Congress

Just over a year ago, we compared the measures of health reform to the traits of a certain "good baseball team." Unfortunately, that good baseball team performed about as well as our current health system, which is to say, mediocre at best.

Sure there were islands of excellence, but like health care, the team seemed doomed by inconsistent performances, poor investments, and unmanageable chronic conditions.

Yet, in baseball and health reform, hope springs eternal. Capturing that optimism of Opening Day is a column by E.J. Dionne Jr. in Monday's Washington Post stating: "Yes, this is the year Congress will finally give every American access to health insurance." A Red Sox fan, Dionne knows a thing or two about long waits, but like 2004, he predicts this time things will be different:

We had hoped that Health and Human Services Secretary-designate Kathleen Sebelius would be confirmed before the Senate left for its two-week recess, but it appears she will have to wait. As Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus told CQ yesterday: "I'm afraid there's a senator who will not grant consent so that means it has to be delayed until after the recess."

We'll be tweeting the the Senate Finance Hearing to consider the nomination of Governor Kathleen Sebelius to Secretary of HHS. If you're not following us already on Twitter, you can do so here. Check back later today for a wrap-up of the hearing's highlights.

Gatsby and Daisy. Lucy and Schroeder. Every John Cusack movie, ever. American culture and history are filled with great stories of unrequited love, but none greater or more important than health care, according Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR).

For decades and decades, Wyden told audiences at a policy briefing co-hosted by Roll Call and FD Dittus Communications on Wednesday, lawmakers in each era have repeatedly thought 'now is the time that we finally get meaningful health reform done.' Each time they've been frustrated, forced to scale back ambitions and abandon grand plans while the health care crisis continues to grow.

Until now.

Discussions of President Barack Obama's proposal to eliminate the Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) program have focused largely on its ramifications for major student loan providers. But there's another group deeply invested in preserving their livelihood through the FFEL program: student loan guaranty agencies. Though complex and often misunderstood, these agencies could play a crucial role in the debate over FFEL due to their strong political connections and public relations friendly activities. But what do these agencies actually do, what are they paid to accomplish, and just how connected are they to loan companies and states? Higher Ed Watch will attempt to answer these questions over the next few weeks with an occasional series on getting to know specific guaranty agencies.

Guaranty agencies have been involved with student loans since the 1950s, when a handful of states opened agencies to help college students obtain affordable loans. Soon after Congress created the original version of the FFEL program in 1965, it authorized the involvement of these agencies to encourage lenders to offer student loans by providing default insurance. Congress also gave the guarantors important oversight responsibilities, such as ensuring that lenders make a concerted effort to keep delinquent borrowers from defaulting. (More on the history of guaranty agencies can be found here.)

The Washington Nationals are still searching for a pair of outfielders to start at the corners, as well as fifth starter, and for that matter, a new GM. The city's Senators on the other hand, seem to have had no trouble fielding a formidable lineup—for health reform.

The issue of whether to include a public plan option as part of a reformed American health care system has already become quite polarizing. In hopes of avoiding an impasse and instead fostering a broad discussion of how to move ahead, John Bertko and I have written a paper outlining a way of structuring such a public plan that may help lead us to compromise and consensus.

It's on its way.

Over the weekend, the Department of Education released guidelines for the implementation of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA, or the "stimulus bill"), which includes nearly $100 billion in funding for PK-16 education.

Department of Education funding for early education will come through three programs: the State Fiscal Stabilization Fund, Title I funding, and IDEA. Note: we are still waiting for more information from the Department of Education, which plans to issue further guidelines in the coming weeks on how states can use ARRA funds for early childhood. The Department of Health and Human Services also has yet to release new information on ARRA funding for early education programs under its remit (including $2.1 billion for Head Start and Early Head Start and $2 billion for the Child Care Development Block Grant.)

Quick note -- My colleague, Paul Testa, just posted about Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus's goal of having health reform on President Obama's desk by July 4. Well, House Energy and Commerce Chairman, Henry Waxman (whose 59-member committee can move, shall we say, deliberately), wants to move quickly, but doesn't expect to move quite that quickly.

In his opening statement at today's Senate Finance hearing on "The President's Fiscal Year 2010 Health Care Proposals," Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT) said he and Sen. Chuck Grassely (R-IA) had laid out a schedule to have a bill on the president's desk by July 4th.

The ambitious agenda is another signal that Baucus intends to be one of the key players driving health reform forward. The Boston Globe an excellent piece detailing Baucus growing prominence in health care:

The careful Montanan, known for irritating the left wing of his party by compromising with the GOP on a range of matters, including the 2003 Medicare prescription drug bill, has suddenly become a leading force behind legislation that liberal Democrats have longed to pass for the last half-century. [...]

Because of Baucus's tendency to hew to the political middle, many healthcare reform advocates feared that the Democrats' top voice on finance would decide that a health bill was too expensive amid an economic crisis. In 1993, Finance Committee Chairman Daniel Patrick Moynihan insisted that healthcare reform wasn't a priority and helped kill Bill Clinton's plan.

Baucus has chosen a starkly different course, arguing with evangelical zeal that the economy's free fall is not an excuse to put off changes in healthcare but rather a compelling reason for a comprehensive fix: Healthcare costs, he argues, are bankrupting individuals, businesses, and government.

You can read Baucus's full opening statement at today's hearing is below: