Government SHUTDOWN

One of the jobs of being a lobbyist is reporting on the potential effects of proposed legislation. Often times, (more often than not) members of Congress will sign onto a bill, rule change or procedure and have no idea how it will actually play out. The change could have unintended results and could be potentially devastating for different parts of the economy. One of Patton Boggs’ responsibilities is to protect its clients interests by demonstrating how legislation would effect the environment. It is called an environmental assessment and something that I have most recently become a part of.

Patton Boggs represents the Children’s Hospitals Kings Daughters, Albert Einstein Healthcare Group, and Resurrection Healthcare Group. My main responsibilities in the Health Care group has been with these three clients, informing them of activities of local legislators and policy makers. Helping develop information on the effect of Health Care Reform Repeal and changes in High Tech Information Technology has taken up most of my time. I was a part of the response written by Patton Boggs on how these changes could affect hospitals and showed how certain aspects could make it overly burdensome for hospitals such as

• 1099 Reporting Requirements
• Cadillac Plan Tax
• Individual Mandate
• Restrictions for marketing

Along the same lines, one key current event in Washington is a potential government shutdown. For those of you who do not know what a government shutdown is…. I will explain it for you. OK, the government collects money in the form of taxes from its citizens and needs to figure out how to spend the money which is called budget financing. In order for the budget financing proposal to go into effect, it must be passed both the House and the Senate and be signed by the President. I government shutdown occurs when the legislative bodies cannot agree on a budget financing proposal for the pending fiscal year. Without the appropriation of funds, the government is forced to discontinue providing services and only continue essential programs. Essential services include: defense, air trafficking, police, utilities, and fire fighters.

As you might know, typically Democrats want to expand government and the Republicans want to limit it. This is precisely what the two are arguing over in the budget financing proposal. The Republicans are proposing a $6.2 trillion cut in government spending over the next decade, eliminating hundreds of duplicative programs, curbing corporate welfare, and banning earmarks. This would help reduce the deficit and reach a sustainable government. In regards to taxes, Republicans want to keep the taxes low to allow the economy to grow and eliminate $800 billion in tax increases proposed by the health care law. For growth and jobs, they estimate nearly 1 million new private sector jobs and unemployment rate down to 4 percent by 2015.

For the Democrats, these cuts will hurt the economy and halt job creation. Since Obama took office in 2008, the number of jobs in the United States has steadily increased due to the stimulus package aka government expansion and spending. Democrats are afraid that if programs are cut then jobs will be lost and unemployment will skyrocket. They have made it clear they would like to reduce the deficit too, but not eliminate programs that are creating jobs. (or ones that cut teachers pay)

It will be interesting to watch and see what will happen with the budget this week. A government shutdown will be devastating to much of the work that I have been doing for the past couple of weeks. Maybe the Reps and the Dems can come to some common ground and no matter what actually happens both sides will claim victory.