Sens. John D. (Jay) Rockefeller IV (D-W.V.) and Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) on April 18 released legal opinions from the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office (GAO) and Congressional Research Service (CRS), both of which indicate that the Aug. 17 State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) “directive” is in fact a rule for purposes of the Congressional Review Act and, therefore, in violation of the statutory requirements for congressional notice and review.
At the request of the two senators, GAO and CRS were asked to provide their independent legal analyses of the directive issued last year by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). The directive mandates that states achieve 95 percent enrollment of children in families earning less than 200 percent of the poverty level before they can seek to enroll additional low-income children in families earning more than 250 percent of the poverty level.
“Rather than working with Congress and the governors in an open, cooperative, and transparent manner, CMS chose to circumvent the rules and go their own way,” said Snowe. “As we can see from the opinions released today, this is clearly the wrong approach.” Read the hearing testimony. Read the GAO legal opinion. Read the CRS legal opinion.
