Healthcare Monday

ON CAPITOL HILL

• House lawmakers have left town for the month, but the Senate is back this week to tie up some loose ends before the August recess. On their agenda, Democratic leaders are hoping to approve extra Medicaid funding to help states weather the recession-driven budget crises many still face. 

The Democrats' $16.1 billion proposal — like the one attached to last month's failed tax extenders bill — would hike the federal share of Medicaid payments by 3.2 percent for the first three months of 2011, and by 1.2 percent over the second three months. The current federal boost of 6.2 percent — included as an $87 billion provision of last year's economic stimulus bill — expires at the end of 2010.

The cloture vote on a larger package that includes the so-called FMAP increase is expected Monday. 

• White House officials will release a report Monday touting the cost-saving benefits that healthcare reform will have on Medicare. The law will save Medicare $8 billion through 2011, the report reveals, and nearly $600 billion over the next decade, adding 12 years to the life of Part B, the Associated Press reports. 

It's a thorny topic. Republicans claim the savings (which largely represent a slowing in projected growth, rather than outright cuts) will eliminate benefits and threaten seniors' access to care. Democrats, on the other hand, say they've simply trimmed the fat to make Medicare more efficient and sustainable. Both sides see their argument as a political winner in November.

• Also Monday, Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.) will unveil legislation extending minimum wage and overtime protections to home care workers, a group currently excluded from the wage rights contained in the Fair Labor Standards Act. Rep. Linda Sanchez (D-Calif.) introduced the same bill in the House last Wednesday.

OVERHEARD

• Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) told "Fox News Sunday" that new tax filing requirements for businesses — created to help pay for healthcare reform — are part of the reason that companies aren't hiring. 

"This massive health care bill we passed earlier this year requires every business to send out a 1099 form to the IRS every time they spend more than $600 — a massive paperwork increase," McConnell said. "We're offering that in the Senate as an amendment — let's get rid of that. We need to revisit this healthcare bill, which is the second reason, in addition to this massive tax increase, that business is not expanding.”

• Michelle Obama calls on Congress to pass a child-nutrition bill this year. 

IN THE NEWS

• The Food and Drug Administration is weighing whether to let a Massachusetts company market salmon that's been genetically modified to grow faster. If approved, it would be the first genetically modified animal allowed to be sold as food.  

• Rep. Paul Ryan (Wis.), senior Republican on the House Budget Committee, is actually serious about finding solutions to the entitlement crisis — to the discomfort of GOP leaders who would rather just win elections. 

• Some time off does some good for members of the clergy, who suffer obesity, depression and hypertension at higher rates than the rest of the country. 

CALENDAR

• The Alliance for Health Reform hosts a Capitol Hill event Monday to examine the challenges facing states as they implement the new healthcare reform law.