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The Committee of Conference is over and a final budget has been produced for approval by both chambers; so what became of all of the controversial items? For the most part, the House acceded to the Senate position on most issues, although for the two largest stumbling blocks in the budget, Medicaid Expansion and Personnel Reductions, there was some compromise.
Now that the House and Senate have each passed their respective versions of the budget, the next phase in the process is the Committee of Conference, where appointees from each body will meet to hammer out a deal to reconcile the two proposed budgets. There is much common ground between the two proposals; however, there are a few key differences. While some are dollar figures others are more philosophically driven.
The national unemployment rate grew to 7.6% in May, up from 7.5% in April. That increase translates to 101,000 additional unemployed persons.
Author’s note: June 2015. This piece was originally written during the 2013 budget
The spending levels proposed for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) by the Governor, passed by the House, and proposed by the Senate Finance Committee are actually quite similar. The notable exception to this is the Uncompensated Care Fund, which are payments to hospitals to help pay for charity care.
The Unemployment rate in New Hampshire dropped to 5.5% in April, down from 5.7% in March. This drop represents nearly 1700 fewer unemployed in the state. According to the Household Survey, the number of people employed in New Hampshire also grew by over 1000, with the Labor Force contracting by roughly 500.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the national unemployment rate dropped to 7.5% in April, a decrease of .1 percentage points over the previous month. The number of unemployed fell by 83,000 while the Labor Force grew by 210,000.
A recent study published in the New England Journal of Medicine suggests that the expansion of Medicaid, which is currently being debated in many states, including here in New Hampshire, does little to improve the health of the newly covered.
The word “budget” comes from an old Middle English word used to describe a wallet or purse that held one’s available money. The state’s budget negotiation ultimately will harken back to the original meaning of the word. Lawmakers of both houses of the Legislature will be unable to begin a negotiation over policy choices until they can agree on how much is contained in the state’s purse.
Sound familiar? New Hampshire’s unemployment rate dropped from 5.8% to 5.7% in March, but not due to increased employment. According to the household survey data, the number of unemployed fell by 360 people, resulting in the .1 percentage point drop. However, the number of employed residents increased by 20, while the labor force shrank by 340.