (D-Illinois) and Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) both plan to file official papers today to form exploratory committees so their campaigns can begin raising money under federal election law. Candidates number 7 and 8 join the already large Democratic field which includes former Governor Howard Dean of Vermont, Senator John Edwards of North Carolina, Representative Richard A. Gephardt of Missouri, Senator John Kerry of Massaschusetts, Senator Joseph I. Lieberman of Connecticut and the Reverend Al Sharpton. Others are considering running including Senator Bob Graham of Florida, former Senator Gary Hart of Colorado and General Wesley K. Clark, retired.