On Monday, President Obama announced an agreement among major health care stakeholders to reduce costs by $2 trillion over the next ten years. In a letter to Obama, the American Medical Association, American Hospital Association, Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, America's Health Insurance Plans, Advanced Medical Technology Association, and Service Employees International Union laid out actions that would attempt to reduce the rate of increase in health care and insurance costs. The proposed 1.5 percent decrease in spending growth would save an average of $2,500 per family. While the actions laid out in the letter are currently vague, the group plans to release a more detailed plan for curtailing costs in the coming months. It is important to note that the pledge is voluntary and not enforceable by law. The affiliated associations are also composed of thousands of individual member companies and organizations that will need to take individual action to work with the cost reduction plan. 

House Democratic leadership has set an ambitious goal of passing health care reform legislation out of the chamber by July 31. At a meeting earlier in the week, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and the three chairmen of the committees with jurisdiction over health care indicated to President Obama that they would complete work in the House by the end of the summer. Passage in the House, however, would be only the first major step toward a final bill. Senate passage may take more time, and the two bills will almost certainly have significant differences that will need to be reconciled. House leaders are planning a series of meetings with key groups, including the moderate Blue Dog Democrats, to achieve consensus within their own party. The Blue Dogs this week released their "Principles for Health Care Reform" calling for preservation of patient choice of provider and continued competition in the marketplace. House Republicans wrote a letter this week to President Obama laying out areas where there may be agreement on reform and requesting a meeting at the White House.

The Senate Finance Committee held a roundtable discussion on options to finance health care reform. Chairman Max Baucus in his opening statement indicated that he is still considering the option of taxing health care benefits. Modification of the tax exclusion is highly controversial, and Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) was widely criticized for proposing a similar measure on the campaign trail. Ranking Member Charles Grassley (R-IA) in his opening statement called for the active involvement by President Obama to patch up differences between the House and Senate. Starting next week the committee will "walk-through" the various options for funding and lay the groundwork for legislation.

President Obama and Treasury officials have announced their support for the restructuring of an alternative fuels tax credit that paper companies have recently used to save billions in taxes. Treasury officials maintain that the credit was intended to provide for alternative fuel use in vehicles. The paper industry has long used a wood byproduct known as black liquor to fuel some paper mills. By mixing black liquor with fossil fuels, paper producers qualified for the credit. The credit expires at the end of the year without Congressional action, but Treasury officials indicated that they could work with Congress to modify the provision to exclude paper producers sooner.

On Monday, the U.S. Treasury Department issued President Obama's "General Explanations of the Administration's Fiscal Year 2010 Revenue Proposals"-better known as the Greenbook. The plan details the various tax proposals contained in the FY 2010 budget, including the proposals to raise the tax rates of the top two income tax brackets. The report also details the administration's proposal to repeal the last-in, first-out (LIFO) method of accounting.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) received industry testimony this week regarding the new labeling requirements of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA). Companies who manufacture a broad array of children's products brought forth concerns about how labels could be integrated into products. Presentations and video from the hearing will be available soon on the CPSC website. Printing Industries and allies in the publishing industry recently submitted comments regarding implementation of the labeling requirements. In the case of books, the copyright page already contains the type of information required. Printing Industries also expressed concerns about whether such labels would be required on smaller components in children's products such as individual playing cards or stickers.

House Energy and Commerce Chairman Henry Waxman (D-CA) today released his comprehensive energy legislation, including a carbon cap and trade program. While Waxman had previously released an outline of the plan, today's bill contains details that will allow lawmakers to determine the costs of the legislation. Waxman will begin to mark up the bill starting early next week. Release of the bill follows extensive negotiations with Democrats on the committee. Printing Industries is studying the new bill and will provide details of interest to the printing and graphic communications industry shortly. While introduction of the bill indicates that Waxman believes the bill will pass through committee, moderate Blue Dog Democrats this week staked out a position on the renewable energy mandate included in the bill. In a document released earlier this week, the Blue Dogs called for a broad definition of renewable energy, including nuclear and clean coal.

Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis has requested additional funding for enforcement of wage and hour laws that would allow for the department to hire new employees. Solis is requesting a 10 percent increase that would allow for 878 new employees to investigate wage disputes. The increase in employer enforcement comes in part at the expense of the Office of Labor-Management Standards, which has responsibility for investigating union fraud. Rep. Todd Tiahrt (R-KS) criticized the move: "The fact that from 2001 to 2008 the Labor Department secured more than 1,000 union fraud-related indictments and 929 convictions proves that workers deserve protection from more than just employers."

Former Sen. George McGovern (D-SD) has continued his criticism of EFCA by penning an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal opposing the legislation's mandatory binding arbitration section. McGovern has received a good deal of criticism from former labor allies but has continued and broadened his opposition to the bill. McGovern traces his anti-EFCA stance to his time running a hotel and personally dealing with labor contract negotiations.

Printing Industries joined with other concerned associations and companies on a letter to Treasury Secretary Geithner calling for the department to make critical regulatory changes to help stabilize pension plans and related expenses. First, the letter calls for companies to be permitted to make new interest rate elections for plan years beginning in 2010. Without this critical change, some companies could find their 2009 contributions to be unaffordable. The second request is that the funding regulations should not be effective until plan years beginning after December 31, 2009. This would allow for sufficient time for non-calendar year plans to adapt to the new regulations.

Florida Governor Charlie Crist (R) this week announced that he would enter the race to replace retiring Sen. Mel Martinez (R). The race already features Florida House Speaker Marco Rubio (R), but the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) has already lined up behind Crist. Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and NRSC Chairman John Cornyn (R-TX), along with a number of other prominent Republican Senators, quickly endorsed Crist. Florida is a critical swing state, and national Republicans are hopeful that the popularity of Crist will propel him to the seat next year.

The Minnesota State Supreme Court heard arguments this week in Sen. Norm Coleman's (R) challenge to the 2008 election results. Al Franken (D) is contesting Coleman's claim that nearly 4,900 absentee ballots were unfairly excluded from the recount. Franken is also requesting that the State Supreme Court order Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R) to promptly issue a certificate of election should the court rule in his favor. Pawlenty maintains that he will not sign the certificate until Coleman has exhausted his appeals which could lead to the U.S. Supreme Court.

"You take away the arbitration issue, and you still have the ‘card check', so that doesn't work. You take away the ‘card check' and you still have the arbitration problem. And if both go away, you're left with nothing. It's a fool's errand to do this. I just don't see an agreement happening."

-Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE) on a possible EFCA compromise

"EPA regulation of carbon dioxide is likely to have serious economic consequences for regulated entities throughout the U.S. economy, including small businesses and small communities."

-Anonymous Obama Administration Official in Office of Management and Budget collected comments on EPA greenhouse gas regulation