Unions target Wyden in anti-tax push

Union groups are targeting one of their close allies in Congress over a
controversial proposal to tax employee healthcare benefits.

In a
coordinated campaign using radio advertising, mail and other pressure
mechanisms, three top unions are urging Oregonians to voice their
displeasure to Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), whose proposal may be stalled
in the Senate.

{mosads}The radio ads, purchased by the National
Education Association, the American Federation of State, County and
Municipal Employees (AFSCME) and the United Food and Commercial Workers, take
Wyden to task for his Healthy Americans Act, a bill that would provide
universal coverage while removing the tax exemption employers get when
they provide health benefits to their employees.

“Taxing health
benefits? That doesn’t make sense,” the ad’s narrator says. “Tell
Sen. Wyden that Oregon families want quality, affordable healthcare — not taxes on their healthcare benefits.”

The three major
unions are running the radio ad in Wyden’s backyard in the Portland
and Eugene markets, to the tune of $60,000, according to those familiar
with the expenditure. AFSCME is undertaking a larger pressure campaign
utilizing phones, mail, canvassers and a website.

Top Oregon
labor leaders took to a prominent liberal website last week to question
Wyden’s plan, which they compared to proposals by Sen. John McCain
(R-Ariz.) during the 2008 presidential election.

Wyden’s bill is
far different from the proposal McCain offered last year. Wyden would
add a standard deduction estimated at $17,000 for a family of four,
according to estimates by the Oregon Democrat’s office. More expensive
plans would be subject to taxes.

The proposal would make
employers’ share of health premiums taxable. Unions largely stand to
gain from maintaining the status quo.

{mosads}Last week, Senate Finance
Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) said he would not consider
Wyden’s proposal. But Baucus did release a list of priorities that
unions are unlikely to be pleased by. A broadside aimed at Wyden could
serve as a warning to Baucus.

Wyden “has been a champion of
healthcare reform, and his work to reform the system and to encourage
public options for health care coverage could change the face of our
health care system, expand coverage, and make health more affordable
for all Americans. But only if our Senior Senator stops lobbying for a
health care benefits tax,” wrote Oregon AFSCME executive director Ken
Allen and Oregon AFL-CIO president Tom Chamberlain on the BlueOregon
blog.

President Obama opposed the proposal during the campaign,
but in March Obama’s budget director, Peter Orszag, said the idea
should not be taken off the table.

Finding himself on the
opposite side of labor is not a normal position for Wyden. Ordinarily a strong backer of labor, Wyden voted labor’s way on 94
percent of the scored votes in 2007, the last year for which the
AFL-CIO has scored members of Congress. In his career in Congress,
Wyden has voted with labor 88 percent of the time.