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Sen. Bill Nelson

Nelson renews call for Zinke to provide details of plan to keep Florida “off the table” to new drilling

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U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL) renewed his call today for Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke to explain exactly what he meant when he said that Florida would be “off the table” to new offshore oil drilling.

The move comes in response to comments made last week by a spokesman for Florida Gov. Rick Scott who said the governor “supports a 125-mile barrier around Florida,” a move that would allow oil rigs to drill 110 miles closer to Tampa Bay than they are currently allowed under federal law. Nelson says despite a Jan. 9 news conference where both Scott and Zinke announced that they had reached a deal to keep Florida “off the table” to new drilling, more recent comments made by both men suggest that “off the table” may not necessarily mean maintaining the current moratorium.

[Read more…] about Nelson renews call for Zinke to provide details of plan to keep Florida “off the table” to new drilling

Sen. Bill Nelson on Florida’s refusal to take federal money to enhance security of upcoming elections

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U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL) took to the Senate floor today to blast the state of Florida’s refusal to accept more than $19 million in federal funds to enhance the security of its voting equipment before the upcoming November elections.

“When you consider the risk and what Russia did, that the intelligence community all agree it did to us in the last election, why in the world would the state of Florida not apply for any of the $19 million set aside for our state?” Nelson said.

The funding was made available to states as part of a government spending bill Congress passed in March. That bill set aside more than $380 million to help state election officials strengthen their election security and update their election equipment. Of that $380 million that would be available to states, $19.2 million was specifically set aside for Florida.

Yet, despite an announcement today by the governor of Florida that he was directing Florida’s Secretary of State to start drawing down the federal funds, Florida has not done so. In fact, according to published news reports, Florida’s Secretary of State said recently that he doesn’t plan to make any of the federal funding available to local counties before the upcoming election.

“While at least a dozen of other states have taken advantage by applying for and receiving the funding to help them protect their systems from Russian intrusion, my state of Florida hasn’t even applied for one single dollar of the $19 million set aside for Florida. Not one,” Nelson said.

Following is a transcript of Nelson’s remarks on the Senate floor:

U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson
Remarks on the Senate floor
May 23, 2018

Sen. Nelson: Madam president, the right to vote is one of the most precious rights that we have here in America. How we protect it is so cherished and it’s cherished by a lot of people all over the world that don’t get a chance to exercise that right.

Our constitutional foundation is built on a process of free and fair and unfettered elections. Well, what happened in this country two years ago put a crack in that foundation and it started to sow the seeds of doubt that if gone unchecked, could undermine our entire democracy.

After painstaking analyses by the intelligence community, we know complete agreement in the intelligence community, unanimous in the I.C., we know that Russia interfered in our 2016 election. And we know that Russia continues to meddle in the elections of not only our country now but in other countries around the world. We saw that in the elections in Europe last year.

Fortunately, what they tried in France backfired on them, and they didn’t get their candidate to win. We also know that if we don’t act now, they’re likely going to continue this interference and the election here in this country is coming up in just a few months.

So the threat that we face today from Russia meddling in our elections and attempting to undermine our democracy, it’s really one of the greatest threats that we face. Congress recognizes this threat, and we have taken action to protect that vote, but none of it matters if the states, the respective states won’t work with us and take this threat seriously.

So last March we passed a bill here that authorized $380 million to help states’ elections officials strengthen their election security and update their election equipment. Now, $19 million of that total, that total of $380 million for the country, $19 million of it was set aside for my state, the state of Florida. And while at least a dozen of other states have taken advantage by applying for and receiving the funding to help them protect therapy systems better from Russian intrusion, my state of Florida hasn’t even applied for one single dollar of the $19 million set aside for Florida. Not one.

In fact, the government of Florida through Florida’s secretary of state said recently that he’s not planning to apply for any funding to improve security during the upcoming November election. Obviously, when you consider the risk and what Russia did that the intelligence community all agree did to us in the last election, why in the world would the state of Florida not apply for any of the $19 million set aside for our state?

So we know that Russia had already intruded into the election mechanism and records of 21 states. The state of Florida was one of those states. And although we don’t know what kind of interference the Russians are going to try in this upcoming November, we do know that Russian president Vladimir Putin having interfered in 2016 and causing so much chaos and, therefore, attacking the very foundation of our constitutional democracy is likely to do it again.

So why wouldn’t the government of the state of Florida apply for $19 million of funds set aside for Florida to upgrade and protect our election system? We know we’re not the only country that has been attacked. According to the U.S. Intelligence community, he obviously is going to continue this so we better get ready. And that’s why we have such a heavy responsibility to defend America from these kinds of attacks.

And to defend our process of free and fair and unfettered elections. We need to rebuild trust in our elections and, at the same time, we need to ensure that every citizen who wants to exercise their right to vote has the confidence that their vote can be exercised. It also can be counted, and it can be counted as they intended it to count. Well, remember this goes back to 1965.

Congress passed the Voting Rights Act of 1965 to protect the right of every citizen to vote. But in a 5-4 supreme court decision, it declared that part of that law was outdated, and it removed much-needed voter protections that we’ve come to rely on for minorities, and we’ve come to rely on it for the last half-century.

And part of that supreme court decision struck down part of the law as it applied to protecting minorities in certain counties in the state of Florida. The justices voted to strike down that important part of the voting rights act on a 5-4 decision because they said it was outdated because we no longer have the blatant voter suppression tactics that we once did years and decades ago. Madam president, I disagree.

We’ve seen a lot of voter suppression. Just take since the 2010 election, we’ve seen a number of states, including my state of Florida, approve voting restrictions targeted directly at reducing turnout among young, low income and minority voters. Why? Because they traditionally support one particular party. In 2011, for example, the Florida legislature and state officials and the governor of Florida reduced the number of early voting days in Florida, including canceling the Sunday as an early voting date of the Sunday before the Tuesday elections.

And it’s not a coincidence that we find in the use of early voting days — particularly on weekends but particularly on that Sunday before the Tuesday election when people have now become sensitive and recognize that there’s about to be election day, particularly minority voters — African Americans as well as hispanics — in Florida took advantage of voting when they did not have to go to work. You heard the term “Souls to the polls.” So often many church members after church on Sunday would go to the polls.

And so they made voting more difficult for people, also who had moved to a different county. It became more difficult, even though we have a very mobile population moving within a state , and they also made it more difficult for young people, particularly college students, who changed their address because they moved and wanted to vote in the town where the university was but that their identification often was their driver’s license, and it showed their parents’ residence. Again making it more difficult instead of making it easier to vote.

And the state of Florida, they subjected voter registration groups, like the League of Women Voters that had been registering voters for three-quarters of a century, suddenly they subjected them to penalties and fines if they didn’t turn it in, the signatures, within a short period of time, which was impossible if you got the signatures over a weekend, and knit-picking on penalties and fines on some small mistake when they were trying to help someone register to vote.

Happily, the League of Women Voters took that to federal court, and the federal judge threw that law out as unconstitutional. But what happened, by the time of that decision, it was right before the election, and lo and behold the League of Women Voters had lost a year and a half of voter registration.

In 2014, an elections official — now, you can’t believe this. In Miami-Dade, which was coincidentally one of the more democratic counties in the state , a Miami-Dade elections official closed restrooms to voters who were waiting in line at the polling sites. As a matter of fact, there was so much chaos in one previous election, the election of 2012, that lines were upwards of seven hours long.

I’ll never forget the woman who was a century old — 100 years — everybody kept bringing her a chair, bringing her water. Well, some of those waiting in lines didn’t have the opportunity to go to the restroom yet, despite voting hours and hours.

And that same election cycle, 2014, the state’s top election official told a local elections supervisor not to allow voters to submit absentee ballots at remote dropoff sites, ordering that that elections official, that there could only be one site. That supervisor of elections, by the way, told the state of Florida to go take a hike, that they had a way of securing the ballots by dropping it in several different sites that were formally approved.

And then the state of Florida denied a request from the city of Gainesville to use a University of Florida campus building for early voting, a move seen by some as a direct assault on student voting. Now, can you believe that? We’re going to order the state of Florida government, through the secretary of state, is going to order the university of Florida not to allow the student center on campus to be a place of convenience for students to cast an early vote. And that order has stood. It stood — instead of making it easier for people to vote, making it harder. And too often here we have let these things go.

Well, this senator is not letting it go because the League of Women Voters in Florida has now taken the government of the state of Florida in to federal court on behalf of students at the University of Florida as well as Florida State, saying that you arbitrarily saying we cannot vote in a convenient place on campus in a public building, government-owned public building on campus, that you cannot order us that we cannot use that.

In anticipation, this court case of this coming November’s elections. So, too often we find ourselves divided on these issues of party politics, but that shouldn’t be the case. There should be no disagreement when it comes to protecting the right to vote and making it easier, not harder, for people to vote. Why? Because we ought to be Americans first, not partisans first. We should be Americans first. And the state of Florida should get its act in order to let the people vote. Madam president, I yield the floor.

Nelson files bill to increase student access to telehealth amidst opioid epidemic

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U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL) introduced legislation Tuesday that would require the federal government to explore the use of telehealth as a cost-efficient way to provide students with substance use disorders – such as an addiction to alcohol or opioids – the professional help they need at their school health clinics.

The legislation – known as the Telehealth for Children’s Access to Services and Treatment Act (TeleCAST Act) – would direct the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office (GAO) and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to study options to provide students Medicaid-funded telehealth services at their school health centers, especially in rural and underserved areas where the number of available doctors is more scarce.

“The nation’s opioid crisis is devastating our communities,” Nelson said. “Providing our students easy access to the treat these substance use disorders sooner rather than later is just another small step we can take in this ongoing fight against this growing public health emergency.”

Telehealth services allow patients to meet with a doctor via video conferencing or over the phone, instead of requiring them to meet in person.

By using telehealth services, one doctor can be available to students at multiple schools in a single day. It also eliminates the time and expense that often prohibits some rural patients from seeking help from a doctor located miles away.

The bill is cosponsored by Sens. Pat Roberts (R-KS), Tom Carper (D-DE), John Cornyn (R-TX), Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), John Thune (R-SD) and Mark Warner (D-VA).

Here is a copy of the TeleCAST Act.

Nelson files bill to hire more mental health counselors in schools

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U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL) filed legislation today to hire more mental health professionals in schools across the country.

The move comes in the wake of recent school shootings in Florida and Texas, and a 2016 report from the Florida Association of School Psychologists that found Florida has only one school psychologist for every 1,983 students.

Compared to the nationally recommended ratio of between 500 and 700 students per psychologist, the data shows Florida has only one-fourth the number of school psychologists it needs to properly care for its students. And that lack of available mental health professionals in Florida’s schools is one of the reasons why only a small percentage of children in Florida who need mental health services receive them.

“We can’t allow what happened in Parkland and in Texas to become the new normal in this country,” Nelson said on the Senate floor Monday. “We have to do more to protect our kids in school and ensure that any student who needs mental health services is able to get them.”

If approved, the legislation would require the U.S. Department of Education to conduct a study to determine which areas of the country have a shortage of school mental health professionals. It would also provide federal education grants to colleges and universities that partner with low-income school districts to train school counselors, social workers, psychologists and other mental health professionals in the underserved school districts that need them the most.

And finally, to encourage metal health professionals to work in these school districts, Nelson’s bill would establish a federal student loan forgiveness program for mental health professionals who work at least five years in a low-income school district.

Nelson says he started working on the measure in the wake of the Parkland tragedy but last week’s shooting at a high school in Santa Fe, Texas created a new sense of urgency in getting it approved.

The lack of mental health professionals at schools in Florida was one of several issues raised in the wake of the tragic shooting in Parkland, Florida earlier this year. In response to the tragedy, the Florida Legislature approved $69 million to provide additional mental health resources in schools in Florida.

Some mental health professionals have said the funding approved by the Legislature is a good first step, but still not enough. They also say even more will be needed to hire mental health professionals in areas that have been traditionally hard to staff, such as rural and low-income school districts.

To help address those issues, among others, Nelson’s legislation would create federal-grant funding and student-loan forgiveness opportunities specifically for the counselors and higher-education programs that work to provide services in the districts that need them the most.

The legislation is cosponsored by Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT).

Text of the bill is available here.

Sen. Bill Nelson, Commissioner Pat Gerard, Mayor George Cretekos to join hundreds in Clearwater in opposition to offshore drilling

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MEDIA ADVISORY

WHAT: Eight years after the Deepwater Horizon disaster devastated businesses, communities and wildlife along the Gulf of Mexico, elected officials, community members and environmentalists from across Tampa Bay will gather on Clearwater Beach for this year’s Hands Across the Sand event to oppose offshore drilling and call for commitments to clean, renewable energy.

This year’s Hands Across the Sand in Clearwater is one of 119 synchronized events across 18 states and seven countries designed to raise awareness about the dangers of dirty energy and the need to quickly transition to clean, renewable alternatives. The events are particularly salient this year, as the Trump administration considers opening up nearly all of America’s coasts to offshore drilling, including proposed oil and gas development in parts of the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic.

SPEAKERS:
U.S. Senator Bill Nelson
Mayor George Cretekos, Clearwater
Commissioner Pat Gerard, Pinellas County
Frank Jackalone, Florida Director, Sierra Club

Pinellas County Commissioner Janet Long and Pinellas County Schoolboard Chairwoman Renee Flowers along with representatives from Sea Shepherd, Environment Florida, the Suncoast Surfrider Foundation, Center for Biological Diversity, and the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy will also be in attendance.

** INTERVIEW AND PHOTO/ VIDEO OPPORTUNITIES AVAILABLE**

VISUALS: 
Elected officials, families, and environmentalists all joining hands, wearing blue to support the ocean, lined up along the water’s edge facing the Gulf of Mexico; colorful signs, paddleboards and surfboards showing support for moving away from dirty fuels and towards clean energy.

WHEN: 
11:30 – Kick-off press conference w/ elected officials
11:45 –  Attendees begin to walk down to the water’s edge to join hands
12:00 – Everyone joins hands along the water’s edge in opposition to offshore drilling

WHERE:
4 Rockaway St.
Clearwater Beach, FL 33767
Outside of the Palm Pavilion

PARKING: 
Closest Option: Paid Public Parking at 4 Rockaway Street
Second Closest Option: Paid Public Parking Lot near Family Aquatic & Recreation Center on corner of Esplanade and Mandalay.
Bring at least $3.00 in quarters or download Parking App
Takes 10-12 minutes to walk to event

WHY:  
At a time when we need to invest in a green energy future and honor international agreements to fight climate change, drilling off the Florida coast would take us in the exact opposite direction. The impacts of these actions will affect people across the world. Hands Across the Sand participants will be pushing local elected officials to formally oppose the draft plan to expand offshore drilling if they have not done so already, and to take a stronger stand against the expansion of offshore drilling along the coast. With the entire world rapidly switching to electric vehicles that use no oil, we’ll soon need less oil, not more.

BACK UP RAIN LOCATION: Palms Pavillion, 10, 1603, Bay Esplanade, Clearwater, FL 33767

For more information, go to handsacrossthesand.org.

Nelson files bill to force FEMA to continue providing housing assistance to storm victims

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Thousands of displaced Puerto Rican families could be kicked out of hotels on June 30
Nelson’s bill would provide housing assistance through Feb. 2019

U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL) filed legislation today to require the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to activate its Disaster Housing Assistance Program to continue providing housing assistance to thousands of families still displaced after last year’s hurricanes – including thousands of Puerto Rican families forced to flee the island in the wake of Hurricane Maria.

The move comes just two days after FEMA denied the governor of Puerto Rico’s request to activate the program. And just weeks after the agency announced that it will end a separate temporary housing assistance program that’s currently providing hotel rooms to hundreds of displaced Puerto Rican families living in Florida on June 30 – leaving many of them with no assistance and nowhere to go after the program ends.

“This administration has failed the people of Puerto Rico,” Nelson said. “If they’re not going to act, then Congress must. These displaced families are American citizens who desperately need our help. We have a responsibility to help them, just as we would want to be helped if we were in their shoes.”

If approved, Nelson’s legislation would require FEMA and the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to immediately activate a joint interagency housing program, known as the Disaster Housing Assistance Program, or DHAP, to continue providing housing assistance to the victims of Hurricanes Irma and Maria – including hundreds of displaced Puerto Rican families living in Florida – through February 2019.

The DHAP program was first activated in 2007, in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina to help relocate storm victims out of defective FEMA trailers and into more traditional housing. It was used again in 2008 to provide housing assistance to victims of Hurricane Ike and Gustav.

Once activated, DHAP provides monthly rent subsidies to eligible families displaced by a storm to help them pay for temporary housing in the wake of a disaster. The program can provide eligible families with housing assistance for up to 18 months after a disaster is declared, which means it could provide victims of Hurricanes Irma and Maria with housing assistance through February 2019.

The program is initiated through an interagency agreement between FEMA and HUD, where FEMA funds the program and establishes the eligibility criteria for displaced families, while HUD uses its existing processes to administer the program and provide displaced families with the assistance they need.

On Tuesday, FEMA rejected a formal request made by the governor of Puerto Rico in December to activate the program. If approved, Nelson’s legislation would require the agencies to immediately activate DHAP for anyone still displaced by last year’s storms – including hundreds of displaced Puerto Rican families in Florida who could soon be forced out of their hotel rooms on June 30.

In addition to Nelson, the bill is cosponsored by Sens. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-MA), Kamala Harris (D-CA), Ed Markey (D-MA) and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA).

A copy of the legislation is available here.

Nelson, Castor urge feds to block state plan to cut Medicaid

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U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL) and Rep. Kathy Castor (D-FL) led a group of Florida lawmakers today in calling on the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to reject a State of Florida proposal to cut nearly $100 million from the state’s Medicaid program.

“I rise here today because the State of Florida has again proposed to harm thousands of seniors and folks with disabilities who rely on Medicaid for their health care,” Nelson said on the Senate floor Thursday.

Nelson’s remarks come just hours after he, Castor and 10 other members of Florida’s Congressional delegation sent a letter to the head of CMS urging the agency to reject the State of Florida’s request to allow it to stop providing three months of retroactive coverage for Florida’s Medicaid beneficiaries.

“This proposal will directly hurt Floridians with disabilities and seniors in nursing homes,” the lawmakers wrote. “If approved, this decision could jeopardize the financial security of at least 39,000 of the most vulnerable Floridians and countless providers who treat them.”

Under the existing Medicaid framework, Medicaid beneficiaries can get up to three months of retroactive coverage from the date they apply to enroll in the Medicaid program, as long as they were eligible for Medicaid when they received care. In March, the State of Florida proposed eliminating this policy of providing retroactive coverage – a proposal Nelson, Castor and others are now urging the agency to reject.

“It is our duty to ensure eligible individuals have access to care without going into debt to obtain it, which is why retroactive eligibility is so vital,” the lawmakers wrote. “This proposal would not only wipe out many families’ pocketbooks, but it would also place a financial burden on health care providers, the state and indeed all Florida taxpayers through increased uncompensated care costs.”

The federal lawmakers dismissed the state’s claim that the proposal was an attempt to “enhance fiscal predictability” of the state’s Medicaid program.

“If the state were serious about securing greater financial security,” the lawmakers wrote to CMS, “they should expand Medicaid and accept the $66 billion in federal funds that Floridians have already paid for with their tax dollars and provide health care to about 700,000 Floridians.”

In addition to Nelson and Castor, the letter was signed by Reps. Charlie Crist (D-FL), Val Demings (D-FL), Ted Deutch (D-FL), Lois Frankel (D-FL), Alcee Hastings (D-FL), Al Lawson, Jr. (D-FL), Stephanie Murphy (D-FL), Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL), Darren Soto (D-FL) and Frederica Wilson (D-FL).

Below is text of the letter, followed by a transcript of Nelson’s speech. A .pdf copy of the lawmakers’ letter can be found here.

May 10, 2018

The Honorable Seema Verma
Administrator
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services
7500 Security Boulevard
Baltimore, MD 21244

RE: Oppose Florida’s 1115 Medicaid Waiver Amendment to Eliminate Retroactive Eligibility Due to Potential Extreme Harm to Older and Disabled Floridians

Dear Administrator Verma,

As members of the Florida Congressional Delegation, we write to urge you to oppose provisions of the State of Florida’s 1115 Medicaid MMA Waiver Amendment that would directly harm thousands of seniors and neighbors with disabilities in Florida.

Today, critical protections in Medicaid mean beneficiaries can get up to three months of retroactive coverage from the date they apply to enroll in the program as long as these individuals were eligible for Medicaid when they received care. In March, the state proposed eliminating this policy of retroactive eligibility by amending its ongoing Section 1115 demonstration. If approved, this decision could jeopardize the financial security of at least 39,000 of the most vulnerable Floridians and countless providers who treat them. It will also cut at least $100 million from an already underfunded Medicaid program that is suffering from the state’s continued choice to pass up more than $66 billion in federal funds by refusing to expand its Medicaid program.

Retroactive eligibility is designed to protect Medicaid beneficiaries—including seniors, pregnant women, individuals with disabilities, and parents—and their families from the steep costs of medical services and long-term care. Importantly, this protection was also designed to minimize uncompensated care costs faced by hospitals and other health care providers who take care of our neighbors and are already challenged by the state’s low reimbursement rates. Also important to remember is, even though retroactive, folks who end up covered are unquestionably eligible for Medicaid and this existing policy and time frame protects those who are unaware – through no fault of their own – that they qualify.

Applying for Medicaid coverage can be a complicated and sometimes burdensome process, particularly when an individual or family member is dealing with securing admission to a nursing home, addressing a medical emergency, or seeking care for a worsening illness or injury. Leaving Medicaid-eligible applicants without financial protection simply because they have not enrolled is cruel and in direct conflict with the goals of the Medicaid program. This proposal will directly hurt Floridians with disabilities and seniors in nursing homes. If CMS approves this proposal in its current form, it would likely prevent vulnerable populations, especially seniors in nursing homes, from getting the care they need.

It is our duty to ensure eligible individuals have access to care without going into debt to obtain it, which is why retroactive eligibility is so vital. This proposal would not only wipe out many families’ pocketbooks, but it would also place a financial burden on health care providers, the state and indeed all Florida taxpayers through increased uncompensated care costs. We fail to see how this proposal will “enhance fiscal predictability” as the state claims when it will increase costs across the board. If the state were serious about securing greater financial security, they should expand Medicaid and accept the $66 billion in federal funds that Floridians have already paid for with their tax dollars and provide health care to about 700,000 Floridians.

Instead of building barriers to coverage, we need to focus on getting our uninsured and underinsured neighbors quality and affordable health coverage and reducing uncompensated care costs that hurt health care providers’ ability to provide needed care and strain Florida’s economy. That is why we urge you to reject the State of Florida’s proposal to eliminate retroactive eligibility.

Thank you for considering our request.

Sincerely,

 

U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson
Remarks on the Senate floor
May 10, 2018

Sen. Nelson: Mr. President, I appreciate the remarks made by the senator from Texas. Indeed, I think we have a career intelligence officer that has done a commendable over three decades, commendable service, service to this country. I will be meeting with her next week. I have a number of questions, and upon meeting with her, then I will make my decision. And I thank the senator from Texas, as I have thanked many on the intelligence committee that I have sought their opinion as well as reading all the relevant documents.

Mr. President, I rise here today because the state of Florida has again proposed to harm thousands of seniors and folks with disabilities who rely on Medicaid for their health care as well as their financial security. Under current law, critical protections in Medicaid allow those who rely on program for their health care, they can get up to three months of retroactive coverage after they apply for Medicaid after the time that they have enrolled in the program.

To put that another way, a person who has had health care problems and that is eligible under Medicaid, once they apply, under current law there’s a lookback period of three months that those health care expenses that they incurred would be reimbursed to their health care providers — the doctors, the nurses, whatever the service is — and paid by Medicaid because they have been deemed to be eligible. Certain people with disabilities and certain people because of their income level and their status. Now, what the state of Florida is proposing — and this is what is so damaging — is to cut that three months of reimbursement for Medicaid down to one month.

Well, the current law is three months, so why should the state of Florida penalize its citizens that are getting their health care — they’re eligible — under Florida’s law for health care through Medicaid? Why should you penalize them by saying we’re only going to make you eligible for 30 days instead of three months? It defies understanding.

The state proposed to C.M.S. Just a week or so ago to eliminate this critical protection, and in the process it jeopardizes how many people in Florida right now? 39,000 of the most vulnerable Floridians and the countless medical providers who treat them. So if they constrict this period, that means a lot of people are not getting compensated by Medicaid, such as a hospital. The hospital can’t eat all of those uncompensated expenses. And so what happens? Ultimately that finds its way into all the rest of us, all of the rest of us taxpayers who also have private health insurance, and it runs the price of the health insurance up.

And if this is not enough of an outrage that the state of Florida is doing to these 39,000 people, this maneuver will also cut up to $100 million from an already underfunded Medicaid program that is suffering because the state of Florida has already decided over the last several years that it’s not going to expand Medicaid up to 138% of poverty. And you know how much money they have passed up? The state of Florida has passed up that otherwise 800,000 people in Florida would be getting health care through Medicaid? They passed up $66 billion in federal funds that is sitting there on the shelf ready to be used for health care through Medicaid for Florida by refusing to expand Medicaid that is allowed under the law, up to 138% of poverty.

Well, it’s just unacceptable. This provision was designed to protect seniors and veterans and pregnant women and individuals with disabilities and parents and their families with high medical bills and the cost associated with the long-term care. So not only are you jeopardizing hospitals and the doctors and the nurses and all the medical providers of not getting paid, of which they are eligible under current law, you’re also putting into financial jeopardy the poor people that are sick that need to be treated, and they don’t have the money because of their income level. They don’t have the money, and then you start getting all these Dunning statements and saying, we’re coming after you financially and we’re going to take you into the poorhouse.

And so that’s why I joined with my colleague in the House, Congresswoman Castor, and we have a letter signed by half the Florida delegation calling on C.M.S. To reject this heinous provision that the state of Florida is asking for.

And, Mr. President, I ask consent that this be inserted in the record. The presiding officer: Without objection. Mr. Nelson: So, it’s our duty to ensure that the folks — our folks, the people in our states have access to care without having to go into debt to obtain that care. And the state of Florida is attempting to take that away. And in doing so, it’s attempting to wipe out many families’ pocketbooks and increase the strain on the health care providers, the doctors, the nurses, the hospitals, and all Florida taxpayers who ultimately on uncompensated care are the ones who pick up the bill.

The state of Florida claims that this proposal will, quote, “enhance fiscal predictability”, end of quote. That begs the question — for whom? If the state really wanted to secure greater financial security — if the state really wanted to secure greater financial security, they would expand Medicaid and accept the $66 billion of our Florida financial taxpayer money sitting on the shelf that Floridians have already paid for with their tax dollars and provide health care to up to 800,000 Floridians that don’t have it now.

And perhaps what’s even more troubling is that the letter accompanying the state of Florida’s request stated the agency — get this, quote, “was not aware of any concern or opposition raised by any member of either party regarding this provision during extensive budget debate”, end of quote.

So now it’s not — not only is the state of Florida trying to harm thousands of Floridians, including many of our seniors and veterans — by the way, veterans are on the Medicaid program as well; don’t forget that. Veterans are not just all taken care of under the veteran’s administration. There are a lot of veterans on Medicaid. So the state is trying to harm these people, and I wonder now, in that letter that I just quoted from, if the state is misleading the federal agency C.M.S. In trying to get their waiver approved to cut from 90 days down to 30 days.

Indeed, members of the Florida Senate — the Florida State Senate, the legislature — raised innumerable concerns and objections to the provision. Most recently, the Florida Senate minority leader called out the governor’s administration for the misleading claims. And instead of making it harder to gain coverage, we ought to be focusing on getting our uninsured neighbors quality and affordable health coverage and reducing uninsured, uncompensated cost. We need to do what’s good for the people of Florida. Mr. President, I yield the floor.

Sen. Bill Nelson on gaps in Florida background check database

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Following a report this morning that the State of Florida failed to properly maintain a background check database used to prevent someone with a known mental illness from buying a gun, U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL) today called on the U.S. Department of Justice to step-in and provide the funding needed to fix the problem.

A copy of Nelson’s letter to DOJ is available here.

Below is a POLITICO article on the state’s failure to maintain the database, and here’s what Nelson tweeted about it today:

Background check gap could allow Florida mentally ill to buy guns

By Matt Dixon
05/10/2018 05:02 AM EDT

TALLAHASSEE — In Florida, a state with some of the nation’s worst mass shootings in recent years, nearly 20 percent of mental health records are entered late into a background check database, a long-running problem state law enforcement officials now acknowledge could lead to someone with a known mental illness buying a gun.

The lapse, which dates back to at least 2014, went unnoticed by state lawmakers and the governor’s office until POLITICO asked about the issue.

“The risk of late reporting of mental health records is that an individual who is prohibited from purchasing or possession a firearm may be approved at the time of the background check if the disqualifying mental health record is not available,” read Florida Department of Law Enforcement documents from last month that are part of an application for U.S. Department of Justice funding to help solve the problem.

The state agency is now asking for $94,880 from the Department of Justice to fund a pilot program in the Miami-Dade Clerk of Courts office. The money would fund a position to identify and enter “disqualifying mental health records within expected timeframes,” according to an outline of FDLE’s request, which was approved last month by the state’s Criminal and Juvenile Justice Information Systems Council. Clerks in each county are responsible for entering mental health records that would disqualify someone from buying a gun into the Florida Mental Competency application, which is overseen by FDLE.

The problem was first identified in a little-noticed 2016 audit focused on mental health records between June 2014 and February 2016. It found 17 percent of mental health records were “reported late.” Of the 5,771 records that were late-entered, which means one month after a person was found to have a serious mental illness or institutionalized, 225 were not entered for between 181 and 365 days, and 61 were not entered for between 366 and 525 days. Disqualifying information is flagged when a judge finds someone a danger to themselves or others, not guilty by reason of insanity, commits them to a mental health treatment facility involuntarily, or finds them incompetent.

In a follow-up done six months later, state auditors reported that in late 2016, counties began telling FDLE they were working to identify mental health records that would disqualify someone from buying a gun that were never entered into the database. As a result, Miami-Dade, Pinellas, and Putnam counties collectively found 300 that had not been submitted. The audit also noted that FDLE and state clerks are working on a multi-year program that will “greatly enhance the entry of records into” the mental health database.

Though the problem has existed since at least mid-2014, Gov. Rick Scott’s office and key lawmakers were not aware the problem had been flagged by state auditors until alerted by POLITICO.

“The Clerk’s Office never made us aware of this,” said McKinley Lewis, a Scott spokesman.

“The Clerks of Court in Florida are locally elected, and the governor expects them to prioritize their resources to quickly resolve this issue,” Lewis added. “FDLE continues to work with the Clerks to supply federal grant funding and ensure criminal justice databases are effectively utilized so law enforcement can work to keep Floridians safe.”

State Rep. Bill Hager (R-Delray Beach), who chairs the House Justice Appropriations Subcommittee, said “no” in a text message when asked if he knew about the late-filed mental health records. He did not respond to follow-up questions.

State Sen. Jeff Brandes (R-St. Petersburg), who is chairman of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Civil and Criminal Justice, said he had just been briefed by staff on the issue recently.

“Mental health screenings as part of these background checks is extremely important to keeping firearms out of the hands of mentally ill individuals,” he said. “I’ve only recently become aware of the staffing shortages impacting those screenings. If a federal grant would help, then I’m encouraging FDLE to apply.”

Funding for state clerks has long been a budget battle. Officials with the Florida Court Clerks and Comptrollers, a state group that represents county clerks, blame budget reductions, not misplaced staffing priorities, for the late-filed mental health records.

“Funding reductions have been a concern for the past several years and we are working with the Legislature to develop a permanent and sustainable statewide funding solution that will address all necessary clerk functions including this one,” said Molly Kellogg-Schmauch, a spokeswoman for the statewide clerk’s organization.

The DOJ funding would be used to start a pilot program in just one of Florida’s 67 counties. When asked what is being done in other counties that have experienced delays, Kellogg-Schmauch only said “clerks follow a specific process and timeline to report these cases per statute.”

Neither the clerks or FDLE are aware of any situation where someone with a disqualifying mental health condition purchased a gun because of the delay.

Florida, though, is no stranger to mass shootings caused at the hands of gunmen who had interacted with the state’s mental health system. Nikolas Cruz, who in February gunned down 17 people at Parkland’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, was interviewed by staff at a state mental health facility, which decided not to hospitalize him, according to a 2016 Florida Department of Children and Families report.

Cruz legally purchased the AR-15 he used in the attack in February 2017, and “no red flags were raised” during the purchase, according to attorneys for the South Florida gun store where the weapon was purchased.

“There were various questions that were asked of him for self-reporting, one of those questions was whether or not he had been adjudicated for mental illness, or whether you had been institutionalized,” Stuart Kaplan, an attorney representing the gun shop that sold Cruz the firearm, told NBC News after the shooting.

“He answered ‘no.'”

Nelson renews call for Congress to cut student loan interest rates

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Move comes as feds prepare to increase rates for second straight year

U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL) is renewing his call on Congress to take up and pass legislation he filed to cut federal student loan interest rates and allow borrowers with existing loans to refinance those loans to a new lower rate.

The move comes as the federal government prepares to increase federal student loan interest rates for the second year in a row.

“Higher education is becoming unaffordable for low- and middle-income individuals, and the federal government shouldn’t be putting it further out of reach,” Nelson wrote in a letter to the leaders of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) committee today. “I strongly urge you to include S. 1521, the Student Loan Relief Act of 2017, as part of any upcoming Higher Education Act (HEA) reauthorization to help provide some much-needed relief to both future and past student borrowers across the country.”

Starting July 1, interest rates for new undergraduate student loans will be 5.045 percent, up from 4.45 percent this year. For graduate students, rates will increase to 6.595 percent, up from 6 percent. And rates for Federal PLUS loans be 7.595 percent, up from 7 percent.

Nelson filed legislation last summer to cap federal student loan interest rates for undergraduate students at 4 percent, graduate students at 5 percent, and PLUS loans at 6 percent. The legislation is currently pending before the Senate HELP committee.

More than 43 million Americans currently have outstanding student loan debt. In Florida alone, students graduating with a four-year degree leave college with more than $24,000 in student loan debt on average. Federal student loan interest rates are set annually, with new rates taking effect on July 1 of each year.

Under current law, federal student loan interest rates are fixed for the lifetime of the loan and cannot be refinanced, even if rates go lower. Nelson says lowering the interest rate caps and allowing borrowers to refinance their existing loans would help make higher education more affordable for students across the country.

A copy of the letter Nelson sent to the HELP committee today to urge them to take up and pass his bill is available here.

A copy of Nelson’s bill is available here.

Recent background article on the upcoming rate hikes:

Interest rates on federal student loans to rise again this year

By Michael Stratford
05/09/2018 01:29 PM EDT

The cost of borrowing money from the federal government to pay for college is set to increase for the second year in a row.

The interest rates on new federal student loans for the coming academic year will jump by more than half of a percentage point following the Treasury Department’s sale today of 10-year notes, which is the government security to which the rates are tied.

For new undergraduate student loans, the interest rate will increase to 5.045 percent, up from 4.45 percent.

The rate on direct loans for graduate students will rise to 6.595 percent from this year’s 6 percent.

And the interest rates on federal PLUS loans — both for graduate students or parents paying for their children’s education — will be 7.595 percent, up from the current 7 percent.

The new interest rates take effect on July 1 for the 2018-2019 school year and are fixed for the lifetime of the loan.

The changes don’t affect borrowers who already have federal student loans.

Sen. Bill Nelson Statement on President Withdrawing from Iran Deal

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The Florida Democrat is a senior member of the Senate Armed Services
Committee, and former member of the Senate Intelligence Committee

U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL) released the following statement today in response to President Trump’s decision to withdraw from the Iran deal:

“We need to put more pressure on Iran with additional economic sanctions to stop them from developing their ICBM missiles. But pulling out of this deal now is a tragic mistake. It will divide us from our European allies and it will allow Iran to build a nuclear bomb within a year, instead of preventing it for at least 7 to 12 years.”